The
Adventures of the Flying Boat
Winslow Nicholas
First published in 2009 by Winslow ePublishing
Smashwords Edition
Copyright © 2010, Winslow Nicholas
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication data.
A catalogue record of this electronic book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-0-9563620-1-8
Table of Contents
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Broders was standing in the middle of his garden talking softly to himself, ‘Our garden is such a lovely garden,’ he said, ‘it has bluebells, chrysanthemums, roses and all those pretty little yellow flowers that I can never remember the name of… something to do with tigers, or was it lions… anyway the birdies like them...’
Just then, a pretty Goldfinch flew over and perched herself on one of the branches only a few steps away from where he was standing, and began to sing! She looked straight into his eyes without showing the least bit of fear.
‘What a beautiful song,’ he said softly to himself. ‘It’s so lovely here; the sky is blue and the sun is shining brightly in the sky, so I’ll just sit right here on the grass and listen to…’ He paused for a while, then he sat down very carefully as he didn’t want to frighten the poor little singing bird. He bent his knees then lowered himself onto to the grass. Well, he tried, and he was just about to sit comfortably on the best patch of grass in the garden, when suddenly he heard a ghastly shriek!! It came from somewhere, but he couldn’t tell exactly where.
Then he heard it again, this time it was louder than the first one! Then he heard a voice shout, ‘It’s a monster! It’s a Monster!’ It cried, in a very high pitch voice. But he didn’t recognize it.
Just then, something large and pink ran swiftly past him, or did it glide past? He couldn’t tell, it was much too fast. Whatever it was, it almost knocked him to the ground.
‘Oi! Be careful!’ He shouted, but it was too late. He didn’t get a chance to see it properly. It was just a blur, then it was gone. He was almost seated on the grass, but the wind from the speeding object, or whatever it was, caused him to lose his balance and he fell flat on his back.
He lay there helpless for a brief moment, kicking his legs in the air and desperately trying to right himself. I must get up! He thought to himself, I must get up quickly to see what that horrible thing was!
When he got up he looked and he saw that it was a pink hump, and it was sticking out through the grass, like a mound. It had settled on the grass, and it was making a strange sound, which sounded familiar to him, but he could not make it out. That’s odd! He thought.
It’s not moving! ‘I’ll have to get closer,’ he whispered to himself. The sound from the pink hump grew louder and louder..! Very quietly! He thought, I’ll creep up to it very quietly! So he crept, almost on tiptoe, frightened that he might disturb the dry grass and alert the pink beast!
What if I annoy it, will it eat me? He thought to himself as he drew closer. It may have just had its breakfast, and may decide to just bite me instead, just for spite. Oh no! He thought, that’s just as painful. If it’s going to eat me it might as well just eat me all up in one go, and do it quick! He thought for a moment, shaking with fright, almost tripping up on his own feet and ploughing headlong right into the creature.
The thought of it all caused him to lose his nerve. He decided to turn and run away from the beast as fast as he could instead of facing it.
‘Broders! Broders! Where are you going?’ the familiar voice sounded once more, which he half recognized. It was coming from the beast!
Broders began to slow down to a fast walk then he turned round slowly only to see the pink and furry mound rising. It rose high in the air until it was twice its original height... but thinner?
‘Don’t go that way, Broders, there’s a monster in the lake!’ It said again in a soft sad voice.
Broders stood there silent, staring at the tall pink... thin thing? But it had legs? It has little legs like… that? How can a big scary monster have such silly little thin legs? And white socks and all... with pretty pink shoes… and shiny silver buckles?
‘Chi-Chi!’ He groaned when he finally realised, and then he tugged at the pink sheet, and pulled it from the beast’s head. Chi-Chi beamed as she was unveiled.
‘I’m not happy with you,’ Broders went on. ‘You could have hurt me, scaring me like that!’ Then he folded his arms and turned his back on her, then he stamped his feet in a little rage.
‘Broders,’ pleaded Chi-Chi. ‘But there’s a monster, a real monster in the...’
‘Stop, Chi-Chi!’ Broders interrupted, as he turned to face her. ‘You scared my birdie away, while he was singing a beautiful song, with your silly monster games!’ He said rather sadly, feeling somewhat sorry for himself.
