Ben and the Spider Gate

by Angela Fish

  Jess turned around but she couldn’t see Ben anywhere. ‘Ben! Ben! Where are you? Don’t mess about, Ben. It’s not fair. If you don’t stop hiding right now, I’m going back without you. Can you hear me?’

  Jess thought she could hear Ben laughing but she wasn’t sure. She didn’t think anything was funny. She meant what she had said about going back but she didn’t know if she could find the way. She sat down on the ground and really began to cry. Big fat raindrops fell from the sky and hit her on the head. As she pulled up the hood of her coat, she saw Ben’s torch lying next to the tree trunk. She picked it up and shone it around her.

  ‘Ben? Ben!’ Jess called again and again. She was frightened now. Ben wouldn’t have left his torch if he was just hiding. ‘Ben. Please tell me where you are.’

  Then she heard a noise. Ben was calling her but she couldn’t tell where the sound was coming from. She shone the torch around again and saw the silver wand poking out from under a large bramble bush. She knelt down and looked through the brambles. Ben was lying on his side. His face was scratched and bleeding and he had a big bump on his forehead.

  ‘Ben! Are you all right? What happened?’ Jess used the wand to hold the brambles back so that she could talk to Ben.

  Ben groaned. ‘I caught my foot in something and rolled under here. I’m all scratched and I bumped my head and my foot hurts really badly. I’ve lost my boot as well. I don’t think I can get out, Jess.’

  Jess looked around. ‘If I can find something to hold up the brambles, do you think you could slide out?’

  ‘I don’t know. It hurts so much.’ Ben tried not to cry but the pain was so bad. He wished he was home in his warm bed.

  Jess took the torch and tried to find some branches. There were a few near the tree trunk and a few more back along the path. She didn’t really want to go off on her own but she knew that if she didn’t help Ben to slide out from under the bramble bush, they could be in the woods for a long time. Jess did not want to be there when it got dark.

  ‘Here.’ Jess shone the torch in Ben’s face and he blinked. ‘Look, I’ve found some branches. I’ve pushed them under the brambles and I’ll hold them up as far as I can. You try to crawl under them.’

  Jess pulled the sleeves of her coat down over her hands and caught hold of the brambles. She pulled hard. Ben pushed himself up onto his elbows and began to crawl forwards very slowly and then he stopped.

  ‘I can’t do it, Jess. The brambles are still too low. They’re going to cut my face again.’ He laid his head on the ground.

  ‘Pull your hood over your head,’ Jess told him. ‘Then pull it right down over your face. Just keep crawling towards me and you’ll soon be out.’

  So Ben did what Jess had said and very slowly he crawled out. Then he lay on the path. Jess sat down next to him. They were both very tired and the rain was pouring down. They knew that they should try to get back to Ben’s house but he couldn’t stand up. His foot was very swollen.

  ‘What are we going to do, Ben?’ Jess asked. ‘We can’t stay here all night.’

  ‘It’s all right. Dad will find us, I bet.’

  Ben hoped this was true but he didn’t even know when his mum and dad would be home. He looked around and saw how dark it was becoming, and he knew that he had made a big mistake.

  7

  Scoot’s Search

  When Ben’s grandmother woke up she knew that something was wrong. She could hear Scoot barking in the kitchen and she could see that it was raining again. She opened the door and the dog ran around whining and jumping up at her.

  ‘What’s the matter, Scoot? Where’s Ben?’ Gran looked into the kitchen but the light was off. She thought that Ben and Jess might be playing on the computer so she went into the dining room but there was no one there. Upstairs was also quiet so she went out into the garden. Perhaps they were in the shed? It was now raining very heavily.

  ‘Ben! Jess! Are you there?’ Gran called, but no one answered. She was really worried, so she put on her raincoat and went down the garden path. When she saw the chair and the open gate she was very afraid. She looked up and down the lane but there was no sign of Ben or Jess. She called and called to them but there was no answer, so she ran back to the house and telephoned Ben’s dad and told him what had happened.

  Half an hour later, Ben’s mother and father arrived home. Ben’s dad put on his boots and his big raincoat. He found his torch and then told Ben’s mum to telephone Jess’s mother. He called for Scoot and then they went through the gate into the lane.

