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To be continued …
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Tag Archives: vegetarian
No deal!
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continues tomorrow ….
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Whatever next?!
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continues tomorrow ….
*******
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This is not a game!
Oh no!
Government experts
Continued from yesterday
*****
“This afternoon we are going to start our half-term project about health and nutrition. When you’ve finished this unit you will all understand how to eat a healthy, well- balanced diet.”
Mrs Tebbut was interrupted by Miss Shaw returning with the photocopies. She nodded at her assistant’s suggestion that she distribute them and then continued.
“Miss Shaw is putting before you a copy of the Government’s ‘Eatwell Guide’. Before we look at that, let’s find out what you already know. Can anybody tell me what type of animal the human is?”
“A mammal.”
“Yes Katia, good. Anyone else?”
“A primate.”
“Yes Jonah, very good. What else can you tell me, specifically about the eating habits of the human?”
“Humans are omnivores,” said Simon Butler, “so they eat plants and animals.”
“Well done Simon, yes, that’s what I was looking for.”
“Pff,” Luke couldn’t suppress his derision.
“Something to add, Luke?”
“Well, I’m a human and I on’y eat plant food so that’s herbivore, not omnivore.”
“Yes, some people choose to be vegetarian Luke but most eat a varied diet of plant and animal food which gives them everything they need.”
“My food gives me everythin’ I need.”
“Stop being argumentative. You’re not the only person in this class and I refuse to let you monopolise the lesson.” Mrs Tebbut looked down at her notes to remind herself where she’d got to. “So, we know that humans are natural omnivores, in spite of the fact that some choose to eat only plant food. Now, to understand in more detail how much of each type of food we need to be healthy, it’s important to be aware of what nutrients we need and which foods contain them. Look at your sheets.”
“Foxes are omnivores,” said Luke.
“Carnivores,” Mrs Tebbut corrected him.
“They eat berries and other fruit when they can. Not on’y meat.”
“Fascinating. Now can we get back to the lesson please?”
“And badgers are omnivores,” said Luke, “and dogs, and rats. That’s why they ‘ave long pointy teeth and claws.”
Mrs Tebbut sighed.
“What is your point?”
“Humans don’t ‘ave long pointy teeth and claws. For killin’. Like omnivores do.”
Luke was really glad he’d read some of Amelia’s colouring books at the weekend. Mrs Tebbut took a deep breath.
“Luke Walker. I believe I said ‘don’t be argumentative’. I believe I also stated that you would not be permitted to monopolise this lesson. This lesson, by the way, was informed by the Government Luke. Do you know better than Government experts?”
“I’m on’y sayin’,” said Luke.
Mrs Tebbut fixed him with a hard stare before averting her eyes to address the class.
“Everyone look at your sheets please.”
click to enlarge
“The diagram shows all the elements that a healthy diet contains and in what proportions. The written chart lists specific vitamins and minerals and where to get them.
I want you all to study these sheets and think about your own diets. Where do you get your Vitamin C? Where do you get your Calcium? This week I want you to record in your exercise books what you have for every meal and then try to work out what nutrients your food has given you. You may take these sheets home with you. Hand in your exercise books next Monday.”
Luke looked at his sheets and the wheels of his defiant mind began to turn.
“Ok,” he thought, “I can do that.”
Mrs Tebbut noticed how engrossed he had become with the printouts.
“He’s finally paying attention,” she thought.
She looked across at Joe who was drawing skeletons all over his Eatwell Guide. She shrugged.
That evening Mum was pleasantly surprised to see Luke doing his homework in his room after dinner instead of rolling around in rough play with Dudley or staging Return of the Jedi with his action figures.
“Good boy Luke,” she said, “lights out at half past seven.”
Every evening that week was the same.
“I really think he’s changed,” she told her husband, “our little rebel is settling down.”
Dad frowned.
“We’ll see.”
On Saturday morning, during breakfast, Luke proved her right.
“Mum, can I go to Auntie Joan’s? I wanna ask Amelia if I can borra one of ‘er colourin’ books.”
Everyone froze. Jared started coughing violently as a sharp intake of breath made some cornflakes go down the wrong way.
“Mum? Can I?”
“Er, yes if you like. I was planning to pop in anyway, Joan asked to borrow the sewing machine. Yes, you may come with me. That’ll be nice.”
“Thank you,” said Luke and left the table.
Mum looked at Dad.
“Told you.”
All day Sunday Luke was shut away in his room, finishing his homework. Amelia’s book – Colour By Nutrients – was a great help. By tea time he was all done and was actually looking forward to Monday morning when he could hand in his exercise book full of long lists of the vitamins and minerals in his plant food meals.
But first on Monday came the school assembly. Luke was again reluctantly granted permission to go to the toilet. He slipped back into the classroom and opened the top drawer of Mrs Tebbut’s desk. She usually kept it locked but, since last Friday, she hadn’t been able to because she couldn’t find the key. Without difficulty Luke found the big yellow folder labelled Master Copies and removed it. Then he replaced the Eatwell Guide diagram and the Primary Nutrition Class chart with his own home-made versions of those documents.
“Perfect!” he thought, smiling with satisfaction, “by the time Mrs Tebbut gets ’em out for next year’s Class 4, she’ll ‘ave forgotten exactly what they look like and won’t notice they’re a bit diff’rent.”
He was confident the new ones looked similar enough to the originals to fool anyone who didn’t look too closely. He returned the yellow folder to the drawer and quietly slipped back into assembly.
click to enlarge
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You can read the whole chapter here
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Reflecto Girl #5 continues Monday 😀
Not all colouring books are boring
Continued from yesterday:
*****
“Come in boys and take off your coats, dinner will be ready in twenty minutes.”
Auntie Joan smiled as she waved to Mum and Dad and closed the front door. Luke and Jared sat down quietly in the living room and looked at their hands. Auntie Joan disappeared into the kitchen and nothing happened for three or four minutes until the front door slammed. Uncle Brian was home from work. He burst into the living room loudly.
“Hello boys! I forgot you were coming! Ready for a re-match Jared?”
Jared grinned shyly.
“Yeah,” he said.
“Great. We’ll set up after dinner. Hey, where’s Amelia? She must be in her room. Why don’t you go and see what she’s up to? We’ll call you when dinner’s ready.”
The boys looked at each other uncomfortably and then quietly did as they were told. They knocked on Amelia’s door and entered when she said ‘come in’. Their six year old cousin was dressed in a pink tutu with pink tights and wire-framed white lace wings on her back. She had a pink plastic tiara on her head. She was bent over a colouring book, colouring butterflies.
“Hello,” she said, without looking up.
“Hello,” said Luke.
“Alright?” said Jared.
Jared sat down on the bed and picked up two of Amelia’s soft toys.
“Ah, pink pony! Today you will fight blue dolphin to the death! And whoever wins will fight yellow kitten to the death!” he said in a fake evil voice while making the toys wrestle.
“Stop it! You’ll spoil them,” said Amelia.
