Kirabo

by Ronnie Rowbotham

  Kirabo

  KIR-A- BOO. An African name meaning: Gift

  Chapter Selection

  The Lonely Giant

  The Dragon Dance

  Trick or Treat

  Whale Song

  The Lonely Giant

  The bell rang to signal the end of the school day. Brady rushed out of the school doors and ran to meet his mum, who was waiting by the school gates. Today was Brady’s birthday, he was eight years old. He couldn’t wait to get home and open his presents.

  “Hello, birthday boy,” his mum said smiling. “How was your day?”

  Apart from a run-in with Neville, the school bully, the day had gone really well. Brady had worn his birthday badge at assembly and the whole school had sung ‘Happy Birthday’ for him. In the afternoon he had been allowed an extra session on the computers.

  “It was okay,” he said with a shrug.

  “Listen, before we get home I have something to tell you,” his mum said, sounding serious. “Kirabo is coming to stay with us for a while. Her mum and dad have had to go back to Africa. Kirabo’s grandmother has had an accident and they have gone to take care of her and to look after the school she runs.”

  Kirabo’s parents and Brady’s mum and dad were best friends. Kirabo was six. She loved to play dressy-ups, have teddy-bear picnics and imaginary talks with her toy dog, Togo.

  “You don’t mind if Kirabo stays with us, do you?” Brady’s mum asked.

  Brady imagined what it would be like having Kirabo living with them. He imagined standing outside the bathroom door really needing the toilet, while Kirabo was in the bath surrounded by lots of bubbles.

  Next he imagined himself dressed as a fairy princess sat at a table playing tea parties with Togo beside him.

  “Does she have to live with us?” he asked.

  “There is no one else to look after her. It will be like having a little sister,” his mum said brightly. “Please try and make her feel welcome. She’s very sad that her mum and dad have gone away. Hopefully, the special tea will make her feel better.”

  Brady felt angry – it was his birthday tea, not Kirabo’s. He felt a knot in his tummy.

  Inside the house, Kirabo was sitting quietly on the sofa cuddling her toy dog. Brady gave her a quick look. He could tell she had been crying but Brady didn’t care. He wished she would go away.

  Kirabo was almost the exact opposite of Brady. He had blond hair that was straight and didn’t do very much. Kirabo’s hair was black and curly and was tied up in two big bunches with bright red ribbon. Brady’s skin was very pale and he burnt bright red when the sun came out. Kirabo had dark brown skin that looked soft and warm.

  “Happy birthday,” Brady’s dad said, coming in from the kitchen.

  “Thanks, Dad.”

  “Well, say hello to Kirabo.”

  “Hello,” Brady mumbled.

  Kirabo gave a little smile before cuddling her dog even tighter.

  “Your presents are in your bedroom. Would you like to go and get them so we can watch you open them before your tea?” his mum asked.

  Brady rushed up the stairs to his room and excitedly threw open the door. His birthday presents were all on his bed, but spread out across his floor was his racing track, his posters and a box of his toys.

  “Oh, I forgot,” his mum shouted from downstairs. “We’ve moved your things from the spare room so that Kirabo can have it as her new bedroom.”

  Brady sat on his bed ignoring his birthday presents. He decided he didn’t like Kirabo, he didn’t like her at all.

  Brady woke to the sound of giggling and the pitter-patter of tiny feet running across his bedroom ceiling. He popped his head out from under his covers. Through the crack in his curtains he could see the early-morning sunshine glow a warm orange. It’s much too early for anyone to be up yet, he thought crossly. He snuggled back under his covers and closed his eyes, hoping he could get back to his dream. There was a sudden ‘woof’ from above his room.

  Brady sat up and rubbed his eyes. The attic was above his room and no one ever went up there. Just as he was beginning to think it had all been a dream, there was another loud ‘woof’. Brady was confused. There were no dogs in the house, well not unless you counted Kirabo’s toy dog, Togo.