‘But there is a monster in the lake, Broders. It’s true, I saw it,’ she pleaded. ‘That’s what I came to tell you. I was only playing around with the sheet. I didn’t mean to scare you, Broders.’ She grabbed his arm gently and began walking in the direction of the lake, urging him along in the hope that he would follow her willingly.
‘Come on then, I’ll show you. It’s a big silver monster with scales, like a giant fish.’
‘Chi-Chi, you know there’s no such thing as monsters, even big silver ones. You’re just making it all up anyway.’ Broders stamped his feet and bowed his head.
‘You’re not mad at me are you, Broders?’ Chi-Chi asked, in a soft voice, just like the one she had used to scare him with her monster trick.
‘Don’t be silly, Chi-Chi,’ Broders replied. Then he stamped his feet twice more.
He knew Chi-Chi had got the better of him and he wasn’t about to let her get away with it. He decided for now just to think about some sort of revenge, a trick perhaps; maybe something to scare her… he will have to think long and hard about which kind of trick to play on her as she was hardly scared of anything at all!
A sudden thought produced a cheeky smile, one that Chi-Chi knew all too well. Although he tried his best to hide it from her, she noticed it before he could turn away.
‘What’s that look for, Broders? What are you up to? Do you want to –’
‘Woof – woof!’ a faint high-pitched bark interrupted her. It was coming from the woods in the direction of Chi-Chi’s silver monster. They both stared at each other in silence. ‘Jellydoggie!’ they both cried together. Then Chi-Chi, fearless as she was, started to run off towards the woods.
‘Wait!’ Broders snapped, as he caught her arm just in time, preventing her from running away. ‘What about the monster?’
‘Oh, it’s in the lake,’ she said quickly, trying desperately to catch her breath. ‘We must go quickly, Jellydoggie has seen the monster and he may be in trouble.’
‘Don’t be silly, Chi-Chi, you know Jellydoggie would never get into any trouble unless there was food on offer-’ Broders giggled, ‘and I don’t think he’s going to eat the monster!’ Then his voice suddenly changed to a more serious tone, ‘What is he doing out anyway? He should be asleep in his house.’
Chi-Chi put her finger on her bottom lip and began toying with it. She couldn’t think of an excuse quick enough.
‘You didn’t let him out did you, Chi-Chi?’ Broders went on. But he didn’t need to wait for an answer. The look on her face said it all.
‘He wanted to play with me, so I had to let him out, anyway we must go and see if he needs our help.’
Chi-Chi broke away from his grip and ran through the woods towards the lake as fast as she could. Before Broders could shout stop, she had disappeared beyond the trees and out of sight.
Oh my, he thought to himself, now I’ll have to go after her. I can’t let her come to any harm. So he ran after her. And all the way there he was thinking about the monster; what does it look like? He thought... Will it have teeth? Is its mouth big…? Is it big enough to swallow a whole child or just half perhaps..? He suddenly thought with horror. Big enough to swallow all of us, me, Chi-Chi… and Jellydoggie too…oh no!
Just the thought alone made him run faster than he ever did in any race at school on a sports day. He surprised himself at the speed he was going.
With his head bowed low; his little arms were moving back and forth like little pistons on a model steam train. He felt as if he was gliding, as if he was being carried along by some invisible force. He felt totally fearless. Suddenly he could take on this silly monster, and beat him senseless with a broken tree branch!
‘If that silly monster harms my little sister, he said out loud to himself, as the ground rushed past his feet, ‘I’ll bust his silly, silver face! I’ll kick him in his big horrible, silver teeth! I’ll tear his silly silver arms off and throw them into the lake so that he can’t find them! And he won’t be able to eat any of us!’
With his head down, boasting like a soldier about to go into battle, he wasn’t really looking where he was going. He almost ran straight into the lake – straight into the mouth of the silver monster!
‘Broders! What are you doing? – Over here!’ Chi-Chi cried in a loud whisper. She was hiding in some bushes behind him. He turned around immediately and headed for the bush without even looking back at the lake, just in case he accidentally made eye contact with the monster, and it swallowed him up for staring, and being a rude boy.
