Chapter
5
Early next morning, Ooty woke Jenny up by tapping her on the head with his paw.
'Stop it Ooty' Jenny said yawning and pushing him off ' What's the matter, do you want to go out and do some gardening?'
Ooty wasn't in a gardening mood. He was bouncing on Jenny's pillow, singing his best cat song and donking her on the head again and again.
'Ok, ok ' she said, sitting up and looking in the bed for Pinny Pipit, but Pinny wasn't there.
Quickly Jenny threw the bed covers back and checked under the pillows and then under the bed itself. But Pinny Pipit had vanished.
'Oh no,' cried Jenny.' I promised Ma I would take care of Pinny and now I've lost her.'
Ooty raced downstairs and through the open back door. Jenny ran after him in her nightie and out into the garden, but there was no sign of Pinny Pipit on the way.
Ma was hanging up the washing on the long line that followed the garden path. She was hopping in and out of the daffys with a bunch of clothes pegs sticking out of her mouth. She looked surprised to see Jenny out in the garden in her nightie with bare feet and she dropped the washing back in the basket.
'Ma ! Ma ! Pinny has run away.' gusted Jenny.
Ma's mouth fell open and the pegs dropped to the path.
'That naughty girl.' said Ma. 'She'll be the end of me one day. She's such a worry.'
Ma was not at all cross with Jenny, she was worried about Pinny Pipit.
'Last time she did this Farmer Beef's old dog got hold of her and shook her to pieces. I found her in a puddle in a terrible state. I wish she'd stop running off looking for work.'
Jenny ran upstairs to get dressed and then went with Ma and Ooty to search for Pinny.
Having looked in the garden, the barn, under all the bushes and in the orchard, with no luck at all, the three searchers then spread out to hunt under all the hedges around the village. Hod-me-dod-lee is only a small village of perhaps thirty or forty houses but someone as tiny as Pinny Pipit had a million places she could hide. Ooty was lots of help squeezing into the rabbit holes and under all the garden gates. Then he looked around the back garden sheds and even popped his nose inside a few of the houses. He came out of one kitchen looking very pleased with a cold sausage that he'd found, but he didn't find Pinny Pipit. So the search was extended further a field, down the village lanes and then out onto the canal path.
Jenny had never seen a canal before and was amazed to suddenly see boats floating through the farmer's fields. Every so often one of the long skinny boats would past slowly by them with it's engine tutting and moaning. The driver would tip his cap at Ma as he passed, and Ma seemed to know all the drivers by name. Jenny loved the narrowboats. They were all brightly decorated with red, white and yellow roses and some even had beautiful pictures of fairytale castles painted on the sides. The people that owned then often lived on them and took great pride in making their floating homes look as attractive as possible. Jenny wondered why car owners didn't do the same. While they searched for Pinny in the long grass that flopped over the tow path, one of the narrowboats pulled alongside the bank.
'You lost something Ma?' called the driver.
'Yes we have Sam, a tiny scarecrow.'
Sam, or Captain Sam, as it did say CAPTAIN on his cap in gold letters, hopped off his boat and moored it to the bank.
'Is this what you're looking for Ma?'
Walking towards them he held out his hand revealing a very cross looking Pinny Pipit.
Ma sighed aloud, she was so relieved to see Pinny again.
'My TigTig found it this morning further down the canal.' explained Sam. 'He brought it aboard in his mouth. I thought it was a mouse wearing a dress at first.'
Jenny giggled.
Now Ooty was very interested in the word mouse and thought he had best take a look at this mouse catching TigTig. Jumping aboard the boat he disappeared down inside the boat's cabin. Less than ten seconds later he came shooting out of the boat like a lit firework, pulling a huge ginger tom cat along with the tip of his tail. Jenny quickly removed the fat orange TigTig and picked Ooty up. Ooty stood on Jenny's shoulder as spiky as a hotchie spitting and shouting rude cat words down at the marmalade coloured cat. TigTig grinned back up at Ooty and made yowling noises that in cat language meant something like 'Come on if you think you're tough enough Blackie.'
Captain Sam handed Pinny Pipit over to Ma. But just as Jenny had felt sad when she had to give Pinny back the first time she saw her, so Captain Sam also seemed very sad to give her back.
'I was hoping the scarecrow doll didn't belong to anyone.' he said sadly. 'It looked a proper treat sitting in my flower pot.'
On top of Sam's narrowboat were rows of plant pots full of spring flowering bulbs. The colours were as cheerful as his lovely painted boat. Sam was going to the spring boat show and was hoping to win a prize for the best decorated narrowboat.
