‘I think she looks cute,’ Freddy said.
Della ignored her brother and stood up. ‘Come on then, you’d better get the buckets and spades and start building my mermaid’s castle.’
Clementine and Freddy did as they were told.
‘We’re building it right there.’ Della pointed at a spot a little closer to the water. ‘Now, this is what it has to look like. I want a proper castle with towers and turrets and then there has to be a mermaid’s tail next to it and when it’s finished I’ll be the body and you have to dig underneath so my legs are covered by the tail . . .’
The girl’s voice droned on and on. Freddy thought it sounded very complicated.
‘Mummy, can you look after Lavender?’ Clementine asked.
‘Of course, darling.’ Lady Clarissa took the little pig’s lead and lashed it to her beach chair.
Lavender squealed as Clementine rushed off to catch up with Freddy.
‘When you want to go for a swim, come and let me know,’ Lady Clarissa called after Clementine. ‘And don’t wander off.’
Della stood with her hands on her hips and ordered Freddy to start digging. She directed Clementine to fill the buckets with water so they could shape the sand. Clemmie ran to the surf’s edge and back several times while Della stood like a policeman directing traffic.
As the mermaid’s tail took shape, Clementine’s and Freddy’s faces grew red and beads of sweat trickled down their temples.
‘It doesn’t look right,’ Della whined. ‘You need to make a scaly pattern.’
‘Maybe you could find some shells to decorate the tail?’ Clementine suggested.
‘I already thought of that,’ Della said, rolling her eyes. But she raced down the beach all the same.
‘Your sister’s bossy,’ Clementine said.
Freddy nodded. ‘She’d be even worse if you weren’t here.’
Clementine wondered how much more horrible the girl could be. She felt very sorry for Freddy.
The two children were busy working on their construction and didn’t see a group of girls approaching.
‘That looks amazing,’ gasped one girl. She had cascading chocolate curls and brown eyes as big as saucers.
Clementine looked up and shielded her eyes from the sun. ‘Thank you,’ she said.
‘Do you want some help?’ asked another girl. She had red hair and freckles, and wore a white sunhat.
Freddy nodded. ‘Yes, please.’
‘My name’s Alice-Miranda Highton-Smith-Kennington-Jones,’ the brown-haired girl said. ‘This is Millie.’ She pointed at the red-haired girl. ‘And that’s Jacinta.’ She pointed at a taller blonde-haired girl.
Millie and Jacinta both said hello.
‘What are your names?’ Jacinta asked.
‘I’m Clementine Rose.’
‘And I’m Freddy,’ the boy answered.
‘Are you brother and sister?’ Alice-Miranda asked.
Freddy smiled.
Clementine did too. ‘No, we just met yesterday,’ she said.
‘You look like twins,’ said Jacinta.
‘We’re having a holiday in Millie’s caravan, just up there,’ Alice-Miranda said.
‘I’d like to stay in a caravan but I don’t think Aunt Violet would like it,’ said Clementine.
‘Who’s Aunt Violet?’ Millie asked.
‘She’s my grandpa’s sister and she’s very old and Mummy once said that she was crusty like a barnacle,’ Clementine explained.
The three girls giggled, imagining an old lady covered in little shells.
‘Do you want to help build the tower?’ Freddy asked.
Alice-Miranda nodded. The girls pitched in and soon they had a very impressive castle next to the mermaid’s tail.
‘Do you live far away?’ Alice-Miranda asked the children.
‘In Parsley Vale,’ Freddy said.
Clementine nodded. ‘I live in Penberthy Floss.’
‘Really?’ said Alice-Miranda. ‘That’s just next to the village I live in, Highton Mill. And Parsley Vale is close to our boarding school too.’
‘I go to Ellery Prep,’ Clementine said.
‘What a lovely coincidence. I went there too and my friend Poppy goes there now. She and her brother and mummy and daddy live on our farm,’ Alice-Miranda explained.
‘Really?’ Clementine said excitedly. ‘Poppy’s my friend too!’
‘You’ll have to come and visit her in the holidays. I could take you riding on my pony, Bonaparte,’ Alice-Miranda offered.
Clementine nodded. She’d never been on a horse before but she was keen to try.
