by Linda Talbot
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The Flying Shoes
The enormous shoes lie in the grass. There is a pink and lilac boot with side straps and a blue and yellow trainer. They are wet from the shower in the night but clearly quite new.
Sissy and Sam blink with disbelief. Who would wear such huge shoes? A giant? But there are no more giants. They went with the fairies and other faraway folk.
The children creep closer.
“Let’s look inside!” suggests Sam.
They peer into the pink and lilac boot. It is deep and dark and smells of rain. They look into the trainer. That lets in more light but smells damp too. Sam climbs inside.
“There’s plenty of room!” he says, turning right round.
Sissy clambers into the boot. “It’s a bit tight but I can move my feet!” she says. They are about to climb out, when the shoes begin to fidget and the next moment, lift from the wet grass - up, above the tree tops.
Sissy and Sam
The children shriek. Sissy pulls the yellow sleeves of her jacket over her freezing hands and Sam leans into the wind. Now the shoes are moving fast through the sky which is a brilliant blue after the rain. A few white clouds puff on the horizon.
“Where are we going?” cries Sissy.
“How should I know?” Sam shouts over his shoulder. “How do we land?”
Trees, fields, a market town flash below. A rain cloud appears and the shoes hurtle through. Back in the blue, they gain speed until the wind whistles and they begin to bump on the air currents.
“We’re heading for the hills!” yells Sam.
Sissy is clinging to the edge of the boot now, wishing it would slow down. Hills appear; green in the valleys and the rock bare above.
“I hope we don’t land here!” shouts Sam.
Sissy dares not look down. Her feet are wet and she wants to go home. But the shoes race on, the sky darkens, a cold rain begins to fly in the children’s faces.
At last the shoes slow and dip towards the land. They dive past the sharp-edged peaks into a valley of pines. The trees clear and the shoes shoot upwards for, below, is an enormous wooden building with great carved doors and windows as high as a house.
Huge flower pots stand in the garden beyond the front door with flowers fluttering in the wind. Each petal is the size of a bed sheet. The shoes land in the long grass. Stiffly, the children climb out, walk to the wide gravel path and stamp their wet feet to get warm.
“Where are we?” asks Sissy.
“Who knows? Nowhere near home, that’s for sure. Perhaps we’re dreaming!” says Sam, pinching himself hard. “No! I’m awake. How about you?”
Sissy pinches herself. “I’m not asleep,” she confirms, “Shall we see who lives here?”
Sam looks doubtful, but seeing nowhere else to seek help, agrees.
They approach the huge front door. A crimson bell pull hangs within reach. Sam takes a deep breath and tugs. The bell echoes loudly through the house.
After several minutes the door swings silently open. No one is there.
“Hello!” calls Sam. No response. “Is anyone at home?”
They see a high hall hung with dark hunting scenes. But it is not horses and hounds that are depicted, but a great green-faced man riding a beast of no known breed and chasing two children through a thicket of ferns. Sam and Sissy shiver. Who is the man and why is he chasing children?
They step up the hall on enormous white flagstones that stretch before them like a frozen sea. They reach a staircase with a crimson stair carpet, flowing, bright as blood, from a broad landing with walls painted red to match.
The children start to climb. They are halfway up before they realise they are not treading on stair carpet. The surface ripples like a rough piece of flesh and they feel hot air rush from above into their faces.
“COME INSIDE!” booms a deafening voice and the red surface begins to fold inwards, sharply tilting Sissy and Sam. As brother and sister they often realise things at the same time. And what they realise now is that they are tottering on a tremendous tongue. And they know it belongs to a giant. They did not die with the fairies and other faraway folk. The children have walked into the house where one lives.
They both turn and, lurching from side to side, fight their way back the way they came. On reaching the end, they jump from a height onto the flagstones.
Bruised, but with no bones broken, they struggle up and, before the giant can catch them, race to the front door. But it is shut and they cannot reach the knob.
“In here!” says Sam, seeing for the first time, a room to the right. Sissy looks behind her and sees the bottom of the giant’s tongue swinging from side to side in the hall, brushing against the hunting scenes.