'That scarecrow just finished off the look bootiful.' he said.
Jenny tugged at Ma's apron and whispered to her.
'I've got a good idea.' she said.
Ma listened, and a big smile spread across her jolly face. The idea was this. Captain Sam could hire Pinny Pipit for the show if he promised to bring her back safely....and... If he gave Ma something he didn't need when he came back, as a little hire payment, then it would have been a proper job for Pinny Pipit. Her first real job all on her own.
Ma loved the idea.
Captain Sam was delighted to hire the little scarecrow and promised faithfully he would return her the day after next at four o'clock in the afternoon. Then he put Pinny Pipit back amongst the flower pots, where he was right, she did look a proper treat. Then he thanked Ma, shaking her hand until Ma had to wriggle free in case her arm fell off. Sam untied his boat. Jenny and Ma waved goodbye as Captain Sam steered his narrowboat away down the glittering canal.
Jenny was still waving to Pinny when the boat was just a speck in the distance. Ooty didn't get off of Jenny's shoulder until he was totally sure the fat orange TigTig was also just a speck. Ooty hated marmalade and now he hated marmalade coloured cats too. Ma gave Jenny a big cuddly squeeze.
'You're a clever girl.' she said.' Pinny is such a vain little thing she'll think she's a model now, she will enjoy herself showing off at the boat show. Come on, let’s go home, we haven't had any breakfast yet and now it's nearly lunch time, we'll have to have some of that posh brunchy instead.'
After brunch, Ma brought out the daily baking things. Flour, sugar, butter and eggs and at least four jars of marmalade.
'I'm all behind like a dog's tail thanks to Pinny Pipit.' Tutted Ma. 'You best help me knock up a batch of marmalade rolls for the scarecrow's suppers.'
'Do you feed all the scarecrows in Hod-me-dod-lee?' asked Jenny.
'Of course.' said Ma, 'Only once a day and always marmalade on everything.'
'Who makes their lunch and breakfast then Ma?'
Jenny desperately wanted to know every single detail about scarecrows.
'Oh scarecrows are never actually hungry.' explained Ma. 'They don't feel things like we do. They never feel sickness or pain and really they don't need food at all, they just love the taste of it, especially marmalade. So I let them have it because it makes them happy and a happy scarecrow is happy in his work.'
'So can they feel happy then?' asked Jenny
Ma looked at Jenny thoughtfully.
'Well, yes they feel happy and sad and naughty and cross and they argue all the time, but that's feeling things in the head. They can't feel things in the body. Oh dear, I don't think I'm explaining this very well am I Jenny?'
'Yes you are Ma,' chuckled Jenny. 'I understand what you mean. If the sun was shining they would feel happy about it. But if you stuck a pin a scarecrows bottom he wouldn't feel it.'
'That's it exactly.' said Ma relieved.
'Sometimes their heads and legs fall off and they just put them back on again and it never ever hurts them
. But sometimes you will hear a scarecrow say, Oooh or ouch and make such a lot of fuss, but they are just copying real people like me and you because that's what they think they have to do. They just exaggerate everything like clowns do.'
'I get it Ma.' smiled Jenny. 'But where do scarecrows come from. Are they born like babies, do they have Mums and Dads?'
'No no' replied Ma throwing great dollops of pastry around the kitchen table.
'If two or three scarecrows are made at the same time, then they do tend to think of themselves as being related. Like the three Pole sisters, May, Beanie and Polly, but then you haven't met them yet have you my little robin.' Ma sighed. 'They're the silliest girls in Hod-me-dod-lee, apart from Minnie Mommet of course and she's even sillier than they are.'
Big clouds of flour puffed up into the air as Ma rolled out the pastry with a huge wooden rolling pin. Ooty sneeze at the flour and somersaulted backwards into a corner.
'So who makes the scarecrows?' asked Jenny. Who was enjoying greasing the baking trays while they talked.
'Real scarecrows can only be made by proper scarecrow makers, like myself.' explained Ma. 'I made some of the younger ones that live here, my Mother and my Grandmother made most of the older ones, except for Miss Birdie Stump and I think my great great great Granddad Silas made her. There have always been scarecrows in Hod-me-dod-lee, that’s where the name comes from. A hodmedod is the old country name for a scarecrow, same as a mawpin or a mommet.'
'Did you make Pinny Pipit as well ?' asked Jenny, she sliced the rolled out pasty into long wide strips just as Ma showed her.
