Colin Meets an Emu , livre ebook

Andrews UK - Merv Lambert

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68 pages

English

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Description

Colin the librarian is an unremarkable little man, who one day at work finds a very rare, very unusual book. It does not belong to the library. On opening it he sees the title 'Colin's Book' and inside it is a beautiful blue bookmark with a red phoenix on it. The bookmark gives him extraordinary strength and resolve and leads him and his little dog Sammy into many exciting adventures both in the past and present...

Sujets

Children's

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Publié par	Andrews UK
Date de parution	02 février 2011
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781849893077
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0224€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Title Page

COLIN AND THE EMU

By
Merv Lambert

Publisher Information

Colin And the Emu published in 2010 by
Andrews UK Limited
www.andrewsuk.com

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior written consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published, and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

The characters and situations in this book are entirely imaginary and bear no relation to any real person or actual happening.

Copyright © Merv Lambert

The right of Merv Lambert to be identified as author of this book has been asserted in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyrights Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Dedication

For Thomas, Max and Jamie

Colin Meets a Fair Maiden & Makes a Strange New Friend

He had not intended to start reading a story so late at night, but as the book, i.e. his special book, fell open at a particular page, whilst he was looking for the photo of Robin Hood and Maid Marion, Colin felt himself drawn into it. Yes, the bookmark was glowing. Sammy had woken up. A quick glance told Colin that he was wearing his usual jeans and sweater, but that was odd! He could hear a guitar being played somewhere nearby and quite badly. He looked around him and realised with a start that he was in the hallway of his Auntie Flo’s house. He recognised the wallpaper, the pictures on the walls and the green and blue carpet on the stairs. Something did not quite seem right. He did not call out to his Auntie Flo, but once again felt drawn to action without knowing exactly why. Quietly he climbed the stairs, clutching Sammy under one arm. The noise seemed to be coming from the second bedroom on the right hand side of the landing. Cautiously he approached it and knocked softly on the door. It opened suddenly and light flooded out.
“Come in, Colin. We were expecting you.” It was Auntie Flo’s voice.
“Hello, auntie. This is Sammy,” he said, holding out the little dog so that she could pat it on the head. Sammy woofed happily.
Colin’s eyes were drawn to what was happening in the room. He saw his cousins Jilly and Billy sitting on the bed, and Billy was holding a guitar, an electric guitar linked to two amplifiers. The most amazing thing though was that the guitar was being played by an emu! It was standing on one leg and trying with the other to get the right notes with its toes, whilst using its beak on the strings. It did not stop just because a visitor had entered the room.
“By the way, this is M,” said Auntie Flo, pointing at the emu.
“Hi, Colin,” said Jilly. Billy took a hand off the guitar to wave, which made it wobble. He got a glare from the emu.
“Come on, M,” said Billy. “You’re supposed to be playing ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ and you’re so slow you make it sound like ‘Amazing Grace’ instead!”
The emu ignored him and went on playing.
“Yes, it is a little bit painful,” said Auntie Flo, “but he’s only a learner. Not bad for an emu really! It’s our fault for encouraging him. He was getting a little bit bored in the school holidays. Of course you are very privileged, Colin. Not many people can actually see M, as he was computer-generated, but now he seems to have developed a life of his own. We have quite a job trying to control him sometimes. Maybe you could occasionally step in and help.”
“But I don’t know anything about playing the guitar!” protested Colin.
“You don’t have to,” replied Auntie Flo. “Billy and Jilly are staying with me this week.”
“Yes, and we’re performing at the open-air concert in Thingy Park on Wednesday!” interrupted Jilly excitedly.
“Jilly is the lead singer and I’m in her backing group on guitar of course,” added Billy.
“The trouble is,” explained Auntie Flo, “that Jilly and Billy can’t keep an eye on M, when they are performing. He may well behave himself and be quite content to watch them. On the other hand, he can sometimes be very easily distracted and wander off, when something takes his interest. Normally I would be able to watch him myself, but I’ve been asked to run the Fortune Teller’s booth in the fairground, and as all the money is going to charity, I couldn’t refuse. Would you and Sammy be willing to take over from me for a couple of hours, Colin?”
He decided instantly. “O.K.”, he said.
“You don’t know what you are letting yourself in for,” warned Jilly. “He can be a bit of a handful!”

