12 Awooga awooga awooga awooga awooga awooga awooga awooga awooga!

CHAPTER TWELVE Awooga awooga awooga awooga awooga awooga awooga awooga awooga awooga awooga awooga! Nancy couldn't help but laugh when she saw Ted making his way to the narrowboat. 'I wondered where my leather jacket had got to,' she said. 'Looking tough, little brother.' 'Ooh, do I?' said Ted, hopefully. 'Nah,' said Nancy. 'You look adorable, as always. Where's the bunny? Are you two friends yet?' 'Hmph!' said Ted, and he kicked a stone hard enough that it boinged into a tree trunk. 'I'll take that as a no then,' said Rufus, who was sitting on the roof of the narrowboat chewing on a cheese sandwich.

'She told me off for being too bossy and then she said that now she's best friends with Anoushka Wispy and then—' 'Urgh,' said Nancy. 'I'm bored of hearing you go on about it. You two just need to have a massive punch-up.' 'Erm,' said Rufus. 'I'm not sure that would be the best way of handling it.' 'You're right,' said Nancy. 'The bunny would flatten Ted in seconds. Hmm.' Rufus hopped down from the boat, tore his sandwich in two and gave one half to Ted. 'Why don't you have a talk?' he said, gently. 'You know. A proper chat, where you don't scream at each other or play mean games or try and make each other jealous.' And then Ted quite unexpectedly stopped being tough. He burst into tears and ran over to Nancy, burying his face in her armpit.

'I… j-just… w-w-want… Willow back!' he sniffled, shaking off the leather jacket. 'I ain't cool and tough and I don't wanna be if it means I don't have my best friend anymore!' 'Right,' said Rufus, adjusting his hat and neckerchief. 'Where are you going?' said Nancy, cuddling Ted close. 'To get Ted his Willow back,' he said, and he stomped in the direction of Bunnyville. When Willow's mum opened the door to her warren, she was somewhat startled to find a large fox standing in front of her. Her paw quickly reached for the hammer she kept in her toolbelt. 'Woah! Who are you?' she said. 'Don't even think about eating up any of my kids, cos I'll bash you in the face.' 'Lovely to meet you too!' said Rufus, with a grin. 'I'm Rufus. I'm Ted's older brother.' Flora's eyes narrowed. 'Who the heck is Ted?' she snarled. 'Oh, you must know Ted!' said Rufus. 'Willow's best friend.' Flora frowned. 'My Willow?' she said, eventually. 'Parpy Willow? The smelly one?' Rufus nodded. 'Yes,' he said. 'Ted is her best friend, but they seem to have had a big bust-up about something. I'm not sure what, exactly. And I was wondering if you could help?'

Flora sighed and put her paw to her forehead. 'What was your name again?' she said. 'I'm Rufus,' he grinned. 'What's your name?' 'My name is Flora, but nobody ever calls me that. All I hear is "mum" this and "mum" that. Have you got kids, Rufus? No? Well, good for you. Don't get me wrong, I love them to bits, but I've got 374 of them. Do you know how many pants I have to wash? How many mouths I have to feed? How much homework I have to pretend to help with?' Rufus opened his mouth to speak but it seemed like Flora was only just getting started. 'I'm always folding clothes! The laundry never ends. Also, everyone wants feeding ALL THE TIME! Who decided there were so many meals in the day? Not to mention snacks? And they've all got so much ENERGY, it drives me mad. And who deals with it all? MUGGINS, here, that's who!' shouted Flora, pointing at herself. Rufus took a deep breath. 'Does anybody help you?' he said. 'You know, does anyone do the washing or cook or help with the laundry?' 'No,' said Flora. 'Anyway. Let me talk to Willow, all right? I'll find out what the matter is.' And she shut the door firmly in his face. 'Oh well,' said Rufus. 'I tried.'

He should have asked me to help. I'm good at folding things. Look! Most of the residents of Grimwood were gathered by the Magic Tower, helping Sharon collect sticks for her mysterious mission. 'Well done rounding everyone up, Frank,' said Dr Khan. 'Och, we all love Sharon,' said Frank. 'Everyone's happy to help.'

By now, the pile of sticks was almost as high as the Magic Tower itself. Dr Khan was flicking through Party Crows: An Illustrated History. 'This has all got to be connected to the legend of the Raving Raven,' said Dr Khan, who was a clever pigeon. 'I just know it.' 'But why does she need so many sticks?' asked Frank. 'They are building materials, I suppose. But I don't know how one small crow will manage to build anything out of all of this… stuff.' Frank shook his head helplessly. Titus, meanwhile, was pedalling around on his bicycle trying to feed everyone jam doughnuts. 'It's important to keep up morale!' he said, wobbling up the hill. 'Well done, everyone. Marvellous work!' Sharon, meanwhile, kept flying around the pile of sticks, occasionally picking one up and dropping it again. She seemed very agitated. Ted shivered and pulled his scarf around his neck a little more. It was a chilly late afternoon, and he was tired. It had been a long day. He gave a yawn and a big stretch. Then he noticed something. 'What's that, Nancy? Up in the sky?' he said, pointing high above them. Nancy squinted at the clouds. 'Well, well, well,' she chuckled. 'It looks like things are about to get even weirder around here.' 'SQUAAAAAAAAAAWK!'