Jared laughed and continued tormenting her. Luke shook his head at his brother’s predictably boring behaviour and browsed Amelia’s bookshelves. Colouring books, colouring books, colouring books. He wondered how she hadn’t got tired of them. He took one from the shelf at random and flicked through it. It was full of pictures of sea creatures and shells and seaweed. Under each one was its name and a brief description. Amelia had coloured it in very neatly, Luke had to admit, and she’d ended up with a full colour encyclopedia of the sea. He picked out another one – it was about birds. Every other page had a drawing of a different bird to be coloured in, with the name, description, habits and location of the bird on the opposite page. There was another one about fish, another about wild flowers, another about trees. There was Animals of the British Isles, Jungle Animals, Arctic Animals; Space, Planets, Stars; Fruit and Vegetables; People from History. There were also quite a few with fairies but Luke had seen enough to know that he had misjudged Amelia. Not all colouring books were boring.
So the visit to Auntie Joan’s turned out to be not so bad after all. Luke was given beans on toast with tomatoes and leeks for dinner, which went down very well. And Amelia kindly let him do some colouring in her History colouring book from which he learned that Albert Einstein, who was famous for being a very clever man, was a vegetarian like him. He showed that page to Auntie Joan.
****
Monday morning Luke sat in awe, watching Joe draw a brilliant picture of Mrs Tebbut. It looked just like her. He was especially impressed with how Joe had captured her eyebrows, the way they each did their own thing when she was angry.
“Joseph Carter put down your pen!” Mrs Tebbut shouted from behind her desk.
Luke looked at her and then at the drawing.
“Amazing!” he breathed.
As she stalked towards them, it dawned on Joe that it would have been better to have drawn it on paper so that he could tear it up. He licked his finger and tried to rub it off but the ink had already sunk into the wood.
“Headmaster’s office! Now!” she boomed when she saw his handiwork.
Joe was already on his feet. He knew the routine. Luke tried not to smile.
“And you, Luke Walker,” Mrs Tebbut still had some rage to vent.
“What did I do?” asked Luke incredulously.
“You two are as bad as each other. Move to the front where I can keep an eye on you!”
“There’s no room at the front,” said Luke with relief.
“Katia, Shania, swap desks with Luke please.”
She had an answer for everything.
“I didn’t do anything,” he said plaintively.
Joe was gone until after playtime and when he did come back he had to stand in the ‘naughty corner’. Luke sat alone in a haze of Lily of the Valley, trying not to make eye contact with his teacher. At least Joe was allowed to sit with him after lunch. Well, sort of.
“Luke and Joe, sit at either end of your desk, facing each other. I’ll have no more whispering and conspiring.”
The boys moved their chairs, turning sideways to the white board.
“Great,” muttered Luke, “now I’ll get a stiff neck twisting round to look at the board.”
“And I’ll have no muttering either,” said Mrs Tebbut, quiet enough to let him know that, at this distance, she could hear everything.
While the class got themselves settled in for afternoon school, Mrs Tebbut directed Miss Shaw, the new classroom assistant, to the photocopier.
“Just make 30 copies – I don’t want spares cluttering up my desk – and then put the Master Copy back in here,” she said, indicating her desk drawer.
Miss Shaw went to the staff room, where the photocopier was stationed, and Mrs Tebbut wrote on the board: The Eatwell Guide
******
Concludes tomorrow, but if you don’t want to wait you can read the whole chapter here 😀
We interrupt this story ….
Due to unforeseen circumstances beyond our control we are compelled to postpone the completion of Reflecto Girl #5 until next week 😉
Instead we hope you will enjoy the serialisation of Luke Walker: animal stick up for-er, Chapter 4 which begins here:
Chapter Four: Luke Walker and the Eatwell Guide
It was Mum and Dad’s anniversary so Luke and Jared were going to spend the night at Auntie Joan’s.
“Don’t see why we’ve got to go there,” grumbled Luke, “I’m fairly sure we could stay ‘ere by ourselves for a couplov hours without dyin’!”
Mum didn’t bother to answer. She’d told him ‘you’re going and that’s final’ three times already and, since Luke obviously couldn’t comprehend the word ‘final’, there seemed no point in repeating it.
Luke didn’t like going to Auntie Joan’s, it was boring. Jared usually spent the whole time playing chess with Uncle Brian which left only one person for Luke to play with: Amelia. Their cousin Amelia was sooo boring. She wouldn’t make mud pies, or play soldiers; she refused even a game of Battleship because it was too noisy. All she wanted to do was dress up like a fairy and colour in her colouring books. Colouring books were boring but Amelia had tons of them. She got more for every birthday and Christmas because all her friends and relations knew that that was what she wanted. She couldn’t get enough of them. Luke groaned at the thought of eighteen hours in that house. He decided to have a go at persuading Dad to get him out of it.
“Dad, can’t I jus’ stay here?” he pleaded, “I’ll be good.”
“Even if that were true,” said Dad, eyebrows raised, “you’re too young to stay home alone.”
The phone rang. Mum put it on speaker so that she could carry on doing her hair. It was Auntie Joan. Again.
“Will he eat an omelet?” she sounded stressed.
“No eggs. No cheese. No meat. No fish.” said Mum matter-of-factly.
“So what can I give him for protein?”
“Give him beans. He loves beans.”
“Won’t that make him windy?”
“Oh Joan, stop worrying! Just fill his plate with vegetables and he’ll be happy.”
It was true, Luke did love vegetables. He hadn’t been too keen on them before he stopped eating animals but, as hunger tempted him to try different things, he found he liked them more and more. Broccoli was his favourite, closely followed by spinach and baked beans. Joan still wasn’t convinced.
“I don’t know how you cope,” she said, “I’d be so worried he wasn’t getting a proper balanced diet. He is just a child Marian, do you really think it’s wise to let him decide what he does and doesn’t eat?”
Mum sighed.
“I was skeptical myself at first Joan, as you know, but I’ve had him tested. The doctor says he’s fit as a fiddle.”
Luke dreaded the thought of Auntie Joan watching him with concern all through dinner.
“Mum, don’t make me go, pleeeeease,” he whispered.
Mum frowned and shook her head.
“Joan, I’ve got to finish getting ready. We’ll see you in forty minutes. Bye.”
****
Continues tomorrow 🙂
Or if you don’t want to wait you can read the whole chapter here.
Excuse me
The Front Lawn
98 seconds later …
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to be continued ….
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Do you really think you should?
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to be continued ….
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Reflecto Girl episodes 1 to 4 are also available in paperback as Reflecto Girl Book 1 and Reflecto Girl and other stories.
What’s this?
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Continues tomorrow …..
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Reflecto Girl episodes 1 to 4 are also available in paperback as Reflecto Girl Book 1 and Reflecto Girl and other stories.
Long Red Hair
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continues tomorrow ….
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Reflecto Girl episode 5 starts here
Click here for the story so far
Continues tomorrow ….
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The first four episodes of Reflecto Girl are available in paperback as Reflecto Girl Book 1 and Reflecto Girl and other stories
********
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New Reflecto Girl coming soon!
