Chapter Eighteen FRANTIC FRIDAY

Friday morning arrived, the day before the village show and the harvest festival were to take place at the school. Final touches were being made to the now-fantastic display of harvest offerings that filled the stage completely. Jack had arrived that morning with a wheelbarrow of impressive vegetables, bags of flour, sunflower seeds and even a couple of very unusual-looking pumpkins.

‘Just wait and see what I’m entering into the show tomorrow,’ he said, placing down the wheelbarrow and adding his offerings to the stage. ‘This lot’s nothing compared to those!’

Ava and Jas were just starting their morning rounds to collect the raffle money. Ava had already put in the extra money she’d brought in from the tickets her parents had bought. She’d phoned them last night, and even though they were still away, working abroad, they’d been very happy to buy tickets to help out the rescue centre.

Ava and Jas made their way from one classroom to the next, excited by the last-minute flurry of ticket purchases that was bringing in a lot of money that morning.

‘There must be hundreds of pounds in here now,’ said Jas excitedly as they approached the last stop.

‘Yeah, I know. Just think what you could do with all that money!’ said Ava, pausing to knock on the door of the reception class.

As they entered, they found all the children by the window, their faces pressed up against the glass to stare at something outside.

‘Ah, morning, girls,’ said Mr Marshall warmly. ‘As you can see, my class are more interested in the animals outside than me this morning. Luckily, I took in their raffle money as soon as they arrived. Here you go.’

Mr Marshall handed over another large collection of money. Jas put it safely inside the cash box and locked it shut. She held it out to Ava, who was craning her neck to see what the reception-class children were looking at. She took the handle of the cash box without really looking, distracted by what was happening outside.

‘That’ll be the Marchants bringing the animals for the village show tomorrow,’ said Jas, peering out of the window.

‘What, Melody’s family?’ asked Ava.

‘Yeah. They always bring a few animals from their animal park to the show. But they come a day early so the younger kids can see the animals and spend time with them. It’s quite sweet really.’

‘What animals do they bring?’ asked Ava, trying to see into the trailers.

‘Come on, let’s walk that way back to class. You can have a look.’

Jas led Ava outside and across the playground to the school field. Temporary fencing had already been set up, and they arrived just as the animals were being unloaded from the trailers – they couldn’t have timed it any better. Ava watched as a Shetland pony was led out of the first trailer, followed by a pair of what she guessed were probably alpacas. A small herd of goats with a couple of goat kids were shepherded round to another pen.

‘Ooh, a reindeer!’ said Jas excitedly. ‘I love the reindeer. Normally, they don’t bring them along if it’s not a Christmas event.’

Ava’s mouth dropped open. She’d never seen a reindeer before!

‘Wow,’ she breathed, transfixed by their antlers.

Suddenly there was the sound of shouts and screams – loud footsteps thundered across the tarmac. Ava turned to see the whole of the reception class running towards them. Mr Marshall was behind, chasing after the overexcited group of five-year-olds.

‘Sorry! I couldn’t stop them! Little Acorns, stop right there! Come back inside now! It’s not time yet!’

The children were so mesmerized by the appearance of the animals that they weren’t paying any attention at all to their teacher.

The reindeer and alpacas were startled by the approaching screaming stampede of children. And that’s when it happened. The herd of goats suddenly broke free from their pen and began running around the playground too. The Little Acorn children began screaming more loudly, even more excited now they were running around with goats. Out of nowhere, chickens appeared, and a dog that looked a little like Jet began trying to round everything up – including the five-year-olds from Little Acorns!