Stories for Seven Year Olds Read online

  “Watch where you’re walking,” he said in a sleepy voice.

  “Oh, Ceol, I’d forgotten you were there,” Shannon hugged him. “Did I hurt you?”

  “No, of course you didn’t, but you woke me up from a lovely dream.”

  “Shannon, breakfast.” Vickie opened the door.

  “I’m already awake, Mum.”

  “Goodness, are you hugging your harp?”

  “He’s nice, isn’t he?”

  “If you say so.” Vickie laughed. “I’m glad you like him. Come on now, breakfast’s ready.”

  “What do you want to do today?” Vickie asked Shannon when they had finished their meal.

  “I don’t know.”

  “The weather’s awful.” Vickie looked out of the window where the rain was lashing against the glass. “You won’t be able to play outside. I wanted to go for a bike ride, but we can’t until the rain stops.”

  “Can I play on my tablet?” Shannon asked. She didn’t want to, but she thought her mother would be suspicious, if she spent all her time playing her harp. She had never done so before.

  “Of course. I have some paper work I really should finish.”

  “You do that, Mum and I’ll be fine. Maybe we can go out after lunch.”

  “Perhaps.”

  Shannon went back to her room and closed the door firmly behind her. She listened for a moment, to be sure her mother had not followed her, and then she rushed over to her harp.

  “Okay, Ceol. Mum’s busy. Tell me how I get to Arabia.”

  “Magic word?”

  “Abracadabra?”

  “No, silly. The other magic word.”

  “Oh! I remember. Please. A hundred times please.”

  “Right. Well first you need to play an Arabian tune.”

  “How? I’m not learning any.”

  “Cynthia used to find what she needed on the computer.”

  “Of course – You Tube.” Shannon picked up her tablet and turned it on.

  “Be careful. If you want to go to the real modern-day Arabia, any Arabian tune will do. If you want to fly on a magic carpet and meet Prince Hassan or Aladdin, you must find the right sort of music.”

  “How do I do that?”

  “Ask for Aladdin’s theme.”

  Shannon did. “Oh! ‘A Whole New World’ – I know that.”

  “Good. Now find the sheet music on Google.”

  “This is awfully difficult.”

  “You don’t need to do it all, just enough to take you where you want to go. A few bars will do and I’ll help you. Sing it first.”

  So Shannon did. She had a good voice and ‘Aladdin’ was one of her favourite films, so she remembered the words.

  “Well done,” Ceol said when she had finished. “Now whistle it.”

  This was harder, but she managed. Then Ceol helped her to play the tune. For each note, he wriggled a string where her fingers had to go. Soon she could play the first verse. When she had got it right, Ceol made her whistle the notes backwards.

  “Wouldn’t it be easier to play?” she asked.

  “Yes, but I’m not coming with you, so you’ll have to whistle.”

  “Oh I want you to come.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Why not?”

  “I look different from the harps they had then and people would wonder where I came from. You’ll be able to get back as long as you remember the tune backwards.” Shannon looked at him. She had a strange idea that he was not telling her the truth.

  “Can I go now?” Shannon asked.

  “Not enough time right now. Your mother is sure to come in. Better to go when you’re supposed to be asleep, so you can take as long as you want.”

  Shannon pulled a face, but Ceol was right. The rest of the day dragged, although Vickie took her swimming in the afternoon, which she usually enjoyed. She tried to keep her mind off her exciting journey. It was hard and Vickie noticed.

  “Whatever is the matter with you? You’re dragging around. Aren’t you well?” Vickie put her hand on Shannon’s forehead to see if she had a temperature. Shannon brushed it away.

  “I’m fine, Mum, really. A bit tired, that’s all.”

  “Early to bed for you, lady,” Vickie said firmly. Shannon almost cheered. She was delighted to have an excuse to go to her room after tea and pretend to go to sleep. She had to wait for a while. Vickie always looked in on her before she went to bed. Shannon found it hard to stay awake because the light was out and she could feel her eyes closing.

