Cliffhanger (6 page)

I looked – and saw a little purple blob floating off towards the bank.

‘It
is
Theresa! It's OK, Kelly,' I shouted. ‘We've spotted her, Biscuits and me. We'll get her.'

‘Yeah, we'll get her out for you, Kelly,' said Biscuits. ‘Er ... how do we get the canoe to go sideways, Tim?'

‘Like this? Mmm. No. Like
this
?'

Our canoe wobbled dramatically as we experimented.

‘What are you two playing at?' Giles yelled. ‘Finish the race first. We've all got to finish or we won't get any points. You can go back for her doll afterwards.'

‘She can't wait!' said Kelly.

‘Come on, Biscuits,' I said. ‘Before she gets swallowed up by a fish or something.'

We made for the bank as best we could.

‘You berks!' Giles yelled in disgust. ‘You weedy nerdy little cissies.'

‘I wish
he'd
get swallowed up by a fish,' said Biscuits. ‘A socking great shark.'

‘He's going to get us later,' I said.

‘Oh, pooh,' said Biscuits. ‘We'll get
him
.'

‘To the rescue. Super-Tim and Biscuit-Boy!'

‘
Dan-de-dan-dan-daaaan
,' Biscuits chanted.

We reached the bank. Theresa was
bobbing
in the scummy shallows, her purple hair wafting like water-weed. I got my paddle and used it like a fish slice, scooping Theresa up in the air.

She had never been a very pretty little doll. She'd now lost whatever looks she'd had. But Kelly was still thrilled to get her back. She hugged and kissed her. And you'll never guess what. She hugged and kissed
me
.

Biscuits said he was very glad that
I
was the one who fished her out.

When we were in the kitchens clearing up after tea, Kelly tried to tame Theresa's alarming new hairstyle with a small scrubbing-brush.

Laura and Lesley sighed.

‘You're hopeless, Kelly,' said Laura. ‘Look, give her here, I'll do it.'

She had her own little pocket hairbrush. Kelly held Theresa while Laura brushed and styled her purple tresses.

‘You're ever so good at hairstyles, Laura,' said Lesley.

‘Keep Theresa
still
, Kelly,' said Laura.

‘She's shivering,' said Kelly. She peered round and found a scrunched-up J-cloth. ‘Here. This will keep you warm until we get your little dress dry.'

‘Look, I could do with that cloth, Kelly,' said Giles, washing dishes at the sink. ‘This one's all holey and horrible.'

‘Theresa's need is greater than yours, Giles,' said Kelly firmly.

‘You and that stupid doll.'

‘She's
not
a doll, she's a
troll
,' said Kelly.

‘We were winning,' Giles wailed. ‘And yet we ended up last because of you and Biscuits and
Tim
.'

He dug me hard with his elbow, right in my tummy. ‘Why did you have to mess about for hours getting Kelly's stupid doll?'

‘TROLL!' Kelly shouted, flicking washing-up water in Giles's face.

‘Kelly! Cut it out,' said Giles, splashing her back. He splashed me too. ‘And then you got your canoe stuck in the mud on the bank!'

‘It wasn't our fault,' said Biscuits, emerging from the food cupboard, his hand deep in a packet of Frosties.

‘Yes, it's not
our
fault we're not very good at canoeing,' I said.

‘The thing is, Tim, you're not good at
anything
,' said Giles.

Kelly splashed Giles again.

Giles splashed Kelly. He also splashed Laura by mistake.

‘Giles!' Laura squeaked. ‘Look at my shirt, it's soaking!'

‘Oh, Giles, you've got Laura all wet,' said Lesley.

‘Tim's the one that's wet,' said Giles, splashing me again. ‘Wet and weedy and pathetic.'

‘You shut up, Piles,' said Biscuits,
flicking
Frosties at him. ‘You're the one that's pathetic.'

‘Yeah, Tim rescued Theresa. He's a hero!' said Kelly, and she splashed Giles.

He splashed her back. Copiously. Laura
and
Lesley got soaked this time. So they splashed Giles back. He splashed me again. Biscuits emptied the Frosties all over him. We all burst out laughing because he looked so funny. I threw my wiping-cloth at him. I missed, but it didn't matter. We all started splashing and shrieking and then Jake suddenly charged into the kitchen and bellowed at us.

‘What on
earth
are you lot playing at?'

We ended up on our hands and knees doing an awful lot of mopping.

Chapter Five

I FOUND OUT
!

Jake and Sally had set this huge great obstacle race. We were all lined up in our teams: the Lions, the Panthers, the Cheetahs – and us. Giles was dead eager. Kelly was bobbing about, Theresa clutched in her fist. Laura and Lesley were giggling. Biscuits and I were
groaning
.

‘It's not my idea of fun,' I whispered.

‘You can say that again,' Biscuits whispered back.

We kept this up all the time Sally was explaining what we had to do. It involved a lot of running. Lots and lots of running.

We had to run to the paddling pool and fill our buckets with water and then we had to run – with the full buckets – all the way round the field to the slide and then – still with the buckets – we had to climb up it and slide down and
then
we had to run to the sandpit and stagger across – with the buckets – and THEN we had to run to the stream and at the other side of the water there were four thirsty baby big cats desperate for a bucketful of water. Well, that's what Sally said.

‘Can you go through it again, Sally? I wasn't concentrating,' said Biscuits, grinning.

Sally pretended to clip him over the ear.

Giles was dead set on getting the rules right.

‘So it's the team that fills the
painted
rubbish bin first that wins, yes?'

‘They're not bins, Giles, they're babies. A baby lion, a baby panther, a baby cheetah, and
we've
got a baby tiger,' said Kelly. ‘Doesn't it look sweet?'

Giles screwed up his face in disgust at this whimsy.

I thought the bins looked good. The Baby Lion bin was painted yellow, the Baby Panther bin was painted black, the Baby Cheetah bin was painted beige with black spots, and our Baby Tiger bin looked the best, painted orange with black stripes. They all had cardboard ears and beady eyes and the swing tops made excellent movable mouths. Jake demonstrated, making them open their mouths to pant for water.

Jake jumped over the stream to get to them. He's got long legs but it was still quite a stretch for him. And he wasn't carrying a bucket of water. But
there
were four drainpipes across the stream. It looked as if we were in for a very wobbly walk across.

‘And the team that fills the bin first wins?' Giles repeated impatiently raring to go.

‘Not so fast, pal,' said Sally. ‘The first team gets forty points, the second team gets thirty, the third team gets twenty. The last team only gets ten points.'

‘Guess who's going to be last,' I muttered to Biscuits.

‘But the Crazy Bucket race isn't just about coming first,' said Sally, smiling. ‘We measure how much water is in each of the bins. That's just as important. You get forty points if your bin is the fullest. Then thirty, then twenty, then ten.'

‘It's starting to sound like a maths lesson,' said Lesley ‘I can't get the hang of it, can you, Laura?'

‘It's all much simpler than it sounds,' said Sally. ‘Cheer up. It's fun!'

Biscuits pulled a silly face at me. I
pulled
one back. Giles pushed us into place.

‘Come on, you lot, stop messing about. We're going to win, right?'

‘Wrong!'

‘Look,
try
,' said Giles.

‘My dad always tells me to try,' I told Biscuits. ‘And I do. But it doesn't work.'

‘Right everyone,' Sally called. ‘Get ready. One. Two. Three. GO!'