by J. M. Harris
Quickly, Noosum Foosum got out from underneath the table and stood up, frantic to discover where Katie was and to make sure that she was alright. He had told her not to move!
With much relief, he saw her standing safe and unharmed at the far end of the room. But what he saw next to her was something that he had never seen ever before. Something that he had never seen before and something that now he had seen it, he would always remember. It was a flower. But not just any flower. In fact it was the most beautiful flower anyone was ever likely to see. Try and imagine your favourite flower, maybe a delicate pink rose, or a magnolia tree in full-bloom. But now imagine the colours a hundred times brighter, and the scent a thousand times more fragrant. You may now be close to imagining – a rapture flower.
You see, while Noosum Foosum and Danny were busy gathering up whatever they could snatch, to stow under the kitchen table, Katie had bravely inched her way over to where Growly had been lying, over by the window. Eventually she had reached him, gathered him up and held him tight, relieved beyond measure to be reunited with him once more.
But, as she was about to make her way back, she noticed the rapture plant up on the window sill right next to her, now pinned against the window by the wind. She remembered what Noosum Foosum had been telling them about love, and how that was the only thing that could revive it. She looked at the rapture plant again. All but one of its buds had been ripped off by the ferocious hot wind and it leant helplessly against the window pane, barely alive. Then, she looked at her own dear Growly.
Then, she did a truly wonderful thing.
She told Growly that she loved him more than anything in the whole wide world, but that it was now Growly’s job to pass that love onto someone else and, biting her lip, she gently nestled him up against the rapture plant.
The instant Growly’s head grazed against the plant, something amazing started to happen. The stem immediately changed colour from a dead-looking dark brown to a vibrant-looking pale green. The colour began to travel upwards towards the leaves and the one remaining bud. The places where the other buds had dropped off budded anew and this time the buds were full and ripe. As bud after bud appeared, they started to open, one after another. Then, as each bud wonderfully and passionately blossomed, wafts of the most beautiful scent were blown across the room and, when all the buds had blossomed, the rapture plant began to sway ever so gently, and as it swayed – it sang!
The rapture plant began to sway ever so gently, and as it swayed – it sang!
This was the noise that Noosum Foosum had heard; and, as he and Danny joined Katie, the rapture flower sang to them. It sang a song without words, but a song of the most beautiful melodies and harmonies they had ever heard, a song that told of sadness and heart ache transformed into radiant joy.
As the rapture flower sang, and the listeners listened, a small bird landed on the window sill and put its head to one side as if it too was listening. From its tiny size and the tell-tale yellow stripe on its head they could see that it was a goldcrest – and it was transfixed by the beautiful melody.
A few seconds later, a second goldcrest landed delicately next to it. The children watched in amazement as the goldcrests were joined in turn by a robin and then a blue tit and a coal tit. A pair of butterflies alighted on the sill, wings slowly beating in time with the singing of the rapture flower.
A dragonfly and a damselfly arrived. Bees, wasps, even midges and ladybirds appeared as if out of nowhere and all settled obediently on the sill to listen to the glorious splendour that is the Song of a Rapture Flower.
As the afternoon wore on, there was not a creature around who did not hear that most beautiful of all sounds and see that most beautiful of all sights without going out of its way to come and visit and to sit and to listen; and, as the children hugged Noosum Foosum goodnight and promised to visit again very soon, they left with the love song of the rapture flower in their hearts.
And there is no better thing to keep there.
Chapter 4
That night, Katie lay in her bed cuddling Pink Bear (who had lain forgotten on her bookshelf since the time she had been given Growly one Christmas.) She was sad that Growly was now living at Noosum Foosum’s house but she knew in her heart that it had been the right thing to do and that she would be able to visit whenever she wanted.
Their parents, of course, had not believed a word of their amazing visit to Noosum Foosum’s house and Danny could see that Katie was feeling sad. As he fiddled absent-mindedly with something that was lying in the bottom of his shirt pocket, he wondered if there was anything he could do to cheer her up. The thing in his pocket felt soft and squashy and as he pulled it out he realised what it was.
