"I'm tired..." whinged Hannah, yawning.
"How can you be tired?!" exclaimed Lee. "You've been riding on Otto's back for the last hour!"
"Hannah...let go of my tail," Otto demanded.
"Maybe we should take a break," Batell suggested.
"Exactly what I thought," said Ben, looking at Xander.
"A break."
"An interlude."
"Breathing space."
"Separation."
There was a silence.
"Yes, well..." Batell trailed off for a second. "Let's stop for a moment."
Hannah hopped off from Ottollama's back but kept hold of his tail for security. As soon as Hannah had dismantled him, Jess jumped on him, patting his nose. "Nice llama!" She patted his hair. "Nice llama give Jessy a ride." An evil glint came into Hannah's eyes.
"That'd be 50 pence please," she said turning round to Xander and Ben who now weren't talking to each other.
"What?"
"That's right. 50 pence for a ride on the llama...Or a �50 fine."
"I want child support first." Ben stood his ground.
"Child support?!" Xander exclaimed.
"Yeah!" Ben cried.
"Whatever, I need 50 pence," Hannah said.
They heard Jess scream and turned around to see Otto, the real Otto, standing up straight.
"Plus �2 for a horror performance."
Jess sat on a pile of leaves and sighed. "Jess's feet hurt," she said, throwing a clod of mud at Otto.
"OI!"
"Batell leant back against a tree, exhausted from walking with these loonies.
Suddenly the tree gave way and he fell backwards through the leaves.
"Ooh...guys, the clearing's just through here," he called.
"For God's sake Batell! Give us a break! We've been walking for hours..." Xander exclaimed.
"We're tired, we're hungry..." said Ben.
"We need a rest before we walk any further," said Hannah.
"For the love of GOD - have some compassion!" Jess said. "What does 'compassion' mean?"
"It's just through here," Batell reiterated.
"You heartless B*ST*RD."
"We've been walking miles-"
"No rest-"
"IT'S HERE!" Batell yelled, pulling back the leaves and pointing.
"Oh."
They looked through the leaves to see none other than the Magical Possum himself, laying on a plush velvet cushion, snoozing.
"Wow," said Ben, taken aback. "That was easy."
They all stood and thought for a while as the little possum's chest went up and down at a steady rate.
"He's so cute!" Hannah exclaimed. She took off her jumper and walked over to the possum, wrapping him up in it and trying to pick him up. The possum snarled and snapped and took swipes at Hannah and the jumper. She leapt back and dropped him back onto the cushion where he immediately fell asleep again.
"I think he has an emotional attachment with the cushion," Batell commented. "Or at least, that's the rumour."
Otto walked over and picked the cushion up with possum on top. Everyone held their breath as the possum sighed and rolled over hanging a paw over the edge of the cushion. Otto walked back out past his father, with the cushion in hand.
"Oh he's adorable! How...quaint!" Hannah clapped her hands smiling at the possum, despite having a jumper in tatters.
Suddenly, the possum opened one eye, looked at Hannah, squeaked loudly and jumped off the cushion.
"Oh, SH*T!" Lee exclaimed, trying to grab it.
"I KNEW it wouldn't be that easy!" Ben exclaimed.
They all ran after the possum as it ran up trees and jumped from branch to branch.
"Come down here, you b*st*rd!" Ben yelled. "If you don't come with us Jess and Hannah will be stuck like this forever!"
"Had the perfect job called life..." Otto muttered, sarcastically.
"What?" asked Hannah.
"Silverchair?" he reminded her.
"Who are purple sofa?" Hannah asked, quizzically.
Otto smacked his head against a tree.
"What's silver?" asked Jess.
"SSH!" Xander put a finger to his lips. "Listen!"
Everyone apart from Ben fell quiet.
"I'm not being quiet you, big bully. Just because you don't want to talk about this child support issue. You're a wife beater, that's what you are! You, you...you big BULLY!"
'THWACK'
Hannah put her 7 by 15 inch plank back down by her side as Ben hit the ground with a thump. Everyone stayed quiet as they heard a small squeak-like-whimpering coming from a tall pine tree to their right. They also heard Jess sobbing but they tried to cut that out as they tracked the possum.
"Give me a minute," Batell said, changing into a bat and flying up into the tree.
"What's he up to now?!" Hannah exclaimed.
"Negotiations," Otto said.
"Oh, great," Hannah said sarcastically. "A bat that can talk with a possum."
There was a piercing squeal as the possum fell out of the tree and landed belly-up on his cushion that Otto was conveniently holding.
"Oh...that kind of negotiations."
Batell flew down and changed back into human form. "He refused to listen to me, so I sorted him out for a few hours."
"Has anyone got a plastic bag? Just in case he wakes up?" asked Lee.
"You cruel b*st*rd," Hannah said, angrily. "I ought to hand you over to the RSPCA."
"Why would you send Lee to the Rivers and Streams Protection of Cabbages Association?" Jess asked.
There was another loud 'THWACK' and then silence.

<< back to Book 3.3

� Jess and Hannah 2002