by Nigel Hinton
Baby B felt so sorry for what he’d done that he immediately shouted, ‘Watch out! Mr Stripe’s going to wake up.’
While the animals were all dashing back to their desks, Baby B sent his thoughts out to Mr Stripe.
The old teacher stirred and stood up.
‘Now, where was I?’ he said as if he’d simply forgotten what he was doing. ‘Oh yes, the honeysuckle berry. So, who can tell me the difference between that berry and the whortleberry?’
The rest of the lesson went on as if nothing had happened, and Baby B made his mind up never to try to make Mr Stripe look silly again.
A week later, though, Mr Stripe made an announcement.
‘Now,’ he growled, ‘during this weekend I want you to find something to bring to school on Monday for Show and Tell.’
‘Something from home, Mr Stripe?’ asked Rufus Rabbit.
‘Yes, or from anywhere on the island.’
At once, Baby B had an idea and, almost without realizing what he was doing, he sent his thoughts to Mr Stripe.
The teacher blinked and then started repeating what Baby B was thinking.
‘In fact,’ Mr Stripe said, ‘I would like some of you to go somewhere else. To … to Round Rock Island, perhaps. Yes, that’s a good idea. Two of you can go over there and bring back something really interesting for Show and Tell. Now, who shall I choose? Baby B and Nick.’
Baby B noticed how difficult it was to think-talk to Mr Edgar that evening. Mr Edgar said he could hardly hear what they were saying but Baby B didn’t care.
At last he was going to have an adventure.
CHAPTER SEVEN
‘I can’t imagine what Mr Stripe was thinking about, sending you off to Round Rock Island like this,’ Mrs Badger grumbled as she packed some sandwiches into a small picnic basket.
‘It’s for Toe and Shell,’ Baby B said.
‘Show and Tell, dear,’ Mrs Badger corrected.
‘That’s right. And it’s millions exciting because it’s an adventure, isn’t it, Nick?’
The little hedgehog nodded but he didn’t look entirely sure that he wanted this kind of adventure.
‘That’s all well and good,’ Mrs Badger went on, putting a couple of large slices of cake into the basket, ‘but I don’t like the idea of the two of you going off on your own.’
‘We’re not hinfants, Mrs Badger. We’re growed up and riskonstable like Mr Edgar said.’
‘Hmm, well, I just hope you are,’ Mrs Badger said, handing Baby B the picnic basket. ‘Now, don’t go eating this until lunchtime. And be back here by five o’clock, otherwise I’ll be on the warpath – and that’s not a pretty sight, I can tell you!’
Five minutes after they left the castle, Baby B felt hungry so they started eating the sandwiches. By the time they got to the beach there were only the two slices of cake left. Nick said it would be silly to take a nearly-empty picnic basket with them so they ate the cake too.
‘We can do fishing for lunch. I’m good at swimming and catching fish,’ Baby B said as they pulled the small boat out of the hut and into the sea.
‘I’m not very good at swimming and catching fish,’ Nick gulped as he sat in the boat and it began to rock up and down with the waves. ‘Because I don’t really love the sea – it’s a bit too wet for me.’
‘That’s all right, I can do the sailoring,’ Baby B said. ‘You sit there and close your eyes.’
In fact, Nick did more than close his eyes – he closed his eyes, hid under the seat, and rolled himself up into a ball.
It was probably just as well because he might have been very scared if he’d seen Baby B trying to sail the boat. First of all, the little beaver got his paw tangled up in one of the ropes while he was raising the sail and he ended up hanging upside down from the mast. Then, when he bit through the rope with his sharp teeth, he fell down and the sail fell on top of him.
It took him ages to scramble out from under the sail and even longer to get it raised again because now the rope was too short to tie properly. So he had to hold on to the rope with one paw and try to steer the boat with the other. This meant that sometimes the sail slipped down because he wasn’t pulling hard enough on the rope, and sometimes the boat went round and round in circles because he couldn’t keep the tiller straight.
