‘O-lib! Rat-ties! Num-Num home!’
‘Uh-oh,’ moaned Olive, awakening from her slumber two hours later.
Num-Num had climbed up the giant oak tree and was now pressing her face against the strange new bars on Olive’s window. ‘O-lib! Num-Num lonely. Num-Num want cuddles and hugs and kisses!’
She grabbed the bars with her front claws and rattled them.
She growled and tried to bend them apart.
She gnawed on them.
She huffed and puffed and blew with all her might. ‘Pooh-pooh! Pooh-pooh!’
But the bars would not budge.
Num-Num scratched her forehead with her claw and thought for a moment. ‘Uuuuuuum.’
Finally, she climbed back along the branch, ran towards the turret and flung herself at the window.
Still, the bars held fast.
‘Bother!’ she grumbled. ‘Window stuck!’ So she kicked her way through the wall.
Tumbling into the turret amidst a tangle of electrical wiring and a cloud of dust, the dinosaur gurgled, ‘O-lib! Rat-ties! Num-Num home!’ Leaping onto the bed, she embraced her beloved Olive, rocking back and forth, humming, as the bed slowly buckled beneath her weight.
Then, suddenly, she recalled the lessons she had been taught earlier that day. Holding Olive at arm’s length, she smiled stupidly, blinked, then growled, ‘Good day, madam. Num-Num bery, bery pardon.’
Olive gasped. ‘Num-Num! How terribly clever you are!’
‘Why thank you!’ she roared. ‘How jolly amusing!’ And she threw back her head and chortled until the tears ran down her scaly green face.