Quietly he laid it on Katie’s pillow as she was drifting off to sleep and, as she turned her face sleepily to see what it was, her cheek glanced against it. With that one touch, the withered old bud that Danny had accidentally knocked from the rapture plant earlier that afternoon blossomed into a beautiful flower!
As Katie closed her eyes again, the scent of the rapture flower filled her dreams and she slept the sleep of someone who has given somebody else the most precious gift they could – their love.
The Secret of the Dragon’s Cave
Chapter 1
‘Snap!’ the dragon announced triumphantly to the others as he slapped his claws over the cards on the table.
The children looked at each other, then back to the dragon, then at each other again. They were not in fact playing ‘snap’ at all – they had been playing a game of Noosum Foosum’s invention that went by the name of ‘Moosh’. At no point in the game was it necessary to declare ‘snap’, but the dragon wasn’t going to let that small detail change his tactics – he was on to a winning strategy and he knew it. He sat back contentedly on his haunches and eagerly surveyed the remaining cards whilst contemplating his next game-winning move. Whenever he was magicked small (as he now was) his whole character seemed to change from one of kindly giant to one of excitable puppy.
Noosum Foosum was busying himself in the kitchen, baking scones for tea and gently singing along to the music from the radio. The kitchen window had been left ajar, allowing the sound of birdsong and the warmth of the afternoon sun to seep lazily into the room.
This pleasing scene had now been played out a few times in Noosum Foosum’s kitchen since the children’s first visit to his house and each time seemed more idyllic than the last. And this time was special. Special, because the dragon had come as well. Special, because Noosum Foosum had invited them to have their tea there again and, even more special, because he had promised to introduce them to Choosum Foosum. Apparently there was another who lived in the cosy hillside home, but had so far been unable to meet the children. Today, Choosum Foosum (pronounced chew some foo some) was due to complete his latest project and had offered to perform the very first demonstration to Noosum Foosum, the dragon and the children.
Right on cue, the buzzer on the kitchen intercom sounded (every room in Noosum Foosum’s house had an intercom) and a voice announced to the kitchen: ‘Please make your way to the prototyping laboratory – the demonstration is about to commence!’
Danny jumped down from the window seat and Katie tugged at the dragon’s wing, saying, ‘come on! Let’s go!’ The dragon looked a little disappointed, saying how he’d just been daydreaming about his forthcoming annual Easter trip to his Aunt’s and how he was going to beat all his cousins at Moosh. Katie coddled him along, saying that they’d finish their game later but that Choosum Foosum had something even more exciting to show them.
The group made their way out of the kitchen, along a corridor, took a left turn down a side-corridor (one which had hitherto been unexplored) and found themselves at another door which looked quite new. There was an intercom to the side of it, which Noosum Foosum buzzed and the door duly slid open.
The room into which they now entered was quite unlike Noosum Foosum’s cosy kitchen. Rows of shelves filled with equipment lined
the walls from floor to ceiling. A not unpleasant smell (which they later discovered was solder flux) tickled their noses and the whole place was lit by rows of strip-lights. In the middle of it stood another curious figure, just like Noosum Foosum, but of a lighter build and with a smiling face who said: ‘Come in, come in! I’ve heard so much about you all. It’s so exciting to have you here to see what I’ve been up to. Sit down, sit down.’ He motioned at some high stools next to one of the desks that furnished the room.
The children sat down and the dragon flew up to the desk and perched expectantly, looking up and down at the racks of test tubes, chemicals, electronic equipment and other harder to categorize objects. Choosum Foosum began busying himself at one of the other desks, clattering around and tsking occasionally. Katie whispered to Danny ‘what’s he doing?’ but before Danny had time to answer, Choosum Foosum theatrically whirled around, arms outstretched, palms open, to reveal what looked for all the world like a tin of baked beans.
