Glubbslyme by Jacqueline Wilson Page A

all that.
    ‘Isn’t it fantastic!’ said Rebecca, jumping up and down with excitement. ‘It’s heaps and heaps better than riding a bike or going down a slide.’
    ‘Desist,’ Glubbslyme groaned. ‘There is no need to bounce like a ball in a cup. I feel giddy enough as it is without your crazy bobbing up and down.’
    ‘Oh Glubbslyme, you can’t possibly be feeling giddy when we flew such a little way! Come on, let’s do it again. And again and again and again.’
    ‘You do it. Again and again. I will lie here and close my eyes until the world stops spinning,’ groaned Glubbslyme.
    Rebecca wondered if she really could do it by herself. She did seem to have got the knack now. She decided to give it a try. She wisely did not climb to the top of the stairs. She straddled the umbrella and launched herself into the air three steps from the bottom. It was just as well. She landed very quickly indeed on both knees and her chin. She lay where she was with her bottom sticking up in the air, wondering whether her teeth were still attached. She ran her tongue over them gingerly but they all seemed to be in place. Then she wondered if her jaw had dislocated, but when she sat up she found she could move it easily if painfully.
    ‘Why are you grimacing so terribly?’ Glubbslyme enquired. ‘Are you having a seizure?’
    ‘No, of course not. I’m sort of putting my face back into place because it got banged a bit. Glubbslyme, I can’t fly at all without you.’
    ‘I am aware of that,’ said Glubbslyme.
    ‘So will you do it with me? Just once more?’
    Glubbslyme reluctantly complied. They flew from the top of the stairs to the bottom. Apart from one bump on the bannisters it was a perfect flight. Rebecca tried for another once more. And then another. She was starting to be able to steer properly now, and this time she even managed a decorous landing, feet first.
    ‘I can do it, I can do it!’ she yelled triumphantly.
    ‘I?’ said Glubbslyme.
    ‘We. You. Oh Glubbslyme, no wonder they called you great. You really are. You’re the most magical toad ever. I’m so proud and pleased that you’re my familiar.’
    Glubbslyme puffed up automatically, but his eyes were suspicious.
    ‘Why do you burble praise, child?’
    ‘Because I think you’re so wonderful. And—’
    ‘And?’
    ‘And I want you to come and fly outside with me.’
    ‘No.’
    ‘Please.’
    ‘ No !’
    ‘ Please !’
    They discussed it in this rather basic fashion for five minutes. Eventually, when Rebecca had recklessly promised a tin of golden syrup, a bag of assorted biscuits, and anything else in Sainsburys that might prove tempting, Glubbslyme started to waver.
    ‘Perhaps one brief journey across your garden might not be too upsetting to my system.’
    Rebecca peered out of the kitchen window. Mr Baker was trecking round his garden with yet another bucket full of drunken slugs. It looked as if he was going to be out there a very long time.
    ‘He’ll see us if we fly in the garden,’ said Rebecca. ‘Why don’t we go to the park, Glubbslyme? We could find a quiet part away from the gates. And you could have a little paddle in your own pond.’
    ‘I see,’ said Glubbslyme. ‘And when you tire of flying you will tire of me too and tell me to crawl back under my stone.’ He had already started deflating.
    ‘No! No, of course not. How could you think such a thing? I couldn’t bear to lose you now, Glubbslyme. It’s such fun having you with me. I want you to stay with me for ever,’ said Rebecca, realizing it was true.
    ‘I see,’ said Glubbslyme, in a very different tone. ‘Let us proceed to the park.’
    Rebecca knew he was uncomfortable in the plastic carrier so she found an old canvas shopping bag and slipped her own pillow inside so that Glubbslyme was suitably cushioned. (It was very kind of her because Glubbslyme was still sticky from the syrup and covered in crumbs.) She looked in need of a good wash herself, covered as she