Victoria Louise and the Magic Box.

Home page

Chapter 1.

Victoria finds the box.

Victoria Louise Atherton was bored and believe it or not when Victoria Louise Atherton was bored she was usually in a bad temper. She sat on the edge of her bed with her arms folded and with a glum look on her freckled face. She pursed out her bottom lip and stared blankly into space. Then she tried to whistle but only achieved an almost soundless blow. 'Dreadful Douglas' can whistle she thought to herself. Boys always can. 'Dreadful Douglas' was so called because he was always in trouble. Even Victoria's mother who was usually kind about people called him 'That dreadful boy Douglas!'

I wish he were here now she thought. The trouble was it was the school holidays and everybody was away. Even 'Dreadful Douglas' had managed to find somebody to take him away. I wonder how long his aunt will tolerate him, she thought, before she sends him home. Victoria almost wished that she would. After all, even 'Dreadful Douglas' would be better company than having no one to play with. Well, for a short while anyway.

Although Victoria despised Douglas most of the time she rather secretly admired him for his courage. After all it was Douglas who could pick up spiders with his bare hands. Ugh! Victoria shuddered at the mere thought of it. He was very brave. However she hated and loathed it when he put the spiders in other people's beds. Especially when it was her bed.

Victoria uncrossed her ankles and idly swung her legs backwards and forwards. Then her attention was caught by a row of furry animals staring blankly back at her from across the room. They sat in a row on her toy cupboard where she had neatly arranged them. The rabbit dressed in his grey suit with check trousers had his eyes closed. He was always asleep. The dark brown furry owl just goggled back at her. If only you could all talk she thought. She tossed her red ponytail back in frustration with a flick of her head and then jumped down from the bed and headed for the door. On the way out of her bedroom she suddenly had a brilliant idea. 'The attic!' She thought 'I wonder if I dare?'

Now, Victoria was living at that time in a large rambling Victorian house in Shoreditch. Shoreditch was in London. The house belonged to her grandfather really. Victoria had moved in there with her mother last month because her parents had sold their own house and her father had gone abroad for several months. A move to a new house was planned on his return. Their old house was in Surrey. Anyway, her grandfather needed looking after more now. Victoria's grandmother had died some months previously. All this meant that Victoria had to attend a new school. She was now nearly eleven years old. She found it surprisingly easy to settle in and had made several new friends. That is if you could ever call Douglas a 'friend! In fact, she thought to herself, who could bear to stay a friend of Douglas for any length of time.

Victoria had never been in the attic before. She closed her bedroom door quietly and crept up the next flight of stairs. She could just about hear the voice of her mother talking to her next-door neighbour down in the drawing room. Their voices were just a faint murmur in the distance. She had been told not to go in the attic so she felt rather guilty. Her grandfather had said that it was too dangerous to go up there. He said that he would show her it sometime later. Her mother had been too busy moving in to take much notice of it. However, she thought to herself, I don’t suppose that grandfather will be too cross. After all, grandfathers are never really cross with their granddaughters. They just pretend to be sometimes.

As she crept up, the stairs creaked and groaned underneath the stair carpet. She tried to tread lightly on tiptoe, holding onto the heavy carved wooden banister. Finally she reached the attic door. To her disappointment she found that the door was locked when she tried to turn the handle. She looked about in frustration and then as she was about to turn and leave, she spotted the low gleam of dull metal up on the ledge above the doorframe. Stretching up she found that she could just get her fingertips to the metal. She poked around and suddenly an object fell to the floor with a bump. It was a large metal key. She picked the key up and tried it in the lock. It fitted and she turned it. The door was stiff but as she pushed harder it suddenly swung open. She peered inside.

Victoria could barely see very far. It was too dark inside the room. She began too feel a little scared and wished that Douglas were there with her. He would not be frightened she thought. She plucked up her courage and groping around with her hand just inside the door she felt a light switch. She switched it on. The sight that greeted her made her gasp.

At first sight the room looked to be filled with a mass of cobwebs. They were festooned everywhere. The room was quite large and she could see the floor was covered in dusty floorboards. The walls had cement oozing and hanging from between the bricks. The cement looked like rocks in the dim light. Everywhere it looked a shambles. There were large black painted wooden boxes stacked up on top of each other. Cobwebs drooped from these like Christmas decorations pointing to various objects. She could see that even the light bulb was covered with cobwebs. She thought that they made it look as though the glass was all cracked. She looked all round the room. First she saw in the centre of the room a pile of camping gear, a huge tall broken grandfather clock, old electric irons, lamps, furniture, piles of dusty books, magazines, and some photographic albums. In the far corner to her left there was an old tin trunk and piled on the top of this were three cardboard boxes. Over to the right were several of those old brown suitcases. Next to those was a large grey plastic water tank with copper pipes. Somewhere inside it water was dripping. The silence was broken by the steady drip, drip, drip of water. The other two corners of the room had bundles of old newspapers in them tied up with string. In every direction that she looked she could see piles of junk. She decided that if she picked any letter at random from the alphabet she could soon make a long list of objects beginning with that letter.

Curiosity overcame her fears and Victoria edged her way slowly into the room. She peered at the yellowing newspapers. One of them had a heading of Black and White. She thought that it looked more black than white to her. She rubbed the dust away and saw some large print about a thing called The Boer War. What's that she thought? Must be very boring I expect. She giggled quietly at her own joke and then stifled the giggle with her hand. Then she found herself standing in front of the tin trunk. The contents of the first box were disappointing. As she lifted of the cardboard lid a heap of old sewing patterns spilled out onto the floor. Underneath these were some old Geographical magazines. She picked the sewing patterns up and put them back in the box and replaced the lid. She lifted the box down. The second box was equally boring. It contained lots of travel magazines and a box with some jewellery in it. Victoria did not like jewellery. She held up a beaded necklace and it sparkled in the light as she turned it around. Then she put the necklace back again. She replaced the lid and removed that box as well. Then she tried the tin trunk.

On the front of it was a brass clasp. She lifted this up and then tried to lift the lid. What fascinated her was that as she did so the cobwebs stretched and stretched until they suddenly broke and gave way. Like that Velcro stuff she thought. I hope there is no spiders around she mused. Then she spotted it.

In amongst other objects in the trunk lay what appeared to be a calculator. Funny old calculator that is she thought. It was like a watch with a strap. It was not like the ones at her school. She gleefully picked it up and studied it. She saw a sticky label stuck on the front. It was an 'On/Off' switch. She did not understand what the other symbols meant. She pressed the 'On/Off' switch and to her utter amazement a light came on in the small window. It still worked! At that precise moment she heard a scrabbling sound and then saw a movement. Suddenly there was a huge black spider on the box lid in front of her. First she saw a huge shining round black eye staring back at her. What made it worse in the eyes of Victoria was that it was one of those spiders with the bent legs and the 'knock Knees' as Douglas called them. One of his favourite spiders. That was the last straw. With a strangled scream Victoria slammed the lid down and still clutching the calculator, fled. However, she did pause, with shaking hands, to lock the door on her way out. Then she slid the key back onto the top of the doorframe. She then leaned against the outside of the door and paused to get her breath back. No way, she thought, no way would I ever go back into that room again.

