Magpies & Mischief by Cameron I. McPhail Extract

8/13/2019 Magpies & Mischief by Cameron I. McPhail Extract

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MagpiesandMischiefThe Seamus Stories Book 1

Cameron I. McPhailIllustrated by Oli Nightingale

BLACK & WHITE PUBLISHING


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First published 2013

by Black & White Publishing Ltd

29 Ocean Drive, Edinburgh EH6 6JL

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 13 14 15 16

ISBN: 978 1 84502 700 1

Copyright Cameron I. McPhail 2013

Illustrations Cameron I. McPhail

The right of Cameron I. McPhail to be identied as the author

of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright,

Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in

a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic,

mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without permission in

writing from the publisher.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Designed by Stuart Polson

Printed and bound in Poland

www.hussarbooks.pl


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An Introduction to Archie and Emma

Archie is the smaller and chunkier of the two. He is generally

to be found in a surfing T-shirt, surfing shorts and high-top

blue basketball boots. Archie has endless energy and loves

adventure and all things outdoors.

Emma is as slim as Archie is stocky and as tall as Archie is

short. She floats through her days, lost in her own thoughts

and lively imagination. Her favourite look is the Castro cap,

loose lumberjack shirt and her much battered and bruised

red Converse. Her dream is to become a vet.


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1Emergency Landing

This was already an adventure! Although the

Robertsons had not even arrived at their new island

home, the family had just been told by the pilot that

Jersey was blanketed by a totally unexpected fog andthe plane could not land safely. The twins, Archie

and Emma, immediately began to worry about when

they would finally get to the island to begin exploring

the hidden bays and beaches theyd heard so much

about.

Sitting bolt upright, Emma fidgeted nervously

with the silver locket that her grandmother had given

to her as a farewell present.


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Magpies and Mischief

Itll bring you luck in Jersey, so always wear it,

her grandmother had said. Its been in the family

for over two hundred years.

Well, thought Emma, so far ithasnt been very

lucky at all!

The pilot had explained that he had never seen

weather like it. The fog was unusually thick and

swirling wildly so all he could do was circle abovethe island, and if it cleared, he would make a dash

for the runway. For ages nothing happened and then

the pilot announced, I can see a small gap in the

fog below us so lets give it a go before it closes in

again! Their small plane immediately began to dive

towards the fog with its two engines roaring as its

propellers began to slice through the clouds.

This is neat! muttered Archie to his sister when

the aircraft began to judder and shudder. The fogs

attacking us!

How can the pilot see anything? asked Emmawith a worried look. Is this fog alive? Is it trying to

smother us? Could we end up in the sea and have to


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swim ashore?

Just when all looked completely hopeless, the

plane broke through the wall of cloud and they were

at last flying in perfectly calm conditions. Almost

directly beneath them lay Jersey, a small emerald

island bathed in bright sunshine. From the planes

windows the twins could see Portelet Bay, where

they were going to live, and further west was StOuens Bay, the islands main surfing centre. Emma

and Archie were both keen surfers and still found it

difficult to believe that they would be able to practise

their hobby all summer long.

As the plane smoothly continued its descent to

Jersey Airport, the passengers must have thought that

the scare was over, but they were wrong. Without any

warning, the plane was surrounded by squawking

birds. Emma peered out the window and yelled,

Theyre quite big birds and I think I can pick out

some black and white markings, but theyre flying sofast and so close its difficult to be sure.

Again and again the birds flew round and round


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the plane, so fast they quickly built up a wild wind

that began to sweep the plane towards the ground.

The pilots lost control, shouted Archie as

disaster felt only seconds away. By the looks on their

faces, all the other passengers felt the same and were

preparing for the worst when suddenly the wind

died down as quickly as it had appeared. The plane

straightened up, landed perfectly and then appeared


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to be gently guided by an invisible hand towards the

terminal building.

When the planes engines were switched off,

the passengers cheered and clapped with relief.

Mrs Robertson finally opened her eyes and

murmured, It was probably only a bit of turbulence

and the sunlight playing tricks on us.

Mr Robertson ruffled the hair of the twins, as ifto show that there was never any danger, and said

hesitantly, I agree with your mother. Any idea that

a few birds could interfere with the plane is silly. The

pilots always in complete control and we were never

in any real trouble.