  It had been a few days since Kirabo had arrived and spoilt Brady’s birthday. Since then she hadn’t said very much at all. Girls were boring, Brady thought. He heard the pitter-patter of feet running across his ceiling once again, followed by more giggling. This time he got out of bed to investigate.

  Carefully, so as not to wake his mum and dad, Brady tip-toed up the stairs to the attic. The door at the top of the stairs was already open and the early-morning sunlight shone through a small dusty window, making the attic seem magical. The room was full of cardboard boxes, old toys and trunks full of old clothes. Brady had never been up here before. He stood looking around with wide, excited eyes. In the furthest corner of the attic Brady heard giggling as two tiny feet disappeared inside a large cardboard box that was laid on its side.

  Kirabo, Brady thought crossly. He walked over to the box and looked inside. It was as black as night.

  “Kirabo?” Brady shouted inside the box. He heard his voice echoing ‘boo, boo, boo’ and from far away he heard a ‘woof’. Brady stood up and looked at the box. It was just an ordinary cardboard box. Brady got onto his hands and knees and put his head inside. “Kirabo, are you in here?” he shouted crossly. He heard his voice echoing back, ‘here, here, here’.

  Brady slowly crawled inside the box. He noticed that instead of cardboard, the floor suddenly felt hard and cold. Beneath his hands he could feel small stones that stuck into his skin. Brady looked around him. Instead of the smooth brown box he saw rough rock walls. To his surprise he realised he was in a cave, a big cave. Far ahead Brady heard a girl giggle. He stood up and began to walk forward.

  Brady’s heart was beating very fast but he refused to turn back. If Kirabo can come this far into the cave then I can too, he thought to himself. A little dog ran up to him, wagging its tail and barking happily. Brady blinked in shock. It was Togo, Kirabo’s toy dog.

  “Togo?” Brady asked in a surprised voice.

  The dog woofed happily in reply. Brady knelt down and Togo jumped into his arms licking his face and making Brady giggle.

  “Okay, Togo, show me where Kirabo is,” Brady said, putting the dog down.

  Togo rushed off deeper into the cave with Brady following close behind.

  He didn’t have far to go. Just around the corner Brady heard a girl singing. She had such a beautiful voice that without realising it Brady had stopped walking just so he could listen. Brady had never heard Kirabo sing before, or even talk. His mum said it was because she was very sad about her parents going away. Togo stopped and gave a little cry, telling Brady that he wanted him to follow. Trying to be as quiet as he could, Brady followed the little dog around the corner.

  Kirabo was sitting on the floor in front of a large rugged wall singing,

  ‘Hush now, dear, and dry your tears,

  I am here to ease your fears.

  The time has come to smile once more

  To laugh and play as you did before.’

  Brady was just about to step forward and say how beautiful the song was when the cave began to rumble and shake.

  “Thank you, Kirabo,” a voice boomed.

  Brady looked up to see a giant looking down at Kirabo.

  “Aaahh!” Brady yelled.

  “Aaahh!” the giant yelled.

  The whole cave shook as if it was in the middle of an earthquake and Brady had to grab hold of the wall to stop himself from falling over.

  “It’s alright, Cedric,” Kirabo said gently. “This is Brady. He is part of the family I’m stayin
g with.”

  “Hello,” Cedric boomed.

  Brady looked up at the giant. In all the stories he had read about giants they were never very nice and they liked to eat people. Brady did not want to be eaten by a giant.

  “Don’t worry, Cedric is a very nice giant,” Kirabo said, as if she had read Brady’s mind. “Cedric is like me. He doesn’t have a family nearby or any friends. He has tried to make friends with the people who live in the village but they are unkind to him.”

  Brady looked up at Cedric. Now that he had got over the shock of meeting a giant for the very first time, Brady saw how sad he looked.

  “Hello, Cedric,” Brady said. “I’m sorry people are unkind to you.”

  Cedric smiled a great big smile. “Thank you.”

  “I think it’s because they are scared of you. I’m sure if people got to know you they would like you,” Kirabo said.

