Timmy was scared. This was no accident, Rupert was clearly kidnapping him. He felt the bag being lifted and put onto the back seat of Rupert’s car, just as Tina returned.
‘Thank you so much for that. It’ll only be a short spot on the programme, but we will feature a link to your conservation charity so people can make donations.’
‘Thank you so much, Darling Tina.’
And with that Tina got into the car, and they sped off to the station.
Timmy wriggled fast. He got his paws free and used his razor sharp claws to cut a hole in the bag that he could squeeze out of. He quickly cut his way out of the bag, and climbed into Tina’s bag – not ideal, but safer, he hoped, than Rupert’s.
‘I’ll drop you at the station, Tina, then head off on my way. We’re nearly there.’
Timmy was terrified. If Rupert got away with him he would never be free. And what if Tina was in on it?
They pulled into the small station forecourt car park. Rupert, getting out to help Tina with her bags, noticed the gash in the side of his own. Then he spotted movements in Tina’s bag and realised what was happening. He grabbed Tina’s bag, wrenching it from her hands, then leapt back behind the wheel of his car. Tina screamed.
Just then Lady Linda came screeching into the car park in her pickup truck, pulling up directly in front of Rupert to block him in. Clearly she had noticed Timmy was missing and worked out what was going on. Timmy felt a glimmer of hope.
‘Stop there, and give me back my kitten!’ Lady Linda shouted.
Rupert looked furious. He leapt back out of the car, grabbing a gun from the glove box and pointing it at Linda.
‘I’ve used this before, and I’ll use it again if I have to,’ he said. ‘There is nobody here and we’ve disabled the CCTV, so no-one will see what happens.’
Lady Linda jumped out of the truck, but Rupert fired a shot into her leg.
She screamed – waking Bernard, who had been sleeping in the back of the truck, oblivious to all the excitement. Bernard is a very big dog. Bigger than any you have ever seen. Bernard is the biggest dog in the world.
Unlike Timmy he doesn’t understand a word of any other language than dog, but he is smart enough to recognise that screaming and blood mean real trouble. Hackles rising, he rushed to Lady Linda’s defence. When you are the size and weight of a hippopotamus, however, it is difficult to be passively defensive. Bernard leapt into the attack, crossing the distance between himself and Lady Linda’s attacker in a single bound. He picked up Rupert in his massive mouth, the gunman’s legs dangling uselessly inches from the ground. Rupert tried to kick and punch him, so Bernard shook him from side to side like a terrier shaking a rabbit.
‘Stop or I’ll shoot and kill you all,’ Rupert shouted, which was the second to last thing the spy ever said.
The last, just before Bernard bit his head off, was, Ag! Which is very like the Aaaaaggggghhhhh! so often cried by characters in books when they are savaged to death by wild animals, only much shorter.
Tina rushed over to help Lady Linda, who assured her that it was only a minor flesh wound, and that she’d had worse. Linda said they’d better try to clear up the evidence, but when they looked round they couldn’t see any at all – just the elephant-sized dog licking his lips.
‘If Rupert has been going round kidnapping and shooting people then he’s not who I thought he was,’ said Tina.
‘And the world might be a better place without him,’ added Lady Linda.
‘And at least I can stay here with you and Bernard,’ commented Timmy, much to Tina’s surprise.
‘Come back for more tea, and I’ll tell you the story – provided that you promise to keep it completely secret. As you’ve seen, it can be a dangerous secret to know.’
***
So, now that you’ve read this, and you know how important to Timmy it is that he keeps his existence as secret as possible, he has asked me to ask you – please don’t tell anyone about this story.
How to Make a Sand Witch
By David Smith
Suzy Simpkins loved hot sunny beaches more than anything else in the world. Sadly, Suzy’s summer to date had been a washout, with rain almost every day and grey miserable skies on the few rainless days. There was only one week left of the school holidays and the weather forecasts were awful.
