Four Children and It Read online

  All the children were squealing now. Smash was laughing uproariously. Robbie was clutching me.

  ‘I think I might be scared of this kind of rat,’ he said.

  ‘Don’t be scared, Robs. It’s meant to be funny. Just laugh like the others. It’s just his silly story,’ I whispered.

  ‘Then the girl heard this strange moaning from down in the tunnel,’ said Marvel O’Kaye. ‘She peered through the gloom, rats circling her ankles, scrabbling at her legs, and saw a grotesque creature lumbering along the tracks, almost a man, but covered all over in rat hair, and with a long glistening pink tail trailing behind him. He opened his mouth when he saw the girl, exposing his sharp savage teeth, and then he groaned, “Mind the gap! Stand clear of the d-o-o-r-s!”’

  Everyone collapsed into laughter – except Robbie. He had his hands over his ears and was la-la-la-ing feverishly, trying to blot out all other sounds.

  ‘It’s okay, Robbie. It’s a joke. It wasn’t a really scary monster. He was just saying what those men working in the underground say when you get on a tube,’ I said, prising his hands away and doing my best to reassure him.

  It was no use. The deserted Underground station and the rats and the monster man were in Robbie’s head now, and he couldn’t blot them out, no matter how hard he tried.

  He’d have been so much happier seeing the puppets with Alice. Maudie was very hyper when we met up with them, singing a bizarre montage of nursery rhymes over and over again.

  ‘Hey diddle diddle, Jack and Jill went up the hill, Atishoo atishoo, We’ll all have tea!’

  ‘I think you’ve got your wires crossed there, Maudie,’ said Smash. ‘You’re singing it all wrong. That’s not a proper nursery rhyme.’

  ‘Yes, it is,’ Maudie insisted, and sang her own version again, louder.

  ‘That’s it, sing up, darling,’ said Alice. ‘Don’t take any notice of Smash. Your sister couldn’t sing any nursery rhymes when she was your age.’

  ‘She sings wonderfully now,’ I said.

  Alice and Dad looked at me as if I was crazy.

  ‘Smash doesn’t sing,’ said Alice.

  ‘You should hear her. She’s brilliant,’ I said. ‘She can make up her own songs. They’re really moving.’

  ‘Shut up, Ros,’ said Smash, but she squeezed my hand even so.

  Later, when we were all having a pizza, she asked me if I really thought she could sing well.

  ‘Come on! Like you had the entire O2 arena absolutely ecstatic,’ I said.

  ‘Yes, but that was just the Psammead wish.’

  ‘I know – but you really got into it. And it was you, after all.’

  ‘Well … maybe you’ll end up writing books too. You read enough, so you’ll probably get the hang of it and have your own published.’

  I felt myself blushing scarlet. I knew she was probably just trying to be encouraging back to me, but it meant a lot, even so.

  ‘I know one thing, though,’ said Smash. ‘It’s not ever going to work for Tree Boy.’

  ‘Oh, don’t. Poor old Robbie,’ I said.

  I looked over at him. He was nibbling at the edge of his pizza. It was his favourite, pepperoni, but he was acting as if he’d been given rat-tail topping.

  ‘He might end up a chef. He likes cooking,’ I said.

  ‘Well, it doesn’t look as if he likes eating,’ said Smash. ‘Don’t you want that pizza, Robbie? I’ll have it if you like.’

  ‘You’ve had too much already, Smash,’ said Alice.

  ‘You eat your own pizza, Robbie. Come on, eat it properly. Stop that prissy nibbling,’ said Dad.

  Robbie took a big bite and chewed. It was a mistake. I saw his face. I knew he was imagining rat-tails in his mouth. I grabbed him as he turned pale green.

  ‘Run, Robbie!’ I said, trying to rush him to the toilets.

  We didn’t quite make it in time. I mopped him up as best I could, but he really needed a clean set of clothes.

  ‘We’d better go home,’ said Dad – but that was a problem too.

