Scared of a Rainbow

Topaz Band 13

Scared of a SCARED OF A RAINBOW

b n ow i a R

When sisters Tasha and Ellie hear a noise in a bush, they don’t expect to find a furious bogo hiding from

Scared of a

a rainbow. Will they be able to rescue the strange creature – and does it even want to be helped?

b n o i w a R

A humorous story collins.co.uk/collinsbigcat

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Anne Fine

Mia Powell 21/10/2021 17:51

Scared of a

b n o i w a R

Written by Anne Fine Illustrated by Mia Powell

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Chapter 1 It had been raining on and off all day, but when we turned into our own street, the sun slid out, and there was a perfect rainbow.

Suddenly, Ellie stopped and asked, “Tasha, did you hear that?”

“What?” I said.

“That choo! Like a small sneeze.”

“Big deal,” I said. “Keep walking, Ellie. I’m really cold.

Let’s get home.”

2

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“Wait, Tasha!” My sister bent to peer under a nearby bush. “Oh! Poor little thing! It’s soaking!”

This time, even I heard it. Choo! It was the sort of noise a baby rabbit would make, if rabbits sneezed. How can I describe it? Sort of sudden, but fruity.

Ellie reached under the bush and dragged something out.

I told her, “Ms Frost said if we found baby birds, we shouldn’t touch them, so that the mother isn’t scared to come back.”

3

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“It’s not a bird,” said Ellie. “I don’t know what it is except the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen.”

She showed me. It was the size of my fist with strange, black, pointy flippers. (It looked a bit like half of a broken umbrella.)

Whatever it was, the thing wasn’t very happy. It kept lashing out at my sister, struggling to get away.

4

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“It can’t be all that bright,” I said, “to want to stay under a wet bush and catch a terrible cold.”

Then this small, fierce, pointy thing spoke! Glowering at me with its sharp black eyes, it snapped, “Everyone knows that you can only catch a cold if you tread on a dead beetle on a Monday.”

“That is the silliest thing I ever heard,” I said. And since the thing certainly wasn’t a baby bird, I let Ellie shove it under the front of her jacket, out of the rain, holding it there as we walked home.

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Chapter 2 The thing struggled most of the way. The front of Ellie’s pocket kept swelling and bulging, as if the creature was in a big fight with itself.

“Don’t let Nan catch us with it,” I warned my sister.

“She’ll reckon it’s got germs and make us get rid of it.”

6

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We got to our house, where Nan was in the front room, watching telly. I shouted, “Hi, Nan,” as we smuggled the strange little thing past her, and up to our bedroom.

(Not hard, as Nan was watching her favourite programme.)

Ellie dropped the weird thing into the laundry basket, on top of some of our dirty socks and pants and T-shirts.

I jammed down the wicker lid and heaped a pile of books on top of that.

“I hope they’re heavy enough to keep it in there,” I said.

7

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The books might have stopped the weird thing getting out, but they couldn’t stop it sneezing. Even when Nan called us into the kitchen for our snack, Ellie and I could hear its explosive little bursts. Choo! Choo! Choo! Choo!

Nan didn’t notice. She just laid out our apples and hot chocolate, as usual. “It was so horrible outside,” she said, “that I bought buns on my way over.”

I slid an apple in my pocket, and Ellie waited till Nan’s back was turned to pour some of her hot chocolate into another cup, hiding it under the table.

8

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Topaz Band 13

Scared of a SCARED OF A RAINBOW

b n ow i a R

When sisters Tasha and Ellie hear a noise in a bush, they don’t expect to find a furious bogo hiding from

Scared of a

a rainbow. Will they be able to rescue the strange creature – and does it even want to be helped?

b n o i w a R

A humorous story collins.co.uk/collinsbigcat

40633_Cover.indd 1

Anne Fine

Mia Powell 21/10/2021 17:51