Strange Happenings at No.4

  'Must hide,' says Metoo and stands in the middle of the room. She does kind of stand out with her stripes and her flowery red hat with daisies and forget-me-nots growing around the rim.

  'Let’s have a cup of tea,' says Mum.

  'Cupa tea, like new,' says Mino.

  While Mino and Metoo hide we all have a cup of tea with yummy melting moments. I baked them, I like cooking. By the time we've finished, the lounge is painted with vivid stripes again and Metoo has disappeared. I have a look into Sofie’s room. For all the orange spots it's impossible to see Mino or the cat.

  'What are these things?' says Mum. 'What shall we call them?'

  'Dafts,' says Sam.

  'Dinos,' says Lizzy.

  'Daft Dinos,' I say, giggling.

  'Taffinods,' says Mum.

  'Let’s ask them,' suggests Dad.

  'Find, find, seek, seek,' comes a voice from the kitchen.

  'Let’s go find them!' shouts Sam.

  Him, me and Lizzy, run into the very yellow kitchen. We look everywhere, behind the toaster, which is all but impossible to spot, and in the cupboards. Lizzy looks in the fridge then the freezer, where she gets a little side tracked by the ice cream, yellow ice cream with little red whirlpools, like strawberry ripples.

  Next we try the larder. It's much harder than you would tihink (which is to think really hard) as everything is so yellow. If you shut the door to the hallway and spin around a couple of times, it's hard to find the door again. We look behind the Marmite, which has stayed black as nothing can change the consistency of Marmite, in amongst the potatoes and even in Mum’s couscous. There’s nothing but weevils, yellow weevils that is. By this time, we're starting to yellow up a bit ourselves.

  'Too tricky,' I say, and we give up and saunter off to watch tele.

  'Find, find, seek, seek,' calls the voice.

  'Tele,' says Sam.

  'Photo,' says Mum banishing the camera. She takes a picture of the now very yellow, with little swirly bits, Sam, me & Lizzy.

  'Let’s look at our holiday piccies,' says Sam and plugs the camera into the tele so we can have a slideshow.

  The first photos are some that Lizzy took of her tummy button.

  'Lizzy, really,' says Mum.

  Next he flashes up the snapshots that Mum took of us up in the attic. In the first one we’re following the trail of Marmitey footprints, and in the second we’re wearing our winter woollies after it started snowing. Sam is so quick at pushing the button that we get like a nanosecond to view the photo. He’s just flicking on to the next one when I say, 'Whoa Sam, go back.'

  Sam flicks back to the attic photo and I say, 'Now zoom in on the beam above our heads.'

  Sam zoom in and in.

  There’s the culprits!' exclaims Mum. Standing on the beam are six little dinosaury things. The photo is quite pixelly, but we can just make out the colours of them, you guessed, orange and green, yellow and blue, bright stripes, pinky, yellow, and shimmering blue. We carry on through the holiday snapshots. Mino features in quite a few, even before Caticus caught him. In one he is slurping Mum’s coffee through a straw, while she does her Sudoku on the arm chair.

  'Mum,' I say. 'How could you not, like not, see a bright orange and green thing stealing your coffee?'

  'I can remember my coffee going.’ says Mum, ‘I hadn't even had a sip and picked my cup up to find it was empty! But I never noticed Mino; then again, I was doing my Sudoku. The earth could have dropped off its axis and I wouldn’t have noticed.'

  The next photo is one of Pikachu on T.V. There on top of the tele is Mino. 'I would have seen him there,' says Sam. 'He must have been invisible!'

  'How come the camera sees them then?' asks Lizzy.

  'Well Caticus can, so why shouldn’t the camera,' says Sam. 'But how come we can see them now?'

  'Equinox, equinox,' pipes a voice from behind us.

  'Well that answers everything,' says Mum.

  We carry on through the photos. There’s some great ones of the surfing. At last Sam reaches the one Mum just took. There's Sam, me and Lizzy with the kitchen behind. Us and everything is ‘normal,' not yellow at all, except for one splash of colour just in the corner of the kitchen floor. Looking through the gap between Sam and my legs is a little yellow dinosaury thing.

  'Got him,' says Sam as he runs to the kitchen and dives across the floor.

  'Cheat, cheat, not fair,' calls Metoo after him. Sam comes back into the living room with a little thingy that giggles. It is super cute, definitely a she thingy.

