Mystery for Megan (8 page)
Authors: Abi; Burlingham
The Tale of Buttercup
Gretton is a quiet village in the south of England and is typical of many villages. However, what makes Gretton different is that there have been stories
of sightings in the village of a beautiful golden dog and a large black cat. What is particularly strange is that the same animals have been seen over many years.
The first sighting of them was in the late nineteenth century, around 1886, when a farmer’s son walking his dog spotted the animals together near the woods.
No one knows why the animals appear or where they come from. The only thing that is known for certain is that the sightings are always reported by children, and that when
buttercups appear, the big golden dog also appears. Thus he has earned himself the name ‘Buttercup’, and the big old house close to where the animals have been sighted has come to be
known as Buttercup House.
‘That’s my house!’ squealed Megan.
‘And the buttercups are here, just like it says,’ said Freya excitedly. ‘We have to show Granny.’
The girls raced over to Freya’s house and found Granny in the kitchen.
‘Granny, you’re not going to believe this,’ said Freya in a whisper. ‘We found this book in the library and there’s a story in it about Buttercup.’
‘Really?’ said Granny, quickly drying her hands.
They all sat around the table and the girls showed Granny
The Tale of Buttercup
.
‘You see, it
is
something to do with children,’ said Granny. ‘I think the animals come to help children and to look after them. And look, if Dorothy and Buttercup were
first seen in 1886, they are both much older than we thought.’
Freya, Megan and Granny all looked at each other in silence. They were all thinking the same thing. How on earth could an animal live to be well over one hundred years old?
The rest of the week was sunny and got warmer and warmer. Megan’s mum said it was the warmest spring she could remember and even bought Megan a new sun hat. It was her
favourite colour – yellow – with a big purple butterfly on the front. She loved it!
Megan kept looking out for Buttercup, but she couldn’t see him anywhere. And yet the garden was still covered in buttercups.
He must be around somewhere,
thought Megan. She looked
out of her bedroom window every morning, but all she saw were the trees against a big blue sky and small fluffy clouds drifting across the wide open space.
Megan tried to think of something to do to keep herself busy. Then she remembered Emily and Beth. She still hadn’t written to them. She had meant to, but one thing had happened after
another, and then she didn’t know how to say what she wanted to say. But now she started to miss them all over again.
I know,
thought Megan,
I’ll send them an email and
I’ll do it right now!
She rushed into her dad’s office – it was empty, just as she had hoped. She turned on the computer and opened up a new email.
Dear Emily and Beth,
I hope you are OK. What’s been happening at school? Have you done describing words yet?
Then Megan thought about the story she had written about Dorothy. She really wanted to tell Emily and Beth.
I wrote a story at school about a mysterious black cat who ate shortbread. I used lots of describing words and my teacher really liked it.
She wanted to tell them that Dorothy was a real cat who had come back because she had moved into Buttercup House – how exciting was that? But they would never believe her. Then she thought
about Whiskers, those lovely brown mice . . . but she couldn’t tell Emily and Beth about them either. As for Buttercup . . . well, they would think she was completely crazy if she told them
about the big golden dog.
Megan realised then how amazing her new life was, and how the only person she could really share it all with was Freya, her special new friend! But she really wanted to tell Emily and Beth some
things, so Megan wrote:
The house has mice and needs a bit of fixing. But there is a massive garden and a treehouse, which Dad has already mended. I have put up a poster of a white
horse in there and I have made friends with a girl called Freya who lives next door.
I do miss you both and I miss our games of hide and seek and how we always used to hide behind Mr Biggins’s bins! Do you remember?
Please write back.
Love Megan xx
And she put a little picture of a dog at the bottom, with
WOOF
in a bubble. Megan smiled to herself. She was pleased that she had got round to writing at last, even if some things had to
be kept in the box, just as Granny said.
She hoped they’d write back soon.
Megan and Freya were so glad when Saturday came. They couldn’t wait to talk about Buttercup at the treehouse. But before they could reach the treehouse, the sky turned
grey and rain started to come down in huge drops.