She runs behind Sam into the room. It is very grand with fruit and flowers carved from plaster around the ceiling, a pale pink carpet on the floor and plain lilac walls. The children can barely see the end but, as they run across the carpet, are aware of two giant girls with black hair on a sofa, wearing clothes in shades of blue and pink. Scattered at their feet are two chairs and a red cabinet painted with deer and birds. The furniture is human size, similar to that used by the children at home.
The girls see them. “Look!” cries the one on the left, pointing to Sissy and Sam.
The other girl looks. “Hey - who are you? Where did you come from?” she demands. Sam and Sissy stop by the girls’ feet. They are just the size for the shoes they found.
“We came in some big shoes we found in a field!” explains Sissy.
“Ah. So that’s where they got to. We ran away the other day and found this lovely green field by a stream. It was so warm and quiet, then something roared by over our heads. We both lost one of our shoes in our hurry to get home,” says the girl on the right.
“An aeroplane!” says Sam. “They are nothing to be afraid of but they are noisy. We travel in them. More comfortable than flying in a shoe.”
“Oh the shoes know their way around - they wanted to come home too and now they’ve brought you. Nice to meet you. I’m Moll and this is my sister Milly.”
Moll and Milly
“Are you the giant’s daughters?” asks Sissy.
“Yes. You mustn’t let him see you. He has a special recipe for stewing children. Sometimes he goes out hunting in his invisible coat and comes back with several.”
So that is what happens to missing children, thinks Sissy.
“I think we’ve already met him in the hall but we managed to get away!” says Sam. “What’s his name?”
“Everyone calls him Slobsky, which isn’t very nice but it suits him, even if he is our dad. His table manners are appalling. You were lucky to escape. We’ll have to hide you in our dolls’ house. We like playing with the furniture - we’d like to be the right size to use it,” says Milly.
“Why?” asks Sissy.
“We’ve seen Wendy in the wheel. She comes from your country and she tells us about the games she plays and the shops and the school and it all sounds so much more exciting than our lives here. We aren’t allowed to go anywhere or do anything!” moans Moll.
“Well you can come back with us if you want to. But you won’t fit in. You’re much too big,” says Sam.
“There is a way,” says Milly, “ If another human child can release a prisoner from the wheel, they will be granted a wish. And you might just like to wish us to be your size. Then we’d fit in,” says Moll.
“What’s Wendy doing in a wheel?” asks Sam.
“Being fattened by father for the stew pot,” explains Milly “And if we don’t hide you until it’s dark, the same will happen to you! Will you help us - and Wendy?”
“Yes, of course, if we can,” says Sissy.
Suddenly the floor shakes and a loud voice echoes from the other end of the room, “MILLY, MOLL, TIME FOR DINNER!”
“You don’t eat children do you?” asks Sissy, alarmed.
“We try not to. We pick vegetables from the garden, but so
metimes they get added to father’s stew.”
The children shudder.
“Quick, into the dolls’ house!” hisses Milly. She gets up, scoops Sam and Sissy with the chairs and the red chest and drops them quickly into the sitting room of a red brick house which is much the same size as the one Sam and Sissy live in.
“Until tonight!” whispers Moll as they pass on their way to dinner.
Sissy and Sam explore the house, admiring the chairs, table and chest and at the top of the stairs, a bedroom with beds spread with satin quilts, white cupboards for clothes and a dressing table with a red-framed mirror.
“I wouldn’t mind living here. But where’s the kitchen? Do you think they have a fridge with food?” asks Sissy. They go back downstairs and find the kitchen but there is no fridge. Just plates of plastic chops and cakes.
The room grows dark and cold. Sissy and Sam go back upstairs and climb into the beds under the satin quilts. They are about to fall asleep, when the room shakes again. They leap from the beds and peer through the upstairs window. Milly and Moll are crossing the pink carpet. Each carries a blue travelling bag.
