by Linda Talbot
Blodder
Cautiously the children climb out. They creep up the path to a huge front door. It is painted green and a big brass knocker hangs in the middle. Derry reaches and lifts it, letting it fall against the door. After five minutes the door is carefully opened to reveal a blue being, glittering with red, shaped like a potato. He stands on his hands and waves two short legs in the air. On one foot he wears a red sock.
“Yes?” he snaps.
“We’re Derry and Jude. Mikono says you can help us find Gingali who can help us find Sydney who will help us rescue Katie,” says Derry. Oh dear, that sounds complicated! “Are you Blodder?”
“I am. But how do I know you haven’t come to rob me. I never have visitors!”
“Oh no, we wouldn’t dream of robbing you. Please help us. Katie is our cousin and she has been captured by Bazalob,” explains Jude.
Blodder turns a paler shade of blue. “Bazalob, the demon. You’ll have trouble with him,” he says. Suddenly adding, “Come in!”
Derry and Jude walk through the door into a long hall made of stained glass that glows in the sun that has just appeared before setting. They enter a big room with a red sofa in the middle and light shining from a silver globe hanging from the ceiling. Blodder sits on the sofa and points to the space beside him. The children join him. Silence. Then,
“I’ve had a think and I remember where I last saw Gingali,” says Blodder. He moves around you know, but is always on some beach by a river. At the moment he is living a day’s journey from here on the edge of the Bothersome Sea - it’s bothersome you know because the tide turns when you least expect it and you might be washed away at any moment.”
“Oh, I can’t swim!” sighs Jude.
“Never mind. You know I got my life-saving medal last year,” boasts Derry. Jude looks doubtful.
“Thank you,” she says turning to Blodder, “Which direction do we take?”
“Due north,” says Blodder, bouncing off the sofa and waving his red sock in the air.
“You have a beautiful house. Do you live here alone?” asks Jude.
“Oh yes. You never know about others. They can be very odd,” says Blodder. Jude smiles. Blodder is the oddest being she has ever met.
They walk to the door. “How will you travel?” asks Blodder.
Derry looks outside and sees the Travelling Pot waiting on the path.
“In the pot!” he says, pointing. Blodder looks. “You see what I mean - others, such as yourselves, are very odd. Fancy travelling in a pot!”
Jude and Derry see his point and, waving goodbye, walk to the pot and climb in. Blodder shakes his head, as it lifts from the path and silently floats over his house.
Night falls. Stars dance like diamonds in the black and the moon is slung like a slice of melon. The pot floats north and the children nod off to sleep. They dream of three headed beasts with five legs and blobs of flesh that cavort on thin legs. When they wake it is daylight and below lies the grey beach by the Bothersome Sea.
“Here we are. I wonder which way the tide is turning,” says Derry, “Perhaps we can catch some fish - I’m starving.”
The pot descends. The tide seems to be motionless, the water very calm. A wide river runs into the sea, fringed by bamboos.
“I wonder where Gingali is,” says Jude. The pot lands on the sand and they climb out.
“Watch the bamboos!” says the disembodied voice of Mikono.
The children look across the river and see a large creature lumber from the thicket. It has blue and yellow patches on its stocky body, an orange muzzle, horns and hooves and on its back the bright shell of a tortoise.
“Gingali!” says Jude.
They watch him wade across the river. He has seen them and makes a sound between a howl and a groan. The children would rather not have met him, since they have to wait until night to steal his shell, but as he approaches, Derry says, “Hello. We’re Derry and Jude and Mikono says you know how we can find Sydney, so we can find the Fozy Fruit and rescue Katie from Bazalob.” Perhaps Gingali will tell them now and they need not steal his shell.
But the beast blinks bad-tempered eyes at them and says “Sydney’s no use against Bazalob. No one can destroy that demon. Whoever Katie was she must be mincemeat by now!” The children shiver. They will have to steal the shell after all.
The day seems endless. Derry sees a fisherman on the beach and asks if he can help him catch fish. The old man shrugs - only one person can fish at a time, but when he lands a big blue fish with golden eyes, he lights a fire, cooks it and shares it with Derry and Jude. Gingali has vanished. Derry hopes they will find him later.
Night falls. The children sit at the top of the beach in case the tide suddenly turns. Still there is no wind and the air is not cold. But they can see nothing - only hear the gentle lapping of the waves.
Then a wind rises. Beginning with a whimper, its cool fingers explore Jude and Derry. Then its strength increases, until it is whining and rushing along the beach. The sea stirs with angry waves; their crests white in the moonlight that now falls eerily on the grey sand.
“I wonder if the tide is coming in or going out,” says Jude.
“Who knows? But the water’s rough. We must think of finding Gingali. We should be able to see him by moonlight,” says Derry.
Then a huge wave gathers like a snow-capped mountain and crashes onto the beach. It sweeps under Derry and Jude, lifting them from the sand and bearing them into the bamboos. And there, before them, lies Gingali, his hooves tucked under him as he sleeps.