  It's bright yellow with little red whirlpools and a crooked purple hat with a wee star dangling from the top. The whirlpools swirl and disappear before forming somewhere else.

  'Found you,' says Sam.

  'Cheat, cheat, not fair,' protests Metoo.

  Sam picks up the camera with his spare hand, flips the dial onto camera and pans around the room, the picture showing on the T.V.

  'Cheat, cheat, Not fair,' shouts Metoo as I skip across the room and gently pick her up from where she sits, completely camouflaged on the second shelf up of the book case.

  We carry the two little dinothingies through to the dining room and put them gently on the table. Metoo and yellow and swirly give each other a big hug, sending little blue sparks zinging around the place.

  'What shall we call the new one?' asks Lizzy.

  'Whirly, short for whirlpool,' says Sam.

  Whirly giggles.

  Metoo shakes her wee head and with a flourish of her hand she gestures towards Whirly and says, 'Eddy, Sister Eddy.'

  'That explains all those whirlpools,' I say. 'Little whirlpools are called eddies.'

  'Eddy steps forward, takes off her hat and bows with a flourish, then giggles some more.

  'And pleased to meet you as well,' says Mum. 'Welcome to our house.'

  The star on the end of Eddy’s hat glows and a stream of little yellow stars flits out from it, and Eddy’s whirlpools, or shall I call them eddies, swirl madly.

  'Find 'em, find 'em, seek seek,' says Metoo.

  'Cheat, cheat, no,' says Eddy.

  So off we go to find the others. Metoo leads the way, followed by Eddy, then Lizzy, me and Sam. Mum and Dad head out to the terrace to enjoy the evening with a bottle of wine and some pumpkin seed pate.

  In the garage, the little fish dart around the place acting very agitated. Out from behind the work bench zooms a couple of sharks, sharks of the type a six year old would draw, which herd the fish into the middle of the ceiling near the light. Things are starting to look very grim for the little fish when a school of dolphins swim across the floor, up the wall and chase the sharks away. The dolphins zoom off after them only to return at top speed a minute later being chased by the sharks.

  We stand spellbound and watch the spectacle. Eddy and Metoo jump up on the work bench and search around amongst the shimmering blue boxes and paint pots.

  'Feesh!' they both exclaim at the same moment and little blue and yellow sparks whizz about the place. The dolphins and sharks chase themselves away and the little fish spread out evenly across the walls, ceiling, floor and furniture again. We can see Metoo and Eddy but even though we know Feesh is right next to them, we can't make him out. Suddenly a hat appears. We can't see Feesh, but we can certainly see his boat shaped hat.

  'Our room next,' shout me and Lizzy as we run up the stairs, Metoo, Eddy and Feesh leading the way.

  Metoo stops in the middle of the floor of our very pink and purply bedroom, and her, Eddy and Feesh sit down in a little circle. Metoo says, 'Look you.'

  Sam, me and Lizzy look everywhere, then look again. We can't find anything so we join their circle. Sam says, 'Look you!'

  Eddy talks in a funny language which sounds half way between French, Dutch and Chinese, a sing song language that's a pleasure to listen to. Eddy must be telling a joke because the three of them burst out laughing.

  Laughter also comes from the wardrobe, and from Lizzy, who is rolling around on the floor
holding her sides. Me and Sam quietly entered the wardrobe and track down the source of the laughter inside.

  I feel about with until I lay my hand on it. 'Got it!' I shout and hold up a little pinky dinosaury thing with purple lines etching across its skin. Although it looks like dinosaur skin, it is soft and smooth to touch like gecko skin.

  'What’s your name then?' I ask.

  The little pink thing is giggling so much its red triangular hat falls off. I pick it up and carefully place it back on Pinky's head.

  It's not quite in the right spot and the little creature reaches up and carefully turns it a few degrees, tilts it just a little, then jumps down and runs across to give her brothers and sister a hug, sending sparks flying about the room.

  When they finally stop giggling, that is all of them except Lizzy, who has tears running down her eyes. I ask again, 'What's your name?'

  The little thing looked up with a glint in its eye and says, 'You know.'

  'No I don't'

  'You know.'

  'No, what's your name?'

  The little creature jumps up on the pinky-purple desk, grabs a pen and writes in purple ink on a pinky-purple sheet of paper. It's a little hard to make out, but I can just see Uno, so it is called, You Know!

