Noah

Chapter 2

3....2....1..... lift off!!!!!!

My plane flew across the living room, with mum and Matilda's plane alongside it at first, until theirs both reached our hanging lampshade which is the same shape as the moon, and glows like it in the evenings too.

BOOM, CRASH, BANG Matilda's plane is taken down by the moon!!

Mum and I's planes are still going strong, flying through the galaxies, crossing stars and other planets until finally mum and I's planes land head to head on the edge of our big green rug.

''It's a draw!'' mum said.

''That's alright mum'' I said. ''We can share the biscuits''

''Alright then Noah.'' She replied

Matilda stormed off to the fireplace, where she sat angrily on the floor and played with something which was so small that I couldn't quite work out what it was.

I walked over to the cupboard where all of the sweet things were hidden. The cupboard door still had a child lock on it, but I worked out how to get in to it years ago. I slid my fingers round the side of the latch and unhooked it, cunning as a fox. I felt like a pirate opening a great treasure chest which has been closed for many centuries or an adventurer who had found gold at the end of a rainbow.

Now open, the cupboard glowed with the most scrumptious of treats. I closed my eyes and let fate decide which delicious snack my hand should land on.

Chocolate covered digestive biscuits- that is what fate decided. Not bad. I ate the whole thing at once, not taking my time to eat it in any particular way. Matilda would always eat her biscuits in the most curious of ways. With Jaffa cakes, she would lick off all the chocolate and then separate the biscuit and the jelly and eat the two separately. Mum would nibble round the corners until she had created a perfect little chocolate and jelly circle. I, on the other hand, believed that a biscuit should be enjoyed as it was meant to be, all the different parts together as one.

I handed out the first of the three biscuits to mum and then looked over to Matilda, who was still heavily focused on the object she was playing with.

''Here you go Matilda, you can have one too''

Matilda knocked the biscuit out of my hand and off it went, somersaulting across the floor.

''Do you think that will make everything better? Do you think a stupid biscuit will solve everything!?''

A biscuit can solve a great many of my problems, I thought. In fact, I can't think of anything that a biscuit can't solve.

I wanted to make Matilda feel better, but I just didn't understand how I could make her happy any more. She used to be so easily pleased, all I would need to do is make a silly face or do a weird dance and she would be on the floor completely laughing her head off.

I suddenly heard strange wheezing sounds, was Poppy breathing weirdly again? Oh no, had she eaten the biscuit? Chocolate is great for humans, but mum said that it's terrible for dogs.

It was mum, panting on the floor, which suddenly turned to shaking, her body moving fast up and down.

Was she pretending it was an earthquake?

Mum used to do this thing where we would be lying in bed just after she read me a story, and she would wiggle about under the covers and shout 'earthquake!' We would laugh and laugh together until eventually we both got so tired that I had to go straight to sleep.

Matilda and I ran over to mum (I was already a little tired from practising my running upstairs, but the biscuit had given me a small burst of energy).