a strawberry.
Well Zeke took one quick look at his shrunken, upside-down, strawberry-sized sister and said, âMumâs going to explode.â Then, before Eppie had a chance to even begin to cry, Zeke took a very deep breath and said, âI suggest we make the most of our remaining minutes of freedom and try to have some fun before Mum comes out and kills us. What do you reckon?â
Eppie immediately agreed with Zeke (but thatâs because she didnât have a clue what he was talking about).
âOkay, Eppie. Stand right there, and let the games begin,â said Zeke as he looped his finger into the yoyo string and then swung the yoyo as hard as he could towards his little sister. But just when Eppie was about to catch the yoyo, Zeke suddenly tugged as hard as he could on the string, and pulled the yoyo away.
He laughed at Eppie of course, because she looked so silly grabbing at the air, and Eppie pretended to sulk of course, and then she said she didnât want to play anymore of course, and that she was going to tell Mum that Zeke had got out of the car.
âAnd what are you going to say happened to you?â Zeke demanded, looking straight at his berry-sized sister.
Eppie started to sob, great big little-girl sopping wet tears (not little little-girl sopping wet tears), and each tear was nearly as big as her head, and Zeke was worried that Eppie would drown in the flood and then heâd have no one to tease.
And so he said in his nicest voice, which he only used when he really wanted something, âIâm really sorry for laughing at you, Eppie. I promise I wonât do it again.â
And Eppie was bored so shesaid, âOh, okay.â
âNow this time just stand there, and weâll see if you blink,â Zeke said as he whirled his yoyo right near Eppieâs face. But Eppie blinked, and Zeke called her a scaredy cat, and then he got bored again, and she got bored again too. They were going to pick a fight in fact, just for something to do, but instead Zeke said, âIâve got an idea: Iâll whirl the yoyo on your head!â
Their mum was nowhere to be seen.
She could have been sucked up by the vacuum cleaner.
She could have been swallowed by the sink.
She could have been eaten by the goldfish, or she could have blindly locked herself in the broom cupboard, thinking that sheâd found the front door.
Whatever the case, Mum wasnât nearby, so Eppie agreed to let her brother whirl his yoyo on her head.
So Zeke stood over tiny Eppieand took very careful aim, then he gently dropped his yoyo down the string, and whirled it on Eppieâs head.
And Eppie laughed, and Zeke laughed, and so they did it again.
Faster.
And they laughed.
And so they did it again.
Faster.
And they laughed.
And so they did it again.
Faster.
And they laughed.
And so they did it again and again, and they laughed until they thought they would split, and they did it again, one more time, faster and faster and faster and faster, and thatâs when they heard their mother finally coming out of the house.
âAaaaaaagh!â screamed Eppie.
âAaaaaaagh!â screamed Zeke.
âGet back in the car!â they both screamed.
Eppie went to run one way and Zeke went to run the other, but they only made it a few steps each before something suddenly stopped them.
Was it the hidden force of evil, or maybe guilt or fear? Or was it perhaps some invisible alien attempting to kidnap them for a rather huge ransom that their mother would probably never pay because it would âonly encourage themâ?
Or was it something far more boring?
Well yes it was something incredibly boring, too boring really to mention. It was Eppieâs hair tangled up in Zekeâs yoyo â but there was definitely no time to get her off.
Their mother was coming, they were going to get caught, they had to think quickly or else. Mum had said, âDonât get out of the
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