Harry the Poisonous Centipede Goes to Sea (8 page)

There’s one thing more I have to tell you about. It’s not so much to do with Harry, but I think it’s interesting.

Belinda explained that she’d had to move out of the old nest because she wasn’t strong enough to dig through the earth-fall and was afraid of another. But now they moved back – all of them.

Harry and George made Belinda comfortable, with a fresh damp leaf, and started feeding her up with lots of tasty treats. Josie, who moved in with them,
helped, and even persuaded Belinda to give tree-droppings a try. Belinda soon got a lot better, what with having her hunting done for her and her centeens around her. Plus her centeena, who before long was a full-grown female centipede.

One dark-time, Josie produced something like a little bundle. It was full of eggs. And soon after that, a mass of tiny wriggling soon-to-be-giant centipedes hatched out. (Josie certainly did her bit to stop
Scolopendra Gigantae Rara Extremis Marvellosa
from becoming extinct, though of course she didn’t know that.)

Now, the idea of being a grandmother doesn’t really come into it with centipedes. Most of them don’t even reckon mothers very much. But as you must know by now, Belinda and Harry had a special relationship – making them exceptional centipedes.

Belinda was surprised and delighted by the happy event.

Josie made a centi-basket for her babies and looked after them tenderly. And Belinda helped her.

She also interfered sometimes. She pushed the babies back into the basket when they tried to climb out. She hintackled to Josie that baby centis need
meat,
not just tree-droppings, and when Josie wasn’t looking, Belinda sneaked them bits of chewed-up worm and spiders’ legs. But Josie was very patient with her. It’s good to have some company and advice when you have your first thirty babies.

And where, do I hear you ask, were Harry and George while all this was going on? Male centipedes are, I’m bound to say, absolutely useless as fathers. They were off hunting and having more adventures. Not that they ever went far away again. Harry kept his promise to Belinda about
that.

And when all the baby centipedes were ready, they crawled out of the basket and ran away in all directions.

Nearly all.

One of Josie’s babies stayed in the nest, and when he was big enough, began to give plenty of worry to his mother (who by this time knew all about warm-heart). Not to mention Belinda, his—

No. This was one thing the centipedes never invented a word for. So I’ll have to do it.

How about – centi-gran?

Or granny-pede, if you prefer.

Harry the Poisonous Centipede
Harry the Poisonous Centipede’s Big Adventure

The Indian in the Cupboard

Return of the Indian

The Mystery of the Cupboard

The Secret of the Indian

The Key to the Indian

Alice by Accident

Angela and Diabola

The Dungeon

Stealing Stacey

Tiger Tiger