When she had recovered her composure she crept back down the stairs again. She paused to listen and could still hear her voices in the far distance. Then she scuttled into her room. At that moment she heard her mother call out to her. ''Victoria? Where are you? I have called you once already. Can you come down now please? Your tea is ready.'' Then after a slight pause she added ''- and do not forget to wash your hands! Hurry up or we shall be late for the theatre!''

Realising that she may be questioned as to where she had been if she delayed any longer Victoria guiltily hid the calculator, without looking at it, under the snakes and ladders box in her toy cupboard and shutting the door went off to the bathroom. That night the ballet in the theatre was so exciting. Victoria was no longer bored. Like all children do sometimes, she completely forgot about her find. They came back from the theatre very late. She almost fell into bed that night because she was so tired. The calculator appeared to lay still and silent in her cupboard. However, if anyone had picked it up and held it close to their ear they would have heard a very faint humming sound.

Chapter 2.

The first journey.

When Victoria awoke the next morning she was still feeling very sleepy because she had gone to bed so late the night before. The rays of sunshine were beaming through the crack in the dull brown curtains on her bedroom window. The bright light stood out in sharp contrast to the curtain edges that were rather faded. As she opened her eyes and looked she was intrigued to see millions of tiny specks of dust floating in the rays of light. 'Oh golly' she thought, 'I must be breathing those in all the time. This house is really dusty.' The specks of dust seemed to twirl and dance in the sunshine. The dancing reminded her of the ballet she had been to see the night before. It had been the story of Coppelia. She wished she could dance like Swanhilda had done so when she had pretended to be Coppelia the clockwork doll. Victoria had been to ballet classes before she had moved but somehow she had not managed to progress very far. She had blamed it on her ballet shoes but the truth was that she was too boisterous and impatient to cope with the tedious lessons. The wedding scene had been lovely she thought. When I grow up and marry I would like a boyfriend like Frantz she pondered to herself. She decided that there were not any boys at her new school anywhere near as nice as Frantz was. In fact she was lumbered with the worst of them all. Not only was 'Dreadful Douglas' a pest, he was ugly to go with it. In fact, she decided he was the ugliest boy she had ever seen in her whole life. She grimaced at the very thought of his face and then sighed. Still he could have at least said goodbye to her before he went away.

She clambered out of bed slowly and walked across the room and drawing back the curtains, peered out of the window. She could see the postman across the road. He was delivering some letters to one of the houses opposite. She could hear a dog barking somewhere nearby. She thought that the barking of the dog had probably woken her up. The postman then started to cross the road towards her grandfather's house. She thought that he might have a postcard for her from Joanne. She had been her real best friend at her last school. Joanne had promised to send her one as soon as she went on holiday. Joanne had cried the day Victoria had moved away.

Victoria hurriedly stripped of her pyjamas and scrambled into her underclothes. She pulled on her jeans, heaved her jumper over her head, pulled on her socks and after fastening up her purple and white trainers, she ran downstairs. She met her mother head on in the hallway.

''Good morning young lady.'' said her mother, smiling down at her, ‘‘where do you think you are rushing to?''

''Hi mum.'' Victoria replied, ‘‘the postman's coming. I might have a card from Sally. She said that she would send me one.''

''It’s a bit early yet darling.'' Her mother answered. ''I think that you will have to wait a few days yet.''

''Well she may have sent one'' pleaded Victoria.

''Well, you can go and see of course but I think that you are a bit too hopeful yet.''

Victoria rushed off to the front door. Her mother went back into the kitchen. There were some letters lying on the mat inside the front door. She excitedly picked them up and shuffled quickly through them. She was disappointed to find nothing for her. There was just an assorted pile of brown and white envelopes that looked to her like bills and a magazine addressed to her grandfather wrapped up in transparent paper. Victoria slowly and glumly carried them back into the kitchen. Her mother and Grandfather were sat at the kitchen table.

''No postcard darling?'' queried her mother. The glum look on Victoria's face answered her question. ''Never mind dear, I expect that she will write as soon as she can. Sit down now and eat your breakfast.''

Victoria placed the letters on the table then she pulled back one of the chairs and sat down. She yawned and stretched.

Her grandfather put down his spoon, leant back into his chair and looked at her. His kindly face creased with laughter lines as he smiled at her. ''Now then young lady'' he asked '' what mischief have you been up to lately?''

Victoria's heart gave a sudden jump as he spoke. Her eyes widened. He couldn't possibly know could he? She thought rapidly before she answered. ''Me? Oh nothing Granddad.''

Now Victoria knew that was a lie and she did not normally lie. She felt very guilty. Well, it's just a small white lie she thought to herself. After all she had not really done any damage. She had not broken anything. Anyway her mum had often said to her 'It's just a small white lie' when she did not want to hurt somebody's feelings and Victoria did not want to hurt her granddad's feelings. In fact, beside her parents he was the last person in the whole wide world she wanted to hurt. She loved him too much. Her grandfather smiled again. Victoria smiled back at him. Then he continued on talking to her.

''I gather from your mother that you enjoyed your visit to the theatre last night. I'm sorry I couldn't go with you but I had some very important work to do on my project.''

Now, Victoria knew that her grandfather had been working quite late every night in his room on his 'project'. She did not know what the 'project' was but guessed that it was very important. Adults have to do lots of important things. Funnily enough, she thought to herself, he had not seemed to be his usual jovial self lately. Perhaps he was tired through working too hard.

''Oh' that's all right granddad' she responded, '' you would have liked it though. The music was great and everybody clapped very loudly at the end.''

''Never mind'' he said ''I will make up for it by taking you to the park tomorrow. That’s if it’s a nice day of course. I'm afraid that the weather forecast isn't very promising at the moment. It is even clouding over outside at this very moment.''

Victoria glanced up through the kitchen window. Sure enough the early morning sunshine had gone. In fact it now looked rather gloomy outside.

They finished their breakfast fairly quietly. Her mother and grandfather talked about their plans for the day. Grandfather was going down to the garage to see a man about the car. There was something wrong with the engine that had to be fixed. He was also going to buy some electrical parts for his 'project'. Her mother had lots of washing and ironing to do. It was suggested that Victoria spent a little time working on her scrapbook. Then her mother said that she would take her shopping later that morning. Victoria played about a bit with her spoon in her cereal. She was not very hungry and was still feeling rather sleepy. Then she half attempted to eat half a slice of toast dripping with runny brown honey whilst she studied the bee drawn on the label of the honey pot. Her grandfather and mother excused themselves from the table because she was taking so long to eat her breakfast and disappeared from the kitchen. Then she sat staring at her milk. She wished that her new friend Gemma had not gone away as well. She had made friends with Gemma very quickly at school. Gemma was fun to be with. Finally Victoria finished the milk and cleared away her breakfast dishes. Then she went back up to her room. She found her scrapbook and looked through it. Then she started to glue pictures and old postcards into it.

Later that morning Victoria went down to the shops with her mother. When she returned she had her lunch. After lunch she felt quite tired so she sat down in the lounge to read a book. After a few minutes just as she was becoming engrossed in the story she heard the doorbell ring. It went on ringing. No one seemed to answer it. It became an annoying ring that went on and on.