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Part 3 of the plan
Story continues from yesterday:
*******
Luke, wearing full school uniform, was finishing his jam and toast when his mum entered the kitchen at half past seven. She was stunned. Normally she had to call him at least three times before he’d get up, and even when he was up he had to be constantly nagged to get dressed and breakfasted. He didn’t appear to have had a shower and he was wearing Friday’s dirty shirt, but Mrs Walker decided to let that go.
“Morning Luke,” she said, apprehensively, “everything ok?”
“Yes thanks Mum,” he replied politely, “I want to get to school early today so I’m bein’ organised.”
“So I see. Any particular reason?”
“No.”
Mrs Walker, known by Luke to be very distrustful, looked closely at her youngest son.
“Ok,” she said, eventually, “well done.”
Luke smiled, put his gobstopper back in his mouth and went upstairs to clean his teeth.
He was at school a good twenty minutes before most people got there. Even Mrs Tebbut wasn’t there yet. He went in to his classroom.
He furtively looked around to confirm he was alone and then rushed over to the drawers. Everyone had a drawer with their name on. They kept their books and pencils and stuff in them. He found Kenny White’s drawer and pulled it out. Then he took from his bag Kenny’s droppings – 1 panda pop can, 1 crisp packet and one half-empty sherbet fountain. He pushed them into the drawer and closed it. Then he ran outside to kick a ball around on the playground until the bell went.
After the register had been called everyone had to line up for assembly. Luke took his place at the end of the line, followed the rest of his class into the hall and sat down on the floor behind class 3. He watched all the other classes file in and the assembly began. He sat still, faced forwards and pretended to be interested. When it was half way through he tried, quietly, to get Mrs Tebbut’s attention.
“Psst, psst, Mrs Tebbut,” he whispered.
She didn’t hear him. He coughed. She didn’t turn her head. He faked a loud sneeze. She frowned at him.
“Mrs Tebbut,” he whispered again, “can I go to the toilet?”
She silently shook her head.
“Please Mrs Tebbut, I really need to go,” he whispered a little louder.
The children near him started to snicker and Mrs Tebbut reluctantly gave in.
“If you must,” she hissed, “slip out the back.”
Luke did as he was told.
Once back in the classroom he grabbed his bag and exited through the cloakroom. He ran to class 6, the long way round so as not to pass the hall, and entered their cloakroom. He scanned the names above the coat pegs until he found what he was looking for. Yes! There it was. Haines.
On Haines’s peg hung Haines’s coat and into its pockets Luke deposited Haines’s droppings: 1 Tango can, almost empty, upside down; 1 crisp packet, almost empty, upside down; and 1 used piece of …… oh no! Luke found that the chewing gum he’d wrapped in paper when he’d recovered it from the crime scene, was now as hard as plastic and therefore unfit for purpose. He needed something sticky.
Of course! With almost no hesitation – he reminded himself it was for a very important cause – Luke spat what was left of his gobstopper into Haines’s inside pocket. Part three complete.
“Who are you? What are you doing in here?”
The man’s voice behind him made Luke’s cheeks flush hot. He turned round and reached into his bag.
“My brother is in this class,” he said, meekly, “’e forgot ‘is English book so I brought it for ‘im. I was jus’ lookin’ for ‘is bag on ‘is peg.”
He handed Jared’s book to the Year 6 classroom assistant.
“Oh, I see. Thank you,” he said as he took the book, “I’ll see that he gets it.”
“Thanks,” said Luke and ran back to his own class.
He opened the door just in time to witness Mrs Tebbut holding up a cola-soaked, sherbet smeared, grease-stained copy of the new History text book while shouting at Kenny White.
Luke sat down quietly and waited for lessons to begin.
****************
You can read the whole of Chapter 3 here, and the first eight chapters are available in paperback.
Taking note
Story continues from yesterday:
****
Luke put the gobstopper back in his mouth and wiped his sticky hand on his trousers. There were seven Year 6 boys again. The missing two had returned with snacks. Luke knew their faces but not their names. One of them was Katia Haines’s brother so his surname must be Haines. Luke picked up his comic again and peered over it in their direction.
The big boys hung around the swings, some sitting, some standing. The tall one thought it was funny to throw one of the swings over the top of the frame, over and over again until it was too high up for anyone to sit on.
They all had crisps and pop. Katia’s brother spat chewing gum on the ground before getting stuck in to his crisps. There was a litter bin next to the swings and when the boys had finished snacking they, one by one, tossed their rubbish into it. Each boy took his throw further from the bin than the one before him, to demonstrate his superior skills.
Haines went last and missed. The others laughed and teased him for his ineptitude when his rubbish hit the ground, so he proved them wrong by hitting every one of them with the football. All seven scuffled noisily out of the park.
Luke picked up his notebook and pencil,
LITTER: 1 TANGO CAN, 1 CRISP BAG, GUM
DROPPER: HAINES, YEAR 6
then he went over to the swings and collected the rubbish.
Suddenly he heard Butler’s loud shouting voice. The class 4 kids were coming back! Quickly he ran north and concealed himself behind the trees next to the pony paddock. He watched them through his binoculars. They sat together on the bench, eating crisps and drinking pop. Kenny White also had a sherbet fountain. Luke waited patiently for Butler to drop his rubbish on the grass. His pencil was poised for the inevitable notebook entry. Simon Butler would then be taught a lesson. But Simon Butler did not drop his rubbish on the grass. He put it in the bin, as did Christina and Becca. Luke was begrudgingly impressed.
He looked at his watch. It was 1.54pm. 1.54! Mum had said 2 o’clock, don’t be late! He had to get home for dinner! But he couldn’t come out from behind the trees, they’d know he’d been spying on them. He had to wait. So he waited. And he waited.
“Don’t you lot ‘ave ‘omes to go to?” he asked under his breath.
He looked at his watch again: 2.01. He heard Becca shouting.
“Let’s go on the swings!”
They all ran and Kenny, being the last to get there, found no swing for him (the fourth having been wound around the top of the frame). He shrugged and said he was going home for dinner. The rest of them followed his example.
2.09. Luke emerged from his hiding place and ran across the park. As he sped past the bench something caught his eye. He stopped. Looked back. There was something on the ground under the bench.
LITTER: 1 PANDA POP, 1 CRISP BAG, 1 SHERBET FOUNTAIN
DROPPER: KENNY WHITE
Sunday evening. It was nearly bedtime. Luke emerged quietly from his brother’s room.
“Hey! What are you doing in my room?” Jared scowled.
“Jus’ doin’ you a favour, that’s all!” said Luke, returning the scowl. “You left your school bag downstairs so I put it in your room. Mum gets cross when you leave stuff out so I’d say I did you a favour alright!”
Jared eyed his younger brother suspiciously. It wasn’t like him to be so considerate. Luke stomped off to his own room.
Monday morning. Time to implement part three of the plan.
********
Continues tomorrow, or if you don’t want to wait you can read the whole chapter here. The first eight chapters are also available in paperback.
Spiker
Story continues from yesterday:
******
And so the morning continued. Dad read the paper; Dudley sniffed, peed and eventually laid down; and Luke resentfully picked up other people’s rubbish.