  ‘Good boy, Scoot. Find Ben. Find Ben.’

  Scoot wagged his tail and ran around. First he went up the lane and then he came back down, sniffing the ground and the grass at the sides. After a few moments he lifted his head up and trotted down the lane towards the woods.

  ‘Oh no,’ Dad groaned. ‘Not the woods. Come on Scoot, before it gets too dark.’

  They hurried down the path but when they came to the place where the path split into two they didn’t know which way to go. Scoot looked up and down and then ran off to the right. Dad followed. All of a sudden Scoot stopped. He lifted up his head and began to shake.

  ‘What is it, boy?’ Dad asked. ‘What can you hear?’

  Scoot looked up at him, then turned around and ran back to the other path. He began to run faster, and Ben’s dad ran after him.

  Ben and Jess were cold and very tired. Jess didn’t think that anyone would find them so Ben was trying to think of some way to stop her from crying. He told her stories and he even told her what his birthday wish had been. He didn’t care now. It was almost too late to save the spider gate anyway.

  ‘What are we going to say, Ben? When everyone asks us why we came here?’ Jess asked.

  Ben thought for a moment. ‘If we tell them we were following the magpies so that we could look for the spider gate piece, they’ll say we’re being silly. The magpies did steal the magic wand though, so we could say that’s why we came here.’

  Jess frowned. She didn’t want to tell a lie but the magpies really had taken the wand, so she just nodded. She was looking sad again so Ben started to tell her more about Scoot’s training. Then he remembered that he still had the whistle.

  ‘Jess! The whistle is in my pocket. If you can reach it, then Scoot can find us if Dad brings him out. Please try.’

  Jess pulled the whistle out and blew it really hard. She kept blowing for a few minutes, then Ben tried. They took turns until they were both dizzy.

  ‘It’s no good, Ben,’ Jess moaned. ‘No one’s coming.’

  Then they heard a crashing noise and barking and shouting. Suddenly Ben’s dad was there and Scoot was jumping all over them and licking them and wagging his tail. Dad picked Ben up and told Jess to hold onto his coat.

  Back at Ben’s house everyone was waiting for them. Jess’s mum was crying and Ben’s mum and his gran were looking very worried. Dad laid Ben down on the settee and his mum took off his coat. Gran and Jess’s mum took off Jess’s coat and then washed her face and hands.

  Gran found a tracksuit and T shirt of Ben’s for Jess, as her clothes were so wet. When she was dry, Gran made her some hot milk and then Jess’s mum took her home. Her mother had not told her off yet, but Jess knew that she was in big trouble and tomorrow she would have to try to explain why she had gone outside the garden.

  After Jess had gone, Ben’s dad thought that he should take Ben to the hospital. The bump on his forehead was very big and his foot was hurting him a lot. So his mum wrapped him in a blanket and Dad carried him out to the car.

  ‘Be brave, Ben,’ Gran told him as they were going out of the door.

  Ben lifted up his head. ‘Sorry, Gran. I didn’t mean to frighten you.’

  ‘I know you didn’t,’ Gran told him, ‘but we don’t have time to talk now. You can tell me all about it tomorrow.’

  8

  The Final Piece

  The next morning when Ben woke up, he was hurting all over. He tried to sit
up but he felt so sick that he lay down again. He pushed back the duvet and looked at his foot. The doctor at the hospital had said that it wasn’t broken but that Ben should rest it. The nurse had cleaned it and then put a big bandage on it. Ben felt the bump on his forehead. It was very sore. The doctor said that it was just a bruise but that it would hurt for a week. Ben couldn’t see the scratches on his face but they were still stinging.

  He settled back down in his bed. It was early and no one was moving in the house. He felt very sleepy but he was so worried about what his mum and dad were going to say to him today. They had told him the night before how glad they were that he was safe, but Ben knew he had done something wrong and he was going to be in trouble about it. He was worried about Lox too, and the last piece of the gate. The doctor had said that Ben needed to stay in bed for at least four days. Ben counted on his fingers.

  ‘Today is Sunday. So that’s Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.’