  'What were you laughing at Lizzy?' demands Sam.

  'The joke,' says Lizzy.

  'But they’re speaking a funny language,' says Sam.

  'I understood it perfectly,' says Lizzy, looking a little surprised at herself.

  'What was the joke then?'

  'Well... well...,' says Lizzy. 'It was so, so funny. It was the funniest joke I ever heard but it just doesn't translate. It was a play on words about how when Caticus gets better he's going to eat Feesh's fish. Well at least he will try to eat Feesh’s fish, if Feesh’s fish don't eat him first.'

  Next we go into Sofie's room.

  'Me know where Mino is,' I say, reaching into the little shoebox nest we made him. I sort through the knickers. There’s a lot of orange spots amongst the bright green knickers but no Mino. 'Me no know,' I say.

  We look in Caticus's banana box. 'Dead, dead, dead,' says Lizzy.

  'Not dead,' says Sam, stroking Caticus. Although very green and spotty, Caticus is getting some flesh back on his old bones. A coat of new fur is growing and when you stroke him you can feel warmth and breathing. We all, Sam, me, Lizzy, Metoo, Feesh, Eddy and Uno, look and look and look but can't find Mino. We poke and prod and feel every square inch of the room but find nothing.

  'Well,' says Sam. 'Mino is in this room, right? And we've searched everywhere, right? So that only leaves one place?'

  'Right,' I say. 'Where?'

  'The ceiling!' He grabs the reading lamp and points it at the spotty ceiling. 'Now Louise,' he says. 'When I say, you turn off the main light and I'll turn on my lamp, then when I turn off my lamp, you turn on your light and after a few seconds turn it off again and I'll turn mine on.'

  It's all very complicated and sounds like this, 'Now, no, no, off, off and on, on, on,' but we soon get the hang of it and the lights flick on and off like little strobes.

  'What are you doing?' asks Lizzy.

  'Look, look,' says Sam. ‘Every time the angle of lighting changes, you can see a shadow thrown across the ceiling from a little dinosaury thing sitting on top of the light shade. The shadow doesn't last long, just half a second, then the green and orange background swallows it up, but it's enough for us to find Mino.

  'Me know!' exclaims Sam, as he reaches up and plucks Mino down. He places him on the floor and sparks fly as the colourful little critters greet each other.

  'My room,' says Sam.

  'Tricky, no find,' says Mino, 'No see, no find.'

  See, we don't, there's absolutely nothing to see in Sam’s room, but find we do. Sam tries his light trick, once he has found the light, but with nothing for it to shine on, there's nothing to see. Eddy tells her jokes, making us all laugh. Although me and Sam don't understand them, we laugh too, laughter is just so contagious! There's a delay between the ends of Eddy’s jokes and Sam and me catching the laughter. We use this little gap to track down Nosee, first to the corner of Sam’s desk; then to the books on Sam’s desk; then inside a book. Finally I hold something in my hands, gently but firmly, so it can't escape. It has very smooth and slithery skin like a skink, quite different from the others with their gecko skin. The Dinos form a circle on the floor and I place Nosee in the middle. Sparks fly, there's lots of talking and laughter and more sparks.

  Lizzy says that none of the little Dinos have ever met Nosee before, as she's very shy and quiet. It seems that now, having broken the ice; so to speak, Nosee is making up for lost time. After a lot of chatting, Nosee jumps up into Lizzy's hands and chat, chat, chats for the rest of the evening.

  'Only one room left,' I say. 'Let’s get Mum and Dad!'

  'Tricky,' says Mino. 'Meteo tricky.'

  Mum and Dad come in and met the little Dinos.

  Mum says, 'I’m Caroline, pleased to meet you,' to each one.

  Dad shakes each one’s hand and gives Uno a kiss.

  'She’s sooo cute,' says Dad, and Uno turns a shade pinker.

  'They’re definitely not Taffinods,' says Mum. 'They're more like No Seeums.'

  'We already have Nosee,' says Sam.

  'Nosee, See No, See No, Zee No, Zino, Zinos, ZINOS!' exclaims Mum. 'Zinos, do you like that little fellas?'

  'Zino, Zino, Zinos,' says Mino.

  'Me like,' says Eddy.

  'Me too!' says Metoo.

  'So Zinos it is,' says Mum.

  Mum and Dad’s room looks great; it's all light blue blotches on a bright yellow background, except for the furniture and the clothes which are the other way around.