Lady Clarissa untied Lavender’s lead and walked the little pig towards the group of children. ‘Hello,’ she said, smiling at the girls and Freddy. ‘I see you’re making friends.’
Alice-Miranda introduced herself and the other girls to Lady Clarissa.
‘Is that a teacup pig?’ Millie’s eyes were almost popping out of her head.
‘Yes. Her name’s Lavender,’ Clementine said.
‘She’s adorable.’ Millie scooped the little pig into her arms.
Lady Clarissa looked around and realised that Della was missing. ‘Where’s your sister, Freddy?’
He shrugged. Lady Clarissa scanned the beach.
‘Della went to find some shells,’ said Clementine.
Clarissa’s heart pounded. She’d promised to keep a close eye on the children for Mrs Dent.
‘Who’s Della?’ Alice-Miranda asked.
‘She’s my sister,’ Freddy said.
‘We can help you look for her,’ said Alice-Miranda. ‘Don’t worry, I’m sure she can’t have gone far.’
Lady Clarissa’s eyes searched the crowd. She wasn’t nearly as sure as Alice-Miranda.
Just as the group was about to set off, a piercing scream sliced the air. The beach-goers looked towards the noise and several people leapt to their feet.
A young lifeguard sprinted towards the water.
‘Help!’ a voice shouted.
‘Oh no, that’s Della!’ Lady Clarissa spun around and raced towards the growing crowd of onlookers.
She pushed her way through the people, with Clementine and Freddy close behind her. Alice-Miranda and Jacinta followed. Millie stayed back, holding onto Lavender.
‘Della, what happened? Are you hurt?’ Lady Clarissa looked at the child, whose face was the colour of a tomato.
The lifeguard was doing his best to calm the girl. ‘Miss, did something sting you?’ A swarm of jellyfish had been sighted further up the coast.
‘It was in the water,’ the child sobbed. ‘It wrapped around my leg.’
The tall man directed the crowd of onlookers to stand back as he scanned the shallows. ‘Was it a stinger or a jellyfish?’ he asked. He couldn’t see any marks on the girl.
‘I don’t know!’ Della cried. She turned around to look at the surf. ‘It could have been a shark. There it is!’ She pointed.
‘Seaweed?’ the lifeguard asked, a bewildered look on his face. ‘Is that all?’
‘What do you mean?’ Della yelled. ‘It was beastly. It wrapped around my leg and pulled me out into the water and it made me drop all my shells and now I haven’t got any for the mermaid’s tail.’
Clementine noticed a pile of shells being tossed about as the water came in and was sucked back out again.
The young man frowned at Della and then turned to the crowd. ‘All right, folks, everything’s fine. There’s nothing to see here.’
Freddy sighed. He turned and walked back up the sand.
‘Della, why don’t you come and have a drink and something to eat?’ Lady Clarissa said kindly. She noticed the child’s bright pink shoulders and face. ‘Did you put any sunscreen on this morning?’
‘Yes, of course I did. It just didn’t work,’ Della sniffed.
Clementine raced back to their mermaid castle and grabbed a bucket. She ran to the water’s edge and tried to gather up as many of the shells as she could see.
&nbs
p; Lady Clarissa guided Della up the beach. ‘Come on, I think I’ll take you home. That sunburn looks nasty.’
Tears were streaming down the child’s face. ‘My leg hurts,’ Della sniffled. She wiped her nose with the back of her hand and reached down to scratch her thigh. ‘Something did sting me. It wasn’t just the seaweed.’
Lady Clarissa stopped and inspected Della’s leg. ‘I’m sure your grandmother will have some calamine lotion.’
Lady Clarissa turned and called back to Clementine, ‘Clemmie, why don’t you take your friends up to our umbrella. Tell Aunt Violet and Uncle Digby that I’m taking Della home and ask them to keep an eye on you and Freddy. You can all have some drinks and a snack.’
The child nodded. Her mother and Della walked away up the beach.
Clementine led her new friends to where Aunt Violet and Uncle Digby were sitting.
‘Hello Aunt Violet,’ Clementine shouted as she bounded up to her chair.
The woman gave a snort. ‘Good heavens, Clementine, you don’t need to scare me half to death.’
