‘Woe, woe, woe and a bottle of glum,’ said Alan Taylor as he and Polly trudged forlornly through the forest, the ground squelching beneath their feet. ‘I’ve lost all my schoolchildren. I must be the worst headmaster in the world.’
‘Don’t you be talkin’ no nonsenses, you tasty little superstar,’ said Polly sympathetically. ‘It’s not your fault they all runned off like that.’
‘Oh, but it is,’ wailed Alan Taylor, throwing himself to the forest floor and pounding the earth with his little brown fist. ‘I’m a useless teacher! I cZan’t do anything right! Even that last sentence I said has got a spelling mistake in it! I’m completely hopeless!’
‘Well, what about this little twinkler?’ said Polly, pointing to a fuzzy blue caterpillar that was busy licking Alan Taylor’s foot. ‘He don’t think you’re hopeless. He seems to of taken a shine to you.’
‘Do you think so?’ sniffed Alan Taylor, blowing his nose on a passing stag. ‘Do you think I can make him my pet?’
‘I don’t think you gots any choice,’ laughed Polly. ‘He’s well in love with you.’
‘Well, then,’ sniffled Alan Taylor. ‘I shall call him “Graham”. Graham the caterpillar.’
So Polly found some dental floss in her pocket and they made a little lead for Graham. And Alan Taylor cheered up and he looked ever so chirpy walking along with his brand new pet.
‘Where are we goin’, A.T.?’ said Polly as they continued on their way.
‘We need to find shelter,’ replied Alan Taylor. ‘That’s the important thing. Then we can –’
But at that moment he happened to glance down, only to see that Graham the caterpillar was holding on to a tiny little lead of his own. At the other end of the lead was a ladybird called Johnny Twospots.
‘Why, the little rascal!’ laughed Alan Taylor. ‘Look, Polly – Graham’s found himself a pet too!’
And so they continued through the forest, until they came to a sort of a hollow in the ground.
‘What about here for shelter?’ said Polly, but Alan Taylor shook his head.
‘No,’ he said. ‘Take a closer look – it’s full of wolves.’
So on they went.
‘Hey, A.T.!’ Polly suddenly exclaimed. ‘Johnny Twospots the ladybird done got himself a pet too!’ It was an aphid called Penelope. ‘Where will it all end?’ laughed Polly, who had never seen such fun.
‘I don’t know,’ said Alan Taylor, skip-skappling along, his electric muscles sparking with delight. He was quite back to his usual cheerful self now.
And suddenly the first cuckoo of Spring jumped out from behind a hedge and went ‘CUCKOO!’ and the first daffodil of Spring jumped out from behind another hedge and went ‘DAFFODIL!’ and the hedgehogs and the badgers popped up and danced round them three times in a ring and disappeared back into the undergrowth as quickly as they had arrived, and the sun shone down through a gap in the trees and a sparrow sailed past in a little flying birdbath and the entire forest seemed to sparkle with a million million sparkles, one for every single boy and girl in the whole world, even the naughty ones who don’t really deserve a sparkle at all.
‘Oh, perhaps the forest isn’t such a bad place as we done thought!’ said Polly, sticking a beautiful wild flower known as a ‘Purple Git’ in her hair. ‘An’ with friends an’ pets an’ giggles-me-gee we won’t never lose the day! We’ll stop that Runtus madness, we will! I knows it, Alan Taylor, I knows it in my heart!’
‘Well spoken, fair nine-year-old maiden of the forest!’ cried Alan Taylor gallantly. ‘Now let us away, for methinks shelter is near! Tally-ho, pets, tally-ho!’
The gingerbread petmaster cracked the dental floss – once, twice, three times a lady! And rearing up to their full height, Graham the caterpillar, Johnny Twospots the ladybird and Penelope the aphid led them onwards. Onwards towards the next clearing! Onwards towards shelter! Onwards towards Chapter 7!