Flabberwocky

4 - Parp

//  Authors note: I hope you are all enjoying the book, here is the next chapter as promised. Flabberwocky is currently ranked as number 1 for bedtime story! Anyways I would love to hear what you think, so any comments are highly appreciated. Enjoy! //

Dad never laid in on Sundays, he preferred to do embarrassing things like washing the car in his pyjamas, or sneaking into next door's garden and tidying it up. Lawrence usually woke up early on Sundays too, but not today. Saturday had been very busy. After window shopping with Barry till the afternoon, they'd ended up in Beefy Beef's on the high street for lunch. Lawrence had enjoyed their classic 'Beige Burger' and chips, while Barry, remembering his new healthy lifestyle, enjoyed deep fried carrot sticks. After lunch they went to 'Skittle Limits', the run-down bowling alley at the edge of town where they enjoyed six games of seven pin bowling. Lawrence then spent the evening over at Barry's, watching old repeats of 'You've been laughed at' on the telly and eating toasted cheese sandwiches. As Lawrence told his Mum when he got home, "this had been a legendary Saturday."

As the sun glistened through Lawrence's bedroom window, a small sparrow fluttered down to his window ledge where it sipped from a small puddle of rain water that had collected on the shiny white paint. The sparrow then promptly fell off the window ledge as Lawrence woke up with a start, his flailing arm knocking his alarm clock off the bedside table and into the open tub of lego below. "The letter," he said aloud before jumping out of bed and foraging through his discarded jeans. Saturday had been so busy, he had forgotten all about the strange letter he'd found pinned up in the loft. He checked all his trouser pockets but the letter was nowhere to be found. "Perhaps it fell out at Barry's," he mumbled as he sat cross legged on the floor, "or perhaps it fell out in the town, or at the bowling alley." Lawrence's face crumpled, he held his head in his hands for a moment then decided he'd better go out and try and find it. With new found positivity he leapt to his feet and ran across his room to the door, but as he did he tripped and tumbled hitting his head on his chest of drawers. "Thank you, thank you," he repeated to himself, realising he'd tripped over another pair of discarded jeans. These were the ones he'd actually been wearing, and there scrunched into the front pocket was the letter. Lawrence tore the envelope open and unfolded the paper within. It was written in the same curly writing as the previous letters, and again, there were only three words, "not this loft."

Taking the note Lawrence made his way across the landing to Molly's room and knocked on the door. "Go away," Molly replied drowsily. "Molly, it's me, I've got something important to show you," Lawrence knocked on the door again. From the other side of the door Molly's voice was firmer this time, "if you don't go away right now, I'll tell Mum about that time I caught you wearing my bra." "Shhhh," Lawrence pushed his face against the door and whispered, "I told you, I was only testing the strength of the elastic, let me in." This time there was no response at all. Lawrence moved down to the keyhole, put his lips as close as he could and then tried to whisper through it, "I've found another letter from Grandad." Seconds later the door opened. Molly stood in the doorway, arms folded, her cross face in stark contrast to the cute fluffy bunny on her nightshirt, "come on then." Lawrence stumbled into the room, closing the door behind him, it was only then that he realised Panda was sitting up wrapped in blankets on the put-you-up next to Molly's bed.

Rubbing her eyes, Panda smiled at Lawrence, "alright little lozzy." "Please don't call me that," requested Lawrence as he straightened his pyjamas to make sure no bits of skin were sticking out. "I didn't realise Panda was here, I'll come back later." Molly walked over to her window and opened the curtains, "yeah, we had a sleep over last night, it's ok, I've told Panda about the letter from Grandad." "Yes," interrupted Panda, "how cool is that, a letter from beyond the grave." Panda put her hand above her eyes to shade them from the bright light coming through the window. Lawrence frowned and sat on Molly's bed to reason with Panda, "it's not from beyond the grave, Grandad obviously wrote the letter before he died, not afterwards." Lawrence shook his head and frowned, he found it hard to believe that someone two years older than him could be so brain dead. "You never know though," Panda grinned. "Come on then, where's the letter," asked Molly, holding out her hand until Lawrence passed it over. "Not this loft, weird, where did you find it?" "In the loft," Lawrence replied, before turning again to Panda, "you didn't hear that stuff Molly was saying earlier did you?" Panda laughed, "what, about you wearing her bra?" Lawrence looked immediately agitated, "it was part of a very important science project for school, I simply..," this time Molly interrupted. "Calm down Lawrence, so what do you think this note means?" "Well," Lawrence coughed a little to clear his throat, "as I found it in the loft, and it is basically saying not this loft, it makes me think I was looking in the wrong loft, and that maybe we're supposed to be looking in a different loft." Lawrence stopped to catch his breath. "Wow, you really do think hard don't you little lozzy," giggled Panda as she snuggled back down under her blankets. "Ok, we're going to get dressed now, please leave," ordered Molly, pointing at her door. Lawrence did as he was told and headed back out onto the landing, but as he closed the door Molly called after him, "and I found out yesterday that a gazunder is a name for a chamber pot." Lawrence immediately re-opened the door and stepped back into Molly's room. Before he had a chance to speak, Molly pointed at the door again, and commanded, "later!" Lawrence obediently left the room for the second time, then ran downstairs for a big bowl of crunchy honey puffs.