In Thunder's Pocket by Joan Aiken

Author:Joan Aiken
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781448120604
Publisher: RHCP

‘I’ll go straight home,’ Uncle Adam said hastily. ‘Come along, Ned.’

‘And I’ll go with you,’ said the doctor.

We went out – Nibs was there too and he ran ahead. The wind had got up and was blowing a gale. I saw Nibs flinch and put his ears back, then press himself into the angle of the wall as he scurried down the street. The doctor and I followed him while Uncle Adam turned to lock the shop door. Just at that moment there was a tremendous crash of falling masonry above as a whole chimney-stack fell into the street from overhead. The chimney pot broke off and bounced up from the pavement, catching Uncle Adam on the back of the head. He fell to the ground as if he’d been shot.

‘Murder!’ said the doctor, and he knelt by Adam and felt his skull. Then he pulled out his phone again and called urgently for an ambulance.

‘I’ll have to stay here with your uncle till it comes,’ he told me. ‘You hurry on home as fast as you can. Say I’m on my way. I’ll be there as soon as I’ve got your uncle into hospital. If she’s conscious, give your Aunt Lal this pill.’

He handed me a red pill in a plastic sheath, similar to the one that had come out of the wall dispenser.

‘Uncle Adam’s not killed, is he?’ I croaked.

‘No, just concussed a bit, probably. Lucky his head’s as hard as a bowls ball. I daresay he’ll be sent home in a few hours. Now hurry!’

I looked for Nibs, who was waiting on a corner. By now the storm was doing its worst again – I could see what Eden had meant about storms going round and round in St Boan. Rain was slamming down, wind came in fierce gusts and thunder snapped and crackled overhead. Nibs hated it and I was glad Aunt Lal had advised me to take the jacket.

As I reached the bottom of Fore Street a flock of black-backed gulls flew at me. At first I thought they were blown by the wind, then I realised they were diving at me on purpose, striking at me with their cruel, curved bills, whacking me with their strong bony wings. I had nothing to defend myself with except the apple thrown at me by the girl in the studio. I used it like a knuckle-duster, bashing and thumping them, holding my left arm across my face to protect my mouth and eyes. The attack was so sudden that I wasn’t scared so much as outraged and furious.

‘Take that, take that, you filthy bird!’ I shouted, bashing one which had its head half in my pocket.

‘For heaven’s sake, what’s going on?’ said the girl from the studio, who just then passed by with an umbrella, and she twirled and twisted the brolly among them until they flew off with harsh angry screams.

‘Thanks!’ I panted. ‘Mustn’t stop, my aunt’s not well –’ and I dashed on after Nibs, who was crouched on the next corner, hissing furiously, with his ears and whiskers flattened.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.