He spotted a set of six-pack rings in the long grass and reached for it. It moved. He reached for it again and it moved again. Luke parted the long grass and found, with one of the rings caught tight around his body, a little hedgehog.
“Oh dear oh dear,” said the vet, “come on fella, let’s get this horrible thing off you.”
She cut it off and then gently cleaned the hedgehog’s wounds.
“I would say, going by the severity of the cuts around his neck and behind his forelimb …”
“His armpit,” Luke clarified in case anyone was unsure to which wound she was referring.
“er, yes, if you like,” the vet went on, “and the fact that he is quite undernourished, that this unfortunate animal …”
“Spiker,” said Luke.
“I’m sorry?”
“That’s his name.”
“Oh, I see. I would say that Spiker has been struggling with this horrible appendage for over a week. It’s very lucky you found him when you did.”
Luke suddenly saw the job of picking up litter in a very different light. It was a very important job and, in conjunction with punishing droppers, was outlaw work.
The vet said that she would take care of Spiker until he was better and then she would call them to pick him up and they could release him where they found him.
“That means,” thought Luke, “I need to make sure the park is safe for him to come back to.”
On the way home, Luke formulated a plan:
➔ First he would clean up all the rubbish;
➔ then he would keep watch and record the names of all the droppers and what they dropped;
➔ then he would teach them a lesson.
All afternoon Luke and Dad picked up litter. They filled three and a half large dustbin bags with bottles and cans, crisp packets and sweet wrappers, fast food containers and carrier bags. Luke also found a £2 coin which Dad said he could keep for being such a good worker.
“Nice to be ‘preciated for a change,” thought Luke and spent 99p of his hard-earned cash, on the way home, on a giant gobstopper.
Part one of his plan was complete. Now, on Sunday, he was carrying out part two.
It was slow going. His eyes glazed as he stared across the empty park.
“There’d be no shame in bringing more than one comic in future,” he decided.
Then, at 10.06, on one side of the park, seven Year 6 boys entered, laughing and pushing and kicking a football between them. At the same time, on the other side of the park, came Simon Butler, Kenny White, Becca Nithercott and Christina Burkiss, all from Class 4 – Luke’s class. Becca and Kenny were carrying large, brightly-coloured kites.
Luke shrank down behind his Beano. The Year 6 boys raced around chasing their ball and shouting insults at each other. The class 4 kids took it in turns to run across the field trying to keep their kites aloft in the windless sky.
Luke kept his eyes on them all as discreetly as he could. No litter was dropped. He was getting awfully tired of sitting still.
Then the football suddenly flew higher and further than intended and landed in one of the back gardens. Luke watched as one of the Year 6 boys vaulted the fence to retrieve it.
“What are you doing here all by yourself?”
Simon Butler! Where did he come from? Luke tried to look nonchalant. With slow deliberation he took the gobstopper out of his mouth.
“Readin’ me comic. What’s it to you?”
“Reading my foot!” Butler scoffed, “you’ve been sitting here with your comic against your chin for the last ten minutes. Are you waiting for someone?”
This was no good. Butler was drawing attention. And he was distracting. Now there were only five Year 6 boys – where did the other two go? Simon Butler climbed onto the bench next to Luke and sat on the back of it, his feet on the seat.
“Who are you waiting for? What are you waiting for?”
This was infuriating. Flamin’ Butler! Luke had to get rid of him and he could only think of one way to do it.
“Is that yours?” he pointed to a £1 coin on the ground.
“er, oh yeah, I must have dropped it just now,” Simon lied as he stooped to pick it up.
He called to his friends.
“Anyone fancy some crisps?”
And he ran off without giving Luke another thought.
“Expensive,” thought Luke, mourning the loss of the last of his money, “but worth it.”
******
Continues tomorrow but if you can’t wait that long you can read the whole chapter here and the first eight chapters are also available in paperback.
Luke Walker Chapter 3 begins here
Chapter 3: Luke Walker and the Giant Gobstopper
SUNDAY
LITTER: 1 PIZZA BOX AND 1 COKE CAN
DROPPER: UNNOWNE
Luke tutted and looked across the park. At 8.27 there was no one else there but he knew they would come. And when they did, he would be ready.
On one side of the park was the school, on the other, the pony paddock. The top and bottom edges skirted the ends of back gardens. With his binoculars Luke could see it all clearly. He waited.
At 8.49 a dog walker entered the recreation field and walked around twice. Luke pretended to read his comic while secretly watching the person’s every move. No litter was dropped.
At 9.12 and 9.18 two more dog walkers arrived at opposite sides of the park. One threw a ball for his dog, the other kept her dog on a lead. No litter was dropped.
For Luke time was passing extremely slowly. He had read his comic three times and it was losing its appeal. At least his enjoyment of the gobstopper was not waning.
“The solitude of the outlaw life might be too much for some people,” Luke mused, “but I’m used to it now, I can handle it.”
Twenty four hours earlier he had been less philosophical:
“I don’t see why I should have to clean up other people’s mess!” Luke complained to Rusty who was sitting on a cabbage leaf, watching him.
Mrs Tebbut had followed through on her threat to send home a letter after the zoo trip and Luke’s dad had sentenced him to a month of weekends cleaning up litter. Luke was bitterly resentful at the injustice of it all.
“I mean, I could see the logic if I was a litter dropper myself. Makin’ me pick up litter would serve me right. But I’m not a dropper. I’ve never been a dropper. I won’t ever be a dropper – so what kind of lesson is this s’posed to teach me? A lesson I already know, that’s what!”
Rusty, Ash and Scratcher, the only witnesses to this tirade, did not attempt to answer him. They were used to his rhetorical rants and knew it was best to just let him get it off his chest. Sitting with his friends in ‘the damson patch’, as it was now known, letting off steam with the only ones who really understood him, was a kind of therapy for Luke. He always felt better afterwards.
But at the park Luke felt humiliated. It was Saturday morning; scouts were having football practice; skateboarders were zooming up and down their ramps and slopes; little girls were skipping rope and playing hopscotch. Luke felt like everyone was smirking at him picking up litter. It was disgusting. Disgusting people had dropped their disgusting rubbish and he was forced to clean up after them. It made him so cross.
Then he noticed his dad trying to get his attention. Maybe he was going to let him off. Maybe he’d done enough now.
“Luke, look, behind you. Dudley’s done his business. Make sure you pick that up as well.”
Dad went back to reading the paper and Luke seethed. It wasn’t fair!
******
Continues tomorrow, but if you can’t wait you can read the whole chapter here now
and the first eight chapters are also available in paperback
Luke Walker’s Privut Notebook
We’re so glad you’ve been enjoying the adventures of Luke Walker, animal stick up for-er, and thought you might be interested to know that he has made a notebook. It’s not the prettiest of notebooks as it’s just an exercise book, originally intended by Mrs Tebbut to be his maths book, which Luke felt would be much better put to another purpose.
He’s setting up a secret sersiety of animal stick up for-ers and welcomes others with prince pauls like him to join. All new outlaws should have a copy of this notebook and put their name on the list of proppa members.