‘What were you thinking, Broders?’ Chi-Chi said, as she grabbed his arm and pulled him down to the ground where she was crouched. Jellydoggie was lying beside her, wagging his tail with excitement.
‘We must keep quiet,’ she continued. ‘I found Jellydoggie here. He’s so clever; he knows when something is not right.’
‘Has he been quiet like this all the time?’ Broders asked, looking down at the little red dog.
‘Of course he has,’ Chi-Chi replied, as if Broders should have known that himself. ‘He knows there’s danger here, so he’s keeping quiet – not to disturb the monster.’
Broders stroked Jellydoggie and thought to himself for a while. Then he stood up and looked out towards the lake.
‘Broders! What are you doing?’ Chi-Chi cried in a loud whisper. ‘Sit down or the monster will see you.’
‘I can’t see his eyes,’ Broders said, trying his best to peer through the bush. ‘Have you seen his eyes?’
Chi-Chi stood up and looked through the bush at the large silvery creature, trying hard to see if it had any eyes.
‘No, I never thought of that,’ she said. ‘Maybe he has them shut – he must be asleep! Well, he hasn’t moved yet, so he must be asleep,’ she concluded.
Puzzled, they both looked down at Jellydoggie, who was lying on the grass chewing an old stick. He didn’t seem too bothered about the monster.
‘Then why isn’t Jellydoggie barking?’ Broders said. ‘Surely he would be able to smell the scent of a monster, and he would always bark at something strange, and he wouldn’t stop until he understood what it was.’
Broders suddenly had an idea. He bent down and picked up two large stones, which were lying beside Jellydoggie’s tail. Jellydoggie didn’t move, he just wagged his tail and yawned and then rested his head on his front paws.
‘What are you going to do with those stones, Broders?’ Chi-Chi asked, this time louder than her usual whisper.
Crack! Ching! The stones went as they struck the monster’s back then rolled off into the lake.
‘What was that?’ Chi-Chi cried, much louder this time. Then she realized what Broders had just done.
‘That didn’t sound like a monster!’ she shrieked. ‘Throw another one, Broders. Throw another one!’
She picked up some large stones too, and began throwing them at the monster. Plop! Plop! Her first two fell short – straight into the lake. Then there was a loud ching! ‘I hit it!’ She cried, jumping with joy.
‘I think it is dead,’ Broders said, as he threw his last stone, ‘it’s not moving at all! It must be dead!’
But before Chi-Chi could answer him there was a loud bubbling sound – Jellydoggie stirred and gave a short sharp bark, then he got up and ran to the edge of the lake and began barking at the bubbling creature.
‘It’s breathing, Broders. The monster’s waking up. Look!,’ Chi-Chi cried, jumping with joy on the grassy bank. Broders retreated to the bushes.
‘Stay back, Chi-Chi, or you’ll be eaten!’
Just then, the silvery object raised itself high out of the water. It looked just like a whale surfacing from the depths of the sea. Then Broders saw something red and shiny, although he thought he did. It was rather difficult to see clearly through the bushes, and with little Chi-Chi jumping around like a monkey, it was almost impossible to see anything at all.
‘Keep still, Chi-Chi!’ He cried, ‘I’m trying to see something!’
Chi-Chi didn’t hear him; she carried on jumping and making silly noises. He repeated himself once more, this time in a commanding voice, the one he’d often use to keep her out of his room, away from his precious collection of miniature cars and boats.
Chi-Chi continued jumping. He was about to repeat himself yet again… but there was no need to because Chi-Chi was now standing right beside him. She had obviously seen something that scared her and made her retreat to the safety of the bushes.
What looked like the red eye of the monster, glowed brightly, and then it dimmed suddenly like a dying candle. Then it glowed again.
Jellydoggie stood at the water’s edge barking furiously, while the two children huddled together behind the bushes. The creature’s bubbling grew louder and louder, then it changed to a deep gurgling sound which frightened them even more.
Broders thought of running back through the woods to the safety of the house, but he couldn’t leave Chi-Chi behind. And Chi-chi thought to run away also, but she didn’t know what Broders was thinking. She thought he might start to run as soon as the monster came towards them, so she got ready to run too.