''Oh bother'' Victoria snapped out. ''I suppose that I shall have to go and answer it.'' She put her book down on a small table got up out of the chair and set out for the front door. She opened it.

The sight that greeted her was unbelievable.

On the front doorstep stood a small dark haired boy in a stained grey jumper and a pair of equally stained short trousers. The jumper had a ragged hole on one elbow. One grey sock was pulled up and the other lay crumpled down to his ankle. He grinned at her. A rather stupid grin she thought to herself. He looks like one of those Muppet's on the Television show. What made him appear even more comical was that he peered at her through the one clear lens of his round shaped glasses. The right hand lens was covered in two overlapping grubby looking pieces of pink plaster. Victoria rolled her eyes upwards and groaned. However impossible it seemed in front of her stood a perfect matching copy of a 'Dreadful Douglas'. It was perfect in every detail. Even down to the scratched and battered knees.

''Hello.'' He said cheerily. ''I thought you'd be in.''

''I do not believe this. I just do not believe this.'' she said. She shook her head slowly in amazement and stared at him. ''What on earth are you doing here? I thought that you were on holiday at your Aunt's farm?''

He shuffled his feet and looking rather guilty showed some discomfort. He did not look directly at her as he spoke back.

'' Well -ah-.'' He hesitated. Then he blurted out. ''She had to go away suddenly. So I was sent home early.''

Victoria looked at him suspiciously. ''Why. What happened? '' She queried.

''Oh nothing much.'' He said raising his eyebrows and looking innocently at her. ''She had to go to hospital.''

She looked at him with some concern and then asked. ''Was she ill? ''

Douglas raised his chin and pursed his lips. ''She broke her leg.'' he offered in reply. '' But it was an accident.''

Victoria began to get suspicious. Her eyes narrowed and she looked at him intently. ''What have you done now?'' she asked.

He shuffled around again. '' Well it was the pig's fault. He escaped out of his yard and rushed into the farmhouse. She slipped on the broken crockery. I couldn't stop him. I tried - honestly I did.''

He decided that it was unwise to mention the chickens as well.

Victoria said nothing but she knew how the pig had escaped.

''I did ring 999.'' He said proudly. '' They came ever so quickly. I had a smashing ride in the ambulance. Then my mum had to come to take me home.''

At that moment it began to spit with rain. Victoria said '' I think that you should come inside.''

He shuffled in and she closed the door.

They trooped up to her bedroom. There was no sign of her Grandfather or her mother being around at all. She closed the bedroom door and then lay down on the bed. She felt tired again.

''How about a game of 'conkers'? He asked. He fished into the right hand pocket of his grubby trousers and triumphantly produced two enormous shiny brown chestnuts and dangled them in front of her eyes. The strings were all tangled up.

''No thank you.'' She replied coldly. Visions flashed before her eyes of the last time they had played with them. Douglas had taken a swipe at hers and with his first swing back had managed to totally demolish her favourite pony ornament.

He fished in his pocket again and produced an assortment of objects. He dropped them on her bed beside her. There was a small metal penknife, two marbles, one being all smoky looking inside, half a red apple, and a black plastic joke fly. This was swiftly followed from his other pocket by a filthy grubby handkerchief, a lucky stone from the beach with a hole in it and a catapult. She was amazed to find out that he even owned a handkerchief at all. The half apple looked absolutely revolting, whilst the skin was still red and shiny the inside face had gone all brown and rotten. She wondered how he could bear to eat that disgusting object. There could even be maggots in it she thought.

''Haven't got much else with me'' he declared. Then he pocketed them all again. ''What are we going to do then?'' he asked. ''Shall we play a game?''

Douglas walked over to the toy cupboard and began rummaging around. He picked up the top box. ''Hey. How about snakes and ladders?'' he asked.

Now Victoria did not mind playing snakes and ladders with Douglas. This was simply because Douglas, being usually unlucky, almost always landed on the snakes whereas she often managed to avoid them. Douglas often chose this game because he hoped that one day, just once, he might win.

''If we really must.'' she responded wearily.

Douglas lifted the box out of the cupboard and as he did so he suddenly saw the calculator. He put the game down and picked the calculator up. He peered at it with his one good eye. '' Look what I've found.'' he declared.

Victoria also peered at it from across the room and said ''Oh! I had forgotten all about that.'' She felt guilty again.

''How long have you had this?'' he asked.

''Only since yesterday, I found it in the attic.''

''Does it work?'' he asked.

''Yes.'' Victoria replied. '' Well, the light comes on but I haven't used it yet.'' She was not going to admit to Douglas that she could not use it correctly because she did not understand the meaning of the symbols on the calculator.

''Mr. Potter said I'm not allowed to use one yet.'' said Douglas sadly. ''He say's it's because I am still on Red book two and I have to learn my tables first - I know my six times now though.''

Victoria on the other hand was on Blue book one and was now allowed to use one sometimes. She also knew that Douglas was lying. He did not even know his five times table properly yet. ''I bet that you don't know your six!'' she said.

Douglas frowned at her. ''Yes I do!'' he replied rather grumpily.

''All right then! What's five times six?'' she challenged.

Douglas screwed his nose up. Then he looked up towards the ceiling. ''Um - thirty-five!'' he blurted out defensively.

Victoria laughed.'' Don't be daft.'' She said sleepily. '' Five times six equals thirty.''

''It doesn't'' he said crossly. ''Look I'll show you.''

With that remark he peered at the calculator in his hand and poked at the 'On/Off' switch. The light came on. He peered at the rest of the symbols with his left eye and frowned. ''Five times six -.'' He began. Then he poked at the buttons at random. He really did not have a clue as to what he was doing.

Victoria was feeling very sleepy and did not pay much attention to him.

He never got any further with his problem for at that very moment there was a fizzling sort of popping noise. Then the strangest thing happened.

Victoria suddenly felt very dizzy. The room seemed to disappear and she was surrounded by a deep purple colour. The colour whirled around and around her with increasing speed. It seemed as though she felt that she was in the centre of a powerful whirlwind. She tried to scream but could not hear her own voice. She saw that she was floating in an ever-narrowing spinning tunnel. In the far distance she saw a white circle of light. She tried to swim towards it and stretched out one arm to reach it and touch it. Then she felt very dizzy and sick. She closed her eyes. She was very frightened. Then suddenly it was all over and she felt a bump and opening her eyes she discovered that she was lying on her back on some red coloured earth and staring up at the strangest sky that she had ever seen in her whole life.

Chapter 3.

The Destination.

Victoria gazed up at the sky. It was a deep orange -red shade in colour. There were some white clouds but they were very thin and looked wrong somehow. They looked false as though they had been painted on with a brush. What was even stranger was that there was a bird flying high in the sky to her left - but it was not moving. It was as if it had been frozen stiff in mid flight. She thought that perhaps it was hovering. Then she noticed that there was something odd about the ground that she was lying on. She touched it with her fingers and discovered that it was hard. She seemed to be lying on a red painted floor. She sat up and looked around. The floor stretched away into the far distance in all directions. She thought that it seemed to fade into darkness to the east and west. However that was miles away. Over the far horizon to the south, in front of her, the sun seemed to be shining towards her but strangely she had no shadow. There was a huge forest of trees behind her to the north. The trees were very tall and the wood looked to be thick and dense. Under the trees the red painted floor was covered in a thick carpet of autumn leaves. The funny thing was that they were not real leaves. They appeared to be made of paper. In fact, so did the trees as well.

