by M. C. Badger
‘I have an idea,’ said Mila, getting off the sofa. She put on some shoes and began to dance.
Tappity Tap! It was a very loud dance.
‘What are you doing?’ asked Marcus.
‘I’m doing a MORSE CODE DANCE,’ explained Mila. ‘It might sound like clicks and clacks to you, but the taps spell out a message. Mrs Fitz and I have been practising. I’m asking her to bring us some sick-well soup.’
Marcus thought this was a pretty good idea.
He just hoped Mrs Fitz could make out Mila’s morse code taps.
When Mila had finished, she sat back down on the sofa.
‘I wonder what kind of soup she will make for us,’ said Mila. ‘It will have to be the opposite of the sort of soup she usually makes when we’re sick-sick.’
There was a knock on the door.
‘We’re about to find out,’ said Marcus as he went over and opened the door.
Mrs Fitz was standing there with a big pot in her arms. She smiled at Marcus and then remembered that she was supposed to be grumpy so turned her smile into a frown. She held out the pot.
‘I brought you some get even better soup,’ she said.
Marcus looked into the pot. The soup was cold. It was clear. It had bubbles in it.
‘This soup looks a lot like lemonade,’ said Marcus.
Mrs Fitz nodded. ‘That’s because lemonade is the main ingredient in this soup,’ she said. ‘In fact, it is the only ingredient.’
Mila took the pot. ‘Thank you, Mrs Fitz. I’ll serve it up.’
Everyone followed Mila into the kitchen. Mila got some cups and started to fill them.
‘Stop!’ cried Mrs Fitz.
Everyone stared at her.
‘This is not a get even better DRINK,’ said Mrs Fitz sternly. ‘It’s a get even better SOUP. You have to eat it out of a bowl, with a spoon.’
‘Of course!’ said the three Tinklers together.
‘Are you sure you didn’t grow up in a circus, Mrs Fitz?’ Mila asked.
‘No,’ said Mrs Fitz. ‘But I always wanted to run away and join one.’
Marcus thought Mrs Fitz would have been very good in the circus.
Mila got some bowls and Marcus found some spoons. Mila gave some soup to Marcus and some to Turtle. Turtle would only eat hers after Mila put some bits of lettuce in it.
Mrs Fitz had some too.
Eating lemonade out of a bowl didn’t feel at all strange to the Tinklers. It felt just right. And the lemonade tasted even better than it usually did.
‘I’m always going to have lemonade this way,’ said Mila.
Mrs Fitz looked shocked.
‘You can’t do that!’ she said sternly. ‘You can only have this soup when you’re sick-well.’
‘Well, that’s OK,’ said Mila. ‘We’ll probably be sick-well for a few days at least, don’t you think, Marcus?’
‘Unfortunately,’ said Marcus with a grin, ‘I think you’re right.’
The Sick-Well Day
published in 2015 by
Hardie Grant Egmont
Ground Floor, Building 1, 658 Church Street
Richmond, Victoria 3121, Australia
www.hardiegrantegmont.com.au
This ebook is also available as a print edition in all good bookstores.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means without the prior permission of the publishers and copyright owner.
A CiP record for this title is available from the National Library of Australia.
eISBN 9781743583005
Text copyright © 2015 MC Badger
Illustration copyright © 2015 Jon Davis
Series design copyright © 2015 Hardie Grant Egmont
Design by Elissa Webb
Illustrations by Jon Davis
based on original characters by Leigh Brown
We welcome feedback from our readers. All our ebooks are edited and proofread vigorously, but we know that mistakes sometimes get through. If you spot any errors, please email [email protected] so that we can fix them for your fellow ebook readers.
