sound better.
They stood and watched until he was gone.
Then Ella turned to Dani again.
34
“Did you notice that I said have not?” she asked.
“That’s how they said it in the olden days.”
35
Chapter 8
But that game was finished and after a little while they left the schoolhouse.
“That was me he was talking about,” Dani sighed.
“You can’t be sure,” Ella said. “Every day
hundreds of children get lost at Skansen. Didn’t
you know that?”
“Every day?”
“Yeah, or every second day.”
“What happens to them?”
“They get thrown to the bears. Didn’t they warn
you about that in my old class?”
Dani thought about it.
“No. The teacher only said that if we got lost
we should go and stand where they saw us last.”
“Well, did you do that?”
“Yes.”
36
“Well then. You did it right,” said Ella.
“I have to go back now in any case,” Dani
sighed.
But Ella didn’t think so.
“Let’s just play a little bit more.”
“What then?”
“A treasure hunt, I was thinking. What do you
think about that?”
Dani didn’t answer.
“Did you hear what I said?” asked Ella.
“Yes, you said a treasure hunt. But…”
“But what?”
“Is there any treasure here we can dig up?”
“Not yet. First we have to bury it. Come on!”
But Dani resisted.
“I don’t understand. What shall we bury?”
“The best thing we have, of course,” Ella
explained.
“And what is that?”
“Something we have with us. Have a look!”
Dani put her hands in her pockets and came up
with a fistful of sweet wrappers.
“No, not that,” said Ella. “I mean this!”
She held out her necklace—the one with half of
a silver heart.
Dani had the other half.
37
Dani shook her head.
Every morning she put on her necklace and she
wore it the whole day until it was time for bed.
“I’ll never in my life leave that here!” she said.
But Ella didn’t give up:
“It’s much safer if it’s buried. One of us might
lose half of the heart otherwise! What would
happen then, do you think?”
“I don’t know…”
“Broken friendship. Have you ever thought of
that?”
No, Dani hadn’t. In fact, never.
Ella stared at her.
“Do you really want to take that risk?”
Dani pressed her lips tight and they walked in
silence until they reached the moose enclosure.
Dani stopped to look at the moose, which lay on
the ground looking sad.
38
“It can’t be much fun being a Skansen moose
when you’re really king of the forest,” she said.
But Ella had already gone on.
Dani hurried after her.
“Where are we going actually?” she asked.
“To the bear mountain. If we bury the necklaces
there the bears can guard them for us!”
Dani swallowed.
“Not really, though,” she tried. “You mean
pretend, don’t you?”
But Ella was already on her way.
Dani followed reluctantly.
Soon they were at the bear mountain, but there
were no bears to be seen. They had all gone into
their caves to cool off.
“They’re probably having a catnap,” said Ella.
“Except it should be called a bearnap,” said
Dani.
“Maybe.” Ella looked thoughtfully at the barrier
around the bear mountain.
39
“This looks a bit hard to get over,” she said in the end. “I think we’ll go to the wolves instead.”
She hurried on. Dani trotted after her.
But the wolves were also nowhere to be seen.
“Maybe they’re also having a catnap,” Ella said.
40
“Or a wolfnap,” Dani corrected her. “You can’t
have a catnap if you’re a wolf.”
Ella wasn’t listening. She had just caught sight
of the guard again and pointed. “Pretend not to
see him!” she whispered. They hurried away from
the wolf area.
“Excuse me, girls!” called the guard.
They walked faster.
“Hello!” he called again. “Can I talk to you?”
Ella started walking even faster. Dani too. But
when they turned around, they saw that he was
right on their heels.
They sneaked off on small paths to lose him. But
they lost themselves instead.
When they stopped to catch their breath, they
found themselves on a little cobblestone street
with old wooden houses and shops.
They have these also at Skansen, so you can
see how the streets looked in the olden days.
“Why are we running, actually?” Dani asked.
“The guard might be nice.”
“We’re running because that’s part of it,”
puffed Ella.
41
Yes, of course, Dani thought. We almost always
run in our games.
But this didn’t feel like much of a game.
Ella crept into the garden of one of the houses.
“Come on, Dani!” she called. “This is the place
we’ve been looking for!”
42
Chapter 9
Ella had found a lovely little garden.