At the airport the family were met by Mrs

Le Lever, a tiny old lady who had one of those

wonderfully unusual Jersey French names. The

Robertsons were moving into her house and she had

kindly offered to pick them up and drive them to their

new home. After everyone had said their hellos andMrs Le Lever had admired Emmas lucky locket,

the group headed out to the car park, still chatting


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about the eventful flight.

I see that the magpies came out to welcome

you, said Mrs Le Lever casually. Theyre clever

birds but Ive never seen them do that. I wonder how

they knew that you were coming?

For Emma the penny finally dropped. So there

were birds circling the plane and they were black

and white, she said. They were magpies. But whywere they buzzing our plane? Why would they be

interested in us?

But further talk about mad magpies was cut

short by the sight of Mrs Le Levers car. Archie

couldnt believe it. He thought that it must be at least

a hundred years old. A splendid copper-coloured

convertible with gleaming chrome bumpers. This is

Snipe, my pride and joy, said Mrs Le Lever as soon

as she noticed the amazed look on Archies face. A

customised 1953 Humber Super Snipe with only

one very careful owner me.Ive had Snipe for over thirty years now,

she continued while clambering into the car. The


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Humber dwarfed the old lady but she had sensibly

stacked a pile of cushions on the driving seat so at

least she could peer over the steering wheel.

Archie had, of course, noticed that with all her

cushions Mrs Le Levers short legs could no longer

reach the pedals. Despite this, Snipe began reversing

carefully out of the parking bay, stopped, switched

gears and then headed confidently towards the exit.Archie knew this was not possible but he was watching

it happen before his very eyes.

As they were about to leave the car park, there

was another shock in store. Perched all along the exit

barrier was a row of five menacing magpies. Ah,

that explains it, said Mrs Le Lever.

What do you mean? asked Archie.

Five magpies for a fog is the old saying round

here. These are some of the birds that didnt want

you landing. I wonder why? said Mrs Le Lever, with

a knowing smile. Do you see the one with the longskinny neck? Hes Mudd, their leader, and a real

rascal. A street-smart scheming scavenger!


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But that doesnt explain the wild winds,

chipped in Emma. Did you see the storm that

appeared from nowhere and Dad said it wasnt

mentioned in the weather forecast?

Quite correct, young lady. But I think if you

look over at the bus stop youll have your answer,


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suggested Mrs Le Lever.

The Robertsons looked over to where Mrs Le

Lever was pointing and there were a further seven

magpies sitting on top of the shelter, staring at them

closely. Seven magpies for a storm is what they

say in Jersey, said Mrs Le Lever, deep in thought.

Believe it or not, it was almost certainly these seven

birds that whipped up the wind. This was obviouslya well-planned attack. Courageously, Mrs Le Lever

paid for her parking and the exit barrier shot up.

What fun, she giggled as the five magpies were

knocked off their perch and sent flying into the air.

They squawked furiously in protest before flapping

off into the distance and settling on an old rusty

tractor that was parked awkwardly at the far end of

the airport building.

Just then, Snipes horn started blaring, his

headlights flashed on and off and the hood started to

close. This was too much for the remaining magpiessitting on the bus shelter and they too flew off to join

the rest of their gang perched on the tractor. That


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makes twelve for trouble, thought Archie, pleased

with his arithmetic, though he did not say anything

just in case it caused another incident.

Steady, Snipe, soothed Mrs Le Lever. I

know you dont like those birds but youll scare the

Robertsons with all your noise. Theyve already had


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too many frights for one day!

After a short pause Mrs Le Lever quietly

instructed Snipe, Juniper Lodge, please, and could

we please have some fresh air again?

And with that Snipes hood reopened, they drove

out of the car park and the Robertsons sat back to

enjoy the sunshine. Snipe was soon well away from

the airport and cruising along in the peaceful world ofJerseys many criss-crossing country lanes. The twins

could not be sure but it seemed that as they passed by

the many hedgerows, the birds burst into song and

the cows in the nearby fields stopped munching the

grass and turned to watch Snipe glide by. Perhaps it

was because Mrs Le Lever was such a well known

figure in these parts that the animals appeared to be

saying hello, but Archie decided it was more likely

to be because Snipe was driving at only 15mph and

sounding his horn at every single bend in the road.


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Magpies & Mischief by Cameron I. McPhail Extract

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