Read Online Carbonel and Calidor by Barbara Sleigh - Free Book Online

We can go by the road, drop the leaflet through the letterbox, and run.’
    They set off the way they had come, eating the remains of the sandwiches and the rock cakes as they went. When they reached the crossroads, the road-man had gone home to his tea. Four lamps, already lit, stood at the corners of the hole. Instead of taking the road back to the village they turned to the left towards Tucket Towers and crossed the bridge that spanned the old railway line.
    The brief burst of sunshine was gone. The clouds were even darker than before. A chill little breeze had sprung up, and Rosemary pushed her cold hands deep into her pockets. The sky was so overcast that a car coming over the hump of the bridge had its lights on. They stood back as it passed.
    â€˜Did you see how it made the cat’s eyes in the road light up?’ said John.
    Rosemary nodded, and poked one of the small rubbery squares with the toe of her shoe. The glass ‘eyes’ which had shone so brightly as the car approached were dull now, and lifeless.
    â€˜It’s a super idea!’ said John, looking at the row of studs marking the middle of the road stretching ahead of them. ‘I mean having “eyes” back and front to reflect the light when a car comes either way.’
    â€˜Yes, but what for?’ said Rosemary.
    â€˜To show where the middle of the road is when it’s dark, of course,’ said John. ‘Didn’t you know? Really Rosie, you are a prize ass sometimes!’
    Rosemary flushed. ‘Well anyway, I don’t think they ought to be called cat’s eyes,’ she said. ‘They look more like a row of little crabs squatting down in the road.’
    â€˜Don’t be silly,’ said John. ‘Crab’s eyes don’t light up in the dark like cat’s eyes.’
    â€˜But they only light up for a second when a car passes,’ said Rosemary. ‘All the rest of the time they sit in their holes in the roads looking like little square crabs.’
    â€˜Cats!’ said John.
    â€˜Crabs!’ said Rosemary.
    â€˜Cats!’ said John with an infuriating grin, and quite suddenly Rosemary completely lost her temper.
    â€˜Stop it!’ she burst out. ‘Stop it! You’re always being a know-all!’ She stamped her feet in rage. ‘You don’t like Carbonel and Crumpet bossing you. Well, I don’t like you always bossing me! You go on making me shut up when I’m going to say something. I’m quite sore where you keep poking me with your bony great elbow. I say they’re like crabs!’
    â€˜All right. Keep your hair on!’ began John. But Rosemary was thoroughly roused, and she swept on.
    â€˜I wish they’d come alive. I do! I do! I do!’ And each time she said ‘I do’ she stamped her foot. ‘I wish they’d come alive, and that would just show you!’
    She stopped suddenly, interrupted by a loud ‘pop’! It seemed to come from somewhere between her feet. She stepped back hurriedly.
    â€˜Look at the stud,’ said John. ‘It’s moving!’
    Rosemary looked.
    It was the one she had poked with her foot. It had come loose from the metal rim which kept it in its place, and was moving up and down, of its own accord, in a jerky sort of way. Then, to Rosemary’s astonishment, it tilted so that the glass ‘eyes’ in front were looking up at her, and at the same time, two rather bandy legs unfolded themselves from the two front corners, waved wildly in the air, scrabbled for a second on the metal rim, then, helped by two more legs growing from the corners at the back, heaved the stud clean out of its square hole. For a minute it stood flexing its legs as though to get the stiffness out of them. Then it scuttled towards Rosemary, bouncing up and down at her feet and making little squeaks of what seemed like pleasure.

    All this took much less time than it takes to describe, and before the little