by J. M. Harris
Now the children of course still had a problem; they were the wrong size. The dragon realised that he must have used so much magic to turn himself small as well as the children, that the magic was still working on Katie and Danny. He told them to sit down and close their eyes and count to three, while he used a bit more magic. Katie gave him a kiss on the nose and Danny said that they would be back to see him again soon, and they sat down, cross-legged on the grass, shut their eyes and started counting…
‘One …’
‘Two…’
‘Three!’
Chapter 3
Opening their eyes, the children found themselves tucked up in bed, back at home, their normal size once again. The dragon was nowhere to be seen and they realised that he must have magicked them all the way back home to save them the walk. They looked at each other across the bedroom they shared and their eyes danced as they remembered the wonderful adventure they’d had.
Their parents came in to tuck them up and the children told them all about their amazing trip to the funfair and the boat and how the dragon had been magicked small as well and about the squeaky wings. Their parents agreed that it did sound like a lovely adventure, but that maybe they had dropped off to sleep and dreamt it. Their father tucked them in and their mother gave them each a kiss. The light was turned out and they said goodnight, leaving the bedroom door ajar.
Katie and Danny looked at one another disappointed. Had it all been a dream? It had seemed so real.
As Katie was starting to drift off to sleep, she turned on to her side and felt a little lump in her pyjama pocket. Her fingers reached inside and brought out something warm and fluffy. Something fluffy … and sticky!
She pulled it out and squinting at it in the half light, she held it out to show Danny. It was just about possible to make out its colour – pink with a hint of grey. Pink, with a little hint of grey, the exact same colour as dragon smoke!
The children looked at it and looked at each other, and looked at it again, eyes open wide. They knew exactly what it must be – Katie’s bracelet – all made of candyfloss and dragon smoke.
As they snuggled down again and drifted off to sleep, their contented smiles told of dreams of funfairs, dragons, and magic…
Introducing Noosum Foosum
Chapter 1
Early one morning, while toast was being toasted and porridge was being porridged, while post was being opened and newspapers tutted, Danny and Katie, still un-breakfasted and pyjama’ed, slipped unnoticed out of the kitchen door and into the morning dew. Ever since their trip to the funfair, they hadn’t been able to stop thinking about the next adventure they would have.
They raced down the path and through the snicket in the hedge to the stream once more. Arriving breathless and panting, they looked up and down the bank to locate the boat. Clumps of reeds and rushes were spread apart, bushes peered into and even stones were turned and moved, but to no avail. The boat could not be found!
Disappointed, they sat together on the bank behind a clump of reeds wondering where it could be. Maybe someone else was having an adventure in it, right now.
They sat chatting and wondering about their boat, until the dew which was steadily seeping in through their pyjamas became impossible to ignore any longer and they reluctantly agreed to go home.
Just as they got up to leave, a faint humming sound caught their attention. They sat down again and listened. It was strange, yet somehow familiar. Then they realised what it was: the boat!
They peeked between the reeds in the direction of the sound and their hearts leapt as they were rewarded with the sight they had been yearning for: Their boat! It was coming gently down the stream, heading for a spot on the bank directly next to where they were sitting, followed by another boat, exactly the same!
The children watched in amazement as the two boats moored and a little figure in blue hopped out of one and boarded the other. Then, this boat setoff, leaving the first boat moored up and, presumably now with no-one on board, just as they had discovered it the other day.
Fascinated, they continued watching as the second boat disappeared out of sight around the bend in the stream. They longed to find out more about the curious figure dressed in blue, who apparently was the one who had provided the boat for them for their last adventure.
Working on the principle that whoever the person was, they would have to come back to collect the boat some time, the children agreed to go home and return after lunch to see if they could beat him to it.
At last, when lunch was finally over and when no-one was looking, Katie and Danny raced back down to their stream, desperate to see if the little boat was still there.
It was!
Danny suggested that, in order not to scare the whoever it was when he came back to collect the boat, it might be a good idea for the dragon to magic them small again. So, just as before, Danny found a blade of dragon grass (that was what they had decided to call it) and blew.
Sure enough their friend the dragon came whooshing over their heads and settled next to them. The children were both really pleased and excited to see him – telling him all about the curious figure that they longed to meet. The dragon agreed that it did sound like the beginnings of another brilliant adventure but, sadly, he couldn’t come with them this time as he had to go home to prepare his supper. So he worked his magic and they found themselves again in the cabin of their boat.
Once on board the boat, the children couldn’t hide their excitement as they waited for the whoever it was. And sure enough, they hadn’t been waiting long at all when the sound that they had been waiting for met their ears: the other boat coming back!
The sound grew louder and louder until they could see that the boat had moored up alongside theirs. They held their breath and as they peeked from behind their chairs, they saw the whoever it was stepping down from his boat and onto their deck. The door to the cabin slid open and, framed in the opening, stood the person who they would soon learn to call, ‘Noosum Foosum!’
Chapter 2
Noosum Foosum stepped down into the cabin, shut the door and set what seemed to be some kind of rather poorly looking pot plant down on the floor. He started fiddling with the controls of the boat, humming and tapping his fingers as he worked. He hadn’t noticed the children! Soon the boat was moving and heading in the direction from where Noosum Foosum’s own boat had come (the other boat now being in tow behind their own).