In one corner was a bed of roses, still in full
bloom.
“This will be good,” she explained, picking up a
piece of broken pot. “I can use this to dig with.”
“What shall I do?” asked Dani.
“Keep watch. You have to warn me if the guard
comes.”
“But…”
“We’re doing as I say!”
Dani went and stood at the corner of the house
and Ella climbed in amongst the thorny rose
bushes.
43
44
Soon you could hear her sighing and ouching.
“Ow ow!” she said. “What murdering thorns!
Ouch!”
But then she quietened, crouched down and
began to dig.
After a while she looked up happily:
“Come and see, Dani!”
Dani went over and inspected the hole.
“Nice work, eh?”
“Ye-es…”
“Now we take off our necklaces.”
Ella undid her chain but Dani still hesitated.
“No,” she mumbled. “I don’t want to.”
Ella looked sternly at her.
“You know what I said!”
“But I…”
“No buts!”
45
Dani took off her necklace unwillingly and passed it over. Their eyes met.
Then Ella put the two heart halves on the
ground. She laid them close together so they made a whole heart.
Ella had got what she wanted. Soon she would say
that the game was over.
But Ella didn’t say anything as she solemnly
filled in the hole.
“Say after me now, Dani,” she asked. “Rest in
peace, dear hearts!”
Dani cleared her throat.
“Rest in peace, dear hearts,” she repeated.
“Now no one can keep us apart!” Ella chanted.
“Now no one can keep us apart…”
“Not even death!” continued Ella.
46
They got no further before they were interrupted
by wild shouting in the street.
“Go and see what that is, Dani!”
Dani ran back and peeked around the corner of
the house.
Ella’s class was stampeding along the
cobblestones.
They rushed into the various buildings and
houses—then out again.
“What are they up to now?” wondered Ella, who
had come out to have a look.
47
Chapter 10
At that moment a girl with long hair caught sight of her.
“The-eeere! There she is,” she yelled. “I’ve
found her!”
48
Ella backed away, but the girl with the plaits ran after her and grabbed her.
Soon Ella was surrounded by her classmates.
They took hold of her and dragged her off as if she was a thief.
Dani stood there as if she’d been turned to
stone.
Only catching sight of the guard helped her
move again and she ran into the garden to hide
amongst the rose bushes.
The thorns ripped and tore at her, but she kept
going, then sank down on her knees and stayed
completely still.
He still managed to find her.
Soon she saw his big boots coming across the
garden…
He pulled branches aside and stood there
looking at her.
49
“Is your name Dani?” he asked.
Dani hummed something, which could sound
like both yes and no.
Dani was the name her mother gave her when
she was born, because she was so small and fine.
But her name was really Daniela.
“What did you say?” asked the guard.
“My name is Daniela, but I’m called Dani.”
“Good then!” said the guard, looking pleased.
“You’re the one I’m looking for! Come on, let’s go to your teacher. Or would you rather stay with us here at Skansen?”
50
No, Dani didn’t want to stay. She wanted to go
home to her father.
“I’m coming,” she said. “I just have to dig
something up. Could you move over a bit? You’re
in the way.”
The guard moved and Dani began to dig in the
earth.
Soon she felt a necklace between her fingers
and pulled it up. Then she found the other
necklace too.
She put them in her pocket.
“Have you finished?” asked the guard. “We
need to hurry.”
He held out his big hand. Dani took it and off
they went—he with normal steps and she with
short but fast ones.
Soon they reached the escalator leading to
Skansen’s front gates.
51
52
Chapter 11
No one saw the lonely creature creeping over to
the rose bushes where the treasure was buried.
It was Ella. Somehow she had managed to
escape from her captors.
Now she dropped to all fours, crept into the
prickly tangle and felt with her hands.
She groped around thoroughly, till she gave up
and crept out again.
“Dani,” she called. “Where are you?”
Her voice sounded desolate in the stillness of the garden. She sniffed.
“Dani, come out! Our friendship’s in danger!”
But no Dani appeared.
She was on her way to the gates where her
teacher was waiting.
53
Chapter 12
Even from a distance you could see that the
teacher was angry.
“Where have you been?” she said grimly.
54
Dani was frightened. Never before had her teacher been angry with her.