‘Oh please let it stop raining,’ Suzy shouted from her bedroom window at the drizzling Saturday night sky, ‘I’m bored stiff of board games and terribly tired of tedious trips to swimming pools – I want to swim in the SEA...’
And much to Suzy’s surprise the sky listened, so when she woke on Sunday it was to brilliant sunshine pouring through the gap between her curtains.
‘Mum, can we...’ Suzy shouted as she ran downstairs to the kitchen, but she had no need to finish her sentence. Her mum was busy packing beach towels, swimming costumes and sun cream into a carrier, and her dad was adding the final items to a cool-bag already brimming with food and cold drinks.
The drive was not a long one, but finding somewhere to park took ages. Suzy was very frustrated, but eventually they found a space and Suzy raced onto the beach, relishing the sensation of warm sand tickling her feet and trickling between her toes. She had put her swimming costume on before leaving home, so rushed straight at the sea and splashed right in. The first shock of cold water took her breath away, but she was soon shoulder deep with gentle waves lifting her off her feet and the taste of salt on her lips. It was wonderful.
After her swim Suzy lay on a towel while her mum smothered her in sun-cream. It was very boring, but while lying on her tummy Suzy noticed the damp sand at the water’s edge. The sea was going out – perfect for exploring tide pools and making sand sculptures!
The biggest and deepest pools were in the shade around the rusty, seaweed-wrapped legs of the pier. Suzy found shells, shrimps and starfish; crabs, cockles and cuttlefish-bones; and even two tiny fish that darted and flashed between her wriggling fingers.
‘That one’s a baby pygmy whale,’ her dad said, pointing at the first fish, ‘and the other one’s a dogfish pup. If you watch and listen closely you’ll see the whale spout water and hear the puppy bark.’
‘You’re daft, dad,’ Suzy giggled, secretly wishing he wasn’t teasing.
After exploring the pools Suzy walked back up the beach and started work on a sand sculpture. Mum and dad helped a bit but soon grew bored and lay back on their beach towels, dad dozing while mum topped up her tan. Suzy didn’t say, but she actually preferred working on her own. It made her sculpture seem even more special.
She used a bucket to fetch water when she needed it but moulded the damp sand by hand. As she scooped it into clumps and bumps and hollows she used a lolly stick to add lines and details, then added shells and pebbles and other things she found on the beach for decoration. When she had finished, over an hour later, she had a full-size sculpture of a witch riding on a broomstick.
The witch had clamshells for eyes, a winkle for a wart on her nose, and a row of tiny pebbles for teeth. She was quite repulsive and very scary. Suzy fetched ropes of dark green seaweed from under the pier and draped them around the witches head and shoulders for hair. The hair made her even uglier and scarier.
Suzy was very proud of her sculpture and so was her mum. ‘It’s brilliant!’ said mum. ‘The best Sand Witch I’ve ever seen.’
Dad woke with a start. ‘Sandwich?’ he said. ‘Yes please!’
Suzy laughed, then realised she was absolutely starving. She sat down in the sand and rummaged through the cool-bag for food. The rolls and things she found looked okay, but it was such a special day they all seemed boring. It didn’t take much to persuade dad that fish and chips would be better for lunch, or that ice creams would make a nicer pudding than lukewarm yoghurts.
Suzy couldn’t finish her fish and chips, so she fed the leftovers to a huge gull she made friends with. The gull only had one foot – the other leg ending in a shrivelled stump – and he ha
d a black patch around one eye. Suzy thought he looked like a pirate. He seemed a very cheerful gull despite his withered leg, so she named him Jolly Roger.
Suzy wanted to swim again after eating, but her mum told her she must wait at least half an hour, so she wandered back under the pier looking for interesting shells and pebbles. It was here, in one of the largest pools, that Suzy found the biggest and oddest-looking mussel she had ever seen. It looked like two mussels that had grown together, joined at the base. They formed a shape like this:
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