All member outlaws must agree to the plej …
… and follow the sersiety rules.
According to Luke, to be an outlaw you must think to question everything you’re told …
… to consider if it’s really true.
Luke has worked hard on this notebook, all by himself. He has included lots of useful information – like people from history who had prince pauls, …
… and how to make your own secret code-maker/breaker which is an essential for every secret sersiety member.
Plus he has left lots of space for new members to write in.
There is even a top secret coded message which new member outlaws will be able to decipher when they’ve made themselves a code breaker. And there’s space for more coded messages to be added by new members.
All in all, Luke is very pleased with his Privut Notebook which is available from Amazon at the very reasonable price of £2.75
You can’t say fairer than that 😉
Here are a couple of Luke’s friends with their copies:
Chatting away non-stop
Story continues from yesterday:
****
In a few short minutes Luke and Emma were crossing the meadow side by side, heading for the woods. Luke chatted away non-stop while Emma swished her tail and listened contentedly.
“Truth is Emma,” he explained, “I’d love to take you home with me but I really don’t think me dad’d let me. Honestly, you should ‘ave ‘eard the fuss ‘e made over a couple o’ rabbits.”
On the other side of the wood was another meadow, even more beautiful, with trees here and there and, to Luke’s delight, something else.
“Ooh quick Emma, over here! It looks like a lake or somethin’!”
Luke rushed ahead laughing and calling her to follow. Cautiously, she did. It was such a lovely hot day that Luke couldn’t resist getting into the clear, cool water.
“Come on, it’s ok, it’s not deep,” he called, “come in with me, it’s fun!”
Emma tentatively dipped her trunk into the water and had a good long drink. Luke grinned.
“Yeah, that’s it! Now come all the way in and play with me.”
He laughed and sloshed about and splashed her so that soon she wanted to join in. She reached out her trunk to him and he put his hand out to her and she trod heavily, slowly, down into the lake. She drew up a big trunk full of water and showered it all over herself, and Luke. She splashed and she played and felt free. And so did Luke. It was just the best afternoon.
When they got out of the water Emma laid down on the warm grass to be dried by the sun, and Luke sat with her, leaning against her chest. Eventually, reluctantly, he looked at his watch. 4.32.
“I have to go now,” he told her sadly, “but I will come back if I can.”
He didn’t know when that might be.
“You do like it here don’t you?”
He knew she must and was satisfied his outlawing had paid off again – she’d be much happier here than in that concrete enclosure. She’d have freedom; she’d have space; he only wished she wouldn’t be on her own.
“There’s prob’ly rabbits here,” he told her, “rabbits make good friends. The thing with rabbits is, you ‘ave to be patient. They might seem a bit stand-offish at first but once they get to know you they’re very friendly.”
He stood up and said goodbye, confident she’d understood.
He slipped back in to the zoo and locked the gate so that everything, well, almost everything, was as he’d found it. He decided it would be a good idea to hang on to the keys – he’d need them next time he visited Emma.
It was 4.57 when he arrived at the coach so he was in good time for Mrs Tebbut’s prompt 5pm departure, but for some reason she was crosser than he’d ever seen her.
“Luke Walker! Do you have any idea what you’ve put us through? You have disrupted the day for the whole class! You are a selfish, thoughtless child and I will be sending a letter home to your parents!”
“For what?” thought Luke.
_______________________________________________
Unbeknown to Luke, seven months later, in a national newspaper:
THE DAILY NEWS
Elephant Finds Sanctuary At Last
Seven months after the 24-hour disappearance of the lonely elephant at Dillingsgate Zoo, she has been found a place at The Elephant Sanctuary. ‘Companions for Nelly’ campaign organiser, Joanne Russell said she cannot adequately express her joy at today’s outcome.
“We can only thank God for bringing to light Nelly’s lonely existence by causing her to wander off by herself and ignite a media storm. If it hadn’t been for the zoo’s mishap of leaving her gate open, the world might never have been aware of her miserable solitary confinement.”
Seven months ago the alarm was raised at Dillingsgate zoo when keepers discovered that Nelly was missing. She was found the following day in neighbouring woodlands but not before the news was reported in local, national and international media. This put the spotlight on conditions in which Nelly was kept.
“Elephants are very social animals,” said Ms Russell, “and it was heartbreaking to learn that Nelly had been without any companionship of her own kind for almost twenty years.”
Thanks to the overwhelming public support for Ms Russell’s campaign, Nelly has now been found a place at the award winning Elephant Sanctuary where she will be able to live out her days in natural surroundings in the company of her own kind.
*********
You can read the whole of Luke Walker: animal stick up for-er Chapter 2 here.
Chapter 3 coming to this site soon!
Want it now? No problem – just order the paperback from Amazon! (It’s got the first eight chapters) 😀
Keeping a low profile
The story continues from yesterday:
******
It didn’t take long for Luke to work out where he might find what he was looking for.
“Somebody what works here will have keys!”
It never occurred to him that he would need a particular key for the particular lock he wanted to open but, as it happened, that wasn’t going to be a problem. When the zoo was built over thirty years earlier, it boasted the largest number of animal enclosures in the country. It was deemed impractical to have hundreds of different keys so the same three locks were fitted to everything: one for animal enclosures; one for outer gates; and one for buildings. Each key-holder carried the same three keys. That was all anyone needed. It was all Luke needed.
Back in the hubbub of the zoo, Luke kept a low profile. It felt good to be outlawing again. He saw plenty of zoo workers but there was no way of knowing whether they had keys without asking them. Then he heard a familiar jangle.
“I know what that means,” he thought, triumphant, “that man’s got keys on his belt!”
The man was alone. At a grassy, low-fenced enclosure inhabited by small, furry animals Luke didn’t know the name of, he caught up with him. The man seemed engrossed in what he was doing, or perhaps lost in his own thoughts. Luke could see the keys dangling against his hip and crept up so close behind him he could almost reach them through the wire fence. Just as he was about to touch them a loud voice, crackling from the man’s walkie talkie, startled his hand back. The voice sounded impatient.
“Brinley! Can you hear me? I need you to open the Goods Entrance – the delivery’s just arrived.”
“I heard you! I’m on my way.”
The man, and the keys, hurried out of the enclosure. Luke followed him at a discreet distance. He went past a sign which said ‘STAFF ONLY’ and up to a big gate. No one else was around. The walkie talkie shouted at the man again.
“HURRY UP BRINLEY! It’s that bad tempered lorry driver!”
“I’m coming! I’m coming!” said Brinley.
In his rush he left the keys in the gate after unlocking it and rushed up the track. He would probably only be gone for a moment or two. But that was enough.
Luke ran as fast as he could to get back to the elephant. It was easier to go unnoticed than it had been on the way out because there was some kind of commotion on the other side of the zebra enclosure. He overheard something as he passed through which assured him it was nothing to concern him. The elephant was waiting right where he’d left her.
“I got it! I got the key! Sorry it took so long.”
He unlocked the gate and led her out.
“That’s it, out you come,” he encouraged her, “I don’t know your name so if you don’t mind I think I’ll call you ……… Emma.”
