A Monster Ate My Packed Lunch! Page 7

  And that’s when Mrs Muir opened her mouth. But nothing came out so she shut it again.

  And then Ranger Tam stepped forward and said, “Look. It’s just a bit of fun. We needed to make money to keep this place going, all right? And it was going really well until you kids came along!”

  And Mrs Muir said, “It’s OK, Tam. Thanks for sticking up for me. You’re a great ranger.”

  And that’s when Mrs Muir did a really long sigh and then she said, “It all started a year ago. Business wasn’t as good as it used to be and the place was looking a bit outdated. People want FANCY RESORTS with SPAS and HOT TUBS these days so we were losing business. If it wasn’t for the school visits, we would have had to shut down years ago! So we always try to make sure the schools have a good time and keep coming back.”

  And then she looked at Miss Jones and gave her a little smile and I realised that that was why we’d been given the UPGRADE and all the extra stuff because they wanted us to come back again next year.

  Then Mrs Muir said, “So we decided to update the place and build these luxury lakeside lodges. And it was going well for the first few months until a very fancy spa retreat opened up the road and everyone started going there instead. We were running out of money. At one point I thought the electricity company were going to switch our electricity off!”

  And that’s when I realised that that was why Ranger Tam had looked so worried when the lights went out the other night at dinner.

  Then Mrs Muir took a deep breath and said, “That’s when I decided to use the Legend of the Lake to attract visitors. And it worked! That and offering lots of extras to our guests. Jonathan has even been cooking cheeseburgers at MIDNIGHT if the pupils request it!”

  And that’s when Miss Jones looked at ME but I shook my head

  And then she looked at Gary and he just sort of looked down at the ground and Miss Jones rolled her eyes.

  Mrs Muir sat down on the ground and her big tail

  And that’s when Jodi looked at Ranger Tam and said, “That’s why you got us off the lake so fast when we were doing raft building. You didn’t want us to realise the tail was a

  Ranger Tam put his head down and nodded and said that Mrs Muir had lost it the night before and that it wasn’t CHEAP and that he needed us away from the lake so he could go in and fish it out.

  Then Jodi said to Mrs Muir, “So it WAS you I saw going into the shed when I was on the ropes course. Why were you dressed as the monster during the day?”

  And Mrs Muir sighed and said, “We had a lot of tourists out on the water that day so I went out swimming so there’d be a few ‘sightings’.”

  Then Zach said, “How do you swim with that costume on? It’s huge!”

  And that’s when Mrs Muir explained that it was actually very

  and that she had been a champion swimmer when she was young so she found it easy to swim underwater wearing it.

  And Zach said, “Cool!”

  And that made Mrs Muir smile a bit.

  Then she said, “I really am sorry if we’ve upset or frightened anyone. That wasn’t our intention. We wanted everyone to have a great, exciting time here and to come back. But I understand that we’ve tricked people and that isn’t right. I’m sorry.”

  And then she looked at Miss Jones and said, “If you would like a refund we can arrange that. I understand.”

  But Miss Jones said that wouldn’t be necessary and that we’d all had a lovely time and that made Mrs Muir smile again.

  And that’s when GARY stepped forward and said, “But what about

  And then he held up Mr Beattie’s ROBE and said, “We found it down by the water. Mr Beattie is

  But a voice from the back of the crowd said, “I’m not missing!”

  And we all turned round and saw Mr Beattie!

  So that’s when we said that we’d found his robe by the lake and asked why he hadn’t been in bed and why there had been mud

  And then Gary said, “We thought the lake monster had

  And Mr Beattie looked a bit EMBARRASSED.

  And then he said, “Um. We all fancied a night swim in the lake. But then I needed to use the bathroom and I couldn’t remember where I’d left my robe. It was dark and muddy and I didn’t have a torch. I was stumbling around the lodges for ages trying to find my way but I had mud in my EYES.”

  And then Gary Petrie

  “It was YOU who made my hot tub all muddy!”

  And Mr Beattie said, “I was trying to get some of the mud off me before I went into the lodge. I was COVERED IN IT.”

  And that’s when I

  “You didn’t see any packed lunches on your way, did you?!”

  And Mr Beattie’s face went RED and he said, “I thought someone had ordered room service and forgot about it because it was so late. So I took them back to the lodge with me for, um, safekeeping.”

  And then he looked even MORE embarrassed because we all knew that he’d stolen the sandwiches and eaten them in Gary’s HOT TUB.

