Isadora Moon Goes on a Field Trip

by Harriet Muncaster

  “You know a lot, Oscar,” said Sashi as we finished our lunches and stood up from the table. “You must be very smart!”

  “Oh,” said Oscar, looking pleased and embarrassed. “Well…I just have a lot of time on my hands!”

  After lunch we all followed Miss Cherry to the archery room, including Oscar. Jasper raced toward the dress-up box and pulled out the archer’s outfit.

  “I’m just like Robin Hood now!” he cried, putting it on over his clothes.

  Then it was time for an archery lesson. A woman came in and showed us how to use a bow and arrow. We had to shoot the arrow across the room and try to hit the target on the other side.

  “It’s really hard,” said Dominic as his arrow went flying up toward the high ceiling.

  “Really hard!” agreed Jasper. “Even with my archer’s outfit on!”

  Oscar was the last to have a turn.

  “Wow!” said everyone after Oscar’s arrow hit the bull’s-eye. “Amazing!”

  “Well done!” said the woman, sounding really impressed. “See if you can do it again!” She handed Oscar another arrow, and Oscar shot it right into the bull’s-eye for the second time.

  “Double wow!” said the woman. “You are really talented.”

  “Whoa!” said the class, and Jasper’s eyes almost popped out of his head.

  “You are awesome, Oscar!” he said.

  Oscar looked down and shuffled his feet with embarrassment, but I could tell he was really pleased.

  “I can teach you how to do it sometime, if you like,” he offered.

  Jasper nodded his head eagerly.

  “Yes, please!” he said.

  * * *

  After archery we made our way upstairs and looked around some of the other rooms, including the one full of swords and shields, and the tall tower with one hundred steps leading up to it. Samantha found the princess outfit in the royal bedroom.

  “It’s time for the last room!” said Miss Cherry once we were back on the ground floor again. “It’s the chapel. I think there’s one more costume left in there too. Who isn’t dressed up yet?”

  “Me!” said Dominic. “I want to be a knight or an archer!”

  “Oh dear, Dominic,” said Miss Cherry. “I’m afraid it’s more likely that you’ll be a monk.”

  The chapel was a beautiful room with arched ceilings and lots of carvings covered in a thin layer of silver. Connected to the chapel was another fancy room with a huge complicated-looking instrument in it.

  “Oh!” said Dad. “An organ! I would love to be able to play the organ! Very gothic and vampire-y, don’t you think?” He sat down on the seat and started to press the notes. A tuneless song came out, and everyone put their fingers in their ears.

  “Dad,” I hissed. “I don’t think you’re supposed to touch that!”

  “It’s all right,” said a man who was standing nearby. “We encourage people to try the instruments. In fact,” he said, gesturing toward the table next to him, “there are lots of medieval instruments for you to play here!” He picked up one and handed it to Oliver. “This is a lute,” he said. “Try it out.”

  Oliver started to twang on the lute as the man handed out the rest of the instruments to the class. There was a horn, a flute, a tambourine, a harp, a drum, a wooden recorder, and several others.

  “I know how to play the recorder!” said Zoe.

  “I want to play the tambourine!” said Sashi.

  “Can I try the harp?” asked Samantha shyly.

  Soon everyone in the class had an instrument to play. Oliver strummed his lute, Sashi banged her tambourine, Samantha plucked at her harp, Dominic blew on the flute, Zoe puffed on the recorder, Bruno honked on a trumpet, Jasper banged on a drum, I tootled on the horn, and Oscar played the organ.

  “This is so much fun!” shouted Bruno. “It’s like we’re in a band!”

  “It is!” yelled Sashi. “We should have band practice every week!”

  “That would be so great!” cried Zoe. “We could put on a concert.”

  “I think you all might need a bit more practice before then,” bellowed Dad, putting his fingers in his ears.

  But there was one “person” who didn’t seem to need any practice. Over the sound of all the squeaking, squawking, crashing instruments was the sound of the organ. And it was being played beautifully. A haunting, bewitching melody rang out over the noise as Oscar ran his silvery fingers up and down the keys. One by one my friends stopped playing their instruments and began to listen to the angelic sound of the organ.

  “That is such a pretty song!” sighed Samantha as she put down her harp.

  “Amazing,” said Sashi.

  “We definitely need Oscar for our band,” said Bruno.

  “Definitely,” agreed Jasper.

  Miss Cherry, who had closed her eyes to listen to the music, suddenly frowned and looked up.

  “Who’s Oscar?” she said.

  Oscar’s fingers stopped moving over the keys of the organ and came to rest slowly in his lap. He didn’t say anything.