Luckily the sea wasn’t very rough and the wind was blowing in the right direction. An hour later the boat slid on to the beach of Round Rock Island.
‘You are clever, Baby B,’ Nick said when he unrolled himself and saw where they were.
‘Oh, I’m just a good sailorer,’ Baby B said proudly. Then he let go of the rope and the sail fell down on top of his head again.
After all that, Round Rock Island turned out to be a disappointment. They went from one side of it to the other, but there was nothing to see except bare rock. It was good fun to stand on top of the cliff and throw stones down into the sea. And Baby B had an adventure when he got too close to the edge and almost fell over, but Nick grabbed the straps of his dungarees just in time.
They threw stones for nearly an hour but then they started to get hungry so they went down to the beach again. Baby B dashed into the sea to catch some fish for lunch but every time he dived, he came back up with empty paws.
‘I’ve got some seaweed,’ he said as he finally came ashore. ‘Seaweed is millions good to eat for hedgehogs, it makes their spikes go all sharp.’
Nick took a little nibble but he said it was a bit too salty and anyway his spikes were sharp enough and he thought it was time to go home for a proper lunch.
‘We can’t go home now,’ Baby B said. ‘We haven’t had adventures and we haven’t even found things for Toe and Shell.’
Just at that moment he saw something move in the entrance to a cave halfway up the cliff.
‘Look!’ he shouted. ‘There’s something in that cave. It might be a pirate or something. Come on!’
Baby B raced away up the path towards the cave. Nick didn’t really want to meet a pirate but he didn’t want to be left alone on the beach either, so he scampered after his friend.
‘It looks a bit dark in there,’ Nick said when they got to the cave.
‘I’m not scared,’ Baby B said, but he took hold of Nick’s paw before they started to tiptoe inside.
The deeper they ventured into the cave, the darker it grew. There was a tick-tock dripping sound that echoed in the darkness and the two friends gripped each other’s paw tightly.
‘It’s a bit millions creepy-crawly in here,’ Baby B whispered.
‘P’raps we can go home for lunch,’ Nick whispered back.
‘P’raps we can,’ Baby B agreed.
They both turned, then jumped into the air in fright.
A dark shape stood between them and the mouth of the cave. It hopped and flapped towards them and they both squealed and clung on to each other. Then suddenly it sank to the floor and lay still.
‘It’s only a bird,’ Baby B said as his eyes got used to the dark.
‘Yes, but it’s a very big bird,’ Nick said, tugging at Baby B’s paw to stop him moving forward.
The bird tried to lift its broken wing then let it fall back to the floor. It hung its head and closed its eyes as if the pain was terrible.
‘Oh, poor thing,’ Baby B said gently. ‘It’s hurted itself.’
The bird half opened one of its eyes and peeped out slyly, then it made a soft sobbing sound.
‘Oh listen, it’s crying,’ Baby B said, tears springing to his own eyes. ‘We must have to help it. We can take it back home and make it all better. Mrs Badger can look after it.’
‘Baby B, I don’t think it’s a good idea,’ Nick began, but the little beaver cut him off.
‘Come on, Nick. We must help it. And it can be our Toe and Shell for Mr Stripe. It will be the bestest Toe and Shell of anyone. Come on!’
Step by step they helped the bird limp down the path, across the beach, and into the boat. Then they set sail.
And tha
t was how Retsnom came to Beaver Towers.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Mrs Badger said that Retsnom was too poorly to go to the schoolroom, so Mr Stripe’s class came to her house for Baby B and Nick’s Show and Tell. While the class looked at Retsnom, Mrs Badger took Mr Stripe into the kitchen and made him a cup of tea.
‘You’ve made an excellent job of that splint on the bird’s wing, ma’am,’ Mr Stripe said. ‘He should be well in no time. Did he say how he came to be injured?’
Mrs Badger shook her head. ‘He told me his name and that’s all. Sergeant Robin came to talk to him but he wouldn’t speak to him either. In fact, Sergeant Robin was rather frightened by him, and I must confess that I am too. He gave me a couple of nasty pecks while I was trying to mend his wing.’