His audience looked a little confused, thinking such thoughts as ‘surely he couldn’t have spent all this time making beans?’ and, ‘haven’t beans already been invented?’ But before any such thoughts could be voiced, Choosum Foosum came right over and held the can directly under their noses.
Despite the fact that the dragon had his nose so keenly up against the can that it was hard for the others to see much of anything at all, the children did notice that it had a few features which distinguished it from a normal can of beans. For one thing, it didn’t appear to be made of tin, like a normal can of beans, and for another it seemed to have some kind of dial on the top. Finally, it had a very delicate nozzle just next to the dial. It had just been made to look like a can of beans.
Seeing their confusion, Choosum Foosum explained: ‘It’s disguised! Better – in case it gets lost.’ And with that, he took the can in one hand, adjusted the dial with the other, unlocked the nozzle and then sprayed it directly into the face of the dragon!
Quite understandably, the dragon reacted by proceeding to sneeze uncontrollably. Once the sneezing had abated and the dragon had composed himself, he sat inscrutable and seemingly quite content whilst the others stared at him intently. For what was noticeable to them, but not apparent to the dragon, was that his appearance was starting to change…
Now, the dragon (being a dragon) did not have the healthiest of lifestyles. He never had a bath or a shower, he liked sticking his nose into holes and caves and anything in any way dark, dingy or dirty and, despite having tolerated several of Katie’s make-overs, he remained generally (not to put too fine a point on it) filthy! However, the spray seemed to be having a positive impact on his appearance. As the others watched, every last bit of grease, dirt, food, mess, muck and grime was ever so slowly making its way off his face! Little crumbs of leftover food were rolling down his neck and dropping onto the floor. Spots of grease were coagulating together and starting to run off his nose. Little bits of grass and leaf and soil were clumping together and then leaping off him. Before very long, everyone was astonished to discover that underneath all those layers and layers of muck and grime: He was green!
Immediately, all around was confusion. The Foosums were clapping each other on the back and shaking each other’s hands, Danny kept exclaiming ‘awesome!’ and ‘this is wicked!’
Katie flung her arms around the dragon’s neck exclaiming that he looked just so, so, handsome.
And even though he didn’t know quite what he had done, the dragon adopted a pose of proud self-satisfaction, because whatever he’d done, he knew he’d done it very well indeed!
Chapter 2
Back in Noosum Foosum’s kitchen, when the dragon’s spick and span appearance had been somewhat compromised by the consumption of celebratory scones, Choosum Foosum explained all about the spray.
‘You see, it’s something I had been thinking about for a while. Children – have you ever used a magnet to repel and attract metal things?’
Katie and Danny nodded that they had.
‘Well, I have invented a spray that allows any object you choose to either attract or repel everything else.’
‘So you mean that anything I spray will repel everything else?’ asked Danny.
‘Yes, or attract. That’s the point of the dial you see; turn it one way to attract and the other to repel and the more you turn it the greater the force. Your pet dragon here,’ and at this Katie blushed rose red at the idea that Choosum Foosum could think the dragon was her very own pet!
‘Your pet dragon,’ continued Choosum, ‘only got a gentle dose of repel, yet it was still sufficient to remove every last molecule of grime from his snout. If I turn the dial the other way, like this’ (he turned the dial) ‘and spray him again like this’ (he sprayed the dragon’s face once more) ‘this happens…’ at which every bit of scone, crumb, jam, butter and cream that lay around the dragon’s seat, as if by magic, flew up and plastered themselves all over his face! This made the dragon brighten considerably (he had not been so sure about the pet comment) and he started eagerly licking as much of his face as his tongue would reach.
Choosum Foosum handed the spray to Danny saying, ‘you try!’
Danny looked thoughtfully around the room, then turned the dial and sprayed his own hand. He reached out his arm and stretched his hand towards a nearby fruit bowl. The banana at the top of the bowl slid gracefully out and slipped into his waiting hand. ‘This is amazing…’ he whispered.
