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                          Victoria Louise Travels Again.

 

                                          Chapter 1.

 

Victoria swung slowly backwards and forwards on the hammock that was strung between the two apple trees at the bottom of the garden. Her right hand dangled limply towards the ground moving backwards and forwards like a pendulum on an old clock. The sun felt pleasantly warm on her face as she lay there with her eyes closed. She was still muddled up in her mind about her strange experiences that had taken place just a few days ago. There were so many questions unanswered.

Nearby ‘Dreadful’ Douglas lay sprawled on the lawn. He was poking at a large fat worm with a small dry twig. The worm was wriggling, twisting and curling up frantically, presumably in an effort to escape. Every time Douglas tried to lift the worm up it slid off the twig and dropped back onto the grass. Finally Douglas managed to lift the worm. For a brief moment it dangled from the twig helplessly.

‘’Got you!’’ he shouted triumphantly.

Victoria opened her eyes. She turned her head to look at him. She shuddered. Then she rolled her eyes upward and groaned in despair.

‘’Oh Douglas!’’ she said. ‘’Leave those beastly things alone!’’.

‘’Oh drat!’’ he exclaimed, as the worm dropped off the twig again. ‘’Now see what you’ve done.’’

Victoria sat up.

‘’I haven’t done anything!’’ she retorted sharply, glaring at him. ‘’You have though, you’ve woken me up.’’

Douglas raised his head and peered up at her through the one lens of his glasses. The other was still covered in grubby pink sticking plaster.

‘’Yes you have.’’ He replied defensively, pouting his bottom lip. ‘’You talked and made me jump.’’

Victoria’s blood level began to rise rapidly. She paused for a brief moment and breathed in deeply in an attempt to calm herself. She glared at him even harder and pursed her lips tightly. Her eyes almost narrowed to slits.

‘’Douglas.’’ She said slowly and precisely. ‘’You have a habit of ruffling people up very easily.’’

Douglas wilted rapidly at the onslaught. He hung his head downwards and avoided her gaze, but his bottom lip still pouted in rebellion.

‘’I was only experimenting.’’ He said grumpily. ‘’I was studying that worm.’’ He poked at it again with the twig through the blades of grass.

‘’Well you should experiment quietly.’’ She retorted. She tossed her ponytail frustratingly and glared across the garden towards the house.

Once more troubled thoughts began to filter through her mind as she reflected on what had happened a few days ago.

After they had had tea, the day of the strange adventure, Douglas had gone straight home. He had avoided her gaze from across the table, whilst the meal was eaten, for most of the time. Anyway, his mind was focussed on the huge chocolate cream cake that stood on the centre of the tablecloth. The subject of the adventure was not raised again that evening. Victoria’s grandfather and her mother had directed the conversation. Yesterday Douglas had not come because he had been playing with some other boys from the class. They had been playing Knights and Dragons. Victoria had read lots of books. One of her favourite books was a book on fairytales. Today was the first moment that Victoria and Douglas had been alone together since that evening. Douglas had arrived some ten minutes ago whilst Victoria was swinging on the hammock.

She decided that it was time to tackle Douglas and find out the truth of what had really happened. She looked at Douglas.

‘’Douglas.’’ She asked slowly in a much more modified tone that was sickly sweet. ‘’Why did you lie to my Grandfather?’’

Douglas sensed immediately that it was like a spider slowly drawing in its victim for the kill. He knew more about Victoria than she perhaps realised. He did not look up.

‘’I didn’t want to get us into trouble.’’ He mumbled.

‘’You mean you did not want to get yourself into trouble.’’ She retorted.

‘’No.’’ he protested. His bottom lip still pouting. ‘’I was trying to stop you getting into trouble for stealing the calculator.’’

‘’I didn’t steal it.’’ She replied haughtily, raising her eyebrows. ‘’I just borrowed it for a short while. That’s all.’’

Douglas shuffled uncomfortably and poked at the worm again.

‘’Anyway.’’ Said Victoria. ‘’That’s beside the point.’’

She lay back onto the hammock again and stared up at the sky once more.

A few fluffy white clouds had begun to form and drift slowly across above them. She blew out her lips

She turned her head to look at Douglas.

‘’You were there with me though weren’t you?’’ she asked, frowning down at him.