“I got lost…” she started.
“No, we will discuss that later,” the teacher
interrupted. “The class is sitting in the bus,
waiting.”
She turned to the guard:
“Excuse me if I sound angry, but this is a
teacher’s nightmare. You count the children—and
suddenly there’s one missing! You ask the others, but no one knows anything…”
“Not even Vicky and Mickey?” Dani squeaked.
The teacher paused.
“No,” she said. “Are they mixed up in this?”
Dani didn’t answer.
And the teacher turned again to the guard.
“Thank you so much for your help!”
“No problem,” said the guard. “You’d better
hurry now!”
The teacher took Dani’s hand and they ran the
whole way to the bus.
“Here I come with the lost lamb,” she puffed as
they drew up.
The whole class clapped and cheered and
Cushion’s father said: “What a relief! Can we go
now?”
“Yes, let’s go,” said the teacher and she sank
into a seat. “Sit here, Dani!”
She patted the empty place beside her.
“Now I want you to tell me what happened. Did
Mickey and Vicky have something to do with this?”
Dani shrugged.
“Answer me!” said the teacher. “What
happened? Tell the truth now!”
55
“They were dumb,” Dani admitted. “But it doesn’t matter. Otherwise I wouldn’t have met
Ella.”
“Ella? No, now listen…” the teacher protested.
At that moment there was banging on the door.
Cushion’s father was just about to swing out
but he hesitated, looking at the teacher.
“Are there any more lost lambs?”
“No, we have them all now,” said the teacher,
“but you’d better open the door.”
The door opened and Ella hopped in, her face red
from crying.
A murmur ran through the class.
“I just wanted to say something to Dani,” she
began with a croaky voice, looking around.
But seeing all the faces of her old class she
forgot some of what she meant to say.
“Hello, Cushion! Hello, Meatball!”
She raised her hand and waved a little. Then
she turned to her old teacher. “Can I come with
you?”
56
“But young woman!” cried the teacher. “We’re
not even going in the same direction…”
She got no further before someone else stepped
up onto the bus.
It was Ella’s teacher.
“Ella!” she shouted. “What are you doing here?”
And Ella remembered the reason.
“I just had to tell Dani something.”
“And you thought it was fine to disappear
again?”
Ella drew herself up. “I’m not disappeared. I’m
right here, as you can very well see!”
The teacher’s mouth tightened.
“This is the second time she’s left the class in
one day,” she complained. “This girl is crazy!”
“No, not crazy. Just a little headstrong and full of ideas,” said her old teacher.
57
The Northbrook teacher sniffed, took hold of
the truant and forced her toward the door.
Ella resisted and held tight to Dani, who was
running after them.
“Dani!” she cried. “Our friendship’s in danger!”
But the teacher from Northbrook took her away.
“When will we see each other again?” yelled
Ella.
58
“We’ll see…” began Dani, but she didn’t know
what else to say.
“You’ll see you when you see you,” Cushion
tried, to help out.
The Northbrook teacher lifted Ella out through
the door the way you lift an old Christmas tree on its way to the dump.
Dani’s teacher looked out through the bus window.
“That’s not looking good,” she muttered.
Dani watched, too, though she would rather
have closed her eyes. Everyone stared out the
window.
But soon Ella was out of sight.
The journey home continued in silence.
The teacher didn’t seem to be angry any more.
“And I thought you were making things up!”
was all she said. “There’s still a lot for an old fox to learn.”
“Fox?” Dani looked at her.
“So they say,” answered the teacher.
59
Dani nodded.
It wasn’t always clear what people meant. But
one thing was clear: Ella wasn’t happy. Ella was
sad.
And so Dani was too.
60
PART 2
Chapter 13
That’s how it was for Dani at the start of her
second year at school following the class trip to Skansen.
Once they’d come back on the bus and been let
out at school, she trudged home.
She was tired, and all she wanted was to see
her father.
At least they’d be together again.
62
But that’s not what happened.
As she was entering the yellow house, she
could hear happy voices coming from the living
room. Her father was sitting on the sofa with
Sadie.
“Ciao, Daniela!” he called.
That means hello in Italian.
He was clearly in his Italian mood.
“Hi Dani.” Sadie smiled.
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See You When I See You Page 2