'Oh yes, said Ma, 'I made Pinny Pipit when I was about your age. A pinny is a very old country name, it means a small doll, and a pipit is a tiny bird. Pinny Pipit was my first ever scarecrow. She was my learning piece. My Mother showed me how to make her from the leftover scraps in her rag bag. But that was a long long time ago.'
'How old are you then Ma?' asked Jenny.
Ma grinned 'I'm as old as my left leg and a lot older than me teeth.'
'Will you show me how to make a learning piece?' Jenny asked hopefully. 'I could make a friend for Pinny Pipit.'
'Maybe' said Ma 'I'll need to ask the robins about that, plus I don't think Pinny .....'
Ma didn't have time to finish her sentence as suddenly the back door burst open smashing against the kitchen wall and in staggered a huge soaking wet man. With a massive splat he fell face down on the kitchen floor like he was dead. Jenny squealed out loud and Ma's dropped a pot of marmalade that exploded on the floor next to him covering the poor man with orange goo.
'Dickie Perch' exclaimed Ma quickly helping him up. 'You made me jump out of my slippers, what on earth are you doing here, you're supposed to be working up at Digg's farm.'
Jenny and Ooty couldn't believe their eyes. The wet man lying in Ma's kitchen was another walking breathing scarecrow.
Ma helped Dickie Perch to a chair and put his back against the warm stove. Jenny grabbed a dishcloth and began wiping the marmalade off of his clothes. The poor scarecrow was soaked right through to his straw body. His head was made from a hard painted turnip, and like his wet clothes, it was caked in wet mud. He was wearing a green woolly sweater and yellow checkered trousers. The trousers appeared to be wriggling and moving around on their own.
'Scrags.' howled Dickie Perch 'Rotten pesky gip scrags Ma.'
Ma tried to calm him down with a cup of milky tea with a big dollop of marmalade in it.
'Drink it slowly while you get dry. Then you can tell me what happened.'
Jenny and Ooty sat and watched the steam starting to rise from Dickie Perch as the heat of the stove quickly began to dry him out. Very soon the patches on his clothes became lighter and more colourful and his yellow straw hair began pinging up like a broom around his muddy face. Ooty, who had not taken his eyes off of the scarecrow's trousers, watched with interest as they continued to jiggle about on their own.
'Oh no. Nudder pesky scrag.' cried Dickie pointing at Jenny with his long twiggy fingers.
'Ma, gip scrags. Ducky's wet. Pinched me titfa Ma. Got mickies in me jaggys an all.'
And then suddenly, without any warning at all, Dickie flew up in the air and began leaping and dancing around the kitchen, kicking and shaking his straw legs, his bushy hair bouncing up and down, his arms flapping like a fat pigeon that couldn't take off.
It was hilarious watching the steam coming off of the funny dancing man as he leapt around like a crazy clown. Round and round the kitchen table he hopped, all the time shouting. 'Oooh, mickies, NO, oooh ahhh No mickies NO!'
Jenny and Ma were both getting splattered with chips of mud as bits of broken straw flew off all over the kitchen. Suddenly Ooty leapt at one of Dickie's trouser legs and Dickie squealed even louder and danced even faster while Ooty clung on tight swinging back and forth like a clock pendulum.
'Pesky puss NO NO.' screamed Dickie. 'NO puss, NO Mickies NO.'
Dickie leapt up onto the kitchen table and began danced around on the top. Ma's pastry went flying. China cups and plates were sent smashing to the floor, but Dickie danced on, kicking his legs wildly. The faster Dickie danced, the tighter Ooty clung on to his leg. Jenny thought she would faint from laughing so much and could hardly see for tears. At last she managed to grab hold of the swinging Ooty and unhooked his claws from Dickie's trousers. Ma wrestled with Dickie and forced him to sit back down on the chair.
'My goodness, what a performance.' gasped Ma wiping away her own tears of laughter.
'So Dickie, let's see if I've got the story straight. Some gypsy children stole your hat. Put mice in your trousers and then threw you in Digg's pond. Is that what happened?'
Scarecrows have a strange way of speaking but Ma seemed to understand him perfectly.
'Orrid pesky scrags.' Dickie sniffed as he slurped his tea.
Poor Dickie was obviously still very upset. He was not laughing at all and kept slapping his twiggy hands on his trousers legs.
'Come on then Dickie, off to the barn with you.' ordered Ma. 'Ooty, you'd best come too. Jenny you stay here my dear. No little girl needs to see a scarecrow without his trousers on.'