  He also knew that he wouldn’t be able to put on his shoes or to walk properly for ages, and that meant he couldn’t go outside. It was hopeless. He’d never find the missing piece. His head was aching now and he felt very hot. He turned towards the window but he couldn’t see out because the curtains were closed. He shut his eyes and after a while he went back to sleep – he dreamed about magpies and pieces of the spider gate and dragons. Just at the moment when the dragon was going to take the last piece of the gate from the magpies, Ben’s mother came into his room and he woke up.

  ‘Good morning, Ben. How are you feeling today?’ she asked.

  Ben rubbed his eyes. ‘My head hurts.’

  ‘I’m not surprised,’ Mum said. ‘You have a really big bump. Now, let me help you to sit up and you can have your breakfast in bed. I’ll help you to wash, and to clean your teeth later, and then Dad and you need to have a talk.’

  Ben began to cry. ‘I’m sorry, Mum. I know I shouldn’t have gone out.’

  His mum smiled at him. ‘Don’t get upset, Ben. I’m sure you and Dad will be able to sort things out. I was very cross with you last night but I’m just glad that Scoot found you and that you weren’t hurt too badly.’

  Later that morning Ben thought about everything that had happened. He had told his dad about the magpies and the wand and how he had opened the gate. He said that it was his fault and that Jess only went along because he asked her to. Dad said he was putting a lock on the gate and that Ben was not to try to go out alone again until he was older. Dad promised to take Ben and Scoot out for training on Saturday mornings if it wasn’t raining. He said that when Ben was better he would have to help Gran and Mum for two weeks with extra jobs around the house. He would also have to help Dad to clear up the leaves from the garden and he couldn’t play on the computer for a month.

  On Thursday Ben was allowed out of bed. His mum pushed a chair near the bedroom window so that he could look out. She gave him a book and told him that Gran would come up soon to help him read it. Ben put the book down and looked at the big trees at the bottom of the garden. He could see that lots of the leaves had fallen off and most of the others were yellow or brown. There were only a few that were still green. He felt very sad.

  ‘Cheer up, Mister Grumpy!’ Gran sat down on the end of the bed. ‘What’s the matter?’

  Ben looked up. ‘Hello, Gran. I was just looking at the leaves. I don’t like it when they fall off.’

  Gran patted his hand. ‘Never mind. There will be plenty more next year. Now, what about that book?’

  ‘I don’t really want to read. Can you just tell me a story? Tell me about when you were little.’ Ben smiled at his gran. He knew she liked to talk about when she was growing up, but he liked the stories as well.

  ‘If that’s what you want, Ben. You remember that I used to live in this house when I was your age, don’t you? The trees in the garden weren’t quite so big then and the hedge wasn’t there at all. My father planted it when I was eight years old. I used to go out all the time to see how much it was growing. I would lie on the ground and stare at the bushes for hours. One day I fell asleep in the garden and had a very strange dream.’

  Ben sat up. ‘What dream, Gran? Why haven’t you told me this story before?’

  Gran smiled. ‘I don’t know. Anyway, I dreamed I was tiny and that I was talking to ladybirds and all sorts of creatures, then I woke up. It’s funny how I forgot that until now. It must have been your story about the boy in the garden that reminded me.’

  Ben looked at Gran closely. She was staring out of the window and smiling.

  ‘Oh, Ben. I nearly forgot.’ Gran put her hand into her pocket. ‘Your coat was so ripped from the brambles that we had to throw it away but this was caught in the lining. I don’t know what it is but I thought you might want it.’ She opened her fist and on the palm of her hand was a tiny parcel wrapped up in silver foil.

  Ben took the parcel. He unwrapped it carefully and there, sitting in a little nest of tissue paper, was the third piece of the spider gate. Ben was so surprised that he nearly dropped it.

  ‘Was I right?’ Gran asked him. ‘You do want it?’

  Ben looked at her and nodded. Gran stood up and said she had to go the shops. As she opened the door she turned around and said, ‘You take good care of that now. Looks like a real piece of treasure to me. You and Jess are certainly good explorers. I’ll see you later. Maybe you can finish that story for me soon?’ Then she winked at him and left.