  “The people in the villages just have to see me and they scream and run away,” Cedric said, giving a loud sad sniff. “Some even throw stones and wooden spears at me.”

  “I can go and make friends with them and tell them how kind you are. Then they will be your friends and you won’t be all alone,” Kirabo said cheerfully.

  “Really? Would you do that just for me?” Cedric asked.

  “Yes, of course I would,” Kirabo said.

  “I’ll help too,” Brady added.

  Kirabo frowned. “But why? You haven’t been very nice to me or made me feel very welcome.”

  Brady thought about how he hadn’t wanted Kirabo to come and live with him and his mum and dad. For the first time he thought about how sad Kirabo must feel at having her mum and dad so far away and living in a strange house. He felt very bad about the way he had acted.

  “I’m sorry,” Brady said, going red. “And I really would like to help.”

  Kirabo looked at him for a long time. “Okay,” she said. “Let’s go down to the village and see if we can talk to the people there.”

  Cedric tried to stand up but as he did he hit his head on the roof of the cave.

  “Ouch!” he said, rubbing his head. “The entrance to the cave is this way,” he said, showing them the way. “You can see the village from up here. It shouldn’t take you too long to get there,” Cedric explained as they walked.

  Kirabo and Brady came out of the cave and into bright sunlight. They saw a magical land filled with lots of beautiful colours.

  “Wow!” Brady said, taking a deep breath.

  “It’s so beautiful,” Kirabo agreed.

  There were fields that were filled with flowers of every colour they could imagine and mountains that stretched high into the pale blue sky.

  “Look, there’s the village,” Cedric said, pointing.

  The village stood close to a large lake that sparkled in the sunlight. The houses were large round buildings made of wood and stone and each had a thatched roof. From so high up Kirabo and Brady could see the smoke from the chimneys rising high into the air.

  “Okay, let’s go,” Brady said.

  Togo gave an excited bark and wagged his tail as they set off down the cliff.

  “I don’t understand,” Brady said quietly. “We were in the attic. I saw you climb inside a box. How can we be here and how can your dog be alive?”

  Kirabo gave a little laugh. “My grandparents are from Togo, a place in Africa. It’s why I called my dog Togo. My grandmother knows a lot about magic and she tried to teach my mother all she knew but she said my mother didn’t have the gift. When I was born my grandmother said that the gift had been passed on to me. That is why they called me Kirabo – it means gift. So when I play, my games come to life,” she explained.

  “Wow!” Brady said in amazement. “So you can go anywhere, and do anything?”

  Kirabo smiled and nodded. Suddenly a bright blue butterfly fluttered by.

  “Hello,” it said, turning to look at them. “I’m so glad you are helping poor Cedric. He’s been so lonely hiding away in that cave. I try and pop by most days to see how he is.”

  Brady’s mouth fell open in shock.

  “Hello,” Kirabo said, as if talking to a butterfly was the most natural thing in the world. “I’m glad Cedric has someone who cares about him. We are off to the village to see if they will be friends with him.”

  “Be careful,” the butterfly said, frowning. “The villagers are not very friendly. They are much too busy with their own lives to be nice to other people. Anyway, I must go. If I can help, just call out my name – it’s Wilbur,” he called as he fluttered away.

  “A talking butterfly,” Brady said in a shocked voice.

  “Come on, we are nearly there,” Kirabo said.

  As they reached the village, a man called out, “Go away, we are too busy for visitors.”

  “We only came to say hello,” Brady said rather crossly at the rude man.

  The man was sweating as he hammered a wooden post into the ground. Kirabo and Brady noticed that much of the fence was broken and that many of the houses had been damaged too. The whole village seemed to be in one big rush. Wherever Kirabo and Brady looked people were dashing about carrying wood to rebuild the fence or rocks and straw to fix their homes.

  “Damon, stop being so rude, they are only children,” his wife said as she came over to meet them. “Hello,” she said. “I’m Bridget. Would you like a cold drink?”