Dickie Perch did as he was told and sulkily followed Ma outside. He hopped, skipped and slapped his own bottom all the way up the garden path, while Jenny watched and giggled from the kitchen doorway. After a while Ma returned with Dickie's muddy clothes. Ooty had been left in the barn to deal with the mice that had been scurrying around inside Dickie's trousers, while Dickie had gone off to sulk in the bales of straw and have a nap. Jenny had picked up all the broken china and spoiled pastry. The little kitchen was clean and tidy once again.
'Oh you are a good girl for cleaning up for me.' said Ma 'You're more precious than diamonds. Best we start again with a fresh lot of pastry making.
Jenny weighed out the flour on the scales.
'Ooty's a marvellous mouser.' said Ma.
'I've had some good mousers over the years, I miss all of my old cats something terrible, especially my old Cfor.'
Jenny, who was now weighing the cooking fat, asked why Ma's cat had been called Cfor.
'A for apple, B for ball, C for cat of course.' Ma chuckled.
'When I lost him, I did get another cat, bright orange he was, just like TigTig. I called him Pumpkin, but he was a terribly lazy boy.'
Ma started mixing the pastry dough.
'Run off and married a lady cat that lived in a fish shop he did. I think he only married her for her cod bits.'
Jenny burst out laughing.
'Oh Ma, cats getting married in a fish shop, you are funny.'
Jenny carried on giggling as she cut the new pastry into strips and spread them with marmalade, then she rolled them up like fat Swiss rolls and put them in the oven.
'I don't really like marmalade Ma' she said wrinkling up her nose.
'Nor do I.' said Ma.' But there's nothing a scarecrow wouldn't do for a marmalade cake or roll, they can't get enough of mar
malade sandwiches with extra salt and pepper on them. Tonight. After tea. We'll take Dickie Perch back to work and give all the scarecrow's their supper. It'll give you chance to meet the rest of the gang. Jenny was so excited she actually jumped in the air.
At teatime Jenny ate as fast as she could and Ma had to tell her to slow down several times, then she ran to put on her duffle coat, welly boots and Creamy's lovely new scarf.
In the barn Dickie Perch was dry, dressed in clean clothes, minus the wriggling mickies, and sitting in the big black baby pram waiting to go back to work - he was wearing a white sailor's cap and had a big grin on his face. Ma looked at the hat
'You know that hat will cause a ruck.' she said.
Dickie just carried on grinning.
'Well be it on your own head then.' and Ma chuckled at her own joke.
She placed a large basket of food packets on Dickie’s lap and they all trundled off to the fields.
Pushing Dickie in the huge pram they left the village and wound their way up the deserted dusky lanes to the hill top farm where Dickie worked. Ooty trotted beside them stopping occasionally whenever he caught a whiff of mickies in the grass.
Evening had turned the sky deep violet when Dickie finally got out of the pram at Digg's farm. Standing back at his post in ten acre field he waved goodbye wearing his new sailor's hat and munching his marmalade rolls. The spring night air was starting to get quite cold and blowy and Ma and Jenny battled to push the pram over the bumpy ridged fields to the next farm. Ooty soon got tired of walking and decided to ride the rest of the way in the pram. Ma put the hood up for him.
At 50 acre field, Jenny was introduced to Tattie Bogle. He was a huge scarecrow wearing a massive top hat that made him appear even taller. At near on seven foot he towered above Ma and Jenny, but he was very polite and shook Jenny's hand. Ma called him her gentle giant. A proper old feller. Tattie Bogle was also a very greedy old feller. Ma said that her Mother must have made Tattie Bogle with hollow legs and she gave him an extra-large supper packet full of marmalade sandwiches with extra salt and pepper. He ate two immediately and put the rest in his pocket for later.
More suppers were delivered one by one as Jenny was introduced to each of Ma's male farm working scarecrows. Salty Tam was nice and friendly. He was working at Peter Bun's farm, but Salty had dreams of going off to sea one day and becoming the Captain of his own ship. He wore an old fashioned sailor's uniform and showed Jenny how to dance the sailor's horn pipe. He wasn't very good at it but he said it was because the wind kept blowing him over.