“We’ll take you to Wendy,” whispers Milly, taking the roof off the house to reveal Sissy and Sam. “We’ll carry you. It will save time - it’s a long way to the yard where father keeps the wheel.”
They pick up the children. Milly opens her bag and pops in Sissy. Moll opens her bag and in goes Sam. “We’ll leave them open so you can breathe,” says Moll.
The children are swung through the house until they are dizzy. At last they descend steep steps and feel a rush of cold air. They are lifted from the bags and placed on the ground. They see Wendy, a fair-haired girl who looks very frightened; head, hands and feet stuck in the holes of a round piece of wood. She is held fast by rusty chains in front of a bed of huge flowers.
She looks up but can only see the lower legs of Milly and Moll.
“Hello Wendy. It’s us. We’ve brought some children to help you get out of the wheel,” says Milly.
Wendy in the Wheel
Wendy shivers but gives a small smile. Sam examines the locks and chains. He has many useful things in his pocket, including a metal file which he uses in his workshop and always carries just in case.
He sets to work on the chains.
“We must all will them to break!” says Moll.
Milly, Moll and Sissy close their eyes and wish with all their might that the chains will break. They are so rusty, they fall apart anyway with a clang.
“Sssh!” urges Moll. But Slobsky ate so much tender flesh for supper he is snoring in a deep sleep indoors.
Slobsky
They help Wendy out of the wheel and rub her sore hands and feet. Soon she can take a few tottering steps.
“Now for the wish!” Moll reminds Sissy and Sam.
They can think of many wonderful wishes but do not want to disappoint Milly and Moll.
“I wish Moll and Milly to be my size!” says Sissy.
The giant girls link hands and very slowly begin to shrink, down, down…. until they are Sissy’s height.
“We’ve done it!” cries Sam, “but how do we get home?”
“We’ll fetch some more shoes from our cupboard, then we can all fly back together!” says Milly.
They creep back into the house and up to the girls’ bedroom. Inside the cupboard, huge shoes stand ready for wear.
“Moll and I will go in those you left in the garden and we’ll help you carry three others downstairs,” says Milly. They carry another pair of trainers down and Sam puts one on top of the other to reach a ridge of wood on which he can climb to turn the door knob. The door opens.
“These shoes don’t match the dresses you wear,” observes Sissy.
“Oh we don’t always wear dresses - we have trousers, but father prefers us in frocks. We’ve put the trousers in our bags,” says Moll.
They return for a final shoe and have just reached the bottom stair when the house shakes. “WHO’S THERE?” Slobsky.
“Quick. Run!” shouts Moll. They hurry with the last shoe - bright red with purple laces - and reach the other shoes in the long grass. Slobsky is at the door, but peering into the dark, can see nothing.
The children scramble into the shoes and lift into the cold night air, to fly by starlight to Sam and Sissy’s village by the stream.
Moll and Milly tell the villagers they are orphans looking for a home and somehow Sam and Sissy’s parents cannot lift the phone to report them, but give them the spare room, send them to school and let them play the village games. And how they enjoy the shops.
Sometimes the earth shakes a little and people say, “It must be a tremor.” But Milly and Moll know it is Slobsky in a rage. For a while they fear he will find them, but the days go by and the earth grows still and not even a breeze disturbs the children as they laugh at the sun in the green field by the stream.
Thank you for reading this book - which I hope you have enjoyed.
If you would like to read my other work, please return to your favourite ebook retailer. For a complete list of my work with a short summary of each, click this link to my blog https://lindajtalbot.wordpress.com. There are also sample extracts from many of these works. You are welcome to subscribe or add a comment.
Author's Note
Linda Talbot writes fantasy for adults and children. She now lives in Crete and as a journalist in London she specialised in reviewing art, books and theatre, contributing a chapter to a book about Conroy Maddox, the British Surrealist and writing about art for Topos, the German landscape magazine. She has published "Fantasy Book of Food", rhymes, recipes and stories for children; "Five Rides by a River", about life, past and present around the River Waveney in Suffolk; short stories for the British Fantasy Society, and stories and poetry for magazines.
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