Douglas peered up at her like a one eyed ghoul.

‘’Where?’’ he asked.

‘’You know perfectly well where.’’ She said irritably. ‘’In that strange land.’’

Douglas shuffled again but he knew that it was no good lying to her. He hung his head again.

‘’Yes.’’ He mumbled.

‘’I don’t understand it.’’ She said frowning. ‘’There must be something very strange about that calculator. What did you actually do?’’

‘’I didn’t do anything.’ Douglas said defensively. ‘’I told you I was working out that sum and I just pushed the buttons.’’

‘’I know that.’’ She replied exasperatingly. ‘’but which buttons did you press?’’

 ’’The sum buttons.’’ Said Douglas ‘’I just pressed the sum buttons.’’

Victoria felt like screaming at him. She tried to keep her temper. After all he was only on red book two at school.

‘’There is only one sum button on that calculator.’’ She said wearily.

‘’I know.’’ He said defiantly, looking up at her. ‘’It’s the one that looks like a vampire cross.’’

Victoria shuddered. She decided to ignore his answer.

‘’You said buttons.’’  Victoria said. ‘’What other buttons did you press?’’

‘’Them with the numbers on.’’ Douglas replied.

‘’Those with the numbers on. Those are not called sum buttons.’’

She decided that she was wasting a lot of time. He was hopeless.

‘’As a last resort she asked. ‘’Did you press any other buttons?’’

Douglas thought hard for a moment. For once he got it right.

‘’I think that I pressed the memory button.’’ He replied.

‘’What did you press that for?’’ she asked frowning at him.

Douglas looked defensive again.

‘’Well I thought it would help me remember.’’ He said.

Victoria sighed deeply.

‘’I don’t suppose that would do any harm.’’ She said sarcastically.  ‘’ However it does not solve the problem.’’

She was silent for a few moments whilst she considered what to do next. She looked back up at the clouds.

Douglas went back to investigating his worm. It had started to bore a tunnel into the earth. Part of it had already disappeared underground. He began to gently tug at it. The body of the worm began to stretch and change to a whitish red colour. It felt to him like it was super glued in.

Victoria sat up suddenly. She stared up the garden in the direction of the house.

‘’Douglas!’’ She exclaimed excitedly. ‘’We have got to have another look at that calculator.’’

Douglas looked up, startled by her sudden movement. His own movement jerked his arm and caused the worm to elongate even further.

Just at that point Victoria turned to look at him. She spotted the worm.

‘’Douglas!’’ she shouted. ‘’You disgusting beast!’’ She screwed her nose up. ‘’How horrible. How can you be so cruel?’’

He let go of the worm and it curled up and wriggled.

‘’Well it was escaping.’’ He said guiltily. He peered down at it.

‘’Ugh!’’ Victoria said, screwing her face up as she watched it wriggling in a further attempt to escape. She shuddered again and turned her head away.

‘’Sorry.’’ mumbled Douglas.

Victoria began to relax again.

‘’Did you hear what I said?’’ she demanded.

‘’Yes.’’ mumbled Douglas again.

‘’Well you will have to help me.’’ She said.

He looked up at her. ‘’What do you want me to do?’’ he asked.

‘’Well – for a start you can stop tormenting that poor worm.’’ She replied.

She looked back at the house.

‘’First of all we have to find the calculator. I know granddad took it back to his room. We have to go there in there and -.’’ She paused for a brief moment before she continued. ‘’ – borrow it again.’’

Douglas peered at her through his grubby lens.

‘’We can’t steal it again.’’ He protested.

‘’I said borrow.’’ Victoria emphasised. ‘’Borrow is not the same word as steal. Anyway, if you remember granddad said I was not to go into the attic again but he did not say that I could not use the calculator.’’

‘’Well he did tell me I was too young for it yet.’’ Said Douglas.

‘’So you are.’’ Replied Victoria. ‘’Mr Potter said so as well.’’

‘’Well I’ve got to learn.’’ Said Douglas.

‘’ Yes – well your not learning whilst I’m around.’’ Retorted Victoria. ‘’Look what happened last time. I am trying it out this time. Now then – listen carefully. This is what we will do. We will go into the house and see who is around. If mum and granddad are busy we will creep in and look for it. You can keep watch whilst I find it.’’