Emma seemed as happy as he was about her outing and she trumpeted with joy.
“Shhh shhh,” Luke looked up into her big, dark eyes, “we’ve got to be sneaky, remember?”
He pointed to a gate behind Emma’s enclosure beyond which he could see a wide open space – a meadow bordered with woodlands.
“Let’s go this way,” he suggested, “don’t worry, no one’ll see. They’re too busy lookin’ for a lost little boy. Hope they find ‘im.”
*****
Story concludes tomorrow but if you can’t wait that long you can read the whole thing here 🙂 or buy it in paperback 😉
Might as well make the best of it.
Continues from yesterday:
*****
But, it was nice weather, and anything was better than being stuck in a classroom. Luke decided he might as well try to make the best of it.
Mrs Tebbut pointed at two big tigers.
“What can you tell me about the tigers in this enclosure?” she asked the group.
Luke was shocked. He put up his hand.
“Are they criminals?” he suggested.
“Don’t be silly Luke, of course they’re not criminals.”
“Well it don’t seem fair to put innocent animals in prison.”
“Can anyone give me a sensible answer?”
Simon Butler read aloud from the board on the fence.
“They’re Bengal tigers; well known for their power and strength; one of the most feared predators in nature. In the wild they scent mark large areas of up to 100 square kilometres to keep their rivals away.”
“Very good Simon,” Mrs Tebbut smiled.
Luke didn’t think there was much to smile about.
“The wild ones live in massive places, prob’ly bigger ‘n Bournemouth, and this cage is smaller ‘n my back garden. No wonder they look fed up,” he thought.
They moved on. Luke lagged behind with diminishing enthusiasm. Mrs Tebbut drew everyone’s attention to another enclosure.
“Can anyone tell me what these guys are?”
“They’re penguins,” said Anna.
“That’s right. Does anyone know what type?”
“They’re bored penguins.” He knew the moment he said it that he’d said it too loud.
“Luke Walker! I am tired of your attitude! If you can’t enter into the spirit of things with a smile on your face and some genuine effort then kindly do not participate at all.”
That was fine by Luke.
“Why do teachers ask you what you think if all they really want you to tell ’em is what they think?” he grumbled to himself.
When Mrs Tebbut was distracted by Katia getting a splinter, Luke decided to take her at her word and ‘not participate at all’. He was better off on his own anyway. He wandered around the zoo, looking at the animals and feeling sorry for them.
“Don’t seem right to lock animals up when they ‘aven’t done nothin’. It’s like the Sheriff of Nottin’am all over again.”
He noticed an empty bench in front of a line of trees, away from the busier zoo paths, and decided to have a sit down.
“It’s a shame about zoos,” he thought, disappointed.
While he sat there he looked around. Over his left shoulder, behind the trees, he saw another enclosure. It was off the beaten track and smaller than the others. It was concrete and contained nothing of beauty or interest except its occupant. There stood the biggest, most breath-taking, awe-inspiring individual Luke had ever encountered. An elephant. All on her own.
“All on your own,” Luke sympathised, as he made his way to her, “another damson in distress.”
He climbed up on the fence so that he could talk to her over the top of it and she walked towards him to get a closer look.
“I’m on me own too,” he continued, “not stayin’ with the group if I’m not wanted!”
Then he had an idea.
“Would you like to come out an’ play with me?”
The elephant seemed interested so he went on.
“Ok, listen, we’ll have to be a bit sneaky. You wait here while I find a key; then I’ll open this gate and you can slip out before anyone sees.”
It was a brilliant plan!
*******
Continues tomorrow, but if you can’t wait you can read the whole story here now 😀
and the first eight chapters are also available in paperback 🙂
Luke Walker’s second chapter begins here!
Luke Walker A.W.O.L.
“Huhee ut!”
Joe’s sixteenth funny face was not easy to maintain as it was beginning to hurt. With eyes wide, tongue sticking out and skin pulled tight around his cheek bones by his fingers, it was difficult to speak.
“I’m sorry!” Luke said, “It’s not working. I pressed the button four times but it didn’t take a picture.”
Joe retracted his tongue and massaged his face.
“Gis a look.”
Luke handed him the camera.
“It says MEMORY FULL,” Joe explained, “how many pictures have you taken?”
“I dunno,” said Luke as he put Dad’s camera back in his bag, “are we nearly there yet?”
They wouldn’t be there for another half an hour but the boys had already finished their packed lunches. Joe had suggested they save some for later but Luke thought it wisest to eat everything now so they’d have less to carry.
“How much longer ’til we get there?” Luke asked no one in particular.
It really was too much to expect people to sit still for two whole hours. And Mrs Tebbut’s insistence that the coach would not be making any stops along the way did not allow for the fact that some people’s need to quench their thirst with a lot of lemonade might lead to other needs. He tried to think of something else.
At 11.03 the coach pulled in to Parking Zone B at Dillingsgate Zoo.
“Ok, class 4, pay attention!” Mrs Tebbut called everyone to order. “You may leave whatever you don’t need on the coach but remember that once you’ve left it you won’t see it again until home time. So, if you think you might want it at any time during the day, take it with you now. You must stay in your allotted group, with your allotted adult, at all times. You must be back at the coach by 4.45 so that we can leave promptly at 5pm. Ok, have a nice day everybody.”
Glad that his teacher had finally finished her speech, Luke hurried to the front of the coach. He was in Mr Eden’s group, with Joe, but he couldn’t line up yet because he had urgent business to attend to. He told Joe to tell their group to wait for him and then ran towards the zoo entrance, looking for the toilets. When he returned, six minutes later, Mr Eden’s group was not there. Mrs Tebbut’s group was. Mrs Tebbut’s arms were folded.
“Luke Walker. What did I tell you not ten minutes ago?”
“Erm, something about if you leave it you can’t have it ’til you go home.”
“What else?”
“Can’t remember.”
“I told you to stay in your allotted group with your allotted adult at all times.”
“Oh yeah, I know but I jus’ had …”
“But nothing. If I tell you to do something, I expect you to do it.”
Luke looked at his shoes. There was no point trying to explain about the lemonade. He knew that the less he said, the sooner he’d be able to catch up with Joe. His mind started to wander. He wondered if he’d be able to play with the monkeys; and swim with the polar bears; he wondered where the gift shop was and whether he’d be able to get a souvenir pack of cards, or badges with animals on. He could certainly do with a few more badges.
“Luke! Did you hear what I said? You will be in my group instead of Mr Eden’s so that I can keep an eye on you.”
Luke’s eyes narrowed and his lips tightened. He was supposed to be in the same group as Joe. They’d been looking forward to going round the zoo together. This was a very annoying turn of events.
****
to be continued ….
( You can read the whole story here 😀 )
Experimenting on animals is a Wild Goose Chase
New from Honestly Books is Wild Goose Chase by Lavender Laine which is perfect for the teens to adults section of our Vegan Children’s Books page.