  “Oh, Ceol, I’m afraid I’ll go to sleep before Mummy comes to look in on me,” she said.

  “Don’t worry. If you do, I’ll wake you up after she leaves.”

  Shannon did go to sleep and she was breathing heavily when her mother came in.

  “She was tired, poor baby,” Vickie said, smoothing her daughter’s hair off her face before she tiptoed out of the room.

  Chapter Five

  Shannon woke to the sound of harp music, played softly, but with an urgent beat. She sat straight up.

  “Time to be going,” Ceol told her.

  “ I’m coming.” Shannon jumped out of bed and reached for her skirt and jumper.

  “Don't bother with those,” Ceol said to her. “You’ll get new clothes when you arrive.”

  “I will?”

  “You’ll need to dress like everyone else in Aladdin’s world. An outfit will be waiting for you when you get there. Just remember to give them back, when you are finished. Now whistle the tune backwards. I want to be sure you know it.”

  Shannon did so. She’d been secretly practising all day.

  “Well done. Now play the tune the right way round and you'll be on your way.”

  Tingling with excitement and a kind of fear, Shannon sat down on the stool and began to play. She hadn’t reached the end of the first verse before sparkles suddenly surrounded her. She was no longer in her bedroom but in someone else’s, which smelled different to hers. The air was hot and dusty with a tangy scent. She peered around. Three mattresses lay on the floor. On top of one of them, she saw long silky trousers, a short top, a cloak, a veil, sandals and silver jewellery.

  “I suppose these are what Ceol meant when he said new clothes would be waiting for me,” Shannon thought.

  Quickly she stripped off her pyjamas. She stuffed them under the mattress and put on the new outfit and the jewellery.

  “These are lovely.” Shannon stroked the silky material. Everything fitted, even the shoes. “They must be meant for me.”

  She tiptoed to a window where sunlight slanted through a lattice, leaving patches of gold on the wooden floor. Outside there was a market with all sorts of stalls selling vegetables, spices, animals and cloth. In the far corner a stall sold carpets.

  “I must go to that stall,” she thought. “There is no carpet in this room and I can’t search every room in every house. I don’t have time before morning.” Carefully she opened the door and peeped out. She could see a long corridor with doors leading off and a flight of stairs. No one was about, but voices echoed along the passageway. Shannon slipped out of the room and hurried down the stairs, which led directly into the marketplace. She hesitated. Lots of people passed her, but no one seemed to be looking in her direction. She took a deep breath, wrapped her cloak around her and slipped outside.

  The noise of the market hit her first. Everyone shouted, donkeys brayed and someone was hammering nails into wood. The sun beat down. People’s long robes stirred up the dust. Shannon coughed as it caught in her throat. She wanted to hurry, but the crowd was too thick. Then, behind her, someone screamed,

  “Stop thief!”

  Everybody whirled around, including Shannon. A girl stood on the steps which Shannon had come down. She held Shannon’s pyjamas in one hand and she pointed her finger straight at Shannon.

  “Stop thief!” she called again. “She’s stolen my clothes!”

  Shannon’s heart leapt into her mouth. She did not think, she j
ust ran, squirming between the stalls, dodging the arms trying to catch her. Someone thrust out a leg and she tripped right over. The breath was knocked out of her lungs and she couldn’t move. Rough hands jerked her to her feet and started to push her back the way she had come.

  An apple soared over her head, right into the face of the man holding her. He cried out, threw his hands up and let her go. A smaller hand grabbed hers and pulled her sharply down, under one of the tables.

  “Quick, follow me!” A small girl scurried away on her hands and knees. Shannon followed her. They kept beneath the tables and occasionally darted from one row to the other. Heads looked down at them, from time to time, but no one was quick enough to catch them. At last they reached the end of the market square. The girl leaped to her feet and raced off down one of the alleys. Shouts followed them and the sound of pounding feet.

