Midwood magic

The End of the Summer Holidays

It was a summer evening. The sun shone brightly. Damian was lying under an apple tree that filled the air with its fragrant blossoms. He had wanted to build a treehouse with his step-father, who promised to build one, but he never seemed to have time to do it. Of course, he always promised to help, especially in front of his mother, but he never seemed to mean it. Damian had even drawn some pictures of how the treehouse might look. He had also selected the tree to put up the treehouse. He'd always wanted to own a treehouse ever since he could remember.

Damian belonged to an average middle-class family. The Pearson's considered themselves to be quite respectable. They didn't get involved much with the community. Mrs Pearson never attended the city council meetings because she thought it to be a waste of time. Mrs Pearson, Damian's mother, was a housewife. She was tall, thin, and middle-aged. She had blue eyes and auburn hair.

Mr Pearson was a slim man with coal-black hair. He had green eyes. He had been a lifeguard but had disappeared a few years ago. Now his place was taken by Mrs Pearson's newly wedded husband, Mr Rider. He had nut-brown hair and brown eyes and was thought by everyone in the neighbourhood to be a "good looking chap." He worked as a manager in a textile shop in the town.

The bees were buzzing above, filling the air with their music. Damian remembered the lollipop he had in his pocket, undid the shiny wrapper, and started sucking it. It tasted delicious. Halloween was just two weeks away. Soon he'll have heaps of candy, thought Damian gleefully.

"How should I dress up for Halloween? Perhaps I should dress up as a vampire? Maybe I should dress up as a werewolf? Or perhaps a ghost?  Or even a zombie? he thought, trying to picture himself dressed like every one of them. But none of these seemed to be good enough.

"Oh, I know, I'll dress up as a cowboy. I have a cowboy hat and a pair of boots at home. All I need is a suit, a lasso, and a toy gun." He said, picking up a fallen apple leaf and looking at an ant crawling on it.

He put it away and thought he'd have a ride on the garden swing down by the pond at the bottom of the garden. He got up, taking his rubber ball in one hand and threw it up as high as possible. It sped up high like a bird set free out of its cage. Higher and higher went the ball and landed in the neighbour's garden opposite. This neighbour was a surly sort who didn't get on well with others. Most of all, he despised children and didn't allow any child into his garden or house. "Destructive little devils," he used to say of them.

Damian decided to get back his ball. He peeped over the fence and looked around. Mr Grinder wasn't about. He was probably inside, watching TV. Damian climbed over the wall and ran straight towards the pond, where he thought he saw the ball fall. And there was the ball by the edge of the lake. Damian let off a sigh of relief. He was thankful that the ball hadn't rolled into the pond. He looked around again to see if Mr Grinder had come out of his house.

He noticed that the ball was wet. "That's odd," he told himself. "Surely the ball couldn't have bounced on the water or washed up to where it lay. Did someone fish it out for him?"

Then he looked down at the pond and saw a face staring up at him. He was startled that he very nearly lost his balance and fell into the water. Damian managed to steady himself,

and before he could peep in again to see if he'd just imagined the face, he heard a rough and angry voice calling out.

"What do you think you're doing, imp?" shouted an old man, rushing towards Damian with his walking stick raised high in the air. "How dare you trespass on my land?" The neighbour bellowed. Damian took to his feet, dashed to the wall, whisked up onto the top of it, and looked behind. The neighbour was still there, watching and waving his walking stick angrily. Damian didn't wait for a second look but rushed home.