10
Real Food
“Heeeeeelllp! Edwiiiiinnn!”
“I’m coming!” Edwin hared down the stairs, the rotten treads cracking noisily beneath his pounding feet. “Hold on, Mum!”
“Toilet,” said Stubby, perched on Edwin’s shoulder.
“Not now,” hissed Edwin. “Can’t you wait a minute?”
“I didn’t mean I need the toilet,” sighed the mouse. “I meant that’s where the screams are coming from.”
“Oh. Thanks.” Edwin jumped the last two steps, raced into the kitchen, and flung the bathroom door open.
Mum was in hysterics, hammering the floor with her fists and wailing like a baby. Bryony leaned against the wall, laughing gleefully.
“What have you done to her?” Edwin shot his step-sister an accusing glare before rushing to his mother.
And then he froze as he noticed the floor.
It was covered in spiders. Hundreds and thousands of them. No wonder Mum was so freaked.
“I’ll rescue you,” he vowed, grabbing a long handled mop that lay propped against the wall.
“You’ll need a bigger one than that,” chortled Bryony, pointing past his shoulder.
Edwin turned, and almost dropped the mop when he saw what sat on the toilet.
It was a spider, but larger than any spider he had seen before. Its legs were longer than his arms, and its swollen body bristled with hairs as thick as knitting needles.
“Not so brave now?” asked Bryony with a smirk.
Edwin raised the mop at the giant spider in a vaguely threatening manner. “Shoo,” he hissed. “Er… go away.”
The spider seized the mop in its pincer-like jaws, and crunched the handle as though it was balsa. Edwin retreated, but the spider’s beady eyes were fixed solely on the cowering Jane as it dropped nimbly to the floor.
“You’ve got to do something,” Edwin begged Stubby.
“Me? What can I do? I’m just a mouse.”
“Exactly. And mice eat spiders, right?”
“Invertebrates form part of our natural diet, yes.”
“And you said you were sick of left over sandwiches.”
Stubby stared at the spider with his black button eyes. “Yes, but I can’t eat all that. I’ve got to watch my figure, you know.”
Edwin realised it was a stupid thing to suggest. Stubby couldn’t take on a spider that big unless he was the size of a Labrador.
If only he was…
Suddenly Stubby started growing: doubling, tripling, and quadrupling in size until he was too large to fit on Edwin’s shoulder.
Bryony stopped laughing. She stared aghast at the ballooning body of the mouse as it toppled from Edwin and hit the floor with a hefty thud.
Stubby continued to grow, getting bigger and bigger until he was the size of a large dog.
“Get it!” ordered Edwin, recovering from his shock and pointing at the spider. “Go Stubby. Kill!”
Stubby obeyed, laughing joyfully as he pounced on the giant spider. “At last, real food!”
It was over in a matter of seconds. Stubby sank his huge incisors into the spider’s body. Bryony covered her eyes and shuddered. Even Edwin, despite his relief, couldn’t bear to watch. He turned away, trying to ignore the horrible crunching sound as he scurried to his mother’s side.
“Mum, are you OK?”
Jane was trembling like a leaf in a gale. “Has it gone?” she croaked, face still buried in her hands.
“They all have,” said Edwin, realising that the floor was free from spiders.
Jane sobbed with relief. “Oh thank goodness. It was horrible, Edwin. I’ve never seen a spider that big.”
“There are no spiders now,” promised Edwin. “Nothing for you to be afraid of.” Then he nodded thankfully at Stubby. “Well done.”
“My pleasure,” said Stubby, using the tip of a giant spider leg to pick his teeth. “I presume a light sorbet to cleanse the pallet is out of the question?”
Jane smiled at Edwin. Then she looked up, saw the giant Stubby, screamed again, and fainted.