‘’What will I do if they come while your looking?’’ he asked.

‘’Well you will use your brains for once and distract them.’’ She replied.

‘’I don’t think it’s a good idea.’’ Douglas protested.

‘’Oh don’t be a coward.’’ She said scathingly, forgetting all about his heroic efforts when they had met the spider. ‘’Now come on, let’s go.’’

Victoria jumped down from the hammock.

Douglas stood up. Victoria looked at him. His knees were all muddy and his hands and face were smeared with dirt.

‘’Look at the state your in.’’ she said, screwing her nose up. Then she had an idea.

‘’Come on, we will use that as an excuse to go in. You need a jolly good scrub.’’

Douglas winced at the thought of soap and water being applied to his skin. His Mum often scrubbed him and the flannel always felt like a piece of wire wool. The trouble was that the flannel was old and hard and she could not afford a new one.

They set off towards the house, passing through the archway in the stone wall with Victoria in the lead.

They reached the back door and opening it, went into the kitchen. Victoria’s mother was there. She was preparing the lunch.

‘’Hello you two.’’ She said brightly, looking up from her work. ‘’Surely you’re not hungry already? It’s only eleven o’clock.’’

‘’We’ve come in for a drink.’’ Replied Victoria, peering at the carrots that her mother was peeling. ‘’Oh! -  and Douglas has got himself into a bit of a mess.’’

 Mrs Atherston stopped peeling the carrots. She stared at Douglas.

‘’My you are in a mess you mucky puppy.’’ She said kindly to Douglas, surveying the state that he was in. ‘’Goodness gracious me look at your knees – and your hands. What on earth have you been up too?’’

‘’That’s exactly what he’s been up to, or rather down to.’’ Victoria said. ‘’He’s been crawling around the lawn.’’

‘’Oh dear me, Douglas.’’ Her mother said, shaking her head and smiling. ‘’You really are the limit. You never seem to be able to keep yourself clean – and look at your trousers. What a state they are in. What ever will your mother say if she sees those?’’

Douglas peered down at his trendy cycling shorts. Well – they were actually an old pair of grey school trousers cut short beneath his knees. His mum never wasted anything. They were covered in mud and green grass stains. He knew what his mother would say and it would not be very polite.

Mrs Atherston put her knife down onto the worktop.

‘’We had better clean you up a bit.’’ She said.

‘’It’s alright mum.’’ Victoria said hastily. ‘’I’ll do it. We can manage. You carry on cooking.’’

Mrs Atherston hesitated, then to Victoria’s relief she picked up her knife again.

‘’Oh very well but don’t make a mess of the bathroom.’’ She said. ‘’I have only just cleaned it up.’’

‘’No, we will be ever so careful.’’ Victoria replied. ‘’We will, honestly.’’

By now Douglas had his nose almost pressed against the oven door. He was peering in through the thick glass at the source of the smell. He was confronted with a row of sizzling sausages and they smelt delicious. He suddenly felt very hungry. He wondered whether the pigs from the farm had any connection with them. Even so, hunger soon overcame any thoughts of sympathy.

Victoria seized him by the arm and almost had to drag him away.

‘’Come on Douglas.’’ Victoria said. ‘’Let’s go.’’

They headed towards the doorway that led into the hall.

When they reached it Victoria paused in the doorway and turned back towards her mother.

‘’Mum, where’s granddad?’’ she asked.

‘’Oh, he’s gone into to town.’’ She replied, without looking up. ‘’Why, do you want to speak to him?’’ she asked.

‘’Oh no it’s alright.’’ Victoria said, looking at Douglas. ‘’I’ll see him later.’’

They left the kitchen and headed towards the stairs.

It’s alright.’’ Victoria said. ‘’The coast is clear. Let’s go straight up to the study.’’

Now Douglas could not imagine what the coast had to do with this. He had only been to the sea-side once in his life. His mum had taken him one summer, when he was very young, to Southend-on –sea. All he could remember was the ice cream that he had eaten. Still he decided that he would follow her anyway.

They crept quietly up the stairs and headed towards her grandfathers room. It was one of the spare bedrooms at the back of the house which he now used as a study. They arrived at the door.

Now, you stay here and keep watch.’’ Victoria whispered. ‘’ I will go in and find the calculator.’’