At that point Victoria heard a soft noise coming from behind the nearest trees. It sounded like a strange animal in distress and she could not identify it. She got up and very cautiously crept up to the trees and peered into the wood. There was no animal to be seen, instead in front of her on the carpet of leaves sat Douglas grinning stupidly at her. She noticed that his glasses were tipped slightly sideways. She was very relieved to see somebody else even if it was 'Dreadful Douglas'.

''Crumbs!'' he exclaimed. ''What happened?''

''I don't know'' she replied. '' I think that the calculator exploded''

''No it didn't'' said Douglas. He scrabbled around in amongst the leaves and proudly held it up by the strap.

''Now look what you have done.'' Victoria said wearily.

He pursed his lips. ''I didn't do nothing.'' He said defensively. ‘’I only pushed the memory button.’’

They both stared at it. It appeared to be undamaged. It was still switched on.

Victoria suddenly felt weak and sat down beside him.

''Where are we?'' asked Douglas.

''I haven't the faintest idea.'' She replied. ''It is all very strange.''

''We're not dreaming - are we?'' asked Douglas.

''This isn't a dream.'' retorted Victoria. ''It is a nightmare.'' She did not know then how close to the truth that statement was.

''What are we going to do?'' asked Douglas hoping for some guidance

''Try to get someone to help us I suppose.'' she said.

Douglas stood up. He picked up the calculator and strapped it onto his wrist. He switched it off.

''All right.'' He said. ''Let's explore around and see who we can find.''

Victoria could not think of any alternative to this suggestion. Anyway, she thought, it is no use sitting here any more. She rose to her feet and they walked out to the edge of the wood. They stopped and stared. Douglas gaped at the sky. Then he looked around at the red ground.

He took off his glasses and taking out his grubby handkerchief he rubbed furiously at the left lens.

''I think that my glasses are dirty.'' He exclaimed.

He put the glasses back on and peered out again.

'' Wow!'' he exclaimed. '' We're on Mars!''

I don't think so.'' Victoria replied. '' I have seen pictures of Mars on television. It doesn't look like this. It's all rocky. Anyway Mars does not have any clouds or trees. There is no air either so you can't breathe without a space helmet on ''

''Well were on some strange planet.'' He said. Then he had a sudden brilliant idea. ''Hey, I bet that isn't a calculator. I think that it's a time machine control of some sort.

Now Victoria had not thought of that but it did seem to be a stupidly possible answer. She looked at the calculator strapped to his wrist. ''Well we had better not touch it again'' she said. She suddenly felt very frightened. She looked around again at the landscape. ''It is no good going out there'' she said. ''We had better go into the woods and see if we can find a cottage or something.''

They turned around and started to walk deeper into the woods. Their feet crunched through the paper leaves. Then they found a path. They followed this for a few minutes. Then they suddenly emerged onto a riverbank. The light was very bright here and it felt hot. Victoria was beginning to feel thirsty.

''Let's stop and have a drink.'' she said.

They both walked towards the river and knelt down and peered at the water. It looked clean and fresh. Douglas cupped his hands and put them down to the water.

''Ow! '' He shouted. His hands rebounded off the surface of the river. He touched the surface again and peered at it. ''Hey! That's not water it's hard.''

Victoria looked at it. Sure enough the water was not moving. It appeared to be glass with a river painted underneath. She began to despair and tears welled up in her eyes. She tried to be brave and fight them back. Douglas did not seem to notice. He had picked up an object that looked like a branch and was poking at the surface of the river. Victoria stood up and turned away. She saw a grey boulder and walked over and sat down on it.

''We must find something to eat and drink.'' She said ''Otherwise we will die.''

Douglas stared at her. He put down the branch, fished in his pocket and produced the rotting half of the apple.

''We can share this.'' He said.

Victoria grimaced. Douglas took out his small penknife and pulled the blade out. He sliced the brown face off with the blade. The half apple did not look so bad at all now. He sliced the piece of apple in half. He walked over and offered one piece to her. Hunger took control of her and she accepted it.

''Half each.'' He said. ''That's fair.''

She did not like to point out that it was really a quarter each. However, she thought, he was only on Red Book Two and would not understand. They crunched them in silence.

Now she felt a little better Victoria decided that they must move on.

‘‘Let’s go.'' She said.

Douglas picked up his stick again.

They stood up and walked along the riverbank. Then they came to another path that led back into the woods. They decided to follow this and after walking for about ten minutes came out into a clearing in the woods.

To their utter amazement in front of them sat on the ground was a girl. She had short dark hair. She was wearing a white frilly blouse, a tight laced up bodice and a loose green skirt that was covered with a decorated pinafore. She had soft red shoes on. Her dark hair was decorated with delicate white flowers. Her hands were covering her face and she was crying.

They both walked over and stood in front of her.

''Hello.'' Victoria said. ''Why are you crying? Are you hurt?''

The girl was startled. She looked up at them both. Then she sprung up and threw her arms around Victoria, buried her face into Victoria's shoulder and sobbed.

Douglas fished into his pocket and removed his grubby handkerchief.

''I don’t think that she will want to use that.'' said Victoria grimacing at it.

''Can we help?''  Victoria asked the girl.

The girl lifted her head and looked at Victoria.

''I'm sorry.'' She replied wiping away her tears with her hand. ‘‘It’s just that my friend has been put under a spell by the wicked wizard. I'm afraid that he will never return. I don't know what to do to help him escape.''

Victoria felt very sorry for the girl.

''Perhaps we can help you.'' She said. ''Actually were lost. Do you know where we are by any chance?''

''Yes.'' The girl replied. '' We are in the woods near Galicia.''

Victoria thought that she had heard of Galicia somewhere but did not know where that was. She thought that it was a pity that they did not have an atlas.

Now that word did seem familiar to Douglas. He could not spell and it sounded like the word Galaxy.

''Oh.'' He said. ''Which planet are we on then?''

The girl looked at him blankly and said '' I'm sorry I don't know what a planet means.''

Douglas puffed out his chest in pride. He was about to launch himself into a lengthy explanation of what a planet was when Victoria glared at him and trod heavily on his left foot. She knew that if Douglas started up they would be there all afternoon. He screwed up his face and mouthed a silent 'Oh!'

''Never mind.'' She said. ''Where do you think that your friend is?''

''He's gone to the cave.'' She replied.

''Alright.'' Victoria said. ''Let's go and find him.''

She had decided that if she helped the girl then perhaps the girl would help them to get back home.

They set off through the woods. The girl led the way. The path twisted up the hill through the woods towards the north and away from the bright light that lay to the south. They never spoke to each other for they were soon short of breath due to the effort of climbing. As they climbed the sky became darker and it grew colder. Eventually they reached the top and the trees thinned out until it became very rocky. At this point the girl stopped and pointed towards a cave in the hillside.