  Robbie went even greener when he saw the underground sign and threw up again. We ended up having to get a taxi to the station, with Dad paying the cabbie double because he didn’t want Robbie being sick in his car.

  It wasn’t really a fun day at all. I heard Alice and Dad whining that it had been a waste of time and effort trying to take us for a lovely day out. They were in the kitchen, but we could still hear them clearly.

  I saw Robbie’s face and my heart turned over. I went into the kitchen.

  ‘Please stop going on about it!’ I said. ‘It’s not fair. Robbie couldn’t help being sick.’

  ‘Do you mind, Rosalind? We’re having a private conversation,’ Dad said coldly.

  ‘But we do mind, Dad. You’re making us feel bad and it’s not our fault,’ I said.

  ‘I’d appreciate it if you didn’t argue with me,’ Dad said. ‘You’re getting a bit above yourself, young lady. I think we’ve heard quite enough of your opinion.’

  ‘I can’t win, can I? One minute you say I’m quiet as a mouse – and the next I’ve got too much to say. You’re allowed to criticize us, but we’re not ever supposed to find fault with you,’ I said, my voice rising.

  ‘Stop shouting at me! Do you behave like this with Mum?’

  ‘Rosalind’s imitating Smash. She’s clearly a bad influence,’ said Alice, and sighed. ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do with that girl.’

  ‘I can hear you,’ Smash called. ‘Yatter, yatter, yatter – naughty, rude, disobedient, bad-mouthed Smash – more yatter, yatter, yatter. See if I care!’

  I wanted Robbie to join in too, but he was still very pale and quiet and shaky. He went up to bed at the same time as Maudie.

  Smash and I stayed awake for ages, having a wonderful moaning session about Dad and Alice.

  ‘I always miss Dad so much when I’m not with him – and yet when I am he’s sometimes so bossy and mean that I can’t stick him. I especially can’t stand him being bossy and mean to Robbie,’ I said.

  ‘I can’t stick my mum being bossy and mean to me – and she nearly always is,’ said Smash. ‘I love my dad much more. Well, I used to. He seems to have forgotten all about me since he got married.’

  ‘I think I love my mum more than my dad,’ I whispered, though I felt wicked saying it.

  ‘Let’s ring them up,’ said Smash, fishing for her mobile phone. ‘We’ll talk to your mum and my dad. I’ll go first.’

  ‘Are you sure your dad won’t mind, seeing as he’s on his honeymoon?’

  ‘Yuck! It’s disgusting, a guy his age going on a honeymoon,’ said Smash, pulling a face.

  She selected his number. It rang for a long time, while Smash tutted and tapped her foot impatiently. Then the phone switched to voicemail.

  ‘Hey, Dad, it’s me! Answer me! I have to talk to you,’ said Smash.

  She rang off.

  ‘Oh dear. Never mind.’ I hesitated. ‘Can I ring my mum now?’

  ‘No, wait. He’ll ring back,’ said Smash. She nodded triumphantly as her phone started ringing.

  ‘Hey, Dad! … What? … No, I’m fine, I just … Look, I know it’s past my bedtime, but I don’t care what time it is, I need to talk … Huh? To tell you stuff, obviously … Like what I’ve been doing. Which is actually pretty weird. You’d never believe the half of it … Well – no, I can’t really say, you’ll think I’ve gone crazy … No, nothing like that. It’s just there’s this kind of magic stuff … Okay, like a game, but it’s actually real … What? I don’t know how much it costs to phone the Seychelles … Don’t you want to talk to me? Listen, I haven’t said all the stuff about Mum – she’s being so mean to me … Like forever whining about my attitude, and making these veiled comments about my weight, like she thinks I’m gross … Yeah, yeah … What? What? Oh, you obviously don’t care! Bye, Dad.’ She ended the phone call abruptly. ‘I could make him care,’ she said bitterly. ‘They don’t realize, my stupid parents. I could