It was a scorching hot day. Annabelle had invited her best
friend Faye Rosewood to the house and it was so hot, they just mooched around
the house not quite sure what to do with themselves. Even Bubbles the cat found
a cool, shady spot underneath the chest of drawers and refused to move for over
four hours.
Mum was at home and was feeling particularly frazzled as she
was practicing baking a cake for Mrs Pennington’Smythe’s local, village
bake-off contest.
“Can I have a drink Mum?” Asked a fairly desperate Annabelle.
“Why don’t you girl’s make smoothies?” Suggested Mum, “I
have loads of left over milk in the fridge!”
There were a couple of bananas in the house but not a lot
else.
“There’s some strawberries and raspberries you could pick in
the garden, then you could go to the woods to pick some blackberries or
blackcurrants, and Grandma Susan has some lovely gooseberries, I’m should you
could call and pick a few” Suggested Mum.
So the girls picked fruit from the garden, put on floppy
hats and collected gooseberries from Grandma Susan and then made their way to
the wood. There were lots of different edible berries. The girls had been
taught to only pick berries that they knew. What they didn’t notice was a
particularly weird berry slip into the basket. It had a bit of blackberry, a
bit of raspberry, a bit of blueberry, a bit of gooseberry and a bit of
something yellow that didn’t really look like any berry.
The girls got home, washed all the fruit and whizzed it all
up in a blender.
“Why don’t we give some smoothies to people walking past
that we know?” Suggested Faye, “If they like it, we could sell them more and
earn some pocket money.
Annabelle thought this was an awesome idea and Mum agreed so
long as they only approached people that they knew.
They set a couple of chairs by the front gate along with a
little table and a large umbrella to keep them cool.
First along was Robbie and his friend Nick who were coming
home from the park.
“Want a smoothie?” asked Faye.
The boys were so hot that they agreed. They downed the
liquid and then did the strangest thing. They leapt at each other, bouncing
their chests together and made a strange grunting noise.
“You are the coolest sister” Said Robbie, as they went
inside.
“Must be the heat” Said a bemused Annabelle. Robbie had
never said anything like that before.
Next along was Mum’s friend Mrs Pennington-Smythe who was
returning from the shops.
“Want a smoothie, if you like it you can buy some” Said
Annabelle.
Mrs Pennington-Smythe politely took a drink. Then the oddest
thing happened.
“I’ll certainly
have some of that” She almost shouted.
Then as she walked up the road, she made a sort of whooping
noise and flicked the back of her skirt in the air at least 5 times.
“Never seen her act like that before” Said Annabelle.
Grandma Susan called by to see how the girls had got on. She
tried a smoothie and then did the oddest thing.
She pulled some tins of soup that she’d just bought out of
her shopping back and tossed them straight up into the air.
“Wow, that tastes good” She said and then skipped into the
house.
Miss Gurney the head teacher was next along the road. She
agreed to try a smoothie as she was so hot.
“Girls, that is delish’” she said, “I’ll buy three
containers full please”
She then walked off down the street singing Waltzing Matilda
at the tp of her voice.
“Do you think she’d been drinking alcohol?” Asked a bemused
Faye.
“Certainly odd” Replied Annabelle.
Mum came out to check on the girls just as PC Gayle was
walking by. Both Mum and the PC tried a smoothie and then the oddest thing
happened.
“That’s gorgeous and so are you” Said Mum who promptly
grabbed PC Gayle and planted a big kiss on his lips.
PC Nick strutted a few paces up the street, turned around
and made a strange seal hooting noise and clapped his hands together.
Annabelle was so shocked, she didn’t know what to say.
“The smoothie’s all gone” Said Faye “And we never got to try
any.”
The hot weather continued and over the next few days, there
were several calls at the house.
Miss Gurney, Mrs Pennington-Smythe, PC Gayle and Grandma
Susan all called round on the off chance that the girls might have made some
smoothies. It had been so nice, they were willing to buy some.
Mum was equally keen, as was Robbie and Nick.
So the girls picked some more fruit from the garden, got
some more gooseberries from Grandma Susan’s house and picked some more berries
from the wood. But even though they hadn’t noticed it the first time, they
never picked another one of those weird berries.
The smoothie’s that they made were very nice, everyone who
bought some seemed to enjoy them, but they never returned to ask for more.