''I think that he is a prisoner in there.'' She said.

About thirty yards away they could see the entrance to a cave in the hillside. There was no sign of life.

''Is it safe to go in?'' Victoria asked the girl.

''I suppose if the wizard is not around it will be alright.'' She replied. ''Actually nobody has ever been in there. Everybody is too frightened.''

''Why did he take your friend prisoner?'' asked Douglas.

''He takes people away to work for him as a slave I think.'' The girl said.

''Why don't they try to escape?'' asked Douglas.

''I think that he puts a magic spell on them.'' She replied.

''Well, we can all go in the cave and see if we can rescue him.'' Victoria said. '' But I don't know how we can defend ourselves against the wizards magic spells.''

''I can help a bit.'' Douglas offered. '' I have got something that may help.''

He fished in his pocket and produced the lucky beach stone.

''What good will that be?'' asked Victoria in exasperation.

''Well at least it may bring us all luck.'' He replied.

Victoria decided that was rather unlikely. ''Oh well she said ''I suppose we can go and try but we must run if we see any sign of the wizard.''

They set off for the cave. When they reached the entrance they peered in. They were surprised to see a door. They tried it but it was locked. As they were about to turn and leave Victoria suddenly sensed that she knew where the key was. Funnily enough when she reached up and felt on top of the doorframe the key was there. She could just touch it with her fingertips. She poked around and it fell to the ground with a bump. She picked the key up and tried it in the lock. It fitted and she turned it. The door was stiff but as she pushed harder it suddenly swung open.

Victoria could barely see very far. It was too dark inside. She began to feel a little scared but then realised that Douglas and the girl were with her. He is not frightened she thought. She plucked up courage. She groped around with her hand just inside the door expecting to find a light switch. There was nothing there.

Then she saw a faint glow of light in the distance. Douglas said '' I'll go first if you like.'' Victoria began to think that he was very brave. He edged his way in and Victoria followed holding the girl's hand. By the faint glow of light they could see they were in a tunnel of some sort. The light was coming from just around a bend. The tunnel was carved out of the solid rock of the hillside. The air felt damp and cold. Water was dripping from rocky shapes and splashing onto the floor. They edged round the corner and found themselves in a large cavern.

The cavern was immense. Victoria thought that you could fit a cathedral into it. The light was coming from burning rushes pinned to the walls at various places. The air was much warmer in the cave. At the far end of the cavern was a huge waterfall cascading down into a pool of water. The light from the flames of the burning rushes reflected in the water of the pool. In the centre of the cave there was a long workbench. On the workbench lay tools of various sorts, and a whole assortment of springs, screws, nuts and bolts and various shaped pieces of metal. Near the table there was a chair and another wooden table with a pile of books on one side of it. In the centre of this table was a large glass globe on a wooden stand. The light reflected from this also. At one side of the cavern, to their right, there was a pile of black wooden boxes and rows of wooden shelves with coloured jars standing on them. Over on the same side of the cavern there were some pieces of material hanging on the wall. They looked like curtains. On the other side of the main cavern, to their left, there were also several other smaller entrances like the one that the children had just emerged from. From the roof of the cavern hung long stalactites. They cast long menacing shadows on the walls of the cavern. Only dripping water broke the eerie silence.

Douglas spoke first.

''Crickey!'' He exclaimed out loud. '' This is just like one of the caves in Star Trick. ''

''You have got that wrong as usual.'' Victoria said. ''Well it is not and please don’t shout like that, someone might hear you.''

''Well there's nobody here.'' Douglas replied, looking around.

''No.'' said Victoria. ''But there may be someone in those caves over there.

''You mean like Daft Vader?'' said Douglas, waving his stick around.

''Oh do shut up!'' Victoria snapped irritably at him. "You’re just as daft. You have not even pronounced that properly. Anyway, it's not funny. You may not be scared but I am and so is -.''

She stopped talking and suddenly realised that she did not know the girl's name. She looked at her and asked. ''What's your name please?''

The girl looked at her and started to reply but Douglas interrupted her.

''Shush!'' He said quickly. ''There's someone coming!''

They all withdrew quickly back into the shadows. Across the other side of the cavern a figure emerged from one of the cave entrances. It was a rather small dark haired man. He was dressed in a short dark grey tunic, a red striped waistcoat, and fawn coloured trousers that terminated at his knees with tight bands and green stockings. He was wearing black shoes. He was carrying a small black oblong box under his left arm. He scuttled in and went over to the bench and put the box down. He opened up a lid on the box and took out what looked like a piece of machinery. He placed the machinery carefully down on the workbench. He stepped back a pace, looked at it, and smiling, rubbed his hands in glee. Then he looked around furtively, paused a moment, and then closed the box, picked it up and scuttled out of the cavern the way he had come in.

''It's the wizard.'' The girl said. ''What is that he has put on the bench?''

''Maybe it's a ray gun.'' Douglas said, his eyes gleaming.

Victoria glared daggers at him, and then turning to the girl she replied. 'I don't know what it is, but he has gone. I think we should go and look for your friend now whilst we have the opportunity.'

They crept out of the tunnel entrance and keeping watch on the cave entrance that the wizard has disappeared into, they approached the workbench. They stopped at the workbench and looked down at the piece of machinery that lay amongst the other items.

''It looks like the inside of a clock.'' Observed Douglas.'' Look it's full of gears and things.''

The machine certainly looked like the inside of a clock. There was even a large coiled spring in amongst the gears.

''I wonder what he is making?'' said Victoria.

''Perhaps it is his alarm clock and it doesn't work.'’  Douglas answered.

''Wizards don't need to repair their alarm clocks.''  Victoria said, looking at Douglas scornfully. ''They just wish for a new one and it appears. I know because I've seen it on television.''

''Well perhaps he is making a bomb.''  Douglas said. ''It is probably a timing device.''

''Oh stop being dramatic.'' Victoria said.

They walked over to the table and looked at the glass globe.

''Wow!'' said Douglas. ''That's some marble. It must belong to a giant.''

Victoria shuddered at the very thought of a giant. The globe was fascinating to peer into it. It seemed to have swirling mist clouds inside it. The grey mist reminded her of something but she could not remember what it was. She turned away.

''Quickly.'' she said to the others. ''We must go and look for your friend before the wizard comes back. Let's try that first cave over there.''

She pointed to the smaller caves on the side of the main cavern.

They walked across the main cavern and approached the first of the smaller caves. The entrance was about the size of Victoria's bedroom door. Inside a small winding passage led off into the darkness.

''I can't see much from here.'' Douglas said. ''Come on let's go in. Follow me.''

''Wait.'' Victoria replied. ''I will get one of those lights from off the wall.''

She walked over to the nearest one. It was shaped like an ice-cream cone and the pointed end was wedged down into an iron metal bracket that was fixed to the rock on the side of the cave. There was a tuft of rushes sticking out of the top and they were burning with flickering orange-yellow flames. Smoke whisked and curled upwards from the top of the flames.