‘Well, we can’t just send him away while he’s still injured,’ Mr Stripe said.
‘No, of course not – I wouldn’t dream of it,’ Mrs Badger agreed, ‘but I think we must keep a close eye on him. I have a funny feeling in my bones that he could be a danger to us all.’
It took two weeks before Retsnom’s wing was strong enough to have the splint taken off. During that time, Baby B and Nick went to see him every day. They weren’t sure why they went because they were both rather scared of him, but it was as if something made them go. Every day after school they stood looking at Retsnom while he stared at them with his glittering eyes. Not a word was spoken.
One night, Baby B woke up shouting and screaming – he had been having a horrible nightmare. He couldn’t remember much about it except that there had been a dark cave and a horrible, slimy monster.
When he told Nick about it the next day, the little hedgehog’s mouth fell open in surprise.
‘Oh, Baby B,’ he said, ‘I don’t like it. I had that dream too.’
They both shivered.
Another thing that worried them was that it was getting harder and harder to think-talk. Baby B knew that it was because he was using his powers to do silly things, like making Mr Stripe forget to give them homework, but he couldn’t help it – a voice inside him kept telling him to do it.
Most evenings Baby B and Nick still managed to get a fuzzy think-talking picture in their heads and they were able to tell Mr Edgar and Philip what was going on at Beaver Towers, but they never mentioned Retsnom. Then, for two days, they couldn’t get any picture at all.
Baby B was really worried and the next day he made an extra-special effort to be good. He went round to Mrs Badger’s after school and helped her clean her house because she was feeling very tired. He broke one of the plates he was washing up and he left a trail of muddy paw prints on the floor when he was mopping up the water he had spilt, but Mrs Badger said it was a very kind thought anyway.
That evening, when he and Nick sat together in the library, they concentrated very hard and they suddenly got a clear picture in their heads.
‘Oh, there you are at last,’ Mr Edgar said clearly and loudly. ‘I was beginning to get a bit worried about you. What have you been up to?’
They told Mr Edgar what had happened at the castle since they had last spoken to him, then they looked around to see where he was this time.
He was standing at the edge of a desert. Philip was next to him, with a big smile on his face.
‘Flipip!’ Baby B shouted with joy.
‘Hello, Baby B. Hello, Nick,’ Philip said. ‘It’s great to see you. I hope you’re not getting into too much mischief!’
‘No,’ Baby B said but he felt a guilty blush in his cheeks and the think-talking picture became a bit fainter. ‘Are you having millions of adventures, Flipip?’
‘Not adventures exactly,’ Philip said. ‘But it’s very interesting and I’m learning lots of things.’
‘Like going to school?’ Nick asked.
‘A bit,’ Philip laughed. ‘I’m just going to meet someone for my next lesson. In there.’
Baby B and Nick looked to where Philip was pointing and they saw a walled city stretching away up a hillside. The houses all had flat roofs and were huddled together around a maze of narrow alleyways. Some camels and donkeys were standing next to a palm tree just outside the gate to the city.
Philip patted one of the donkeys as he walked past, then he turned and waved to Baby B and Nick before he went through the gate and into the city.
CHAPTER NINE
The alleyways of the city were crowded with people dressed in robes and all the women had veils across their faces. A rich smell filled the air from the stalls of fruit and vegetables and herbs and spices that were set up along the walls.
As Philip made his way through the jostling crowds he glanced into doorways and saw workshops, with goldsmiths and silversmiths and carpet weavers and dyers and carpenters, all hard at work at their crafts.
He came to a small square with eight alleyways branching out in different directions. Now, which one had Mr Edgar told him to take? Oh yes, the third one on the right next to the little fountain set in the wall. Now, the fourth doorway along this alleyway …
Philip pushed open the door and walked into a large courtyard where the bright sunlight made him blink after the darkness of the alleyways. A lemon tree stood in the centre of the courtyard and from one of the branches hung a cage. Inside the cage, a canary, the same colour as the ripe lemons, was singing a beautiful melody.
