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Chapter seven
once the three of them had passed the blue gate Slinks picked a camera up off the empty shelf of the white stall which also held pegs of black, blue and green handbags; fit for all occasions in different shapes and sizes. He went into the door way and passed two pound over to a middle aged woman with long green hair. She smiled at him and handed ten pence over to him and then he rushed back out where Jezzabell and Daniel stared in.
"The sales person is awful, let’s go take some pics of you, Jezzabell," Slinks said. He ripped the plastic sheet off the orange square camera, turned the round knob three times and pointed it at her. The bright blue flash lit the whole of the piers white fence and Jezzabell crossed her arms over her eyes.
"Leave her alone, Slinks you cannot take pictures of her," Daniel took the camera off him.
"She is a butterfly and when I get back home I can show it to my sister,"
"No, You cannot take any pictures of her, do you know that butterfly's hate bright flashes?" Daniel asked.
"They like to fly when it’s sunny," Slinks remarked. What you are doing," Daniel mumbled as Jezzabell got hold of the camera and then, she ran over to the fence where the small sandy beach lay and leaned her arm over the edge.
"That is my camera," Slinks cried.
He ran over to her and leaned his arm over; the more he tried to grab the camera the more Jezzabell moved her hand upwards.
"Jezzabell, stop it, he is very sensitive and you are making it easier for him to play silly games," Daniel spoke aloud.
"I do not want my face in this camera, you really hurt me," Jezzabell shouted. She just let go of the camera and a white seagull clasped it in his beak, he came from underneath the wooden pier. It swung over their heads and onto the stall's slanted roof.
"Come here, pidgey, give me the camera," Slinks whispered.
He picked up a small warm chip from the full blue bin and stepped to the seagull. Again reaching it out to the seagull's beak its jaw loosened leaving the camera to wobble out of the dry mouth and in went the chip. He caught the soggy wet camera and wiped it with his long sleeved jumper.
"It pays not take pictures of me," Jezzabell grumbled.
"Stop it, both of you are really annoying me, let’s just go and sort out what toy you can win for your brother and then we can help Jezzabell to get on one of them boats," Daniel said. The seagull squawked the same words as him and nodded his head in approval. His eyes glared at Jezzabell, almost like a fish who wanted to be freed from the ships net. He wandered up onto stall acting like a bird who was scrounging for food.
"Daniel, I'll feed the seagull with some chips, you two go enjoy yourself in the amusements," She ordered them.
"We made a deal, all of us will feed the seagull and go to the amusements," Daniel replied. Jezzabell shrugged her shoulders at the wandering seagull who did not take any notice of her.
"Ok," she sighed.
After they had fed the lonely seagull it came up to Jezzabell and pecked her dull black shoes.
"Thank you," it squawked at her.
"What’s it saying?" she could hear Slinks talk to Daniel. The seagull then pecked at Daniels foot and gave a huge yawn at Slinks. Its wings opened out half the width of the tall fence that stopped people from falling into the sea, padded his feet along the opening of the decks and swerved away.
"Amusements," Slinks cried.
The amusements were full of old and young people. There were many people playing bingo at the back of the cabled hut near the old pool table which needed replacing. The four dance machines dressed in pink velvet blurted out popular pop songs for kids to dance to. The green and white arrows on the big screen helped them to move their feet on brightly lit pads Two at the front and two at the back and one diagonal in the middle to make the dice number five.
Further along the dark room were whack attack games to deal with stress and frustration, more adults than kids played with these and friends laughed and egged them on to win the star prize; the prize of a hundred pounds. These machines did not interest Slinks at all, for he simply wanted to find a toy grabber and pick out what he might win for his sister who was at home with his mum and the local babysitter.
The machines that held soft toys only held cuddly owls and tigers, the toy grabber mechanical red keyboard pointed at the slim money slot. Out came three ten pence’s and as they clunked down the slot and into the machine below a yellow light lit up the toys cage. In here were only three large owls and two small tigers. Sinks would have to guess what control to press to pick up the toy and bring it back into the Shute to win it within a minute.
"Right, left, back, there," Daniel screamed in excitement. The metal grabber zoomed down at the tiger and as it clenched the tiger’s neck. The light went off.
"No!" Slinks thumped the machine and it came back on.
"Here let me have a go," Jezzabell said. She took control of the arrow pads, moved up and right and aimed down toward the lonely owl that lay on his side. The grabber caught hold of its fat fluffy body and up it came in the miniature hand. She tapped the back button quickly to the drum beats of the national anthem.
"No!" slinks mumbled. The grabber let go, all of them thought they had lost the toy owl and then, something strange happened.
Two tall men had thick grey coats over their thin faces to ensure that no one could see their features, the one on the left held a Child's toy gun; he pointed and waved it around and told everyone to stay away from him. Kids cried, screamed and ran away from the dance machines; all of them wanted their mummy and daddy. The other guy walked out unnoticed and then as he begun to knock the rusty locks of the change machine, two security guards pushed him onto the toy grabber that lay four cages away from Slinks. As they tried to handcuff him all of the machines started to wobble and the grabber let go. The toy slowly bumped down onto the back shelf. It bounced forward and straight into the shut.
"Boing! Well done, please give us another go," the machine stuttered.
Slinks picked up the Fluffy Owl from the winners slot at the side of the machine and hugged it.
"He's a happy lad, Thanks," before Daniel could finish Jezzabell interrupted.
"Anything to get slinks off my case, Shall we go around the other end of pier where the shops are," Jezzabell whispered.
Daniel bent down to pick something up; a whole piece of forewing leaned against the palms of his hands. Now as it had shrunken, it also lost its colour and a few gems slid away from him.
"Jezzabell, the wing has shrunk," Daniel whispered.
"I will have to let another wing to grow before I can turn back to a butterfly," she sighed. Daniel opened the plastic bag that contained a book of plain paper; he pulled the paper out and carefully covered the broken wing with the empty bag.
“Where is he? I'll borrow his large blue bag he filled up with books," Daniel said. Jezzabell eyes squinted at the blue sky and she looked out at the sea.
"There is a fishing boat. It's coming to the end of the pier," she spoke aloud. In the distance, a small white and black trawler floated along the tall ball points. Little smoke came out of its round funnel and the sea ripples were bringing it closer to them.
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