Douglas watched her go with mixed feelings. He decided that he had no idea what he would do if someone came up the stairs.

He crept back across the landing to the top of the stairs and peered nervously down, with his one good eye, and listened intently.

He could hear the clattering of saucepan lids against pans and the odd clinking noise of dishes being handled, coming from the kitchen. Deciding that no one was coming up at the moment he relaxed a little. He leaned against the wall and thrust his hands into his pockets of his shorts. He gazed around with his one good eye and pursing his lips began to silently whistle to himself.

Inside the study Victoria glanced quickly around. She had been in here before. A comfortable green pattered armchair stood beside a small fireplace which was located over to her right. In front of the chair was a small folding table with some books scattered on top of it. Either side of the fireplace were two alcoves also containing shelves with rows of books neatly stacked on them. Directly in front of her the sun streamed through the window. This window overlooked the garden at the rear of the house. Beneath this window stood her grandfathers desk. It was a large old leather topped office desk with brass handles on the drawers at either side at the front. Tucked into the kneehole was an old polished oak chair. Over to her left were two big worn leather armchairs, another small table and a standard lamp. The room was rather untidy. There were objects scattered in various places around the room but dominating the room was a huge, yellow Chinese Buddha which was standing on the floor between the leather armchairs. Victoria crossed over to the desk. She began to search the drawers.

It did not take Victoria long to locate the calculator. It was in the bottom right hand drawer of the desk. She lifted it out carefully, closed the drawer and left the room closing the door softly behind her.

Douglas by now was peering anxiously down the stairs again having heard some more noises. He did not see her coming out of the room and when she tapped him on the shoulder he nearly died of fright. He opened his mouth to scream but she clamped her free hand over it and the scream was muted to a pathetic gurgling sound.

‘’Your supposed to look behind as well Douglas!’’ She hissed quietly, as she took her hand away from his mouth.

Douglas peered at her with one wide open eye.

‘’I – I can only look one way at a time.’’ He replied.

‘’Well use your other senses as well, like your ears.’’ Victoria said scathingly. ‘’Oh, come on, I’ve got it. Let’s clean you up’’

She pushed him towards the bathroom.

It took more than a few minutes to say the least, in order to make Douglas anywhere near presentable again. By the time that she had cleaned him, up he began to wish that he had never come round to see Victoria. In fact he was beginning to think about escaping home.

‘’Come on.’’ Victoria said. ‘’Let’s return to the garden.’’

Douglas did not argue. He was glad to escape from the bathroom. He began to think that he hated soap. He began to wonder what it was like to have been born a pig. They wallowed around happily and no one washed them. Then his mind drifted back to the kitchen and he decided that he was better off staying as he was.

When they reached the kitchen it was empty. Victoria could hear her mum in the hallway talking on the telephone to someone. They crept out and closed the back door. They scuttled right down to the bottom of the garden.

The garden was quite a long garden. Behind the house was a small cobbled area enclosed by the stone wall with the archway in it. This area contained some attractive stone pots and the bird table. Beyond the archway was the small lawn containing the apple trees. This area was bordered with flower beds. Further beyond that was an attractive sunken garden area with a shaped flagged pond bounded by tall pond plants.

Finally, beyond that, the path led down through some vegetable plots towards the shed, the greenhouse and the nearby compost dump.

Victoria led Douglas as far as the sunken garden and they sat down on a curved stone seat facing the pond area.

Victoria carefully, but triumphantly, produced the calculator from the back pocket of her jeans.

They looked at each other.

‘’Well –‘er - I think I’ll be off home now.’’ Douglas said, plucking up courage. He attempted to rise.

‘’You will not!’’ Victoria stated, heaving him back down by his shirt collar. ‘’ You are not going anywhere Douglas Hopley. You are not leaving here until we have resolved this problem. Sit down!’’

Douglas frantically tried to think of an excuse to leave.

‘’I – I’ve got to be back soon. I – ‘er - promised my mum I would go to the shops with her.’’

Victoria glared at him.

‘’ You did not say that when you arrived.’’ Victoria said ‘’ If I recall correctly you said that you were staying for lunch.’’

Douglas started to waver at the thought of missing out on sizzling sausages. He pouted out his lower lip and tried to avoid her glare.