She reached up on tiptoe and lifted it out. Holding it up carefully away from her at arm's length she walked back to them. She gave it to Douglas.

They set off slowly and cautiously along the passage. Douglas led the way followed by Victoria and then the girl. The passage sloped gently downwards as they went further in. It became colder as they went on further but it seemed to be drier in here and the water had stopped dripping. The light flickered on the rough walls as they edged along.

''Look.'' Exclaimed Douglas excitedly. '' There's a strange glow up ahead.''

Sure enough they could all see a dull purple glow and it became brighter as they moved towards it. Suddenly they emerged into another cave. They all stopped and stared at the contents.

The smaller cave they were in was obviously where the wizard lived and slept. There was a bed over against the far wall with some crumpled woollen blankets lying on it. Against another wall were a table and a chair. On the top of the table were the remains of his last meal scattered on a metal plate, a wooden spoon, a metal mug and a jug of red liquid. There were various cupboards lining the other walls. One was apparently where the wizard kept his food as they could see that the shelves contained some vegetables, a partly cut loaf of bread and what appeared to be several sacks of grain. Another cupboard was filled with books and yet another with more jars and bottles. The source of the soft purple light was not to be seen. It seemed to be all around them.

''I don't think that your friend is in here.'' Victoria said, looking around the cave.

The girl looked disappointed. ''We must try to find him.'' She pleaded.

''No he's not here.'' Douglas agreed peering around. ''But there is some food here and I'm hungry.''

He started to walk towards the food cupboard.

''Wait!'' Victoria said sharply. ''You had better not touch anything or the wizard will know that we have been in here if he returns.''

Douglas stopped dead in his tracks and looked longingly at the cupboard with the food in it.

''Well he won't miss the odd carrot.'' He said to Victoria grumpily.

''Well he might.'' Victoria retorted. ''Come on let's look elsewhere.

They set off back down the passage the way they had come. They stopped when they reached the end and cautiously peered into the large cavern. There was no sign of the wizard.

''Let's try the next cave.'' Victoria said. ''Maybe your friend is in there.

They walked along to the next opening. This entrance was much wider. This time they could see much more clearly. The passage had more burning torches mounted at intervals along the walls. Again Douglas led the way still carrying his torch. When they reached the end of the passage they found themselves in a much larger cavern. As they emerged into it the girl gave a cry of relief.

''Franz!'' She shouted. ''We've found you!''

To their astonishment the first thing they saw was a dark haired boy sat on a chair over on the right hand side of the room. He was dressed in a tight brown jacket and a pair of close fitting trousers. Like the wizard's, they terminated at his knees and covered grey stockings. He had a pair of soft brown shoes on his feet. He jumped up in joy on seeing them. Then he put his hand out as a warning.

''Wait!'' He shouted ‘‘don’t come any closer. It's too dangerous.''

Victoria seemed to remember that she knew the boy's name from somewhere in the past but she could not remember where.

''What's wrong Franz?'' asked the girl. ''Come on. Let's go before the wizard returns!''

''I can't.'' The boy replied. ''That is guarding me.'' He pointed over to the other side of the cavern.

For the first time their attention was drawn to the rest of the smaller cavern surrounding them. Victoria's eyes grew very wide. There over the far side was a huge spider's web. It was about five meters across and reached up to the roof of the cave. It was half covering a dark hole in the cave side. Water droplets hung from the threads. They glistened and twinkled like diamonds reflecting back the light from the flickering torches.

''Crumbs!'' gasped Douglas, his one eye also widening as he goggled at it sideways in amazement. ''That's the biggest web I've ever seen in my life!''

Both girls shrunk back in horror. The girl put her hand to her mouth to stifle a scream.

''Shush!'' The boy said and put his finger to his lips. ''You'll wake it -.'' He was interrupted. His warning came too late. There was a sudden rustling noise and from out of the black hole emerged the most frightening spider that Victoria had ever seen in her whole life. Her legs seemed to turn to jelly. She was petrified with fear. The spider was huge. It was at least two meters across and three metres high. It was black and had huge bent furry legs. As it emerged she could see one large eye on top of its head and seven smaller ones. It stopped moving after it emerged and stood waving two fangs in their direction.

The girl screamed out in fear and clung to Victoria. Franz drew back in fear with a gasp. The only person who seemed totally unafraid was Douglas. He just stood there and gaped at through the one clear lens of his glasses.

''Wow!'' He exclaimed in excitement. ''King Kong!''

Franz was first to gather his senses together. He had seen the spider before. The wizard had put it there to guard him and prevent his escape.

''Don't move!'' He said. ''I have found out if you do not move quickly it will stay still.''

Victoria could not have moved if she had tried to. She was frozen to the spot with terror. All she could do was stare in horror at the spider. Douglas on the other hand was feeling quite at ease.

''It's alright.'' He replied, eyeing the monstrous spider up and down. '' I know all about spiders. Leave it to me. I'll distract him.''

''Don’t you dare move!'' Victoria said to Douglas without taking her eyes off the spider. ''Don’t you dare! I'll never forgive you if you do!''

''It's alright.'' Douglas reassured her. ''Keep your hair on. I won't do anything daft. I'll move slowly.''

He was used to Victoria's paranoid fear when she was confronted with spiders. ''Just stay there.'' He slowly handed the burning torch to Victoria.

Actually Douglas was well aware of what a spider could do. After all he had played with them long enough. He knew that they watched every movement and that rapid movements that threatened them caused them to panic and run. However, he had always been the hunter and this was a different situation. Here the spider was the hunter and he was the victim. He knew that the spider would pounce very quickly on him if he began to run. The thought of being grabbed by the spider and being stabbed with its jaws and injected with some horrible poison did not appeal to him at all. Further the thought of being wrapped up in silk and then being carried away to be munched up for Sunday lunch at the spider's leisure definitely did not appeal to him.

He decided to try his first tactic and began to move slowly left around the cave keeping close to the rocky wall. The spider turned with a quick shuffle as it detected his movement and watched him. Each time he took a slow step the spider matched his every move with a rapid shuffle so that it remained facing him.

''Oh Douglas! Do be careful!'' Victoria pleaded, her head shifting backwards and forwards between Douglas and the spider just as though she was watching a ball at a tennis match.

Douglas paused for a moment. The spider remained still, staring back at him and waiting to pounce.

''Now then,'' He said, keeping his eyes on the spider. ‘‘As I move round this way Franz you start to move round the other way towards the girls.''

He began to move left again slowly, step-by-step. The spider shuffled around and outwards towards the centre of the cave in response to Douglas's movements.

Franz began to move also, but more slowly than Douglas, round the cave wall towards the girls. By now Douglas was most of the way around his side of the cave wall and getting very close to the web. The spider continued to turn to face Douglas. Finally when Douglas was in arms reach of the web Franz took his last steps and he then joined the girls. The girl grabbed hold of him and hugged him.

''Oh Franz! Your safe.'' She cried.

Victoria looked at Douglas. The only problem now was that he was now trapped. He was now between the spider and the web. She thought how brave he was to have lured the spider away from Franz. She desperately tried to think of something that she could do to help him.