  “Yes please,” Kirabo said. “It’s very hot today.”

  Bridget led them into her house. It was much bigger than it looked from the outside.

  “There you are,” she said as she poured them some juice. “I’m sorry about Damon. We are all working very hard so that we can be ready for 4 o’clock.”

  Brady took a long gulp of his drink before putting his glass down. “What happens at 4 o’clock?” he asked.

  Bridget looked at him in surprise, “Well, that is when the Rhinosophants come.”

  Seeing the confused looks on Kirabo’s and Brady’s face, she explained. “Every day at 4 o’clock the Rhinosophants come running down to the lake to bathe and to drink. There are so many of them. They run straight through our village, knocking down our fences and our homes. We spend all of our time rebuilding them, only to have them knocked down again the following day.”

  “Why don’t you move?” Brady asked.

  “We need to be close to the water too. We have tried moving to other places around the lake but the same thing always happens. If it’s not the Rhinosophants then it’s the Buffalopes or the Bearboons.”

  A large tear rolled down her cheek. Kirabo and Brady felt very sorry for her.

  “What we need is something much bigger and stronger than that wooden fence,” Damon said as he came into the house.

  “What about the large rocks at the bottom of the cliffs?” Kirabo suggested.

  “Are you joking?” Damon said in surprise. “Those rocks are bigger than me. We could never move them.”

  Just then, Wilbur flew in through the open window. Brady noticed a sudden twinkle in Kirabo’s eye.

  “Bridget, I think I have an idea. Would you please ask everyone to stop what they are doing and meet us outside? ” Kirabo asked. Then she turned and whispered something to Wilbur.

  Soon the whole village was outside Bridget and Damon’s house looking very cross at having to stop work.

  “Hello, I’m Kirabo and this is Brady.”

  There was a murmur of unhappy voices. The villagers were eager to finish building the fence before 4 o’clock.

  “Bridget told us of your problem with the Rhinosophants and the other animals. We have a friend who would like to help you. He can build you a very big wall to stop the Rhinosophants from knocking down your homes. He is very kind and very lonely. He would really like to make some new friends. Would you like him to help you?” Kirabo asked.

  The villagers got together in a big huddle and talked amongst themselves. Eventually a man popped his head out from the huddle.

  “How can one per
son build a wall big enough to keep out the Rhinosophants?”

  “He is very big and very strong,” Brady answered.

  The group huddled together once again. Soon a woman popped her head out from the huddle.

  “It’s very late and the Rhinosophants will be here soon. How quickly can your friend come and help us?”

  “I have sent a friend to ask him to be ready to come and help. I only have to signal for him and he’ll come,” Kirabo answered once more.

  The group huddled together once again. Eventually Bridget looked up and smiled at Kirabo.

  “We would like it very much if your friend would come and help us,” she said.

  Kirabo took a handkerchief from her dressing gown and waved it high in the air. At once the ground began to rumble and shake. One of the villagers gave a loud scream.

  “The monster has come back,” she yelled as Cedric came into view from beyond the mountain.

  Other villagers began to scream and they quickly ran off to their homes to lock themselves inside.

  “Wait!” Brady shouted as loud as he could. “Cedric is our friend. He is coming to help you.”

  But no one waited, they all ran away. Some even ran to grab stones or large spears to throw at Cedric, just as they had before.

  Kirabo began to worry. She didn’t want her friend to get hurt and all the while Cedric was getting closer to the village, carrying big rocks in his arms.

  “Come on, let’s help him,” Brady said. “If the villagers see that he doesn’t hurt us, then they won’t be so afraid.”

  Kirabo nodded and they ran off to meet Cedric. Wilbur was flying around his head humming a pleasant tune.

  “I’m sorry, Cedric, when they saw you they all ran off,” Kirabo said, trying her best not to cry.

  “Put the rocks there,” Brady said, pointing to an area where the wooden fence had been.

  Cedric dropped the huge rocks and began building the wall before standing up straight.