The Education Centre was really cool. There were posters on the walls and long tables with mini glass tanks on top. Inside the tanks were spiders, centipedes and millions of other types of CREEPY CRAWLIES for us to look at. I even found the answers to the last two quiz questions which were:

9. An ant can lift ten times its body weight – true or false?

True. Ants are super strong.

10. How many legs does a spider have?

Too many if you ask me!

We all handed up our sheets and waited to see who had won the quiz, and I really thought it might be me because I had my fingers crossed for good luck and everything. But it was actually Maya who won, and when she was given a cool lemur keyring we were all a bit JEALOUS.

But then we cheered up because Katie told us we could hold some of the insects. All of us were daring each other to be the first to volunteer to hold one in our hand. I decided to be brave and hold a really big hairy caterpillar, which tickled as it CRAWLED up my hand.

It was climbing around my fingers and having a GREAT TIME exploring my arm, so I reached into a tank and picked up a stick for the caterpillar (who I had named Vanessa) to crawl over. We were really bonding, and I was just thinking that I would ask Mam if I could get a pet caterpillar when Múinteoir Emer told us that it was time to go.

So, I put Vanessa back in the tank but decided to keep the stick as it was cool and could be my SOUVENIR from the trip. Then we all walked back to the bus, where Fred the driver was waiting. He was happy because none of us were late and we could depart ON TIME, according to his scheduled plan.

And I was happy that, apart from ACCIDENTALLY pestering the poor PEACOCK, feeding Múinteoir Emer’s designer hat to a GIRAFFE, causing a BUTTERFLY breakout and the unfortunate incident on MONKEY ISLAND, I had hardly gotten into any mischief at all.

Only, when we were halfway home, something totally crazy happened.

A green jeep with flashing orange lights drove right up behind us. It started beeping FRANTICALLY and indicating to our driver Fred that he needed to stop the bus and pull over onto the hard shoulder. Of course, this was really exciting and Oisín said it was like something he’d seen on a TV show. Then the whole class undid their belts and climbed over the seats to try to see the fLASHING and bEEPING green jeep. Finn and Fionn spotted that it was Katie and Seán from the Park who were driving the jeep and wanting us to stop the bus. Múinteoir Emer started PANICKING and counting us because she thought that maybe we had left someone behind, so she shouted at Fred to ‘STOP THE BUS!’

Even though he really didn’t want to, because this was his bus and he was the boss, and it was breaking all the rules, Fred pulled the bus over onto the hard shoulder.

Then Katie and Seán pulled up behind us and got on the bus, while everyone waited to see what was going on. It turned out that it wasn’t a child that was missing at all, it was AN ANIMAL!