At that precise moment whilst she was still assessing the predicament that Douglas was in the spider made it's move. It lunged forward with a rapid scrabbling movement grabbing at Douglas with its two front legs. Victoria screamed. Douglas sensed at the very last moment that the spider was about to attack and made a desperate move sideways in order to escape from its clutches. Unfortunately, and Douglas was usually unfortunate, he tripped on the rough surface of the cave floor and fell into the web with a shriek. The web was sticky and Douglas frantically struggled in order to try to free himself.

At this point Victoria almost went ballistic. She could not take any more. She dropped the torch on the floor at her side and covering up her eyes she screamed stamping her feet on the floor in despair. Funnily enough this was the best thing that she could have done. The spider stopped in its tracks and sensing the vibrations on the cave floor spun around to look at Victoria. This gave Douglas the chance that he needed and summoning up all of his strength through sheer fear he managed to free himself. The spider then saw the rapid movements of Douglas and spun round again to face him.

For a brief moment the contestants faced each other again. Suddenly Douglas had an idea. It's amazing how quickly the human brain works when it is under pressure. Even Douglas qualified as a human brain at times. He reached into his pocket and took out the joke plastic fly he had. He threw it as hard as he could towards the top of the web. It soared upwards and stuck on the strands at the top. The web vibrated backwards and forwards. The spider followed its basic instincts and leaping towards the web scrabbled upwards as fast as it could to grab the fly.

''Run Douglas! Run!'' shouted Victoria. She bent down and grabbed the torch that was still alight. She thought that she could use it as a weapon to fend off any attack.

However Douglas did not run. He had one more move to make. He took out his penknife and opening it up, slashed frantically at the corner strands of the web. For the first time in his life one of his plans worked. The web swung crazily to one side and the spider lost its grip and crashed down onto the floor of the cave. Throwing all caution to one side Douglas saw his chance and leapt on the spider with a killer instinct.

He raised his arm to stab at the spider and then suddenly stopped with his arm stuck up in the air. Douglas stared at the spider with his one eye through his glasses that were now tipped sideways on his face. Strangely it lay on its back with its legs stuck up in the air. Slowly he lowered his arm in disbelief. It seemed to be dead. He could not understand it. He knew that when spiders fell they usually survived. Tentatively he poked at it with his knife. To his utter surprise his blade bounced off its skin. Then he saw the reason why. He looked up towards the other children.

''It's alright.'' He said to them. '' Come and see what I've found.''

Cautiously they crept forward until they reached the spider that Douglas was now sat on top off. They stared in sheer amazement at it. The body of the spider had split open and through the slit they could see lots of metal cogs and springs.

''It's clockwork.'' Daniel said. ''It's a clockwork spider. The wizard must have made it to frighten us.''

Victoria stared at it. Then she looked at Douglas admiringly. He sat there triumphantly grinning at her.

''You were very brave Douglas.'' She said. ''Oh, you were so brave.''

He grinned at her again rather sheepishly this time. He suddenly felt rather embarrassed. Then he hung his head downwards. There was a moment's silence.

''We must leave.'' She said, suddenly feeling embarrassed as well. ''The wizard might return and were finished here.''

Douglas got up. They all headed towards the entrance. Victoria led the way carrying the torch, followed by Franz and the girl and then Douglas. They peered cautiously out into the large cavern. There was no sign of the wizard and they headed straight round to the main entrance only pausing at the first cave entrance whilst Victoria replaced the torch in its holder. Just as they emerged from the cave entrance they were horrified to be confronted with the wizard who was just returning.

He looked just as startled. Then he regained his composure.

''Ah!'' He snarled, glaring at Franz. ''You've managed to escape have you?'' Then he looked at the others. ''I also see that you have had some assistance. Who are these other people?''

Victoria looked at him. He did not seem to look so frightening in the daylight.

''That's none of your business.'' She replied. Then plucking up more courage she said. ''Move out of our way please.''

''I shall do no such thing.'' He retorted. ''Now that I have caught you, you are all my prisoners.''

The girl shrank back in fear and clung onto Franz.

Franz gently took her hands off him and moved forward in front of her to protect her.

''You can't hold us now.'' He said ''you're guard is dead.''

The wizard's eyes widened in surprise. He became enraged.

''Dead? Dead!'' He shrieked at them.'' Who managed to destroy my spider?'' He demanded. ''It is not possible!''

Douglas stepped forward. He peered up at the wizard through the one sound lens of his glasses.

''I did.'' He replied.

The wizard looked him up and down in surprise.

''You!'' He said scathingly at Douglas. ''You! How can such a pathetic thing like you destroy my magic?''

''It was easy.'' Douglas replied with confidence. ''I used this.''

With that remark he took out his lucky stone and held it out in the palm of his hand so that the wizard could see it. The wizard narrowed his eyes and looked at it suspiciously.

''A stone?'' queried the wizard. ''An ordinary stone? How can that overcome my powerful spells?''

''Oh. It's no ordinary stone. Douglas replied '' it’s a lucky stone.''

''Well it will be of no use to you.'' Said the wizard. ''Now I have-.'' He never managed to complete his sentence for at that moment Franz stuck his foot behind the wizard’s legs and pushed hard. The wizard fell over onto his back with his legs flailing in the air.

''Run!'' Shouted Franz. ''Run! Quickly!''

They all realised what he had done and ran for their lives. They ran down towards the trees as fast as they could. They could hear the wizard shouting after them in the distance but his cries grew fainter as they got further away. By the time they reached the tree line the wizard was no longer to be heard. They scrambled into the woods and after stumbling for some distance deep into the woods they had to stop to regain their breath.

''Wow!'' Said Douglas breathlessly. ''The hundred meters in record time. We could all enter for the Olympic games.''

Victoria leaned against the nearest tree trying to get her breath back.

''Do you think that he will follow us?'' She asked.

''No. I don't think so.'' Replied Franz. ''He does not dare to go too near our village. He is frightened of us. There are too many people living there. I think that were safe now. Anyway, we have destroyed his magic for the moment.''

''Oh. Thank goodness for that.'' Said Victoria. Then she looked at the girl. ''By the way.'' She asked. ''I still do not know your name. What are you called please?''

The girl looked up at her. For the first time she smiled.

''My name is -.'' She replied. ''Thank you very much for helping us. We are so grateful.''

For just a fleeting moment something stirred again somewhere deep in Victoria's memory but she could not seem to quite grasp it although the name sounded familiar. Victoria shook her head slightly and then looked around. It was becoming darker and colder now in the woods. She shivered.

''Well perhaps you can help us now.'' She replied. ''You see we are lost. In fact we don't know how we got here. It's getting late and we must try to find our way home.''

''Yes'' Said Douglas, pulling back his grubby sleeve and unfastening the strap of the calculator from his wrist he held it up in front of his one good eye and peered at it. ''Let's see now it's -.'' He began to jab at the buttons on the calculator.

''No Douglas!'' screamed Victoria suddenly realising what he was doing, but her warning came too late.

