Buy the beautifully illustrated book for your Kindle now.
—
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.