Читать книгу The Riddle of the Frozen Phantom - Margaret Mahy - Страница 9
ОглавлениеUp and down… up and down… the three Sapwood children were out on the big blue trampoline, all enjoying a bit of early-morning bouncing while the early-morning blackbirds sang They were having fun. As usual, Edward and Sophie were trying to outbounce one another. Edward zoomed up, turning a somersault as he did so and feeling like a spaceman on a low-gravity planet. It seemed like practice for space travel and Edward longed to be a space traveller. In fact he was writing a science fiction novel just to go on with, and felt that bouncing on the trampoline was good practice for science fiction as well as space travel.
As Edward zoomed up, Sophie was zapping down. Boing! She hit the trampoline. Up she went, high into the air while Edward zapped down. It was all zap-and-zoom, zap-and-zoom with Sophie and Edward. Meanwhile, to one side of the big blue trampoline, Hotspur did a few little-kid-bum-bounces. He was a beautiful child – everyone said so – with black curls and long black lashes fringing big, blue eyes, but he was slightly strange as well. He was four years old, but had never said a word that anyone could understand. Mind you, he had plenty to say, but he sang and squawked and quacked and crowed and cawed and cooed and clucked and cackled. The trees close to the trampoline were crowded with sparrows and blackbirds all listening intently to Hotspur whistling and chirping as he did his bum-bounces.
Higher! Higher! Higher! went Edward. Higher! went Sophie! Higher, and then higher still! It felt wonderful.
“I’m going into orbit!” cried Edward, turning his usual somersault at the top of his bounce, then diving down again. He was longing to take notes for his science fiction adventure book, but it is hard to take notes when you are actually bouncing. It would be too easy to stick a pen in your eye.
“I can see Daffodil cooking breakfast!” Sophie sang, shooting up past him.
“I almost looked in at Dad’s bedroom window that time,” Edward boasted a moment later.
“And I am looking through Dad’s bedroom window,” Sophie shouted another moment later. “He’s on the phone.”
They kept on shouting cheerfully to one another as they zapped and zoomed.
“He’s just slammed the phone down…” cried Edward.
“…looking excited…” screamed Sophie
“…rushing to the wardrobe…” (Edward)
“…dragging out his explorer clothes…” (Sophie)
“…his explorer clothes and his brown suitcase,” Edward exclaimed. “Wow!”
“Oh-oh!” Sophie and Edward groaned in chorus as they accidentally bounced on top of one another. “This means trouble.” But it wasn’t their collision they were groaning about.
Off to one side, Hotspur whistled in apprehension and every bird in every nearby tree joined in too.
