Four Children and It Read online

  ‘Mmm, yes, I see what you mean,’ I said. ‘Well, it won’t really matter, will it?’

  ‘Yes, it will. There’s a tiger and a leopard and a wild boar. They’ll all have a terrible fight – and there’s a rhino who’ll keep charging everything,’ Robbie said anxiously, near tears.

  ‘Calm down, Robs, it’s okay. I’m sure they’ll be fine. Though maybe we’d better go home just to be sure. You can make them all a new zoo in Maudie’s room. It’ll be fun. You can use her building blocks to make proper pens,’ I said.

  ‘I’ll need to take home lots of sand for the camel, and grass and greenery for all the others,’ said Robbie. ‘How am I going to carry it all, and the animals?’

  ‘I know!’ I said. I ran over to Dad and Alice. Dad was doing The Times crossword and Alice was flicking through Grazia magazine. They both smiled at me peacefully.

  ‘Still playing your funny sandpit game?’ said Dad indulgently. He peered over at the others. He could obviously see Maudie and Robbie and Smash – but not the little animals scuttling here and there, making tiny roars and trumpets and barks and whinnies.

  ‘Yes, but actually we’d like to pack up soon and go back home. I think Maudie and Robbie are a bit tired,’ I said. ‘Shall I help gather up the remains of the picnic?’

  ‘That’s very helpful of you, Rosalind,’ said Alice.

  I grabbed the big picnic cool bag.

  ‘Yes, I’ll put the leftover sandwiches in. Oh, hang on a minute, I think Robbie’s got sand in his eyes,’ I said. I charged over to the sandpit with the cool-bag strap over my shoulder, and seized hold of Robbie.

  ‘What are you doing?’ he said, wriggling, as I pulled his eyelid open.

  ‘I’m just pretending you’ve got sand in your eye.’

  ‘But I haven’t!’

  ‘I know. It’s a subterfuge.’

  ‘A subwhat?’

  ‘We’re going to bung some sand and stuff in the picnic bag and the animals can all squeeze in there too, only I’ll hang on to the zebra just in case. I don’t trust your lion. There are sandwiches in there if they’re hungry. The carnivores can eat the bacon and the vegetarians can snack on the lettuce.’

  We packed up the portable zoo and shut the cool bag, hoping the animals would settle down and go to sleep. It was quite a long walk back and Robbie usually dragged his feet and whined, but he stepped out smartly now, eager to see if there were any more live creatures at the house.

  ‘Don’t worry so, Robbie. If they are alive, they’ll just be rootling around in Maudie’s room. And, even if they’ve got out, Dad and Alice won’t be able to see they’re real.’

  Dad and Alice couldn’t see them – but other people could. As we trooped through the garden gate of 52 Acacia Avenue the front door opened and a stout middle-aged lady came rushing out, handbag in one hand, a J-cloth still clutched in the other. She was screaming hysterically.

  ‘I wonder what’s up with Bridget? She’s my mum’s cleaning lady,’ said Smash.

  ‘Bridget! Goodness, what’s happened? What’s frightened you?’ said Alice, rushing to her.

  ‘Is it burglars?’ said Dad, reaching for his mobile.

  ‘No, no, it’s rats!’ Bridget sobbed. ‘Terrible snarling rats, lots of them. I went to hoover under Maudie’s bed and there they were, all trying to bite me. I’m not going back in the house, not for a million pounds. Terrible rats! You’ll have to call in Rentokil.’

  ‘Rats!’ said Alice, and she clutched Maudie and started screaming too.

  ‘Oh lord, rats?’ said Dad, going white. ‘Right, Alice and you children, stay outside, out of harm’s way. In fact we might be better if we all stand clear, while I phone the experts.’

  But Robbie dived through the open door without a second thought.

  ‘Robbie? Robbie, come back! Don’t be foolish, son, rats can bite. Robbie, please!’ Dad yelled.

  Robbie hurtled down the hall and up the stairs, taking no notice.

