Edie Amelia and the Runcible River Fever Read Online Free PDF Page B
Author: Sophie Lee
. . . Iâm taking him to the Town Meeting dressed as a pirate and I wanted him to get used to his costume.â
Just then, she caught sight of the Blank Marauder from her bedroom window. If she wasnât mistaken he seemed to be pulling his shed to pieces looking for something. All Edieâs tidying was being undone. Eventually he gave up, put his head in his hands and retreated into his house.
âIs that sensible?â called her mother.
âI thought it might promote more positive feelings towards dogs,â Edie called back, crossing her fingers behind her back. âOh my goodness,â she whispered. Her jaw dropped open in disbelief. Hogmanay Chompster was running from the Sparksesâ back porch. She watched him as he vaulted the side fence with superhuman energy and sprinted off down the street.
âItâs true this Fever Dog
has
turnedpeople off our four-legged friends,â Michaelmas chimed in from the kitchen.
Edie began hurriedly assembling the items she would need for the next part of her mission. Binoculars, check. Magnifying glass, check. Tweezers, check. Notebook and pen, check. Her hands trembled and she coughed. She felt her forehead but it seemed cool to the touch so she pushed her Worries down as far as they would go and smoothed the front of her red pleather jumpsuit. Finally, she grabbed the flan (now cold and a little squashed) and her butterfly net and bolted down the spiral staircase and into the kitchen.
Her mother looked up from a bowl of bean sprouts. âWonât you be cold, darling?â
âIâm wearing a floral vest and warm woolly knickers underneath.â Edie raised her voice to compete with the radio broadcaster, who was delivering what sounded like regular updates on the Fever crisis. Edie noted that the Town Meeting was to be hosted by the Highland Fling Society at theHighland Fling Centre in twenty minutesâ time. Perhaps the Fever Dog had already been captured and the Mayor was going to present the reward? Remembering her brainwave, Edie looked for her father. Michaelmas Sparks seemed oblivious to the racket and was searching for something among his test tubes and a stack of obscure articles about textiles from the 1970s.
âEr, Dad, could you give me a hand with all this stuff?â said Edie.
âWhat, what? Oh . . . yes, of course,â said Michaelmas.
âDad, listen,â said Edie quietly, when they had closed the front door behind them, âdo you still have the outboard motor you used on the tsunami surfboard?â
Michaelmas seemed lost in thought.
âDad? I need it for something very important,â she continued. âAre you even listening? Whatâs wrong?â
âIâve lost something,â he said.
âAgain?â said Edie.
âYou donât understand. Iâm
this close
to unlocking a cure for Runcible River Fever.â
He held up his thumb and index finger to demonstrate just how close.
âBut thatâs great!â
âWell . . . my theory is not as
complex
as you might suppose: all it took, really, was a bit of lateral thinking,â he said. âNow, I
had
written all the details down . . .â
âOn scraps of purple paper? Dad! When will you learn to keep things organised?â
â⦠but it seemed one moment Hogmanay Chompster was here to borrow a cup of organic sugar and the next, my theories had vanished. Well, the parts that concerned the âhypobaric treatmentâ anyway. Do you think Mister Pants could have eaten my lab notes again?â
âNo, definitely not.â Edie dismissed the idea with a flick of her hand, thinking of Misterâs sore eye and lost appetite. âBut thatâs funny about Mr Chompster. I could have sworn I just saw him leave.â
âReally?â said Michaelmas.
âDid you know that the Chompsters are returning to Glasgow?â
âNo. Nothing of the
Just then, she caught sight of the Blank Marauder from her bedroom window. If she wasnât mistaken he seemed to be pulling his shed to pieces looking for something. All Edieâs tidying was being undone. Eventually he gave up, put his head in his hands and retreated into his house.
âIs that sensible?â called her mother.
âI thought it might promote more positive feelings towards dogs,â Edie called back, crossing her fingers behind her back. âOh my goodness,â she whispered. Her jaw dropped open in disbelief. Hogmanay Chompster was running from the Sparksesâ back porch. She watched him as he vaulted the side fence with superhuman energy and sprinted off down the street.
âItâs true this Fever Dog
has
turnedpeople off our four-legged friends,â Michaelmas chimed in from the kitchen.
Edie began hurriedly assembling the items she would need for the next part of her mission. Binoculars, check. Magnifying glass, check. Tweezers, check. Notebook and pen, check. Her hands trembled and she coughed. She felt her forehead but it seemed cool to the touch so she pushed her Worries down as far as they would go and smoothed the front of her red pleather jumpsuit. Finally, she grabbed the flan (now cold and a little squashed) and her butterfly net and bolted down the spiral staircase and into the kitchen.
Her mother looked up from a bowl of bean sprouts. âWonât you be cold, darling?â
âIâm wearing a floral vest and warm woolly knickers underneath.â Edie raised her voice to compete with the radio broadcaster, who was delivering what sounded like regular updates on the Fever crisis. Edie noted that the Town Meeting was to be hosted by the Highland Fling Society at theHighland Fling Centre in twenty minutesâ time. Perhaps the Fever Dog had already been captured and the Mayor was going to present the reward? Remembering her brainwave, Edie looked for her father. Michaelmas Sparks seemed oblivious to the racket and was searching for something among his test tubes and a stack of obscure articles about textiles from the 1970s.
âEr, Dad, could you give me a hand with all this stuff?â said Edie.
âWhat, what? Oh . . . yes, of course,â said Michaelmas.
âDad, listen,â said Edie quietly, when they had closed the front door behind them, âdo you still have the outboard motor you used on the tsunami surfboard?â
Michaelmas seemed lost in thought.
âDad? I need it for something very important,â she continued. âAre you even listening? Whatâs wrong?â
âIâve lost something,â he said.
âAgain?â said Edie.
âYou donât understand. Iâm
this close
to unlocking a cure for Runcible River Fever.â
He held up his thumb and index finger to demonstrate just how close.
âBut thatâs great!â
âWell . . . my theory is not as
complex
as you might suppose: all it took, really, was a bit of lateral thinking,â he said. âNow, I
had
written all the details down . . .â
âOn scraps of purple paper? Dad! When will you learn to keep things organised?â
â⦠but it seemed one moment Hogmanay Chompster was here to borrow a cup of organic sugar and the next, my theories had vanished. Well, the parts that concerned the âhypobaric treatmentâ anyway. Do you think Mister Pants could have eaten my lab notes again?â
âNo, definitely not.â Edie dismissed the idea with a flick of her hand, thinking of Misterâs sore eye and lost appetite. âBut thatâs funny about Mr Chompster. I could have sworn I just saw him leave.â
âReally?â said Michaelmas.
âDid you know that the Chompsters are returning to Glasgow?â
âNo. Nothing of the