  And then Miss Jones looked at us and said, “What were you all doing out of your lodges and down near the lake ANYWAY?!”

  And we all

  at each other because we knew that we were in

  Ranger Tam laughed really loud and said “You were investigating, weren’t you? You knew something wasn’t right. You’ll make fine rangers one day!”

  And we all nodded loads. But Miss Jones carried on looking at us for a long time and I knew that we were still in

  Then Zach said, “Is that why the lake is called MENTORS LAKE?”

  And Mrs Muir looked puzzled.

  So Zach said, “MENTORS is an anagram of MONSTER.”

  and said that she’d never realised that before! And that it had been called Mentors Lake for ever. And that the

  And then all of a sudden there was a

  But when Jodi and Ranger Tam shone their torches on the lake there was nothing there.

  And that’s when we all STARED at each other and Zach GULPED because we knew there was a

  I KNEW something bad was going to happen as SOON as we arrived at the hospital.

  And I knew it because my mum says that bad things always happen in THREES. And TWO bad things had already happened that day because Jodi made us all do EXTREME DANCING (which is when you dance as FAST as you can for as LONG as you can) and Maisie had got dizzy and fallen and broken her LEG. And then when we were in Jodi’s mum’s car following the ambulance to the hospital, I reached into my bag to get my TWIX because I was STARVING after all the dancing but it was GONE. And that’s when I remembered that I’d already eaten it on my way to school.

  So anyway, when we got to the hospital, I got a WEIRD FEELING. And it was because of the CREEPY STATUE in the entrance. And the WEIRD SHAPE of Maisie’s LEG under the blanket. And the STRANGE BOY with the FEATHER in his hat.

  But it was when we found out about the CURSE that we KNEW.

  Maisie and her LEG were in

  When we arrived at the hospital Jodi’s mum parked the car and Zach yelled, “There’s the ambulance. Look!” So I looked and that’s when I saw the ambulance doors BURST open and Jodi came rushing out, pulling Maisie’s stretcher behind her.

  Jodi had REFUSED to come with us in the car to the hospital because she said she needed to stay with Maisie. And the paramedics had let her because Jodi told them she was Maisie’s GUARDIAN because Maisie’s mum wasn’t there yet and that Maisie NEEDED HER and also that she would CHAIN herself to Maisie’s stretcher IF NEED BE.

  So me and Zach and Jodi’s mum RAN after Maisie’s stretcher into the

  bit of the hospital and up to the reception desk.

  And before the paramedics could even say ONE WORD Jodi shouted,

  And as SOON as Jodi said that, Maisie SCREAMED at the top of her LUNGS and everyone in the waiting room GASPED and the receptionist covered her ears with her hands because Maisie’s scream is MEGA LOUD.

  That’s when one of the doctors came running over to see what
was wrong. But then all of a sudden Maisie stopped screaming MID-SCREAM and closed her eyes and went COMPLETELY STILL.

  So that’s when I explained that Maisie had FAINTED from SHOCK because of what Jodi had just said and that it happened all the time. And that she’d wake up in a minute and need a Ribena and probably a Twix too, and that I had some Ribena but that I didn’t have a Twix. And then I explained about the TWIX THING and bad things happening in THREES.

  But the doctor just stood there with a PANICKED look on his face and I started to worry because he didn’t look that much older than my cousin Toby and he’s still at secondary school. But then I noticed that he was wearing a hoody and carrying a bunch of grapes and that he was a visitor. And that he’d probably just come running over because of the noise Maisie was making.

  Then Jodi started shouting for a STETHOSCOPE so she could check Maisie’s

  And a nurse appeared and said that she was going to take Maisie behind a little curtain to do an EXAMINATION and that we should all wait in the WAITING AREA, especially Jodi. And then she gave Jodi a bit of a LOOK so we went.

  Copyright

  First published in the UK in 2021 by Nosy Crow Ltd

  The Crow’s Nest, 14 Baden Place,

  Crosby Row, London, SE1 1YW

  Nosy Crow and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Nosy Crow Ltd.

  Text copyright © Pamela Butchart, 2021

  Cover and illustrations copyright © Thomas Flintham, 2021

  The right of Pamela Butchart and Thomas Flintham to be identified as the author and illustrator respectively of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  All rights reserved

  ISBN: 978 1 78800 969 0

  eISBN: 978 1 78800 970 6

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