PART 6
No sooner had the photo of the Numbat appeared in the local newspaper than Daddy’s phone started to ring. Most of the calls came from the big national newspapers, radio stations and TV stations all wanting to know how they had discovered the rare Numbat in such an unlikely place.
When Sally and Ronnie got to school everyone wanted to hear the story of the Numbat. It was really embarrassing because they both didn’t expect there to be such a fuss.
After they got home they found the Mayor’s car parked outside their house.
‘Oh dear’ said Ronnie, ‘I don’t like the look of this.’
Sally smiled at her little brother, ‘There is nothing to worry about Ronnie. Remember, the Mayor and Mr Dev were planning to destroy the wood. Where would the fairies have lived if that had happened?’
They entered the house and could immediately hear the Mayor talking to their Daddy.
‘I don’t know how they did it but there is no way that any Numbats live in that wood! All this is going to do is delay this very expensive development.’
‘It’s no use blaming my children’ said Daddy, ‘I think your experts have got it wrong.’
‘Well, we’ll see. A team of our experts are on the way now to lay traps to see if we can catch any Numbats. If they can’t, it’ll prove it’s nothing but a hoax.’ As Sally and Ronnie entered the kitchen they were almost knocked over by the Mayor storming out of the room. (Such a rude man)
Mummy looked worried which made Sally and Ronnie start to worry. What would they tell the fairies if they lost this battle?
‘Don’t look so worried’ said Daddy, ‘we haven’t lost this one yet.’
‘But they are going to set traps. What if they don’t catch any Numbats?’
Daddy smiled at his two children, ‘I don’t know how you found this animal and I certainly don’t know how you got it to feed out of your hands but I’m pretty certain that no one will be setting any traps!’
Just then there was a knock on the door and Mummy went to see who it was. They heard her talking to someone and then saying, ‘Wait here and I’ll see.’
She came back into the kitchen, ‘It’s the TV people! That man from the evening news is outside wanting to talk to the children! What should we do?’
‘Relax’ said Daddy, ‘remember what this is about. Trying to save our wood.’ He looked at Mummy and then at Sally and Ronnie. ‘Ready everyone? Then lets go save our wood!’
The TV interview wasn’t as difficult as Sally and Ronnie had imagined. They said they had been lucky to find the Numbat and it’d looked hungry so Ronnie had offered it some of his apple.
The interviewer then spoke to Daddy and with a wink at the two children he said to the man with the microphone, ‘We are very lucky to have such a rare animal here in our wood. Hopefully they will breed and the Numbat will become less rare. The only concern we have is that the Mayor has told us that they intend to set traps in the wood to try and catch the Numbats. I think that people setting traps are likely to scare the Numbats away.’
The TV interviewer said thank you to the family and then turned to the camera and added, ‘So there we have it, the discovery of such a rare animal and all the Mayor can suggest is setting traps. Sounds wrong to me.’
That evening the interview appeared on the TV and Sally and Ronnie watched it with their Mummy and Daddy. Within a few days there were demonstrations outside the council offices with members of the public holding placards which read DOWN WITH THE MAYOR and SAVE OUR WOOD and WE LOVE NUMBATS.
Very soon the protests spread and demonstrations were held outside the offices of “DEV Estate Developments” as well as the State parliament building.
The following day the Mayor appeared on TV and said that the development was still going ahead and he thought that if there were Numbats in the wood, which he doubted, that they would ALSO enjoy living on a golf course. This did not go down very well with the protesters who threw eggs at the Mayor when he was leaving the TV studio!
Eventually the Minister for the Environment appeared on TV and looking VERY serious said, ‘We in Western Australia are very lucky to have so many wonderful animals. We need to look after them so that our children and grandchildren can enjoy them. I have been very disappointed to hear that a wood in which Numbats live is being threatened with development. This CANNOT BE ALLOWED TO HAPPEN!‘
At this moment he waved his fist in the air to show how determined he was.
‘I will be presenting a Bill in parliament that will protect this wood from any interference and that includes people setting traps.’
All the people listening stood and clapped their hands and cheered the Minister.
Daddy stood up and turned the TV off. ‘I think we can safely say that the development of the wood is NOT going to happen. Well done to both of you!’
‘Yes, well done’ said Mummy.
Sally smiled and looked at Ronnie and they winked at each other.
‘Come on Ronnie, we have some friends to tell’ and Sally jumped up and started to put on her shoes.
‘Who do you have to tell?’ said Daddy.
‘Errr’ said Ronnie looking at his sister.
‘The Numbats of course!’ said Sally and off the two children ran.
They went through the gap in the fence and eventually found the clearing. It wasn’t long before they were being led by a fairy to see the Queen of the Fairies.
All of the fairies stood around the Queen and listened as Sally explained what had happened. When she had finished they all cheered and glowed extra brightly, so much so that Sally and Ronnie had to shield their eyes!
‘And could you tell the Possum family what has happened, and thank them for all their help?’ said Sally to the Queen.
‘Of course we will. All of us are eternally grateful to both of you for helping us in our hour of need. If you ever need anything and think that a fairy could help you know where we are.’
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That is the end of Sally and Ronnie’s BIG adventure. They saved the wood and saved the home of the fairies.
You are probably wondering if they kept their amazing powers. Sally being able to talk to animals and Ronnie’s amazing strength. Well, they did but you’d never know if you met them because they have to keep it secret and only use the powers for good things! Lucky children aren’t they?
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