Following The Magpies
Ben and Jess and Scoot ran around the garden for some time, then Ben opened the shed door and pulled out two garden chairs. He sat down and called to Jess to do the same. They ate half of their sandwiches and one chocolate biscuit each, and drank some water. Ben filled Scoot’s water bowl and he had a long drink too. Ben showed Jess how Scoot’s whistle worked and she patted the dog’s head. She thought he was a very clever dog and she wished she had one as well.
After they had played with Scoot they thought they would go back to the exploring game.
‘Where did I put my magic wand, Jess?’ Ben asked. He looked in his backpack, under the chair, inside the shed and on the path but he couldn’t see it anywhere.
Jess pulled at his sleeve. He looked at her and saw that she had her finger over her mouth. She wanted him to be quiet, but why? Jess let go of his sleeve and pointed up at the roof of the house. Ben’s mouth opened in surprise. Sitting on the roof were the two magpies he had seen that morning. He was sure it was the same pair. They were arguing again but not about a piece of bread this time. No, they were fighting over something shiny. Something that Ben knew was his. It was the magic wand! The magpies must have taken it from somewhere in the garden.
‘What shall we do, Ben?’ Jess whispered. ‘They’re going to fly off with it, aren’t they?’
‘Yes, if we can’t make them drop it first. Let’s clap our hands and shout at them.’ Ben puffed out his cheeks.
So Jess and Ben clapped and shouted, and Scoot barked, but the magpies ignored them. Then one flew off towards the woods carrying the wand. The other bird followed. Ben ran to the gate in the hedge but then he lost sight of the two birds and he stamped his foot hard.
‘That’s not fair! They’re always taking things that don’t belong to them. Now what are we going to do?’ he shouted.
Jess caught up with him. ‘Never mind, Ben. You can have my wand, or maybe your gran can make another one. What did you mean when you said that the magpies are always stealing? What else have they taken? You’ve never said anything about it before.’
Ben bit his lip. Should he tell Jess now about Lox and the spider gate? Maybe she could help him. He didn’t think he could do it on his own any more. So they went back to the chairs and sat down, and Ben told Jess the whole story.
When he had finished, Jess looked at him and screwed up her nose.
‘Are you making this up, Ben? Is this another one of your computer games or story books?’ she asked.
‘No! Really and truly,’ Ben said. ‘That’s what happened. If we’re very quiet I can show you the cave in the hedge but we have to be careful not to scare Lox or any of the other guards who might be there.’
Jess followed Ben to the bottom of the garden and they crawled under the hedge even though it was very wet on the ground. Jess saw the cave, and two big garden spiders just inside the opening, but she still wasn’t sure if she believed Ben.
‘Please, Jess, will you help me?’ Ben said. ‘I think I know where the magpies might have taken the other piece of the gate but I need to go outside to find it. Will you come?’
Jess looked worried. She knew they weren’t allowed to go outside the garden on their own, but Ben was so upset and she really wanted to help her best friend. She knew that Ben’s dad always bolted the gate in the hedge so she thought that they might not be able to open it anyway.
‘All right, Ben.’ Jess smiled at him. ‘I’ll help you but we have to put Scoot back in first. Remember what your gran said.’
‘Yes, you’re right. I’ll take him in and say that we want to stay out a little bit longer.’
Ben called Scoot and the dog followed him to the kitchen door. Ben pulled off his boots, opened the door and went into the kitchen. Scoot followed him and went straight to his biscuit bowl. Ben looked for his gran and saw that she was in the living room reading the newspaper. Then he looked a little closer and saw that she was asleep. He didn’t wake her. He shut Scoot in the kitchen, then put his boots back on and hurried down the path to Jess.
‘Let’s go,’ he said. ‘We have to open the gate first. If I bring a chair down here, I can stand on it and pull back the bolt.’
Jess just watched. She was scared but she didn’t want to tell Ben. When he had opened the gate they went out into the lane.
‘Do you think we should go back?’ Jess asked. ‘If we bolt the gate again no one will know. We’re going to get into trouble if we stay out, aren’t we?’
Ben looked at her. ‘I know but if we can find the piece of the spider gate quickly we can be back before anyone knows. We won’t stay out too long, I promise, but I have to try to find it.’