Noosum Foosum settled back into one of the chairs and continued to hum a little ditty as he watched the scenery go past. He had a kindly, slightly wizened face, with a pair of half moon spectacles balanced on his nose. To the children he looked old, and yet he had a youthful twinkle in his eye and a certain jauntiness in his step.
Katie couldn’t hide her excitement about being in the cabin with him any longer and skipped out from behind her chair and stood right in front of him! ‘Hello’, she said, introducing herself with a little curtsy.
Danny, not wanting to be left out and also wanting to impress their soon-to-be new friend, also jumped out from behind his chair to arrive next to Katie. Noosum Foosum seemed not at all surprised by the sudden appearance of the children. He sat up, introduced himself and welcomed them to the boat, offering them a seat each. He then started wandering around the cabin, pulling out flaps and compartments, pointing out dials and controls and telling them all about the boat.
He spoke of titanium and rubidium, of laminates and composites, of close-coupled actuators and long fibre thermoplastics. And as he talked and pointed and pointed and talked, the words seemed to make a warmth all of their own and the children snuggled in their chairs and listened.
‘So, you made this boat?’ Danny said eventually.
‘Aha! Yes, yes I did young man,’ replied Noosum Foosum, adding ‘would you like to see where I made it? We’re nearly there in fact. You could stay for tea.’
Katie had on her lap a cuddly black bear that she had brought with
her and s
tarted happily stroking and whispering to it.
‘Yes please!’ the children answered together. To have snuck into the boat was a thrill and an adventure, but to be invited back to Noosum Foosum’s house for tea was even better!
They snuggled back even deeper into their seats, preparing for the remainder of the journey. Katie had on her lap a cuddly black bear that she had brought with her and started happily stroking and whispering to it. On seeing this, Noosum Foosum bent down to take a closer look, asking ‘and who do we have here?’
Katie was pleased to pieces that her cuddly was attracting attention (so often he was completely ignored by grown ups.) ‘He’s Growly!’ she proudly announced, making him stand up to attention to allow the best possible inspection.
‘A Growly indeed?’ said Noosum Foosum, who seemed to be greatly interested in him.
‘It’s because he’s a bear,’ informed Danny, adding, ‘and bears growl.’
Noosum Foosum regarded Growly with renewed respect. ‘Well, it looks like you’re keeping him nice and happy on your knee.’
Katie smiled and agreed, hugging Growly tight to her tummy as she did so.
Just then, the boat started to slow and rise to the surface. (They had been so intent on Noosum Foosum’s description of the boat’s design that they hadn’t even noticed that it had been travelling underwater again.) The door opened and Noosum Foosum, carefully picking up his pot plant, led the way up the steps and into a large underground cavern – the stream must at some point have gone underground!
Katie stood on the small pier at which they were now moored and turned slowly round and round, gazing up at the ceiling high above her and the far walls of the cavern.
The children were led up a narrow spiral staircase at the back, which in turn led them past various intriguing doors and passages, each one offering the possibility of future adventure. Finally Noosum Foosum turned the wrought-iron handle of a white wooden door and led the children into the cosiest looking room you have ever seen.
The room was rounded and had a curved wooden bench with a thick covered cushion to one side. Low windows lined the wall next to the bench and it looked as if you would be very comfortable sitting or lying on the cushion and gazing at the view outside. The walls wrapped around the room, curving up to meet the ceiling near the centre, so that the whole effect was a bit like being inside a giant pumpkin or a knotted handkerchief. Across the room from the bench there was a small wooden table, suitable for maybe three or four people to sit and eat at. Close to that was a large fireplace. In front of it stood a wood burning stove whose flickering glow provided the only extra illumination to the room. Finally there was a simple cooking area, with an oven and a sink and various utensils hanging around the walls in handy positions.
Looking through the windows, the children could see that the room was positioned halfway up a hillside, giving them a wonderful view over the surrounding countryside. Rolling hills, graced with occasional copses of trees, lay either side of the river upon which (or indeed through which) the amazing boat had brought them.
Noosum Foosum invited the children to make themselves at home and they each gladly took a place at the table near the stove, the sudden warmth making the cold dewiness of earlier that day a distant memory. Katie positioned Growly on the edge of the table to give him a view of what was going on and the children watched as Noosum Foosum pottered around the kitchen. He set the pot plant from the boat down, filled a kettle with water and opened the door of the stove to give the logs a poke.
‘Your plant doesn’t look very well,’ Danny remarked, fingering its buds (one of which immediately dropped off and was hastily hidden away in a pocket).
‘No, I was hoping a trip out in the boat might perk it up a bit,’ said Noosum Foosum as he put the kettle on the stove, ‘but I think it hasn’t been properly fed for so long, it needs more than just a few boat trips.’
‘The soil looks very dry. Shall I give it some water?’ offered Danny.
‘Well, thank you for the offer but I’m afraid that this plant needs something even more essential to life than water. It’s very special. Do you know what plants need to grow?’
‘Yes – water,’ said Danny.
