As Sigworth began to come round, he could have sworn that he had seen the most frightening thing, towering over him. The dose must have been wrong. It was not supposed to cause hallucinations.
Ponkle’s voice echoed somewhere in the passages of his brain.
‘Sigworth! Sigworth!’
Ponkle sighed with relief as Sigworth’s large eyes blinked and attempted to focus on him.
‘P-P-Ponkle? Is t-that you?
‘Of course it’s me!’
‘Oh..t-thats good. Was I s-sn-snoring? It’s not r-right you know, for a moment, I th-th-thought I was seeing t-things. T-there w-was an ugly looking c-creature...’
‘I suppose you mean me?’ said George hastily, moving into Sigworth’s field of vision. She had been quite offended by the ‘ugly’ part. Mind you, she thought later, that was exactly what she would have said about them.
Sigworth took one look at George and his eyes opened so wide that they nearly fell out.
‘I’m a human,’ George continued, ‘as a matter-of-fact.’
Sigworth was astonished. He knew what species the girl belonged to. He had seen them asleep often enough. What he was having difficulty grasping was that there was one standing right over him, dressed in a pair of pyjamas, looking as if being here was the most natural thing in the world. He shifted uncomfortably in the hammock and tugged Ponkle’s waistcoat.
‘P-P-Ponkle,’ he began pulling him closer. ‘W-What in goodness n-name have you d-done?’ His face then contorted to form a curious expression, ‘and why, m-might I ask while I’m at it, am I s-s-soaking wet!’
‘It’s alright Sigworth,’ said Ponkle, freeing himself from his friend’s grip and clambering off the soft bunk, sensing a severe telling off was on its way. ‘This here is George!’
Sigworth raised his bushy eyebrows and slowly got up. He was still feeling dizzy from the effects of his experiment. He walked over to Ponkle who was hiding behind George.
‘Excuse m-me, G-George, b-but I th-th-think my companion and I need to have a l-little ch-chat,’ he said, putting an arm over Ponkle’s shoulder.
George moved aside and watched as the two Boffwunglers retreated behind the red curtain.
Before long, she heard a shrieking noise and, scared for Ponkle’s safety, she hurriedly ran over and pulled back the curtain only to find the two creatures excitedly jumping up and down in the kitchen, squealing with delight.
‘What?’ laughed George enthusiastically. ‘You’ve thought of something haven’t you? A plan? Tell me!’
Sigworth made some hot Rushberry juice and the three of them headed back to the main room and congregated in a tight huddle. Then the makings of the plot gradually began to unravel in an inspiring and somewhat jumbled up mess, similar to that of a lively kitten playing with a previously untouched ball of wool. Yet George’s enthusiasm soon began to dwindle.
‘Hang on...’ she interrupted as the other two were whizzing through their ideas. ‘Just stop right there...’
Ponkle and Sigworth paused.
‘I know the original idea was that I told your Judge woman that it was my fault that you are back late but after hearing what she’s like, I don’t think I can go through with it, who knows what she’d do to me. What other impressions does she do apart from snakes?’
‘Plenty,’ said Ponkle. ‘The best one so far was when she transformed herself into a sharp fanged panther and chased Mrs. Fiddlewhip through the
‘G-G-George,’ said Sigworth softly, giving Ponkle a painful nudge in the side to shut him up, ‘our options are limited at the m-moment. If we d-d-don’t go to her, she’s going to c-come to us.’
‘Either way, you’re going to meet her,’ added Ponkle. ‘Yet maybe we don’t have to surrender to her this time.’
‘What do you mean?’ said George warily.
‘We c-could f-f-fight her,’ whispered Sigworth, his eyes blazing with fire. ‘You are our best w-weapon. She w-wont be expecting you! Now if we could j-just g-get some more of us together....’
George stood up. Fighting? She did not like this. She did not like this at all. Perhaps she had mis-heard. Whoever heard such nonsense? Her senses were reeling. What was she doing here? Had she lost her mind? She must get out. Now.
‘When you say I’m your best weapon...what do you mean exactly,’ quivered George, edging nearer and nearer to the door.
‘Exactly that!’ laughed Ponkle, shaking Sigworth’s hand. Neither of them had noticed George’s nervous movements, they were too pre-occupied making plans. ‘She won’t be expecting to fight a human! Once you’ve caught her off guard we’ll join in...she’ll be so baffled she wont know what’s hit her!’
The two of them abruptly stopped laughing and nearly jumped out of their skins when they heard the wind forcefully slam the front door shut. The stool which Ponkle had placed there earlier had been moved and there was no sign of the girl.
