Four Children and It Read online

  ‘And you mustn’t do it again. It’s very dangerous,’ said Alice. ‘No tree-climbing allowed now, all of you.’

  Alice stayed at home with Maudie, while Smash and I tagged along in the car with Dad and Robbie. Poor Robbie looked sicker than ever.

  ‘Don’t worry, Robs,’ I whispered. ‘I think you’re right. You’ll still be able to climb. You’ll remember how. You’ll be fantastic, you’ll see.’

  ‘I don’t feel fantastic,’ said Robbie. ‘I’ve lost all my springiness.’ He held out his arms and legs. ‘They’re just all wobbly jelly now.’

  ‘Oh, don’t be such a wimp,’ said Smash. ‘You can do it. Look, you were heaps better at climbing than me yesterday. I don’t think it had anything to do with that silly old Psammead. You just believed you could do it – so you could.’

  Robbie stared at Smash, blinking uncertainly. Perhaps in her own weird way she was trying to be kind to him.

  ‘Really?’ he said.

  ‘Really!’ she said, thumping him on the back. ‘So buck up. You’re Tree Boy, the Little Champ. You show them all.’

  We got to the school and wandered about looking for the gym. It was a huge room heaving with children in leotards and tracksuits, all zipping up and down the walls, bouncing on the trampoline and somersaulting along the mats.

  ‘Oh wow!’ said Smash, her whole face lighting up.

  Robbie said nothing at all. I grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze. Tim came bustling up. He was a tall beefy man with a big grin of white teeth. He made Dad suddenly look surprisingly small.

  ‘Hi, Tim. This is very good of you. Here’s the little lad,’ said Dad, his hands on Robbie’s shoulders.

  ‘He is a little lad,’ said Tim. ‘Right, kiddo, we’ll do a few warm-up exercises first, okay?’

  ‘Can we warm up?’ said Smash. She gave a very fake shiver. ‘We’re very cold.’

  Tim laughed at her. ‘I mean you need to warm your muscles up so you don’t hurt yourself when you start using the equipment. But, okay, you can all three join in if you want. Take your shoes and socks off and we’ll give it a go.’

  ‘Hurray!’ said Smash, giving Dad a little nod.

  Dad shook his head at her. So did I. I didn’t want to join in with all these expert kids in their proper gym outfits. But at least I was keeping Robbie company, so I obediently did all the funny stretching exercises, copying Tim. Thankfully they weren’t too difficult.

  Then we had to do some work on the mats, bicycling in the air and simple head-over-heels stuff. Robbie’s never quite got the hang of head over heels. He had a go, but got stuck halfway, his bottom up in the air, Psammead-style.

  ‘Help!’ he gasped.

  ‘Roll over, son – don’t clown around!’ Dad called.

  Tim gently tipped Robbie into a more dignified position.

  ‘Do you know something, young man? I’m not too good at head over heels myself,’ he said comfortingly. ‘Don’t worry, we can’t be good at everything. Let’s get you over to the ropes so you can shine. Your dad tells me you love climbing trees, is that right?’

  ‘Well, it was right yesterday,’ said Robbie. ‘But I’m not sure I like to do that today.’

  ‘Don’t you want to have a go?’ said Tim gently, putting his arm round Robbie.

  ‘Not really,’ Robbie mumbled.

  ‘I want to have a go,’ said Smash, bouncing about on the mat like a jumping bean. ‘Watch me, Tim!’

  ‘Smash! Calm down now. We’re not here on your behalf, dear,’ said Dad. ‘Come on, Robbie! Stop being so bashful. Go over to those ropes and show Tim what you can do. Go on.’

  Robbie trailed over to the ropes, his head bent. Smash grabbed a rope straight away and started swinging.

  ‘Hey, hey! Not like that,’ said Tim quickly. ‘You’re not in a playground. You have to use the equipment properly. Now, I’ll show you the way I want you to climb.’

  ‘I know how to climb already,’ said Smash, demonstrating.

  She was halfway up in a trice.

  ‘See!’ she said, and slid down triumphantly.

  ‘Mmm,’ said Tim. ‘You’re certainly very good at going up – but not so good at coming down.’ He took hold of her hands, opening up her fists. ‘Look at those nasty rope burns – and you’ve got more on your legs, you silly girl. They must be really sore.’

  ‘They don’t hurt a bit,’ said Smash, though we could all see she was wincing.

  ‘I’ll show you how to come down without it hurting,’ said Tim.

  He climbed up, and then let himself down carefully, hauling himself elegantly, his body arched.

  ‘Cool!’ said Smash. ‘Okay, watch me this time.’

  ‘I’ll watch all three of you,’ said Tim. ‘Off you go.’

  Smash was off like a rocket, climbing right up to the very top of the rope.

  I made a deliberate mess of things, slipping and sliding and shaking my rope to try to divert attention from Robbie.

  He spat on his hands desperately, making Dad and Tim laugh, and then jumped up. And down. He tried again – and again and again. He couldn’t climb up at all. He was trying so hard the veins were standing out on his forehead and his eyes were popping, but he simply couldn’t do it.

  ‘Come on, Robbie!’ Dad shouted. ‘Try, son!’

  It was painfully obvious to everyone else that Robbie was trying as hard as he could.

  ‘Down you come,’ said Tim, helping him. ‘Let’s do some fun stuff instead.’

  He blew the whistle round his neck and called, ‘You’ve all been working very hard, so I think it’s time we played a little game. How about … Shipwreck?’

  Everyone cheered while Tim scattered hula hoops and extra mats all round the room. I looked at Dad. He was staring down at his knees, shaking his head. I edged up to Robbie and tried to squeeze his hand. He snatched it away. His lips were pressed so tightly together they’d almost disappeared, and he was blinking rapidly, trying not to cry in front of everyone.

  Shipwreck was a crazy game, but it was great fun, even if you were useless at gymnastics. You had to run round and round the room, and then when Tim shouted Shipwreck you had to leap on to a piece of equipment or jump inside a hoop or sit on a mat. Then when he blew his whistle you had to leap from one to another. If you couldn’t reach, you could maybe climb up the wall bars and sidle along and then jump. If you touched the ground, that meant you were out and you had to sit on the rescue boats – long benches at the side of the room.

  Robbie played Shipwreck so slowly and cautiously he wasn’t out first, thank goodness. I managed to stay in the game until there were only about ten of us left in, but then I skidded off a mat and my foot touched the floor. It looked as if Smash was going to win. She was brilliant at the game, leaping like a gazelle and landing lightly, often climbing her way round the walls. Soon it was just Smash and a tall, fair boy left in. They went round and round the room, so sure-footed it seemed as if they could carry on forever.

  ‘Go, Smash!’ I shouted, surprising myself.

  Even Robbie perked up a little and watched her properly.

  Smash grinned, loving the way we were all looking at her, and decided to show off. She jumped from a mat and clutched one of the ropes. She swung herself to the next rope, building up momentum, so that she could swing herself nearly, nearly, nearly as far as the gym-horse, and then she leapt for it and landed perfectly. She would have been fine, but she flung her arms out in a flourish. We all clapped and she got so distracted she slipped sideways, off the horse and on to the floor.

  ‘Oh, hard luck!’ said Tim, helping her up. Then he turned to the fair boy and clapped him on the back. ‘But well done, you!’

  Smash’s face screwed up.

  ‘It wasn’t my fault I slipped! They all made such a noise. Can’t I have another chance?’

  ‘No, you can’t,’ said Tim. ‘I would have had to disqualify you anyway, because you’re not allowed to swing on the ropes like that. I told you. You have to do as I sa