‘And sunlight,’ added Katie.
‘Quite right,’ agreed Noosum Foosum, moving the plant to the window sill on the other side of the room. ‘But this plant is special. It’s called a rapture flower. I found it all shrivelled up on the hill outside. It was nearly dead so I brought it inside to try and revive it. You are right that plants need water and light to grow but they also need feeding. Most plants get fed by nutrients in the soil. A rapture flower, however, needs to be fed by something far more precious.’
‘Precious? Like gold or silver?’ asked Katie.
‘Oh, something far more precious than those things. You can buy gold or silver, if you have enough money,’ said Noosum Foosum as he poured out the water from the kettle into three mugs.
‘Or, if you find an ‘X’ marking the spot where there’s buried treasure, then you could have gold or silver or gems or rubies,’ added Danny helpfully.
‘Quite right,’ said Noosum Foosum, ‘but I’m talking about something so precious that you cannot buy it with any amount of money, or find it with any treasure map. Something that you can’t find in a treasure chest, or in any safe in any bank. Something that you can’t see or hold in your hands, something you can’t eat or drink and can’t buy or sell. But something that anyone can give to anyone else if they choose to do so.’
The children looked mystified. ‘Noosum Foosum, please tell us! What is this thing that is so precious but you can’t even see it? Tell us, tell us!’ they demanded.
‘Love,’ said Noosum Foosum simply. ‘It’s the one gift that anyone can give to anyone else, and it’s the gift that can most change someone’s life. In the case of the rapture flower, it’s love that it eats and drinks, love that it uses to photosynthesize and to turn dried up brown shoots into youthful green ones, and love is what I have been giving it.’
‘Will it flower?’ Katie asked hopefully.
‘Well, I had never seen a rapture plant before and I’ve certainly never seen one flowering, but it is meant to grow the most beautiful flowers you will ever see, with the most wonderful scent you will ever smell. In fact, there is a legend that says that, if it gets enough love, it even starts to sing!’
‘A ledge end?’ asked Katie, ‘what’s that?’
‘Oh something that was maybe true a long time ago, you know, like unicorns, or … dragons.’
But before the children had a chance to say anything, something happened which Noosum Foosum had forgotten to warn them about. Something inexplicable, which happened every day at precisely four o’clock. And this particular day was no exception for, as the kitchen clock began to chime the hour, the room began to rattle and shake. The rattling and shaking was accompanied by a loud howling, whooshing noise, which seemed to be coming from all around them, growing in volume and intensity with each passing second.
‘Quick!’ shouted Noosum Foosum, taking refuge under the table and beckoning for the children to join him. ‘I’d forgotten. It must be four o’clock.’
The children, needing no further explanation, scrabbled under the table to join him and just in time, for, as they did, the source of the rattling and shaking and howling became clear. Their eyes turned to the fireplace to see the stove now shuddering frenetically, its fragile flue looking as if it was desperately trying to wrench itself free and fly off into the dark recess behind. Then, the whole room was engulfed in a tremendous hot wind, the likes of which could surely only otherwise be found in a hurricane. Kitchen utensils flew off their hooks and were catapulted across the room. The window shutters banged open and shut, open and shut, faster than any person could move them. Ceramic plates and mugs were hurled off the sideboard and dashed against the far wall, smashing into a thousand tiny shards which then joined the maelstrom of cutlery, pieces of food and other kitchen it
ems that now whirled around the room in their own mini tornado. The wind whipped against the children as they clung tightly to the table legs.
‘JUST SIT UNDER THE TABLE HERE WITH ME FOR A MINUTE,’ shouted Noosum Foosum, trying to reach out from under the table to retrieve nearby cutlery as it shot past. ‘IT WON’T LAST LONG.’
Danny cautiously tried to help Noosum Foosum, tentatively reaching out into the whirling mass to grab anything he could reach and bring to the relative safety of under the table. Katie saw poor Growly propelled off the edge of the table and shot across the floor, to arrive in a dishevelled heap at the far side of the room by the window.
Noosum Foosum shouted in her ear, ‘DON’T WORRY, HE’LL BE ALRIGHT, STAY WHERE YOU ARE, IT’S NOT SAFE JUST YET,’ and he started frantically gathering a collection of placemats and coasters that had just been sent flying.
But it was too much for Katie to just sit and watch as poor Growly lay upside down all by himself at the other side of the room and, seeing that Noosum Foosum and Danny were too preoccupied to notice, she inched her way out from under the table…
Chapter 3
Noosum Foosum had just finished rescuing pages from one of his recipe books when, as suddenly as it had started, the wind and noise stopped. The rattling died away to nothing, the howling became a mere whistle and the floor felt like a floor once more and not a fairground ride.
Noosum Foosum smiled at Danny, ‘there you are – doesn’t last long you see,’ and he was just about to get up and start putting the room right again when he stopped. It hadn’t quite finished – there was still a noise in the room. But, as he listened, he realised that it wasn’t a howling or a rushing or whining noise like before. This noise was different. It was a noise that was pleasing to hear – and it was getting louder, not quieter. He looked around for Katie to see what she made of it but found that she had gone!