There was a sudden fizzling sort of popping noise. The surrounding woods seemed to disappear and she was surrounded by a deep purple colour. The colour whirled around and around her with increasing speed. It seemed as though she felt she was in the centre of a powerful whirlwind. She tried to scream but could not hear her own voice. She saw that she was floating in an ever-narrowing spinning tunnel. In the far distance she saw a white circle of light. She tried to swim towards it and stretched out one arm to reach it and touch it. Then she felt very dizzy and sick. She closed her eyes. She was very frightened. Then suddenly it was all over and she felt a bump and opening her eyes she discovered that she was lying on her back and staring up at a white ceiling.

She sat up and looked around. She rubbed her eyes and looked again. She was lying on the bed in her bedroom.

Douglas was kneeling down over by the toy cupboard. He had the calculator in his hands and was peering at it. At that precise moment the bedroom door opened and in walked Victoria's grandfather.

''Now then.'' He said jovially. '' And what are you pair up to.''

He stopped and stared at Douglas, who stared back at him like a one eyed owl.

'' What have you got their then young man?'' He asked peering at the calculator. ''Where did you get that from?''

Victoria felt a sudden sense of guilt. She could not let Douglas take the blame for something that she had done wrong. She decided to own up.

''I'm sorry granddad.'' She said. ''It's my fault. I found it in the attic.''

He turned to look at her, peering at her over the top of his reading glasses.

''Oh did you young lady.'' He said. ''Now that was a rather silly thing to do wasn't it, going up into the attic. I told you it was rather dangerous to go up there if I remember correctly.''

Victoria gulped ''I'm sorry granddad.'' She replied. ''I was just curious and you did say children should investigate and learn.''

''Oh, yes, I suppose that I did say that.'' He said. ''Ah well, never mind, no harm done thank goodness.'' He reached across and gently took the calculator out of Douglas's hands. '' I'll have that if you don't mind Douglas. I think you are a bit young to use one of those yet.''

Douglas opened his mouth to speak but Victoria interrupted him.

''Granddad we must tell you something.'' She said. ''Something very strange.''

''Yes.'' Douglas piped up '' I think the calculator's broken. It blew up.''

Victoria stared at him in sheer astonishment. Had he forgotten what had happened already she thought?

''No Douglas.'' She said. '' I mean about our adventure.''

'' What adventure?'' He said, looking at her in a rather puzzled way.

''Well you know. Where we have just been to.'' She said.

'' We haven't been anywhere.'' Douglas said. '' You fell asleep. You must have been dreaming.''

''Ah! So you have been dreaming young lady have you.'' Said Victoria's grandfather. ''Tell me all about it.''

Victoria could contain herself no longer. She told him all about their adventures from the time that she went up to the attic until the point where Douglas poked at the calculator buttons.

He listened very carefully. He paused for a moment and stared at her. Then he spoke.

''Well now.'' He said. ''That was quite an experience that you had. Let me explain. You see Victoria when we dream we tend to muddle up in our minds all of the things that have happened to us, especially things that we have experienced during the past few days. Dreams you see are a way of relieving the pressure of all the worries that have been praying on our thoughts. They help to relieve the tension. If you think about your dream carefully you have muddled up all of your recent experiences. The strange place that you found yourself in was probably the stage of the ballet that you went to see last night. You may remember that the stage floor was red at the theatre. The false clouds, the hovering bird, the river made of glass, the paper trees, branches and leaves were all probably the painted scenery. Franz, Swanhilda, and the clockmaker were characters from Copelia; only you turned the clockmaker into a wizard, probably a wizard from another story, in your dreams. Remember when you went into the attic? The key of the ledge of the cave door in your dream was the key up on the ledge of the attic door. The beaded necklace that sparkled in the light became the spider's web and you remember the spider of course. Muddled up with all this were the objects that Douglas had. One of the marbles became the globe with the swirling mist inside. In fact if you think about your adventures carefully you will find all sorts of clues there. So, does that help you to understand what happened Victoria?''

Victoria thought for a moment, staring blankly into space, and then realised that after all it must have been a dream

'' I suppose I must have dreamt it all granddad.'' She said. ''Although it was a bit like a nightmare at times.''

She swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood up. Then she rushed at her grandfather and gave him a big hug. He put his arms around her and looked down at her and smiled. Then he tousled her hair gently.

''Well then, no harm done, but no more dabbling in the attic please. You’re too young for some adventures yet. Now I came up to tell you that your tea will be ready in five minutes so a quick wash and scrub please and down you come. Perhaps Douglas would like to stay as well?''

Victoria groaned inwardly, but tried to not let her dismay register on her face. The thought of eating at the same table as 'Dreadful Douglas' was like another nightmare come true. Still, she thought, perhaps he was better than having no one there.

''Alright granddad.'' She said. '' We will wash our hands and come down now.''

He smiled at them both and walking across to the door, he left the room, closing the door gently behind him. When he got outside the door he paused, frowned, looked at the calculator and then pushing it into his pocket walked thoughtfully away.

Inside Victoria looked at Douglas. She sighed resignedly.

'I suppose that you want to stay to tea then?'' She said, half hoping that he would say no.

He tried to avoid her gaze by staring through his one good eye at the snakes and ladders box. The frightening thought of having to face her across the table for the next half-hour was superseded by the mouth-watering thoughts of jelly and ice cream.

''Yes please.'' He mumbled.

''You had better pick up your marbles and catapult.'' She said.

He looked across to the bed where they lay.

''Yes.'' He mumbled again.

He walked towards them and picked them up.

''Oh, for goodness sake stop mumbling!'' Victoria said, stamping her feet in anger. ''When you talk to somebody speak up boldly and don't gabble like an idiot. Now have you got everything that belongs to you? Where's your plastic fly?''

Douglas lifted his head and peered at her shiftily.

''I seem to have lost it.'' He said guiltily.

She stared at him. She began to get suspicious again.

''What do you mean you have lost it? Where is it?'' She demanded. She was thinking of what may lay between her bed sheets.

Douglas went into top gear in his 'tell a lie'' mode. ''I think I threw it away.'' He replied.

Realisation began to dawn on Victoria. She stared hard at Douglas. He pursed his bottom lip and stared upwards into thin air trying desperately to avoid her gaze.

She began to taste rotten apple in her mouth.

''Douglas?'' She asked warily, her eyes narrowing. ''Where is your half apple?''

Douglas lowered his head and peered at her through the one good lens of his spectacles. This time he told the truth.

''Don't you remember?'' He asked. ''We ate it.''

There was a long pause whilst they stared at each other. They were both thinking the same thoughts.

Victoria's eyes seemed to change. They looked more misty and softer.

Then Victoria reached out and gently held his grubby hand.

She said. '' I think we had both better wash our hands and go down for tea.'’

The End.

Did you enjoy the story? We hope so. Did you spot any other clues?

If you would like to find out what happens next then go now to the first part of the second story ‘Victoria Louise Travels Again’. Remember that you can contact Victoria Louise through the e-mail facility available on this website www.itsastory.com. Please also contact the editors of the various internet advisor magazines, express your approval and help to publicise this website. We need the publicity. Spread the word please. We think that this is a good story and it will become very popular! Thank you for your attention. Return to Home Page or Victoria Louise Travels Again