Philip crossed the courtyard and knocked on the lightblue door of the house.
‘Come in,’ said a woman’s voice.
Philip opened the door and stepped inside.
He just had time to notice the bare white walls and the polished wooden floors, then he closed the door behind him and the room was very dark. The only light came from a small, flickering candle inside a red glass jar that hung from the high ceiling.
‘Sit,’ said the woman’s voice, and Philip sat down on the floor.
All he could see of the woman was a dark shape in the corner of the room. Her voice sounded young but there was something about the shape that made him feel she was very old.
‘Who are you?’ she asked.
‘Philip.’
‘Yes, but who are you?’
‘I’m sorry, I don’t understand,’ Philip said, wondering if perhaps he had come to the wrong house.
‘Which part of you is Philip?’
‘All of me.’
‘I see. So, your body is you, is it?’
‘Yes, I think so,’ Philip said, feeling that perhaps this wasn’t the right answer.
‘And if I cut off one of your hands, would you still be you?’
‘Yes,’ Philip whispered, suddenly afraid that she might do what she said.
‘So you are not your hand then?’
‘No.’
‘And if I cut off your arms and your legs, would you still be you? And if I took out your eyes and cut off your ears and your tongue so that you couldn’t see or hear or talk, would you still be you?’
‘I think so,’ Philip said with a shiver at the thought of all those things being done to him. Then he had a sudden thought. ‘Perhaps I am my brain.’
‘Perhaps,’ the woman said, ‘but perhaps not. For example, you have a dog called Megs, don’t you?’
‘Yes!’ Philip gasped, amazed that she knew about Megs.
‘Well, I want you to think about her for a moment. Try to see her clearly in your mind.’
Philip thought, and he could see Megs curled up in front of the fire at home. He saw the way her head rested on her paws and how her tail curled across her back legs.
‘Good,’ said the woman. ‘Now tell your brain to stop thinking about her.’
Philip tried. But the more he tried, the more he kept thinking about her. Even when he managed to stop the picture, his brain kept whispering the name ‘Megs’ over and over.
‘So?’ asked the woman.
‘Well, I wanted to stop thinking but my brain wouldn’t listen to me. And it was like I just had to watch what my brain wanted to do.’
‘Exactly – y
ou were watching your brain.’
‘So, who am I then?’ Philip asked.
‘The watcher, perhaps.’
‘But …’ Philip began.
‘I know no more than that,’ the woman said. Then she laughed gently and added, ‘Sometimes I don’t even know that. Now you must go back to Mr Edgar. But never forget that you are perhaps not what you seem to be.’
Philip stood up and walked to the door. He opened it and the bright sunlight almost blinded him. He turned back and looked at the corner of the room where the woman had been.
She had gone. There was just the stool where she had been sitting.
Philip crossed the courtyard where the canary was still singing and he went out into the noisy bustle of the city.
CHAPTER TEN
Retsnom disappeared.
Baby B and all the other pupils were sitting in the classroom doing a test on plants when the door burst open and Mrs Badger rushed in.
‘Oh, Mr Stripe,’ she panted. ‘Something’s happened.’
‘What is it, Mrs Badger? Do sit down, you look all hot and bothered,’ Mr Stripe said, offering her his chair.
‘I am, oh, I am,’ she said, sitting down and starting to fan her face with her apron. ‘I’ve been running all over the place, searching high and low, but he’s gone.’
‘Who’s gone, my dear?’
‘Retsnom, Mr Stripe. I left him in the sitting room while I went into the kitchen to bake a chocolate cake and when I went back, he was gone. I searched all over the house, then I spotted this next to an open window.’
She felt in her apron pocket and pulled out a black feather.
‘Hmm, this definitely comes from a raven’s tail,’ Mr Stripe said, holding the feather up and peering at it. ‘But it has a rather strange feel to it – almost slimy.’
‘That’s why I’m sure it’s Retsnom’s feather,’ Mrs Badger said. ‘His whole body had a nasty slimy feel – I could hardly bear to touch him while I was putting the splint on his wing.’