The Bold Beasties Clubhouse

Richie announced his expedition with a drumroll.

He drummed on the table. He drummed on his knees. He would have drummed on Pandora's clipboard, but she moved it.

“Today,” he said, “we find the Echo Hollow!”

“Where is it?” asked Connor.

“Excellent question.”

Richie unrolled his map. He had drawn the Clubhouse, the berry patch, a crooked tree and a hill shaped like a sleeping nose. Beyond the hill was a circle full of stars.

“There!”

“Those are very big stars,” said Kendrick.

“It is a very good hollow.”

The Echo Hollow was a shallow bowl in the hillside where a whisper came back wearing a bigger voice. Richie had visited it once with his aunt. Today she was coming again, and Richie wanted to be the guide.

He had packed three snacks, a pencil and a small tin for interesting things.

“And the map?” asked Pandora.

“Obviously the map.”

He rolled it up, tucked it under his backpack strap and set off with the others.

His aunt waited by the gate.

“Everyone stays together,” she said. “You can show us the way.”

Richie puffed up like a small, furry parade.

At the berry patch he stopped for the first snack. Guiding was hungry work.

At the crooked tree he stopped to inspect a beetle. The beetle did not wish to join the expedition.

At the fork in the path he reached for his map.

His paw found a strap.

Another strap.

One alarming absence.

Richie swung his backpack round. He opened the big pocket, the small pocket and the pocket that contained nothing but crumbs.

“Map?” he whispered.

The map did not answer.

Everyone was waiting. Richie wished his backpack had a pocket large enough to hide in.

Guides knew where things were. Especially their own maps.

“Are we going left?” asked Connor.

“Probably,” said Richie.

“Or right?” asked Pandora.

“Also probably.”

His aunt knelt beside him.

“We can stop here while you work it out.”

Richie looked at the two paths. One curled uphill. One disappeared among the bushes. On the map, he had drawn a wonderful arrow between them.

Unfortunately, he could not remember which way it pointed.

“I was meant to be the guide,” he said. “You won't want to come with me again.”

His aunt sat beside the path.

“I once lost our picnic sandwiches. I had put them in the cupboard with the cups.”

“Did everyone go home?”

“We had our picnic late.”

Connor moved his backpack beside Richie's.

“I still want to come with you. Even if we only get as far as the crooked tree.”

Richie let out a breath.

“What does your expedition need now?” asked his aunt.

Richie wanted to say: a new map, a bigger pocket and yesterday again.

Instead he said, “A map hunt.”

“Together,” said Pandora.

They turned back along the path they knew.

Richie searched high. Kendrick searched low. Connor searched in the exact place where he was standing, which turned out to contain a very interesting stone.

Under the crooked tree they found a curled brown leaf.

“Map!” cried Richie.

“Leaf,” said Pandora.

Beside the berry patch they found a white scrap caught on a twig.

“Map!” cried Richie.

It was the wrapper from his first snack.

He put it in his pocket.

“At least we've found something I lost.”

Then Kendrick pointed to a pale patch above their heads.

The map lay across two low branches. One corner fluttered gently.

Richie was already reaching for the tree when his aunt said, “Stay down here. I can reach it.”

She lifted it free.

Something dreadful had happened to the middle.

A great purple berry stain covered the fork, the arrow and most of the sleeping-nose hill.

Richie stared at it.

“Now it's a map of jam.”

Connor looked delighted. “I know that country.”

Richie tried rubbing the stain. It spread.

He tried looking through the paper towards the sun. Purple.

He tried remembering so hard that his ears tipped forwards.

Nothing.

Then Pandora said, “We don't have to go to Echo Hollow today.”

That was the worst thing anyone had said.

It was also rather a relief.

Richie sat on a stump.

“I wanted to show you something brilliant.”

Kendrick crouched beside the crooked tree.

“You did.”

Between two roots, a spider had spun a web shaped like a little wheel. Three drops of water shone along one thread.

Connor showed them his interesting stone. It had a stripe round its middle, as though it was wearing a belt.

Pandora pointed out a patch of leaves that smelled faintly of lemons when she brushed past.

Richie looked from the web to the stone to the leaves.

None of those things were on his map.

He took his pencil out.

“What if we make a different expedition?”

His aunt checked the time. “We can follow the marked loop back to the Clubhouse. There is plenty to look for on the way.”

Richie turned his paper over.

On the clean side he drew the crooked tree. Beside it, he drew a tiny wheel for the web. Connor helped him draw the belted stone. Pandora added the lemony leaves.

“What do you call a map of things you didn't know you'd find?” she asked.

Richie considered this.

“A surprise map.”

They followed the loop, adding a hollow log, two orange mushrooms and a puddle that reflected everyone upside down. They left everything where it belonged, except for Richie's wrapper.

At the Clubhouse, Richie fixed the surprise map to the noticeboard.

The purple stain showed through one corner.

“Shall we cover that?” asked Pandora.

Richie drew a berry around it.

“Important landmark.”

“Did we fail to find the Echo Hollow?” asked Connor.

“Today,” said Richie. “We'll try again with my aunt and a better map.”

He took a deep breath and began another drumroll.

Then he stopped.

“Before I announce the next expedition—does anyone else have somewhere they'd like to go?”

Connor raised his paw.

“The kitchen.”

It was an excellent suggestion.