Tommy Tickletail


tommy_t_image

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Tommy Tickletail is asleep in the kitchen.

His body stretches twelve feet long.

He snores and his teeth rattle like a train in a tunnel.

Who dares creep past Tommy Tickletail?

Sophie and Sam dare.

Sophie and Sam have hungry tummies and supper was a long long time ago.

They want:
Sun-soaked cheeses
Bread like beaches
A lemonade ocean
and a cream cake mountain.

Sophie and Sam have hungry tummies.
Hungry tummies are noisy tummies.

Please be quite, hungry tummies.
Please don’t wake the Tickletail.

“Wake up, Tommy Tickletail, wake up,” snarls Sam’s tummy.

Please don’t wake up, Tommy Tickletail, please don’t.

Sam’s tummy snarls its snarl.

Tommy Tickletail snores his snores…

… but he does not wake.

Tiny toes are top-toe toes.

Tiny toes tickle the cold wooden floor.

“Please be quiet,” Sophie and Sam say to the floor. “Please don’t laugh.”

But the wooden floor is a ticklish floor…

… and in long creaky squeaks, the wooden floor chuckles a wooden chuckle.

“Wake up, Tommy Tickletail, wake up,” says the floor.

Please don’t wake up, Tommy Tickletail, please don’t.

The floor laughs its laugh.

Tommy Tickletail snores his snores…

…but he does not wake.

The air is dusty.
The air is musty.

The children freeze.
They dare not wheeze.

Sniffly noses please don’t sneeze.
Please don’t wake the Tickletail.

But sniffly noses won’t stay quiet and Sophie sneezes a whistling sneeze.

“Wake up, Tommy Tickletail, wake up,” says Sophie’s nose.

Please don’t wake up, Tommy Tickletail, please don’t.

They dare not move forwards.

They dare not move backwards.

They hold their tummies.

They hold their toes.

Sophie holds her nose.

Please don’t wake up, Tommy Tickletail, please don’t.

TOO LATE.

TOMMY TICKLETAIL WAKES.

One eye.

Two eyes.

Emerald stones in a dark storm.

Go back to sleep, Tommy Tickletail.
Please go back to sleep.

But Tommy Tickletail won’t go back to sleep.

Out flies the Tickletail.

The children run.

Crows cannot fly faster.

Rivers do not flow further.

The children run quickly.

But the Tickletail is quicker.

The Tickletail catches Sam.

The Tickletail catches Sophie.

Two children, looped and lifted in the midnight kitchen.

The Tickletail curls around and around.

A long, black rope.

A shadowy snake.

There is no escape.

The children should not be awake.

The children should not be out of bed.

Tommy Tickletail has them now.

Tommy Tickletail won’t let go.

Tommy Tickletail stops.

Tommy Tickletail looks.

Tommy Tickletail listens.

A noise on the stair.

A creak in the air.

An opening door.

“Go back to sleep, Tommy Tickletail.”

“Go back to bed, Sophie and Sam.”

The kitchen door opens.

The dark disappears.

Tommy Tickletail shrinks beneath the kitchen table.

Mummy and Daddy Ticklefingers are here.

The Ticklefingers catch Sophie.

The Ticklefingers catch Sam.

Mummy and Daddy Ticklefingers carry the children back to bed, tickling all the way.

Under the table, Tommy Tickletail stretches twelve feet long.

It’s time for his midnight walk.

It’s time to find a new table to sleep under.

Whose table?

YOURS!


Buy the beautifully illustrated book for your Kindle now.

UK

US