‘Ooh, we’re going to get soaked,’ said Freya.
‘Quick! Let’s get in the house,’ squealed Megan.
The girls ran through the rain and into Buttercup House. They were so glad to be in the warm and dry.
‘Shall we play in my room?’ said Megan. ‘We could do some colouring and talk about Buttercup.’
So for most of the morning they did just that! Megan had a big floor colouring that she hadn’t yet started. It was a picture of a woodland scene, with trees, birds, an owl and
squirrels.
‘This picture’s all wrong,’ said Freya.
‘Why?’ said Megan, puzzled.
‘They’ve forgotten to put Buttercup in,’ replied Freya.
The girls laughed.
‘We’ll just have to imagine him in the picture, then,’ said Megan.
Freya kept touching her friendship bracelet and smiling. It reminded her of how much she loved sharing things with Megan.
At lunch, Megan’s mum brought them sandwiches and crackers and grapes. Megan laid her quilt on the floor and they had an indoor picnic.
‘It’s a bedroom picnic,’ said Megan. ‘It’s called a bedroomnic.’
‘I’ve never heard of one of those before,’ said Freya, laughing.
‘That’s because I just invented it,’ said Megan.
Then they did a big round animal jigsaw on the floor and talked about Buttercup.
‘I can’t believe he’s so old,’ said Megan.
‘I know,’ said Freya. ‘I wish we could see him properly. He looks so beautiful, but I bet he’s even more beautiful close up.’
‘I bet he is, and I bet his fur’s really soft,’ said Megan. ‘I wish we knew more about him.’
‘I do too,’ said Freya.
‘I know what we could do!’ said Megan. ‘Let’s write a list of all the things we’d like to know about him.’
So the girls did some serious thinking and wrote a list of all the things they would like to know. They took it in turns, so that in the end the list looked kind of stripy – stripes of
Megan’s handwriting and stripes of Freya’s!
1)How does Buttercup know Dorothy?
2)Does he come to help children?
3)How many times has he come back?
4)Where does he live?
5)Does he know the mice?
6)Has he ever tasted Granny’s shortbread?
7)How old is he?
By the time they had finished writing their list, it was late afternoon and their tummies were very rumbly, especially after writing the bit about Granny’s shortbread. Before Freya went
home for dinner, they arranged to meet later on in the evening. They could go to their secret place and talk some more about the mice, Dorothy and Buttercup.
After Freya had gone, Megan popped into her dad’s office and turned on the computer. There was a reply from Emily! Megan was so pleased. It said:
Dear Megan,
HIYA! Your treehouse sounds cooooooool! Not so sure about the mice though!!!
Yes, we’re doing
very interesting
and
exciting
describing words at school – can’t you tell? I’m glad you made a new
friend. Me and Beth were worried that you would be lonely.
We miss you too. Hide and seek isn’t as good any more. Yes, we remember Mr Biggins’s bins. How could we forget? Pooey! What a pong!
Email again soon.
Emily xx
Megan read the email over and over again.
I must ask Dad if I can print it,
she thought,
then I can keep it in the special box I have for special things.
Megan went downstairs for her dinner. Her mum had cooked crispy jacket potatoes with cheese and beans. They were delicious! When she had finished, Megan asked her dad if he could print off the
email from Emily.
‘I want to keep it in my special box,’ she told him.
While he was printing it for her, Megan did a bit more colouring in her room – there were still lots of white spaces which she and Freya hadn’t filled in and Megan completely forgot
about meeting Freya.
Suddenly, Megan felt a tickling sensation on her arm. She reached across and her fingers landed on a long tail! She very nearly screamed . . . but it was only Whiskers, and who would be afraid
of a sweet little mouse?
‘What is it?’ Megan asked the mouse, but before it had time to show her, she suddenly remembered. She was supposed to be meeting Freya!
Megan quickly put the top on her pen and raced downstairs, with Whiskers running ahead of her.