  Shannon ran as fast as she could, although she was panting so much she thought her chest would burst. The girl darted under an archway and through a square where women were doing their washing. They called after the two girls, but made no attempt to stop them. They ran into more alleys, each darker and more twisting than the one before. At last they came to what looked like a ruined castle. The girl dropped down over a wall and crawled into a dark hole. As Shannon arrived, she hauled her inside.

  “Stay still. Let me listen.” The girl gave a sudden smile. “They’ve gone. No one is following us.” The girl began to crawl forward into the darkness. Shannon hesitated. She didn’t like caves and dark holes. Nasty things lived in the darkness – snakes and bats and spiders.

  “What are you waiting for?” the girl hissed. “Come on!” Shannon began to crawl forward. The floor was hard and the stones hurt her knees. She bit her lip and kept going. This wasn’t an adventure; it was more like a nightmare. She didn’t want to go further, but she couldn’t go back. In spite of her fears, nothing attacked her, not even a cobweb. Very soon the tunnel opened out onto a landing on a crumbling staircase which led upwards. Shannon got to her feet and followed the girl up the stairs. They came out onto a flat roof, with a wonderful view of the city.

  “Stay away from the edge,” the girl warned her. “The stones fall sometimes and you don’t want to fall with them.”

  Shannon hastily moved backwards. A few frayed old cushions lay under an old sheet that served as a sun shade. The girl threw herself onto one of the cushions and motioned Shannon to do the same. Shannon lay still for several minutes, glad to rest. This version of the Arabian Nights suddenly seemed to be a nasty place.

  “You’re safe now. No one ever comes here,” the girl said. “Why did you steal Laila’s clothes?”

  “I didn’t mean to. I thought they were meant for me.”

  The girl laughed. “A likely story. Laila doesn’t do anything for anybody. She wouldn't lend you her clothes. Where do you come from anyway if you don’t know that?”

  “A long way away.”

  “You must do. Everyone here knows what Laila’s like.”

  “Thank you for rescuing me,” Shannon said. “Why did you?”

  “I don’t like Laila. She had it coming one way or another. What’s your name?”

  “Shannon.”

  “Weird!”

  “It’s the name of a river in Ireland.”

  “Where’s Ireland?”

  Shannon stared at her in astonishment. She thought everybody knew that. “An island off the French coast.”

  “One of my uncles used to work on a boat that traded with the Franks, but I’ve never heard of this Ireland place.”

  Shannon didn't want to give her a Geography lesson when she had much more important things to find out.

  “I gave you my name, what’s yours?”

  “Mina. What's the real reason you stole Laila’s clothes?”

  “I’ve already told you.”

  “You can’t expect anyone here to believe you. They’re Laila’s best dancing clothes which she’ll need tonight. Everyone will think you’re a thief and they do nasty things to thieves.”

  “What do they do?”

  “They cut off your hands.”

  “Oh!” Shannon shoved both her hands behind her back and her eyes became enormous.

  “Will you tell them I’m here?” she asked in a frightened voice.

  “Why should I? I don’t owe Laila any favours. She’s had me whipped before now.” Mina got up and went over to a water jug standing in the shade. She plunged two beakers into the jug and gave one to Shannon. Shannon suddenly realised how thirsty she was. The cool water was the best drink she had ever had.

  “That’s better, thank you,” she said.

  “If you come from far away, why are you here?” Mina asked.

  “It’s a long story.”

  “We’ve got a long time. We can’t go out again until darkness falls or they’ll catch you. Tell me.”

  “You won’t believe it.”

  “Tell me anyway.”

  Chapter Six

  Shannon told Mina the story of Ceol the harp and how she wanted to ride on a flying carpet.

  At the end, Mina snorted, “I can think of a far better thing to do than scooting around on a flying carpet.”

  “You can? What?”

  “Help my sister to marry the Prince.”

  “Why can’t she?”

  “She’s poor and he’s the son of the Sultan. His father won’t let him. My father used to be the Sultan’s adviser and friend. We were rich, until they accused my father of taking important letters from the Sultan’s treasury. They sent him away and he lost all his money. They said he was lucky they didn’t take his life as well, but the Sultan was merciful. Some mercy!”