At Brownlow's farm, Jenny met Grackle Blak, he was enormous too. His name in the English countryside means a black rook. He looked like a rook bird too in his long black coat, but Ma had cheered it up with a few colourful patches. Ma had also just knitted him a new colourful stripy scarf which she took out of the pram, much to Ooty’s disgust, and wrapped around his neck. He didn't smile but he did give Ma a kiss on the top of her head. Grackle seemed a bit of a grumpy old man and even call Jenny a scrag at one point and got a wagging of Ma's finger for saying it. His younger brother was much nicer. He came striding across the fields to meet then and to collect his own supper. His name was Crowbie Blak, which in the countryside means a black crow. Like his brother he was quite an ugly old scarecrow with a dark split wooden face and a huge hooked nose like a raven's beak. At first Jenny was a bit scared of him but he showed himself to have the nicest of personalities. Eventually Jenny decided she did like him as he made her laugh by telling her some silly jokes, plus he looked quite funny in his trousers with odd coloured legs and miss matched boots. One boot was painted red and the other was painted green and Crowbie said he had another pair of boots just like them at home, and that made Jenny laugh again.
The last of the big farm scarecrows were the Sack brothers, Spudder and Tater. Spudder was fairly chatty and was dressed in the brightest of clothes with a yellow check waistcoat and red patched trousers. He was quite a clown, putting his cap on back to front he gurned silly faces at Jenny. His brother Tater didn't look anything like him. Tater didn't say one single word to Jenny and kept his old tweed trilby hat pulled down over his eyes as he sat and munched his supper in silence. Ma said Tater was just very shy.
It was a strange and unbelievable sight to see moving, talking scarecrows sitting around in the twilight fields. Jenny thought she must be dreaming. She actually pinched her own arm at one point.
'Ouch,'
She wasn't dreaming. It really was happening and it was all true.
Little Spadger Bron, which means a brown sparrow, and all the lady scarecrows worked back home in the village itself. Most were on the allotment with a couple of them in private vegetable gardens.
'I think.' said Ma looking up at the night sky.' What with us being longer than usual tonight, chatting and doing introducing. We should give the supper basket to Dolly Clockaclay and go straight home. You can meet the rest of the girls tomorrow and anyway, Dolly will enjoy handing out the village suppers. She loves to feel important does Dolly Clockaclay.'
Ma had talked a lot that afternoon, mainly about March winds muscling in on April. At one point she had stood at the back door and sniffed the air several times. 'There's a storm on it's way.' she had told Jenny 'I can smell it coming. You mark my words it's going to be a biggy.'
Ooty had stood next to Ma and sniff the air too, but he had been checking that none of Dickie's trouser mice were still around. Jenny and Ma were now really struggling to push the pram along the dark country lanes as the wind blew colder and stronger. Ooty was snug inside the pram with the big black hood pulled up but the wind was trying to lift poor little Jenny off of her feet.
'I'm just wondering.' said Ma hanging on to the hood of Jenny's duffle coat.
'If we should have told the scarecrows to come home with us, this wind wants to play games tonight.'
Once they were back in the village Ma and Jenny turned up a grassy trackway with hedges on either side. Eventually the long path opened up to a huge garden behind a large old mansion house. A red hat with a white hand on top of it had followed them all the way along the path, bobbing up and down behind the hedge.
'Simply divined absolutely to see you Ma.' called out a posh lady voice.
Ma giggled.
'Out you come then Dolly Clockaclay I'd like you to meet my Jenny.'
A tall thin lady scarecrow wearing a red dress with big black spots painted on it leapt through a gap in the hedge and stood elegantly posing like a fashion model. One hand was on her hip and the other hand was on her hat to stop it being blown away in the wind. The hat was a red pillar box hat with two black feathers in it, one on either side. The lady had a little pointed tipped up nose and was wearing far too much red lipstick on her pale face, more like a clown's smile.
'Divined, darling simply isn't it absolutely.' declared the scarecrow.
Ma giggled again. 'Yes it simply is Dolly. Now do you think you could be a divine lady and hand out the village suppers to Spadger and the girls for me please? Jenny and I would like to get off home now before we get blown away to Devon.'
The lady scarecrow looked at Jenny and offered her white gloved hand as if she expected Jenny to kiss it.
'How you do.' she said in her funny posh voice.' Dolly Clockaclay is divined in absolutely simply meeting yous.'
Jenny said she was delighted to meet Dolly and cheekily curtsied to her. Dolly was absolutely simply thrilled. She took the basket from Ma, waved a white gloved hand in the air as if to dismiss Ma and Jenny and then tottered off back behind the hedge wiggling her bottom as she walked.When Jenny was sure that Dolly could no longer see or hear her, she burst out laughing.