‘Were you asleep?’
‘Of course not.’ Aunt Violet sat up straighter.
‘Mummy said that we could have something to eat and a drink.’ She motioned towards her friends.
‘Are we taking in orphans?’ Aunt Violet asked. She tapped her foot on Uncle Digby’s bare leg. The man was snoring gently.
He grunted awake. ‘Yes, yes, what is it?’
‘We’ve got to feed the children. I don’t know where Clarissa has swanned off to,’ Aunt Violet grumbled.
‘Mummy’s taken Della home because she’s got a sunburn,’ Clementine said. ‘And she asked if you could look after us.’
Aunt Violet grimaced. Uncle Digby dug around inside the cooler bag and handed drinks to the children.
‘Hello, I’m Alice-Miranda Highton-Smith-Kennington-Jones,’ one of the new girls said. She offered her hand to Aunt Violet.
The woman perked up immediately. ‘Did you say Highton-Smith-Kennington-Jones?’
Alice-Miranda nodded.
‘Oh, how lovely to meet you.’ Aunt Violet took the child’s tiny hand into hers and gave it a shake. ‘We’re practically neighbours, you know. We’re at Penberthy House.’
Alice-Miranda smiled and introduced her friends.
Jacinta stepped forward to say hello and tripped on the edge of a towel. She went flying and sent sand all over Aunt Violet.
The woman’s face contorted.
‘I’m sorry,’ Jacinta said meekly.
‘So you should be,’ Aunt Violet tutted.
The children enjoyed their snacks and then went back to the sandcastle. They decorated it happily until Millie’s mother called the older girls to go in.
‘We’re leaving tomorrow morning,’ Alice-Miranda explained. ‘But I’m sure I’ll see you again at home, Clementine.’
Clementine hoped so too. She and Freddy farewelled their new friends.
‘Do you want to go and look at the cave now?’ Freddy asked Clementine.
The girl nodded. ‘But we’ll have to take Uncle Digby or Aunt Violet.’
‘Yes, but they can just have a rest where your mother did yesterday,’ said Freddy. He didn’t want the grown-ups spoiling their adventure.
Clementine returned a minute later with Uncle Digby in tow. ‘You don’t have to come all the way with us, Uncle Digby. There’s a big rock you can sit on.’
‘All right, then. Can I bring my book?’ the old man asked.
Clementine nodded.
Uncle Digby walked back to their camp site to get it.
‘Where’s Lavender?’ Freddy asked.
‘She’s asleep. Aunt Violet said that she’d look after her.’
Clementine and Freddy were armed with buckets in case they found any treasure to bring back, and Freddy had the little torch in the pocket of his board shorts.
Uncle Digby walked back to the children.
‘Don’t worry, Uncle Digby, we’ll be very careful,’ Clementine told the old man. She grabbed hold of Freddy’s hand and they ran off towards the rocks.
Freddy and Clementine hopped over the rocks just as they had done the day before. The pools of water sparkled in the sun as Clementine crouched down to look for the octopus. It was doing a good job of hiding. She could only see some shells and a couple of tiny crabs.
‘Come on, Clementine,’ Freddy shouted as he jumped from rock to rock.
She caught up to him where the rock shelf curved around the small headland.
To get to the cave, they had to climb down to a lower level. Clementine noticed that the waves were bigger now and every few minutes the surf would spray upwards, sending a shower of sea water onto the edge of the platform. A little channel ran between the rocks and cave’s mouth, but there was only a trickle of water in it.
Clementine and Freddy hopped down onto the sand.
‘Do you really think there could be treasure inside?’ Clementine asked, her eyes wide.
Freddy shrugged. ‘I didn’t find any last time, but I didn’t have a torch then so I couldn’t see properly. Granny says there used to be pirates on this coast a long time ago.’
Clementine’s tummy fluttered. This really was a proper adventure.
Freddy took the torch out of his pocket. He pulled the vines back from the cave entrance and shone the light inside. Then he took Clementine’s hand and the two children crept inside.
‘It smells awful,’ Clementine whispered.
Freddy held his nose. ‘Yuck! Like dead fish.’