  Ben turned the piece of gate over and over in his hand. What did Gran mean? Did she really have a dream in the garden or had she become small just like Ben had? Maybe Gran had seen the spider gate before it was broken. Ben didn’t know how long it had been there. He didn’t think Lox had said, but that didn’t matter now. Ben was worried that he wouldn’t be able to go out into the garden in time. He would have to think of some way to give Lox the final piece of the gate.

  9

  The Spider Wizard’s Magic

  Two days later, on Saturday, Ben’s dad helped him downstairs onto the settee. Ben could walk a little bit now but his foot was still sore. He watched television for a while, then Mum helped him into the kitchen.

  ‘Time to eat something, Ben.’ Gran told him. ‘We have to build up your strength before you go back to school.’

  Ben had missed a whole week of school. He hoped he would be well enough to go back on Monday, but he had to wait to see what the doctor said. He wondered how Jess was. He hoped she hadn’t been told off too much.

  ‘Mum,’ Ben asked, ‘is Jess all right? Have you heard from her mother? She will be allowed to play with me again, won’t she?’

  ‘Don’t worry,’ Mum said. ‘Her mother is bringing her over this afternoon for an hour. She can tell you what you’ve missed in school. Gran found some cards in the drawer this morning so you can play with those if you like.’

  Jess arrived at half past two and her mother said she would come back after she had done her ironing. Ben’s mum and dad had gone to the shops and Gran was in the kitchen baking cakes. Jess told Ben all about the models they were making in school and about the drawing she had done of a castle and a dragon. Then Ben pulled the piece of the spider gate from his pocket.

  ‘Look, Jess. It’s the last piece. Gran found it stuck in my coat. It must have been under the bramble bush all the time.’

  Jess opened her eyes wide and put her hand over her mouth. ‘That’s great, Ben, but how are you going to put it under the hedge if you can’t walk properly? Your mum and dad won’t let you go out by yourself yet will they?’

  ‘No, I don’t think so,’ Ben said, ‘but you could do it, Jess. You know where the cave is and it wouldn’t take you long. You’d only have to put the piece next to the cave and just leave it there. I wanted to see them put the gate back together again, but we’ll know the next time we look if the Spider Wizard fixed it, won’t we? I’m sorry I won’t be able to see Lox again, but maybe next year, when the summer holidays come again, I might try to find him. Will you do it, Jess?’


  Jess wasn’t sure. She didn’t want to get into trouble again. She’d had to go to bed early every night last week and she wasn’t allowed to watch television at all for two weeks. She asked Ben, ‘What about your gran? Won’t she stop me from going out?’

  Ben shook his head. ‘I think she already knows about the gate but I’m not sure. Anyway, she’s just gone upstairs so if you’re quick you can be back before she comes down.’

  Jess took the piece of gate and held it on her hand. She touched it with her finger. ‘It’s really pretty, Ben. Maybe I could have it as a charm for my bracelet.’

  Ben’s face went red, but before he could say anything Jess said she was only joking. She ran into the kitchen and opened the door quietly. She ran down the path and knelt down next to the hedge at the back of the garden. She remembered the spot where Ben had shown her the spider cave and she placed the last piece of the gate carefully on the ground. She waited for a moment but nothing happened so she stood up and ran back to the house.

  ‘I did it, Ben. I did it,’ she said as she sat down next to him. Her cheeks were red and she looked pleased with herself.

  ‘Thanks, Jess.’ Ben smiled at her. ‘It’s up to Lox now. We can’t do any more.’

  Two weeks later, when Ben was much better and was able to walk on his own, he went back to school. Jess asked him if the spider gate was fixed but he told her that he hadn’t been able to go into the garden yet. Jess hadn’t been able to visit him after the day she’d put the last piece of the gate back, because she’d had a cold and her mother had made her stay in the house.

  ‘I’ll have to wait for Saturday,’ Ben told Jess, ‘because it’s too dark now after school. I hope it doesn’t rain.’

  Jess groaned. It was such a long time until Saturday. She really wanted to be with Ben when he looked but she didn’t know if he’d ask her. Then he said, ‘If your mother will let you come over on Saturday, we can look together, if you like.’