Читать книгу Darcy Dolphin is a Little Bit Magic! - Sam Watkins - Страница 10

TURTLESDAY

I persevered so hard at being nice to Coral yesterday evening that I nearly exploded. Then I read two chapters of Zombie Crabs before bed. And you know what – Steve was right about Zoe – she IS a zombie crab! Steve is now trying to make his house zombie-proof, as he’s scared Zoe will eat his brains! Apparently that is what zombies do. I peeked out of the toy cave at Coral and she looked fast asleep, but I put Remy on guard at the cave door, just in case.

In the middle of the night I was woken up by a fin-tingling noise.

Click-click, moooooan, click-click, moooooan . . .

It was Coral, clicking and moaning in her sleep again! Remy shot to my side and latched on, whimpering.

Maybe remoras don’t make such great guard-fish.

I got up early and told Mum about Coral’s moaning and clicking.

‘She was probably having a nightmare, dear,’ Mum said, trying to spoon prawnflakes into Diddy’s mouth.

I gulped. Should I tell Mum my fears? I decided I had to.

‘Mum . . . I think Coral might be a zombie crab,’ I said. ‘She’s been acting really –’

‘DIDDY! Don’t throw your food!’ Mum exclaimed suddenly as prawnflakes went flying. ‘Sorry, Darcy darling, what was that about Coral?’

I tried again. ‘I think – in fact, I’m sure – she’s a zombie crab. She’s going to try to eat my brains. That’s what zombies do. And I’ve got an especially big brain.’

Mum laughed. ‘Don’t be silly, Darcy. Now go and get Coral up or you’ll both be late for school – Diddy! Don’t put prawnflakes in your blowhole!’

Honestly, Mum doesn’t understand how serious the situation is – just like Steve’s mum in Zombie Crabs!

In class, Miss Carp had an announcement. ‘Now, I thought it would be an idea if we put on a little talent show at the end of the visit. I want you to work with your pen pals on a five-minute act for the show. Working together – that’s the important thing!’

I turned to Coral, who was making a pebble tower on her desk from pebbles she’d picked up on the way to school.

‘Any ideas?’ I asked.

Coral shrugged. ‘I dunno.’

Persevere, Darcy, I said to myself. ‘I know – we could do a dance?’

‘I don’t like dancing,’ Coral said, reaching up to put another pebble on the tower. Something snapped inside me.

‘Why are you so crabby?!’ I shouted. I pushed the tower and all the pebbles came tumbling down.

I felt bad as soon as I’d done it. ‘I’m sorry . . . I didn’t mean to do that. I just really want to be friends!’

I started trying to rebuild the tower, but Miss Carp had seen what happened and put me on Whale Cleaning Duty as a punishment. This means having to de-barnacle Walter the School Whale. Walter is lovely, but getting the cheeky barnacles off him is the worst job, and they call you rude names like ‘stinking scurvy-ridden slimehead’.

Word(s) of the Day: Stinking scurvy-ridden slimehead

A slimehead is a type of fish. I’m not exactly sure what ‘scurvy-ridden’ means, but it must be rude because the barnacles laughed themselves silly.