  “What do you mean?”

  “He died a few months later because of his disgrace. My mother was already dead and none of our family wanted to own us any more. So Yasmeen washes clothes for her living, instead of dancing and chattering in the palace with the other women and me...”

  “What do you do?”

  Mina gave a grin. “Steal things when I can, beg when I can’t.”

  “You might get your hands cut off. What an awful chance to take.”

  “I don't have much choice, but I’m a good thief now. I’ve had plenty of practice. I usually steal from the people who were awful to us and the men who accused my father. What else can I do?”

  “Aren’t you scared? I would be.”

  “Terrified, but, if Yasmeen married the Prince, I wouldn’t do either of those things any more.”

  “How are you going to do that?”

  “I’ve got a plan, but I need someone to help me.”

  “What about Yasmeen?”

  “She thinks I’m a silly baby and I daren't trust anyone else. You're a stranger here, would you help me?”

  “You saved me, so I owe you, and I will if I can. What do you want me to do?”

  “If I proved that my father was wrongly accused, the Sultan would give Yasmeen and me our position back at court. Yasmeen already knows the Prince. We all played together when we were little. She’s become very pretty now and she’s nice most of the time. Before we had to leave the palace, Hassan started to look soppy at her whenever she walked past him. He kept stopping her to talk. I think if he could meet her again, he might fall in love with her.”

  “And if he doesn’t?”

  “She won’t need to wash clothes any more.”

  “So how do we prove that your father was innocent?”

  “I think the Vizier, Mustafa, planted the evidence in my father’s room for the Sultan to find. He made the accusations. Mustafa wasn’t Vizier then, only an assistant. My father used to say he was ambitious and sly. I think he was jealous of my father and he wanted to rise up in the world.”

  “And so?”

  “I want to break into Mustafa’s apartment and find enough evidence to prove he was the guilty one.”

  “How do you know there is any evidence and why would he keep it in his own rooms?”

/>   “I don’t. If there is any, he wouldn't keep it anywhere else. The rest of the palace is too risky. A lot of people know about the hiding places. The servants do, anyway. The only place he can be sure of is his own apartment. A friend of mine, who works in the palace, told me that he never allows her to dust one of the closets. I want to try that closet first.”

  “That’s terribly dangerous.”

  “Everything I do is dangerous.”

  “What do you want me to do?”

  “Help me to get into the palace.”

  “How?”

  “Laila goes to the palace every evening. She’s one of the dancers. She won’t be able to go this evening, because you’re wearing her best clothes. She doesn’t possess any others and there’s no time to get more for tonight. Laila’s brother, Darim, usually comes along to play the music for her, but he won’t go either. They don't pay him, unless she’s dancing. So I thought, if you pretend to be Laila and I pretend to be Darim, we should get in easily.”

  “But what if I have to dance? I don’t know how.”

  “Dancing’s easy. All you do is wave your hands in the air and wiggle your hips like this.” Mina jumped up and began twisting about the room, humming a tune “Try it.”

  Shannon got up and tried. She wasn’t very graceful and she couldn’t seem to get her hips to move the way Mina did. After a while she flopped down exhausted.

  “Well you certainly don’t dance like Laila, but she usually goes on last, late in the evening, when everyone’s sleepy. If we arrive early, maybe I can find the evidence before you need to dance. That would be best.”

  “It certainly would.” Shannon agreed.

  “Rest now. We can’t start until dusk.”

  For the remainder of the day, Shannon dozed. A breeze started to blow and she was comfortable in the shade. Street noises and those from the other houses were a faraway murmur and she fell asleep. She was having an exciting dream all about tigers, when someone shook her by the arm.

  “Come on, time to go.” Shannon looked up into Mina’s face. Her heart began to race, but she scrambled to her feet. “Wash yourself and drink some water,” Mina ordered. “You’re all dusty.” Shannon did as she was told and Mina gave her a rag to dry herself.