‘’Well Douglas?’’ Victoria continued to glare at him.

Douglas crumbled fast.

‘’Well –er – I suppose I could stay for a short while.’’ He admitted.

‘’Good.’’ She replied. ‘’Now we can get on with our project.’’

They both looked at the calculator.

‘’Now.’’ She said. ‘’Let’s see. First we will switch it on.’’ Victoria looked at the buttons. One switch was labelled ‘ON/OFF’. Victoria drew a deep breath and gently pushed it. A low humming sound started up.

They both waited to see what would happen. Douglas squirmed slightly.

‘’Right’’ she said. ‘’ It seems to be on. Now, this is where we must be careful.’’

‘’Don’t press the memory button.’’ Douglas blurted out. ‘’That’s what I did.’’

‘’I know perfectly well what you did.’’ Victoria said. ‘’I have no intention of doing that. If we do everything else that you did before you pressed that we should be safe. Now – let’s think. What sum were we doing last time?’’

‘’I think it was our tables.’’ Douglas replied.

‘’Yes. That’s it. We were working out multiplication.’’ Victoria said.

‘’No.’’ Douglas objected. ‘’It was times. We were doing the times table.’’

Victoria looked at Douglas. She raised her eyes into the air and sighed deeply. Her shoulders sagged slightly.

‘’Multiplication is another word for times.’’ Victoria said slowly, trying to keep calm.

She looked at Douglas. He peered back at her through his thick lens. His face registered disbelief.

‘’Oh never mind.’’ Victoria said resignedly. ‘’Now let’s see. We will try – Nine times nine.’’

‘’That’s seventy two.’’ Douglas said triumphantly. By now he had recovered his full confidence.

Victoria looked at him.

‘’Of course it’s not Douglas.’’ She said. ‘’Nine times nine is eighty one.’’

Douglas stared at her blankly.

‘’Look.’’ Victoria said, poking at the buttons as she spoke. ‘’Nine times nine.’’

 The calculator bleeped and eighty one appeared on the screen.

Douglas stared at the screen again in disbelief.

‘’Now, I would have to take away one nine to get to seventy two. Look.’’

They both stared at the screen and she poked at the minus button.

They never saw the end result.

At that very moment there was a fizzling sort of popping noise. The garden seemed to disappear and Victoria was surrounded by a deep blue 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 started to scream but could not hear her own voice. Suddenly, she realised what was happening and she thought ‘’Oh no! Not again!’’ She saw that she was floating in the ever-narrowing spinning tunnel. In the far distance she saw a light blue circle of light. She tried to swim towards it and stretched out one arm to reach it and touch it. Although she had experienced this before she still felt rather dizzy and sick. She closed her eyes. She felt frightened. Then suddenly it was all over and she felt a slight crunch and opening her eyes she discovered that she was laying on her back on a snow covered surface and staring up at the sky.  This time the sky was an icy-blue colour but it looked cold and unwelcoming.

The sudden transportation also took Douglas by surprise but only for a brief moment. As soon as he was inside the whirling green tunnel it dawned on him what was happening. He also saw the light blue circle of light and as he could not swim very well did a pathetic sort of dog paddle towards it. He thought that this was probably what the astronauts did. Anyway, it had the required effect and he also was ejected through the circle.  However, being Douglas and therefore unlucky, as he usually was, he landed with a splash right into the middle of a deep snowdrift.

‘’Oww!’’ Douglas screamed.

 

 

                                                                                                 

                                                                                                    

Well now – What strange lands have Victoria Louise and Douglas landed in this time? What do you think happens next?

Did you read the first story? If so you may have picked up some clues that were hidden in the story! There are also clues hidden in this story as well!

However there is a way that you can find out what some of these clues are. All you have to do is e-mail us on this website (Do not forget to ask permission from your parents first or alternatively ask them to send an e-mail for you) and when we have had enough requests we promise we will publish the rest of this story!

 

If you feel really inventive perhaps you would like to write down what you think happens next and send us your ideas of how the story continues. You never know, you may be correct!

 

In the meantime whatever you decide to do, even if you do nothing more, please keep on visiting our website – and tell your friends about it! We have had great fun writing this free story for you to read!

 

Oh! – And do have a Happy New Year!  

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