Lavender Laine, author of What’s good for the goose is not good for the panda, a rhyming story for little children, is a collage artist with a passionate opposition to vivisection. Her latest title, the non-fiction Wild Goose Chase, is not only a feast for the eyes but also choc full of information that every anti-vivisectionist should know. She has mined the brilliant Sacred Cows and Golden Geese by Ray and Jean Greek for all the text, which she has torn from its pages and pasted onto a backdrop of colourful images from many and various books and magazines. The result is a stunning visual treat designed to make the historical scientific facts easier to remember.
On the first page is the classic quote from Dr Werner Hartinger: “There are, in fact, only two categories of doctors and scientist who are not opposed to vivisection: those who don’t know enough about it, and those who make money from it.”
The acknowledgement pages follow:
And then it begins with a statement that it will go on to prove: Trying to cure human ills by experimenting on animals is a wild goose chase.
From thereon each page is full of information which was meticulously researched by the Greeks for Sacred Cows. Laine has chosen excerpts from the Greeks’ book which she feels are the most important to commit to memory. I’ve read Sacred Cows and Golden Geese several times from cover to cover and it teems with information explained in a way that is easy to make sense of for a non-scientific mind such as mine. However, there is just so much information in there that, even after reading and re-reading, I find it hard to bring the facts to mind in conversation with others and therefore am unconvincing in my arguments. That’s why Wild Goose Chase is so important. Laine has included only a fraction of the text from Sacred Cows – giving us less to memorize – but those well chosen excerpts explain clearly and concisely why vivisection is scientifically flawed and why it continues in spite of that.
It’s a kind of CliffsNotes for Sacred Cows, but much more eye-catching.
It begins with the history, showing that “True advances in medical knowledge has not come from animals.” It reveals that Nobel Prizes were awarded to the wrong people – those who ‘validated’ things in animals decades after they had been discovered by other scientists in human observations.
It explains how animal experiments have mislead scientists into thinking dangerous drugs were safe, and safe drugs were dangerous.
It explains that animal tests continue in spite of this because they provide a legal ‘safe harbor’ for the government and drug companies who can claim due diligence when things go horribly wrong.
It explains that, in the education system, original thinking is neither required nor welcomed; that editors and reviewers perpetuate the mass delusion; that money drives education and money drives research.
It explains that what is needed is a ‘voluble public outcry’ to stop this scientific fraud which is killing so many humans and animals. What is needed is for everyone to be aware of these facts so that they can no longer be deceived by the vivisectors’ PR machines.
And then it goes on to explain what we should be doing instead of animal experiments: the scandalously underfunded human-based research methods which really could make a difference. Look – there’s Elvis! ↑
Eg epidemiology, human autopsies, in vitro research, clinical observation, genetic research, computer modeling, diagnostic imaging, post-marketing drug surveillance. It’s amazing what they can do now (and Sacred Cows was written sixteen years ago so think of the even more amazing advances that must have occurred since then).
“To insist that animal experiments are necessary is ludicrous.”
“Why wait in the dark ages when the Star Trek sick bay is at hand?”
The book concludes with a call to action, inviting everyone to educate themselves and speak out against the mass delusion which is costing so many lives.
There is nothing in this book but scientific and historical facts which are easily verified by referring to the indicated pages in Sacred Cows. There are no disturbing images or descriptions of animal experiments – what would be the point? If vivisection could be stopped on grounds of cruelty to animals it would have been banned a century ago. Exposing the scientific fraud is the only way to end it. Educating ourselves is where we start. Buy this book and give it rave reviews! Enable every teenager to understand that animal experiments are not necessary and never have been; that they are actually harmful to medical progress and will not save human lives.
Muddy face
The story continues from yesterday:
He wondered what on Earth he’d done to deserve such a reception as he stood, with muddy face, muddy hands, muddy knees and muddy shoes, at the end of the trail of muddy footprints on the tiled floor.
Being considerate in all things, Luke complied with Mum’s vehement suggestion that he wash more than just his hands, and came to the table in clean clothes. Jared, his older brother, looked at him curiously as if wondering what he’d been doing and Luke returned the look without enlightening him. Mum served up their tea but, as usual, didn’t sit down with them. She would wait for Dad to get home and eat with him.
Luke was dismayed to see bacon on his plate again. He had recently discovered what bacon really was: not food at all but slices of dead piglet. He was horrified. The fact that his parents, who had always told him to be good and kind, would choose to eat it was very confusing. He thought at first that they must not be aware of what it actually was, but when he explained it to them they were not surprised. They told him that people need to eat meat but that he shouldn’t worry because the animals were killed humanely (which they said meant ‘gently’ ). Luke was unconvinced.
“Killed gently! So they don’t mind you killin’ ’em then, is that what you’re sayin’? They like it do they? They look forward to it I suppose because their murderers are so gentle!”
After some lengthy discussion in this vein, during which Luke’s parents failed to persuade him to see reason, his mum effected his silence by sternly insisting that she knew best and Luke must eat his meat. Luke said no more at that time but was determined not to.
Again faced with the need to be rid of his bacon, Luke discreetly took a rasher and held it below the table for Dudley. Dudley, his dog, very obligingly took it from him. At that moment Mum reappeared in the doorway.
“What did you just do?” she demanded angrily.
“Whaaat? Nothin’. I dint do nothin’.”
“Luuuke.”
“I was on’y feedin’ someone what was hungry,” Luke explained innocently, “jus’ bein’ generous, that’s all.”
“You know very well that Dudley has already had his dinner and if you keep giving him yours he’s going to get fat!”
Dudley ate fast. Mum went on.
“Don’t ever do that again! You’re a growing boy Luke, you need to eat your meat!”
Luke stuck to his guns.
“I don’t want it! I’ve got Prince Pauls!”
He’d heard the vicar talking about living by one’s principles in the school assembly that morning. It meant having values and putting them into practice; it meant actions speak louder than words; it meant if you love animals you don’t eat them. Luke had never heard of Prince Paul before but knew he must have been a good bloke.
“Prince who? What on Earth are you on about?”
Mum had obviously never heard of him either.
“I’ve got veggietarian Prince Pauls.”
Mum was not impressed.
“Oh give me strength!” she said, “well, you can explain that one to your Dad.”
“But he won’t be home ’til after bedtime right?” asked Luke, hopeful that he wouldn’t have to have that conversation tonight.
“He’s already home. I just saw him walking down the garden. Checking on his lettuces no doubt.”
Luke, suddenly not so confident that he’d thought of everything, became pale as it dawned on him that Dad might not understand that it was a good idea for the damsons to live in the veg patch. He felt sure that, in time, his new friends would be welcome additions to the family, but knew that his dad was not one to take to something right away and it would be better for everyone if they did not meet just yet.
“LUKE!” His dad’s booming voice reached the house before he did.
“How did he know it was me?” Luke wondered.
********
You can read the whole chapter here.
Stay in touch for Chapter 2, coming to this site sometime, or buy the first eight chapters in paperback if you can’t wait that long 😉
“I’m savin’ ya”
The story continues from yesterday:
He crawled across the lawn feeling like Robin Hood or one of his band of outlaws, risking everything to save the innocent.