Meanwhile Sammy was looking curiously and hopefully at M. Could he see him? Or was he mesmerised by the guitar playing by itself? Auntie Flo glanced across at him and answered Colin’s question before he could ask it.
“Oh, yes, he can see the emu. You and Sammy can stay here for a few days. I’ve made the room next door ready for you. There is a beanbag that Sammy can sleep on.”
“Won’t Mr. Jellysox be annoyed, if I don’t turn up for work tomorrow?”
“No, just ring in and tell him you’ve been called away to Liverpool on family business. I’ll speak to him myself, if you like. I can be very persuasive, you know.”
“Yes, I know,” said Colin, wondering what he was doing promising to babysit an invisible emu!
Nevertheless he did enjoy his stay there. The next day, Tuesday, Auntie Flo spoke to Mr. Jellysox on the phone and arranged everything, and Colin took Sammy for a couple of walks round Thingy Park. The first time Jilly, Billy and M went with him. The second time they went on their own, as Billy and Jilly were rehearsing for the concert, or rather they went on their own accompanied by M. Sammy was exhausted by the time they got back to the house. He and M had played a chasing game almost non-stop, whilst Colin sat on a bench and watched them. “Well,” he thought, “one day he’s playing with a dragon, and the next it’s with an emu!”

Wednesday passed in much the same way, but in the evening they all made their way to the park. Auntie Flo drove Colin, Sammy and the children in her car and left it in the special car-park that had been roped off on the grass. M had loped easily beside the car all the way there. Jilly and Billy were used to this, but Colin couldn’t take his eyes off the extraordinary bird. Auntie Flo had told him all about the things M had done, the curtain-eating, the beating of the school bully, the upheaval in the supermarket, and their holiday in Italy. She had also warned Colin that M’s behaviour became very unpredictable, if he spotted a pretty young woman. “And he is extremely strong,” she added.
Colin had replied, “Don’t worry. I am too sometimes.”
Auntie Flo arranged to meet them all at her car at eleven o’clock after the concert had finished. Billy and Jilly went off to the open-air concert stage, and Auntie Flo went to the Fortune Teller’s booth, whilst Colin, Sammy and M took a stroll round the fair. It was already getting quite crowded. As darkness fell the many-coloured lights of the rides and sideshows glowed, blazed, flickered and flashed. Colin decided it was time to make their way to the concert stage.
“Come on,” he said. Sammy and M followed him. Sammy was on a lead, but M was not. He would not have liked it and there would have been trouble. As they neared the concert stage, Colin noticed a tall young woman holding a huge carrier-bag apparently arguing with three young men,who were wearing baseball caps, which hid their features. She was wearing a dark blue headscarf and dark glasses, even though it was no longer daylight. She had long dark hair that hung to her shoulders. Angrily she gestured to her companions and kept stabbing her finger in different directions, as if giving them instructions. The young men appeared to be in awe of her, but there was something attractive about her too, which made Colin think about Auntie Flo’s warning to him about M. He hoped that the emu would not become very silly and awkward. However, nothing untoward happened, as they arrived at the area roped off in front of the stage. They stood towards the back on a slight slope. There were no seats. Most of the audience, as would be expected, were young people. However, there were some older people there as well.

It was not long before the concert started. M seemed quite content, hopping up and down in time to the music and nodding his head forward to the beat of the guitars. Fortunately only Colin and Sammy could see him. The audience cheered and applauded every act. They seemed to like Jilly’s singing in particular. After her first song, while they were stamping their feet and shouting for more, Colin noticed a young man in a green baseball cap push past two older ladies, and he thought he saw him snatch something and put it in his pocket. It was one of the youths he had seen earlier arguing with the young woman. He tried to give chase, but after a few moments the youth was lost in the crowd. The bookmark glowed, telling Colin that perhaps this was the reason he was here.
To M and Sammy he said, “We’ve got to find that boy in the green cap. I think he’ll go to the fairground.” As they went in that direction Sammy seemed to know where to go. He led them through the sideshows, past the tall tower of the Helter-Skelter with its spiral slide, past the long, long covered structure that announced in large letters ‘The GHOOOOOOOOST Train’ and past the enormous, towering mass of the roller-coaster ride called ‘The Hellzapoppin-Screamalong’ to the back field, where the fairground workers’ caravans were. It was darker there with long shadows cast by the lights from the fair itself and the blare of the music of the rides mingled with the music of the concert, which was loud even there. However, the sound of r