‘Oh, there you are,’ said Lucas, stepping into the snow-blanketed garden behind Mrs Jenkins’ house. ‘What are you doing out here?’
‘Feeding Daley,’ she replied, pulling a banana off the tree. ‘They’re his favourite.’
She fed it to the “dog”, who wagged his tail and chirruped.
‘Uh-huh,’ said Lucas, eying the beast cautiously. ‘Clara, darling, how many dogs do you know that eat bananas?’ He furrowed his brow and added, ‘Wait, how long has you mum had a banana tree in the garden? And why is the fruit ripe in the middle of winter?’
Clara shrugged. ‘Everything is topsy-turvy, remember? It doesn't have to make sense.’
Dale the Definitely-Not-Dinosaur bumped his head gently against Lucas’ thigh, demanding attention.
Lucas sighed and scratched the “dog” behind the ear it didn’t have. He was getting rather fond of the little chap, now he was over the initial shock of Clara bringing an oversized lizard home on a piece of string.
‘Yes,’ said Lucas despondently. ‘Silly me. How could I forget?’
‘Chin up,’ said Clara, tossing another banana in Dale’s direction. He snatched it out of the air and sat next to Lucas, munching happily. ‘Only one more day to go.’
Lucas did feel slightly cheered at the thought. ‘That’s true,’ he said, more hopeful than he’d been for days. ‘What have we got tomorrow?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Clara, avoiding meeting his eye. ‘It doesn’t say, exactly.’
Dread prickled the back of Lucas’ neck.
‘But I’m sure it’ll be fine,’ added Clara quickly, seeing the look on his face. ‘Nothing has been really bad, has it? Not really.’
Lucas imagined all the awful possibilities tomorrow could bring.
‘Give us a clue, Saffron,’ he begged. ‘Don’t leave us guessing.’
Oh, all right. Seeing as I’m in a good mood, I’ll let you know that it’s something I’ve been planning for a story anyway.
‘Oh,’ said Lucas, relaxing. ‘That’s okay, then.’
‘Are you sure about that?’ said Clara sceptically. ‘Just think of all the things she’s already done to us in the books.’
‘I was sure,’ said Lucas, tensing again. ‘Until you said that. ‘It’s not bad, is it Saffron?’ he said pleadingly. ‘Please tell me it’s nothing bad.’
Er, that depends on your definition of “bad,” I suppose…
‘You know my definition of bad,’ he said, panic rapidly rising. ‘You gave me my definition of bad. Is it that? Lordy, Saff, tell me it isn’t bad!’
Uh, okay then. It isn’t bad. Not bad. How’s that?
Lucas grumbled, but seemed appeased.
Oh dear. You’d think he’d know better by now.
Well, I suppose at least he doesn’t have long until he finds out...
Silly, trusting boy. He won't make that mistake again.
Oh, and just so you know, the next post is a bit of a spoiler.
Bit of a MASSIVE spoiler, actually, so if you don't want to know what happens at the end of books 3 that leads into book 4, you might want to give Friday's post a miss.
Just so you know :)
Or you can read it and find out how I plan on making Lucas's life difficult, it's up to you!
EIther way, another post is going on on Friday, so I'll catch you then - or not, depending on what you decide...
Saff x
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