“I don’t care if Mrs Tebbut don’t think I’m Robin Hood material, that jus’ means I’m doin’ a good job foolin’ ’em,” he rationalized as his knees slid through the mud. “It’s good that I’m goin’ to be Sheriff of Nottin’am’s Guard Number two – then no one will guess that I am actually an outlaw in real life.”
When he reached the hutch he glanced towards the house to make sure he wasn’t being watched. The windows looked dark so it was impossible to tell. He’d have to be quick and hope for the best. He opened the hutch and reached for the rabbit.
“Shh shhh, it’s ok, I’m not gonna hurt ya,” he whispered reassuringly, “I’m savin’ ya, like Robin Hood savin’ damsons in distress from the Sheriff’s dungeon.”
He tucked her safely into his shirt and hurried back to the hedge. The rabbit wriggled and squirmed uncomfortably, her heart beating hard and fast.
“Ow! Stop scratchin’ me!” hissed Luke before regretfully adding “I’m sorry to tell you off, but it’s for your own good. I’m bein’ firm but fair,” and he crouched down to exit the way he’d come in.
As his left foot followed the rest of his body out of the Butler garden it knocked over a rake, which struck a gnome, which fell from its pedestal and broke with a crash. Mrs Butler opened the back door.
“Who’s there?” she shouted.
But no one was.
In his own back garden, Luke headed for Dad’s vegetable patch.
“Here you go Scratcher,” he said to the white rabbit as he closed the gate, “this is your new home.”
He placed her gently among the lettuces.
“There’s plenty to eat ‘ere see, we don’t mind sharin’. Dad’s always tellin’ me to share.”
Scratcher hungrily and gratefully tucked in. Nearby, between the carrots and the peas, a reddish brown rabbit and a grey rabbit watched with moderate interest as they nibbled and chewed. Luke made introductions.
“And there’s friends for you to play with. I rescued Rusty yes’dy but Ash just come today like you. They’re quiet but I think you’ll get on alright with ’em.”
It transpired that Luke, though quite new to outlawdom, was not one to procrastinate. As someone who hated being confined to his room, he sympathised with anyone imprisoned alone and was determined to help them. Ash and Rusty had been housed similarly to Scratcher in two different back gardens adjacent to the playing field. Spotting them during ball retrieval operations, Luke had decided that those damsons needed rescuing and was certain he was the outlaw for the job.
Luke kept his new friends company for the next ninety-eight minutes until the sound of his mum’s voice calling from the house reminded him that it was nearly tea time.
“I’ve got to go in for me tea now,” he explained, “but I’ll see you tomorrow,” and he showed Scratcher where she could sleep when she got tired.
Ash and Rusty didn’t need to be shown, being already aware of the small hole in the side of Dad’s shed made by Luke with Dad’s hammer. He had been very considerate in making the hole, ensuring that it was at the back so as not to look untidy to the casual observer; and making it just rabbit-sized. He was confident he’d thought of everything.
“Dad on’y uses it at weekends,” he concluded, “so you won’t be in nobody’s way in there at night.”
Feeling very satisfied with his first week of outlawing, he said goodnight and went inside. Mum had her back to him when he stepped into the kitchen.
“Is tea ready?”
“Yes, just about. You’d better go and wash your hands,” she said as she turned to face him. “Luke!” she gasped.
“Whaaat?” said Luke, frowning at his frowning parent.
*****
To be continued ….
Click here for the whole chapter
Introducing Luke Walker: animal stick up for-er
Ow! That was a thistle. Luke poked and scratched at it with a stick until it broke away from its roots and could be pushed aside. He then rubbed his grazed wrist and forged ahead, emerging moments later on the other side of the hedge. Simon Butler’s back garden.
It wasn’t the first time Luke had gained illegal entry to Simon Butler’s garden but if all went well it might be the last. He’d been eleven times before, to visit the rabbit. Simon kept his rabbit in a small wooden hutch at the end of the garden, near the dustbins. He used to let her out to play when he first got her but after a couple of months, when the novelty had worn off, he only visited his pet for five minutes once a day to refill her food and water. Luke felt sorry for her. He could see the hutch from his bedroom window next door. When he borrowed his dad’s binoculars he could even see the rabbit.
“She must be so sad and fed up. And bored,” he said to the Robin Hood poster on his wardrobe door, “I’m going to visit her.”
A couple of times a week for the last month and a half, Luke had endured scratches and scuffs, and the hedge had endured bends and breaks, so that the rabbit could have a bit of company. He always took her something from Dad’s vegetable patch – a bit of lettuce, or a carrot maybe – and after the first few times she seemed pleased to see him. She put her face close to the wire and eagerly tugged at the treats he pushed through to her. But he had to be careful not to get caught.
Simon was a smarty-pants who always did his homework and always got good marks. He was good at sports and he was good at maths. He was always the first to put up his hand in class and his shoes were always clean. Irritating though all of that was, Luke could have let it go if Simon hadn’t done something unforgivable.
Luke’s best friend, Joe, was not very fast and he was not very clever. He was last to be picked for every team game and first to be told off in every lesson for not knowing the answer. But he always took it on the chin. He shrugged it off. Sports weren’t his thing. Maths wasn’t his thing. He wasn’t especially enamoured with science or history either but that didn’t worry him. He was the best friend Luke had ever had and was totally reliable. He had kept his mouth shut when Luke tripped over his shoe laces and knocked Mrs Tebbut’s mug of tea all over her desk; he had kept it to himself when Luke accidentally cracked Mrs Tebbut’s windscreen with a cricket ball. He was the kind of friend who could always be depended on.
So when Smarty-Pants told Mrs Tebbut that Joe had copied his test and Joe got sent to the Head Master for cheating, Luke was very cross. Simon Smarty-Pants Butler was a tell-tale and a liar. He could never be trusted. And he didn’t like Luke any more than Luke liked him. It was vital that Luke didn’t get caught.
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to be continued …
Click here for the whole chapter.
Luke Walker: animal stick up for-er from the beginning again
Luke Walker: animal stick up for-er is a comic about an eight year old boy who doesn’t let a little thing like following the rules stop him from defending and liberating animals. To put it simply he is a vegan Just William. He means well but those who try to control him (ie parents and teachers) find him rather, well, trying.
Luke’s story begins on this site in comic-book style with episodes 1 and 2, Luke Walker and the damsons, and Luke Walker AWOL, on the ‘stories for ages 5 and up’ page. They are also included in the bumper comic book Reflecto Girl and other stories.
However, there’s more. I have since decided to write his stories in prose, for a change, and a book containing the first eight chapters of his adventures, called simply Luke Walker: animal stick up for-er, is available from Amazon.
Starting tomorrow, Chapter 1 of this book will be published here in instalments. See you then! 😉
A look at his notebook will give you a taste of who he is 😉
In conclusion …
Previously on Megan & Flos episode 5:
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And they lived happily on planet Felix Locus for a couple of weeks.
I wonder what happened after that 😉
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For the whole story, click here
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vegan children’s story, vegan comic, vegan comic for children
Whoosh!
Look out!!!
For the story so far click here
to be continued …
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vegan comic for children, vegan children’s story
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