  ‘I’ll have to go after him,’ said Dad. ‘You stay here.’

  Dad hurried up the stairs while we waited, breathless. Alice retreated to the garden gate with Maudie in her arms.

  ‘Keep back, kids. David might chase the rats out. Oh dear lord, how terrible!’

  ‘Calm down, Mum. I’m sure there aren’t really any rats. I bet Bridget made a mistake,’ said Smash. ‘I bet Dad won’t find even a teeny little mouse.’

  And at that moment Dad came back, still chalk white, but grinning all over his face. He had his arm right round Robbie.

  ‘It’s okay, folks. Panic over! Bridget made a mistake. Poor woman, you’ll have to phone her, Alice, just to make sure she’s all right,’ said Dad.

  ‘But she said she saw lots of rats.’

  ‘She went to hoover under Maudie’s bed and saw Robbie’s little toy animals. She got such a shock she thought they were rats!’ Dad said, laughing shakily. ‘Look, show Alice, Robbie.’

  Robbie held out his hands. He had a leopard in one palm, a tiger in the other. They were both snarling and showing their teeth – but Dad and Alice were still affected by the Psammead wish and couldn’t see them move.

  ‘Just little lumps of plastic!’ said Dad.

  ‘Oh, thank goodness!’ said Alice.

  ‘Nice weeny pussy cats!’ said Maudie, reaching out to stroke one.

  ‘Careful, Maudie, they might bite,’ said Smash.

  Alice and Dad laughed as if she were joking.

  ‘You kids and your pretend games!’ said Dad. ‘Mind you, Robbie, you couldn’t have known there weren’t real rats in the house. It was incredibly brave of you to go dashing in like that, especially when I know you can’t stand rats either. You had those awful nightmares after listening to that Marvel O’Kaye and his lurid stories. I’m really proud of you, son.’

  ‘Well, I was pretty sure there weren’t really any rats,’ said Robbie truthfully.

  ‘Don’t be so modest, lad. Well done!’

  ‘You’re both one hundred per cent certain there aren’t any rats at all?’ said Alice, still fearful.

  ‘Come in and see for yourself,’ said Dad.

  So we all trooped upstairs. Dad and Alice saw little plastic toys scattered about the carpet, utterly motionless. But Robbie and Smash and Maudie and I saw a weeny wild boar savagely disembowelling one of Maudie’s fluffy teddies, a golden jackal gnawing one of her bedroom slippers and a furious rhino charging at her potty.

  ‘Hey, Ros, wake up,’ said Smash. ‘I’ve just had a brilliant idea.’

  I was in the middle of a lovely dream where Anthea and Jane and I were all playing with our dolls. Mine was exceptionally beautiful, with big blue eyes and long golden hair and a cream dress patterned with tiny daisies. I didn’t want to wake up.

  ‘Come on, sleepyhead!’ Smash bounced out of her bed and sat on mine, tugging at my duvet.

  ‘Stop it! I’m asleep,’ I groaned. I looked at my alarm clock with one eye. ‘It’s only six o’clock. Are you crazy?’

  ‘Listen! Maudie will be waking up any minute and Alice always gets up ever so early to give her a drink of milk. Well, let’s ask if we can all have breakfast – a breakfast picnic at the sandpit. That way we’ll really be able to make the most of our wish all day long. It’s my turn – and I’m going to ask that I can fly. I had this dream last night, you see. I was flying right up above Mum and David and they couldn’t reach me, though they kept leaping up and down, trying. It was such fun. Then I was flying over to see my dad in the Seychelles and he was whirling round with me and it was so cool, but then she started flying too, you know, Tessa, my new stepmother. She was just like Tinkerbell, and actually she is. Isn’t it weird when dreams do that? And she swooped off with my dad in a swirl of fairy dust and I was left, just kind of hovering in mid-air. The dream went downhill after that – but the flying part was truly great.’

  I must have been looking doubtful because she gave my shoulders a little shake.

  ‘I’ll wish that you can fly too, sil