  'Tricky,' says Mino again. 'Meteo Tricky.'

  Meteo is tricky!

  We look, we search, we poke and prod. Eddy tells jokes. There's laughter, but it seems to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Sam shines lights, but there are no shadows this time!

  'Camera,' says Sam.

  'Camera,' agree the Zinos.

  Sam runs and fetches it, but although he takes photos of every corner of the room, there's no sign of the elusive Meteo. There's a bluey-yellow mist in some of the photos, but no Zino.

  'Give up?' booms a voice from everywhere.

  The Zinos discuss amongst themselves for a moment, then say, 'Give up.'

  Slowly a cloud materialises in the corner of the room up by the ceiling. Indistinct at first, it soon becomes clear with sharp edges.

  It's a mini cumulonimbus, but instead of being white, it’s light blue blotches on a yellow background. It floats across the room and an icy gust of wind blows out of nowhere scattering the papers off the bedside table and blowing the curtains around. A flash of lightning strikes the bedside table, hitting Mum’s alarm clock and lighting up the room. Another couple of flashes singe the carpet, then it grows dark and snow starts to fall. We make snowballs and have a fight then Mino jumps up and opens the window. A cold gust of wind sweeps through the room and blows all the snow out, the window slams shut and there bouncing on the bed is Meteo. He’s a patchwork of blue and yellow with a tall peacock blue hat, which tapers to a point with a lightning conductor on the top, like a wonky church spire.

  The Zinos jump up to see him; sparks fly and they huddle together on the bed chattering.

  ‘Click!’ Sam takes a photo; a photo that ends up in a frame on top of the fridge.

   

  Chapter 19 - The Equinox party

  It’s decided; dinner first, party after.

  As it’s been such a busy day, Mum doesn't want to cook, so we have takeaways for dinner again; yummy Indian ones from Sigdi’s just around the corner. The Zinos and Lizzy want spaghetti so I cook that up while we wait for the Indian to arrive.

  Dad opens up the dining table and puts the extension piece in to make it super big and we throw an old bedspread, a blue and fishy one as it was stowed in the garage, ov
er it as a table cloth. In the middle of the table we set up books in a circle for the Zinos to use as benches and I place the bowl of pasta, special spicy pasta with chilies and garlic called aglio olioe peperonico, in the middle. When the takeaways arrive, Mum sets up the punets of Indian food and the nan bread and poppadoms round the table.

  Standing up and raising his wine glass, Dad says, 'Mino, Metoo, Uno, Feesh, Eddy, Nosee and Meteo. I know you’ve been with us for a while now but I'd like to formally welcome you to our house, Welcome.'

  We clink our glasses together then Dad adds, 'Life at number 4 will never be the same!'

  We tuck into dinner. Lizzy shows the Zinos how to suck pasta. They only have three or four spaghettis each, but it does take them a long time! Mino dips his in marmite. Pudding is ice cream, yellow and whirlpooly ice cream, followed by chocolate and washed down with hot mint tea.

  I ask Lizzie to find out about the Zinos. She asks them lots of questions. She can't get a straight answer from Eddy and Uno answers with you know, which isn't very enlightening.

  She does say, 'Mino says that the Equinox is a special time of year for the Zinos, like Christmas for us but it comes around twice a year.'

  I hardly needed an interpreter to figure that out, but good, we could do with two more Christmases every year. Even if Mum cancels Christmas twice, we still have one up our sleeve!

  After tea, the table is cleared and Dad sets up candles on the upturned tea cups and turns the lights off and the music up. The Zinos play and chat, and dance and laugh and throw sparks between themselves. Lizzy yawns. That gets me going, as yawns like laughter, are contagious.

  'Time for bed,' says Mum. 'Don't forget we're sleeping in the hallway tonight. Let's drag the mattresses out of the rooms.'

  There’s a pitter-patter of paws and a blur of ginger, black and white as Caticus pounces on Mino. Lizzy screams, Mino glows blue with electricity and sparks jump. Caticus is rejuvenated, a young, healthy Caticus with a shiny new coat of fur. He reaches forward to bite Mino but gives him a big catty lick instead.

  Mino laughs. Caticus licks him again with his sandpaper tongue.

  'No tickle, tickle no, tickle not,' pleads Mino. 'Tickle no, tickle not, NO TICKLE!'

  The End

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  Also published by the same author at Smashwords