Читать книгу The Gargoyle in My Yard - Philippa Dowding - Страница 10

Utterly Hopeless

You’re probably wondering what happened next?

Well, Katherine didn’t have many choices. And if you can think of a different way to handle the situation than any of these three choices below, then you’re very wise and clever!

Choice #1. If you’re a sensible sort of person, you’re probably wondering if she got her parents out of bed and explained what happened.

Well, think about that for a minute. If you woke your parents out of a sound sleep and started talking nonsense about a gargoyle stomping the flowers in your new shoes, would they believe you? Or would they think you had stomped the flowers yourself and were trying to blame it on someone, or in this case something else?

So that was out.

Choice #2. If you’re an adventurous and brave sort of person, you might be wondering if she ran downstairs and went outside to try to make the gargoyle stop?

This would seem like the most sensible thing to do, but Katherine found that she was suddenly a little afraid of facing the gargoyle in the middle of the dark, cold night all alone. Even if Milly did come to help her, Katherine didn’t think she was quite brave enough for that.

So that was out.

Choice #3. Although this probably didn’t occur to anyone, since it’s so terribly dull, did she do nothing and go back to bed, convinced it was all just a VERY BAD DREAM? Sometimes a thing that seems the most unlikely is the very thing that actually happens.

So it was with Katherine after the gargoyle had stomped all her mother’s flowers to bits.

She watched, helpless and sad, until he finally stopped, tired out from all the stomping. Then he flung her shoes off his feet and left them where they landed among the devastation.

After that, he simply waddled back to his little stone pedestal, hopped up and turned his back to her, apparently content to look like a statue once again.

Katherine was suddenly very tired and a little shaky from the cold. She didn’t know what to do, so she did nothing. She closed her window and turned her back on it, then walked slowly back to bed and climbed under the covers, all the while with a very puzzled look on her face.

There was nothing else to do. She cried herself to sleep and slept fitfully until morning.