Shortcuts
Chapter 1
Shortcuts
Once upon a time there was a funny boy called Luke Cox. He was on the way to see Phillip Donaldson, when he decided to take a short cut through Greenwood Forest.
It wasn’t long before Luke got lost. He looked around, but all he could see were trees. Nervously, he felt into his bag for his favourite toy, Bunny, but Bunny was nowhere to be found! Luke began to panic. He felt sure he had packed Bunny. To make matters worse, he was starting to feel hungry.
Unexpectedly, he saw a friendly lizard dressed in a purple coat disappearing into the trees.
“How odd!” thought Luke.
For the want of anything better to do, he decided to follow the peculiarly dressed lizard. Perhaps it could tell him the way out of the forest.
Eventually, Luke reached a clearing. In the clearing were two houses, one made from broccoli florets and one made from doughnuts.
Luke could feel his tummy rumbling. Looking at the houses did nothing to ease his hunger.
“Hello!” he called. “Is anybody there?”
Nobody replied.
Luke looked at the roof on the closest house and wondered if it would be rude to eat somebody else’s chimney. Obviously it would be impolite to eat a whole house, but perhaps it would be considered acceptable to nibble the odd fixture or lick the odd fitting, in a time of need.
A cackle broke through the air, giving Luke a fright. A witch jumped into the space in front of the houses. She was carrying a cage. In that cage was Bunny!
“Bunny!” shouted Luke. He turned to the witch. “That’s my toy!”
The witch just shrugged.
“Give Bunny back!” cried Luke.
“Not on your nelly!” said the witch.
“At least let Bunny out of that cage!”
Before she could reply, the friendly lizard in the purple coat rushed in from a footpath on the other side of the cleaning.
“Hello Big Lizard,” said the witch.
“Good morning.” The lizard noticed Bunny. “Who is this?”
“That’s Bunny,” explained the witch.
“Ooh! Bunny would look lovely in my house. Give it to me!” demanded the lizard.
The witch shook her head. “Bunny is staying with me.”
“Um... Excuse me...” Luke interrupted. “Bunny lives with me! And not in a cage!”
Big Lizard ignored him. “Is there nothing you’ll trade?” he asked the witch.
The witch thought for a moment, then said, “I do like to be entertained. I’ll release him to anybody who can eat a whole front door.”
Big Lizard looked at the house made from doughnuts and said, “No problem, I could eat an entire house made from doughnuts if I wanted to.”
“There’s no need to show off,” said the witch. Just eat one front door and I’ll let you have Bunny.”
Luke watched, feeling very worried. He didn’t want the witch to give Bunny to Big Lizard. He didn’t think Bunny would like living with a friendly lizard, away from his house and all his other toys.
Big Lizard put on his bib and withdraw a knife and fork from his pocket.
“I’ll eat this whole house,” said Big Lizard. “Just you watch!”
Big Lizard pulled off a corner of the front door of the house made from doughnuts. He gulped it down smiling, and went back for more.
And more.
And more.
Eventually, Big Lizard started to get bigger - just a little bit bigger at first. But after a few more fork-fulls of doughnuts, he grew to the size of a large snowball - and he was every bit as round.
“Erm... I don’t feel too good,” said Big Lizard.
Suddenly, he started to roll. He’d grown so round that he could no longer balance!
“Help!” he cried, as he rolled off down a slope into the forest.
Big Lizard never finished eating the front door made from doughnuts and Bunny remained trapped in the witch’s cage.
“That’s it,” said the witch. “I win. I get to keep Bunny.”
“Not so fast,” said Luke. “There is still one front door to go. The front door of the house made from broccoli florets. And I haven’t had a turn yet.
“I don’t have to give you a turn!” laughed the witch. “My game. My rules.”
The woodcutter’s voice carried through the forest. “I think you should give him a chance. It’s only fair.”
“Fine,” said the witch. “But you saw what happened to the lizard. He won’t last long.”
“I’ll be right back,” said Luke.
“What?” said the witch. “Where’s your sense of impatience? I thought you wanted Bunny back.”
Luke ignored the witch and gathered a hefty pile of sticks. He came back to the clearing and started a small camp fire. Carefully, he broke off a piece of the door of the house made from broccoli florets and toasted it over the fire. Once it had cooked and cooled just a little, he took a bite. He quickly devoured the whole piece.
Luke sat down on a nearby log.
“You fail!” cackled the witch. “You were supposed to eat the whole door.”
“I haven’t finished,” explained Luke. “I am just waiting for my food to go down.”
When Luke’s food had digested, he broke off another piece of the door made from broccoli florets. Once more, he toasted his food over the fire and waited for it to cool just a little. He ate it at a leisurely pace then waited for it to digest.
Eventually, after several sittings, Luke was down to the final piece of the door made from broccoli florets. Carefully, he toasted it and allowed it to cool just a little. He finished his final course. Luke had eaten the entire front door of the house made from broccoli florets.
The witch stamped her foot angrily. “You must have tricked me!” she said. “I don’t reward cheating!”
“I don’t think so!” said a voice. It was the woodcutter. He walked back into the clearing, carrying his axe. “This little boy won fair and square. Now hand over Bunny or I will chop your broomstick in half.”
The witch looked horrified. She grabbed her broomstick and placed it behind her. Then, huffing, she opened the door of the cage.
Luke hurried over and grabbed Bunny, checking that his favourite toy was. Fortunately, Bunny was unharmed.
Luke thanked the woodcutter, grabbed a quick souvenir, and hurried on to meet Phillip. It was starting to get dark.
When Luke got to Phillip’s house, his threw his arms around him.
“I was so worried!” cried Phillip. “You are very late.”
As Luke described his day, he could tell that Phillip didn’t believe him. So he grabbed a napkin from his pocket.
“What’s that?” asked Phillip.
Luke opened the doorknob from the napkin made from doughnuts. “Pudding!” he said.
And the napkin unwrapped a deliciouss dessert.Pudding.
Phillip almost fell off his chair.
"Ha!I can't believe that you got my favourite dessert for me!Thanks,man!"
"It's no problem,bro!"