'Oh Ma, she's so funny. I do like her. What a lady she thinks she is.'
'An absolutely simply divine lady too.' said Ma wiggling her bottom and walking on tiptoes pretending that she too was a fashion model.
'Dolly is one of the nicest scarecrows I ever made. She lives here with Angela Flowe
rdew most of the year. She only comes home to me if we get a really bad winter. Angela asked me to make her especially for her a few years ago. Dolly's lovely when you get to know her and she's the only clockaclay scarecrow in the whole of England - as far as I know.'
'What's a clockaclay.' asked Jenny who now wanted to know absolutely simply anything about scarecrows.
'Coco and biscuits first.' said Ma as the wind blew them home. 'I'm chilled to me old bones.'
Wearing their dressing gowns and sipping hot milky coco back in Mawpin cottage, Ma told Jenny more about Dolly Clockaclay. They were cuddled up together on the sofa in front of the fire with a big tin of biscuits and a knitted blanket over their legs.
'Have you ever seen a little red beetle with black spots on it?' asked Ma, dunking a biscuit in her coco and then trying to fish it back out with a teaspoon. Jenny said she had, it was called a ladybird.
'That's right.' said Ma.
'Down here in the country we call them clockaclays. Angela Flowerdew, up at that big house, grows masses of flowers in her garden and sells them to florist shops.'
Jenny was listening to every word. All scarecrow stuff was so interesting.
'Well.' said Ma. 'A few years back we had a plague of mayfid didies or some such insect, Angela did tell me their name, anyway, the little things nearly destroyed all of Angela's special flowers. The only way to deal with them properly, Angela said, is with clockaclays. So I made Dolly with a clockaclay nesting house in her tummy. The little clockaclays live in there safe and cosy and have hundreds of babies. Then in the spring Dolly lets them out, to fly around and deal with the mafy mayfid things.'
'Ma.' said Jenny.
Ma was expecting more questions about Dolly, but instead Jenny surprised her and said.
'Am I really going to live here with you forever or will you be sending me back to the children's home when the war stops?'
Ma looked horrified.
'Jenny my precious wren. If I live to be free hundred and thirteenth same as Birdie Stump, I promise I will never ever send you away and I'd fight anyone who tried to take you, real fisty cuffs. I promise, cross my old heart, Mawpin Cottage is your home forever, and I never ever break my promises.
'Oh Ma' said Jenny.' I love you so much - but what if horrible Miss Boot comes back to take me away?.'
Ma gave Jenny a big squeeze. She had tears in her twinkly blue eyes.
'Just let her try to take my little robin away, I'll box her bossy ears all the way to Devon and back. I love you Jenny wren and I can't imagine my life without you now. Don't you worry. You and Ooty are staying right here with me where you both belong.'
The wind outside began to howl louder.
'Hark at those trees fighting out there.' tutted Ma.
It sounded like a massive screaming tree fight was going on and Jenny had a funny image pop into her head of trees fighting each other with dozens of boxing gloves on the ends of their branches.The smoke from the log fire came puffing back down the chimney and floated around the cosy sitting room.
'Yep' said Ma coughing and fanning the smoke with a newspaper.
'I said it would be a biggy and here it comes. I wish we had brought the gang home now. I do hope they have the sense to take shelter in the hedgerows.'
Although Ma thought to herself after she had spoken that sense and scarecrows went together like cats and mice. Jenny cuddled up tight to Ma on the sofa, wriggling her toes underneath Ma's knees.
'If you get scared of the wind in the night.' said Ma. 'Just you come and jump in bed with me. We'll always be fine now we have each other ….but I'm a much better tickler than you.' and Jenny squealed with fun as Ma held her down and tickled her madly under the arms.
Ooty was stretched full out on Ma's poppy rug toasting his black bean toes by the fire. He was a very happy cat. He was dreaming he was swimming after a huge sardine. He twitched his legs swimming faster and faster....then he caught it, ate it all up, tail an all, and started snoring. Suddenly Jenny remembered Pinny Pipit.
'Ma, do you think Pinny will be all right on Captain Sam's boat. I hope he looks after her in this storm. She won't get blown away to Devon, will she?'
'Oh don't you worry about Pinny.' Ma smiled, 'she might be the tiniest scarecrow and the naughtiest one, but she has more sense than all the others shaken together in a jam jar. Pinny's an expert at hiding herself away. Sam will look after her anyway. I've known him since he was a nipper and used to come by on his Granddad's boat. You can always trust Sam.'