  “Hang on,” said Miss Cherry, counting all the children in the room. “This boy is not part of the class!” She narrowed her eyes at Dad. “Didn’t you say you were taking him to the lunchroom?”

  “Um…,” said Dad.

  Miss Cherry started to look panicked.

  “We must find his parents!” she wailed. “Or we might be accused of kidnapping!”

  “We won’t be accused of kidnapping,” said Dad. “Oscar doesn’t have any parents.”

  Miss Cherry looked confused, and Oscar hung his head sadly.

  “It’s true,” he said. “I don’t have anyone.”

  “What do you mean?” asked Miss Cherry in bewilderment. “Everyone has someone.”

  “Not Oscar,” I said, going over to where he was sitting at the organ and putting my hand on his shoulder. Miss Cherry, Dad, and the class all stared at us.

  “There’s something special about Oscar,” I said. “He’s…he’s…”

  “He’s what?” asked Sashi.

  “Tell us!” said Bruno.

  “Ooh, is it a secret?” asked Zoe.

  “Well, yes,” I said. “Sort of. You have to promise not to scream or run away.”

  “Of course we won’t run away!” scoffed Bruno. “Oscar is awesome!”

  “Yes!” agreed Zoe. “We love Oscar! What could possibly be scary about him?”

  “Exactly!” I said. “Nothing at all!”

  Carefully I lifted the helmet from Oscar’s head and put it on the floor. My friends and Miss Cherry gasped.

  “Is that…is that…?” they stuttered.

  “It’s the ghost we saw earlier,” I explained. “But he’s not scary. He’s really nice. He just wants to make friends.”

  Bruno took a deep breath and stepped forward.

  “I would love to be your friend, Oscar,” he said. “I’m sorry I was scared of you before.”

  “I’m sorry too,” said Zoe. “I should have gotten to know you before I decided to run away.”

  “Me too,” agreed Sashi.

  One by one my friends stepped forward to shake Oscar’s silvery hand. Oscar beamed from ear to ear, and I could tell he was really happy.

  “It’s been lovely to meet you, Oscar,” said Miss Cherry, taking her turn to shake his hand. “Definitely an experience I’m sure none of us will forget!” She looked down at her watch.

  “Oh dear,” she said. “We are running late for the bus. I am afraid it’s time to go home. You all should take off your costumes.”

  “Oh no!” said Zoe.

  “I don’t want to go back yet,” said Bruno.

  “But what about Oscar?” asked Sashi. “We need him for our band!”

  Oscar sat on the stool by the organ and hu
ng his head. He seemed very sad again.

  “I wish I could be in your band,” he said. “Today has been the best day I’ve had in a very long time! I hope you will all visit again. It gets pretty lonely in this castle.”

  “I can only imagine,” said Dad glumly.

  I thought of our home, with Mom and Baby Honeyblossom and Pink Rabbit. I looked at Dad and knew we were thinking the same thing.

  “I know,” he said. “Why don’t you come back with us? You can come and live in our vampire-fairy house. What do you think?”

  “Oh yes!” I exclaimed. “We have a very nice attic with lots of nooks and crannies!”

  “In fact, we are in need of a house ghost. All the best vampires have them,” said Dad.

  “Really?!” said Oscar. “You would really let me come and haunt your house?”

  “Of course!” said Dad. “We are a ghost-friendly family.”

  Oscar smiled the biggest smile I had ever seen in my life, and the whole class cheered.

  “That would be amazing,” he said. “I would love that. It would be the best thing to happen to me in two hundred years!”

  “What fun!” cousin Mirabelle whooped.

  “You know what would make it even more fun?” said Dad as he smoothed his perfectly perfect slicked-back hair. “These bumper cars would be much improved if they had bat wings and could fly in the air.”

  “Oh no!” I said. “You promised: no more magic. Let’s leave them as they are!”

  “But bat wings would be amazing!” said Dad. “Vampire-bat cars! Oh, come on, just one more little spell!”

  “Let’s do it!” shouted Mirabelle as she screeched past us. I saw her let go of the wheel and take out her potion kit. Then she mixed something up at lightning speed and threw it into the air. The bumper cars transformed into sleek black bat-winged cars and began to rise upward.

  Harriet Muncaster, that’s me! I’m the author and illustrator of Isadora Moon.

  Yes, really! I love anything teeny-tiny, anything starry, and everything glittery.

  What’s next on

  your reading list?

  Discover your next

  great read!

  * * *

  Get personalized book picks and up-to-date news about this author.

  Sign up now.