by Diana Cooper
She looked so insistent that he picked up Jack, who was still in his pyjamas, and they hurried off to the tree together.
The men with the diggers and chain saws were just arriving. One of them tried to wave them back but Dad said gently that they had come to say goodbye to the tree. The man shrugged and turned away. Then Dad’s eyes opened wide. He saw a rare beetle, an almost extinct vole, a lizard, a dormouse and a frog. He didn’t see the little faces peeping down at him from between the leaves though — but Tara did.
Tara’s Dad immediately pulled out his phone and made lots of urgent phone calls. Before very long there were cars full of people pulling up at the edge of the meadow. The press arrived, wildlife experts, the police, a helicopter and lots of local people. The road contractors were protesting, they wanted to get on with their job and were getting very red faced and angry.
“No one’s going to cut down that tree or build a road now,” said Dad happily. And he was right.
The Admiral Butterfly
A week or so later when all the fuss had died down Tara tried to tell Mum about fairies and elves.
“You have to be able to tune into their wavelength,” she explained.
“You always did have a good imagination Tara,” laughed her Mum.
Tara felt a bit frustrated, it WASN’T her imagination! Just then a beautiful red admiral butterfly landed on Tara’s arm and spread out its colourful wings.
“Thank you Tara for saving me,” it whispered, before flying away again.
Tara and Ash-ting watched it go and grinned at each other.
In the same collection...
and more to come!