He shone the light straight ahead of them. Five rectangular stones stuck out of the sand like giant’s teeth. Then he directed the torch at the sandy floor and up to the smooth curve of the roof. It didn’t look like there was any treasure. Just a couple of empty soft-drink bottles lying in the sand. The cave wasn’t nearly as deep as Freddy had hoped, either.
Clementine squeezed Freddy’s hand. ‘It’s really smelly in here. Do you want to go back for a swim?’
He nodded.
Just as the children turned to leave, Freddy’s torchlight caught something unexpected.
‘Did you see that?’ he asked.
‘What?’ Clementine whispered.
Freddy pointed the torch back to the same spot. Poking out from behind one of the stones were two red eyes. They glowed in the darkness.
‘What’s that?’ the boy breathed.
‘I don’t know.’ Clementine’s heart was pounding.
All of a sudden there was a strange barking sound.
Freddy squinted. ‘It must be a puppy.’
‘What if it’s lost?’ Clementine said. ‘We should help it.’
‘Maybe I can keep it?’ Freddy felt a rush of excitement as he imagined a new pet. He loved Lavender and had been planning to ask his parents if he could have a pet pig – but a dog might be even better.
‘Here, boy,’ Freddy said soothingly.
The two children walked closer to the creature. It had a long body and a funny oval head with tiny little ears sticking out at the sides.
‘That’s a strange-looking dog,’ Clementine said.
The creature barked again and stretched upwards. It danced from one side to the other.
‘That’s not a dog,’ Freddy gasped. ‘It’s a seal.’
Clementine didn’t know much about seals, but this one was small and very cute. She walked closer and reached out.
‘No!’ Freddy said. ‘He’s a wild animal. You can’t touch him.’
Clementine jumped back.
‘We learned about seals at school,’ Freddy said. ‘If people pet them, they get confused.’
‘What do they eat?’ Clementine asked.
‘Fish,’ Freddy replied.
‘Oh! That’s why it’s so stinky in here,’ Clementine said. ‘Do you think it’s lost?’
‘I don’t know,’ Freddy said with a shrug. ‘There are lots of seals on the next beach around from here. He looks okay. Maybe he’s just having some time out
from a bossy sister.’
Clementine giggled. ‘Do you think we should tell Uncle Digby?’
Freddy watched as the creature swayed from side to side.
‘You know, he could be our special secret,’ Freddy said. He liked the idea of having something only he and Clementine knew about.
Clementine nodded. ‘Okay.’
The seal looked at the children with its big brown eyes.
‘Come on, Freddy, we should go or Uncle Digby might get worried.’ Clementine tugged at the boy’s arm.
The two children left the cave and scrambled back up onto the higher rock ledge. They trod carefully between the pools.
Freddy’s eyes were still shining with excitement. ‘That was so cool!’
‘I know,’ Clementine said.
‘Hello there,’ said Uncle Digby as the children approached. ‘I was just about to come and find you. I thought you might like to go for a swim and then we can get some lunch.’
‘You should have seen what we found, Uncle Digby,’ Clementine burst out.
Freddy nudged her and frowned.
‘What was it?’ the old man asked.
‘I can’t tell you because it’s a secret,’ she said.
‘Oh, I see,’ Uncle Digby said seriously as he tried not to smile.
'I can’t remember the last time I had fish and chips on the beach,’ Aunt Violet said as she waved a plump chip in the air.
Uncle Digby had taken Clementine and Freddy to Mr Alessi’s to buy fish and chips for their lunch. In the meantime, Lady Clarissa had returned to the beach. She had left Della at home with her grandmother, whining about her sore leg and sunburn.
Clementine watched a seagull that had landed close by. It was stalking around their camp.
Her great-aunt popped her chip into her mouth and reached for another. This time she wasn’t quick enough. The cheeky grey-and-white gull raced in and plucked the tasty morsel from her fingertips.
‘Good heavens!’ Aunt Violet turned to face the feathered thief. ‘Get away from me, you horrid beast.’
Everyone laughed. Lavender ran towards the bird, grunting and squealing.
Uncle Digby grinned. ‘Perhaps you shouldn’t wave your chips around like a conductor’s baton, Miss Appleby.’
Clementine Rose and the Seaside Escape 5 Page 5