Choosum Foosum nodded in agreement, ‘it is rather, isn’t it – and you got the setting just right there; a lower setting wouldn’t have worked and a higher one would have given you a fruit boxing glove!’
Danny started munching his banana and handed the spray to Katie, who also surveyed the room for ideas. Then she looked out of the window, smiled at the thought she had just had – and sprayed her own hair! Crossing the room, she leaned out of the window and received a beautiful crown of blossoms from the cherry tree that had been gently shedding them all afternoon. She waltzed around the kitchen, plucking blossoms from her crown as she went and handing them out to the others. Everyone laughed, and this time it was the dragon’s turn to blush as Katie used the spray to make him a petal crown of his own.
Noosum Foosum congratulated Choosum once more on his splendid invention and Choosum thanked him and disappeared back to his lab.
Chapter 3
Now, you may recall that the first time the children had tea at Noosum Foosum’s, something very unusual happened: just as the clock struck four an almighty wind suddenly blew up, coming from the direction of the stove and everyone had to take shelter under the kitchen table.
Sure enough, not long after Choosum had left, Noosum Foosum looked at the kitchen clock on the wall and said ‘Goodness everyone – look at the time, it’s very nearly four o’clock. Quick! Everyone under the table – the wind will be here before we know it and that spray will be blown to who knows where!’ So they all huddled under the table, held their breaths (and the table legs) and waited…
And they waited. And they waited. Until at last Noosum Foosum poked his head out from under the table, and seeing that the kitchen clock now read ten past four suggested that they all carefully came back out. Gingerly they did, and Noosum Foosum scratched his head, and checked his calendar and checked his clock and intercom’ed Choosum to check with him what time it was; all the while not understanding at all why the wind had failed to materialise.
‘Does the wind always come, every day?’ asked Katie.
‘Yes, yes, you can set your watch by it’ replied Noosum Foosum, adding thoughtfully, ‘apart from the Easter weekend for some reason, otherwise it’s as regular as clockwork.’
At this, Danny’s ears pricked up. He remembered something that someone had mentioned earlier about Easter. ‘Noosum Foosum, may I borrow the spray again please?’ he asked. Noosum Foosum handed him the spray, still scratching his head and looking confused. Danny walked over to the small kitchen stove. ‘This is where the win
d comes from, isn’t it?’ he asked.
‘Yes,’ agreed Noosum Foosum, ‘the stove is sitting in a natural crevasse in the hillside which I use as a chimney. Look…’ and he squeezed past the stove and stood in the cave-like opening. Danny joined him and found himself on the edge of a precipice! Looking up revealed a circle of blue sky, whilst carefully peering downwards he could only see inky darkness. He could feel a gentle breeze moving up the chimney but nothing like the hot tornado that had hit the kitchen the last time they’d been there at four o’clock.
Thoughtfully, Danny took the spray, adjusted the dial to repel and the strength setting to strong and lifting his foot, sprayed the sole of his left shoe. Then, he held his breath as he slowly lowered his left foot back down to the ground. Just as he had hoped, the closer his foot got to the floor, the more he felt as if the floor was pushing it back up. Finally, he pushed up with his right leg and found himself standing one-legged on nothing – the spray was making his shoe repel the entire floor! Grinning, he repeated the procedure with his right shoe and to the continuing amazement of the others lowered it next to his left and found himself hovering about ten centimetres off the ground!
‘Do me, do me!’ cried Katie, jumping up and down with excitement.
Pretty soon, the children and Noosum Foosum were all hovering just above the ground. (The dragon of course could fly and so didn’t need any spray to be able to hover.)
Danny led them over to the stove and squeezing past it, they found themselves in the darkness of the cave next to the edge of the precipice. Before anyone had a chance to caution him, Danny stepped brazenly right off the edge and into thin air! The others held their breath, waiting for a cry of help, or worse, but, as their eyes gradually acclimatized to the dark, they were amazed to discover that he was still just in front of them, grinning broadly, but now suspended on nothing at all, bobbing gently in the updraft.
