Ollie and the Rock with Freckles

10 pages · 9 min · ages 6+

Puff! Just like that, Mrs. Puffer was a big spiky ball. “Sorry, Mrs. Puffer,” said Snip. “It's only me.” Snip was a skeleton, with white glow-paint bones on his shell. Mrs. Puffer had painted every one herself. They still made her jump. Halloween was the hardest night of the year for the jumpiest fish in Sunny Lake. Ollie was a mummy, wrapped up in long strips of green waterweed. He was meant to look scary. But Ollie's face always smiled. He was the happiest mummy in the whole lake. This year, Ollie and Snip had asked to go trick-or-treating by themselves. Mrs. Puffer was looking after them tonight, and she had said yes. To three doors. Then she had been a spiky ball for a whole hour.

Mrs. Puffer blew one slow, calm bubble. Then about a hundred more. At last she was round and smooth again, freckles and all. “Three doors,” she said again. “The yellow minnow, the Lost Boot and Mr. Snapper's rock.” She could see all three from her window. “I won't follow you,” she said. “Not one fin. And if anything spooky happens, just shout my name. I'll hear you. From home. Where I'll be.” She had made both costumes glow, so that everybody could see them. By everybody, Mrs. Puffer meant Mrs. Puffer. She waved them off from her doorway. Then she set off after them, quietly, from rock to rock. She was not following them. She was just going the same way.

Ollie was a tiny bit scared of the dark. “Skeletons are never scared,” said Snip. He said it all the way to the yellow minnow's. In Sunny Lake, pumpkins float. So the yellow minnow had tied his pumpkin to the door with a string. He was a polite gentleman. “Trick or treat!” said Ollie and Snip. “Certainly,” said the yellow minnow, and he gave them a very small sweet each. Then he looked over their heads and gave a polite little nod. “Evening, Mrs. Puffer.” Snip spun round. There was nothing there. Just a rock. A round rock. With freckles.

The next door was the spookiest in Sunny Lake. It was the Lost Boot. Nobody knew whose boot it was. That was the spooky part. It stood on the sand as tall as a house, with its long laces trailing. “Trick or treat!” said Ollie and Snip. Slowly, the boot's tongue lifted up, like a door. Out of the dark inside came a CROAK. Ollie and Snip screamed. Behind them, something puffed up. “Skeletons are never scared,” said Snip, from behind Ollie. Then he peeked round at Ollie's face. “You're having a lovely time!” said Snip. “I'm very scared,” whispered Ollie. “This is my scared face.” It looked exactly like his happy face.

Out hopped the little green frog who lived there. She had a big wide grin. “Scared you!” said the frog. “I've waited all year to do that.” She gave them two sweets each. That had been a very good scream. “Most of it was me,” said Snip. Then the frog looked over their heads, and her eyes went very wide. “Whoops,” said the frog. “Sorry, Mrs. Puffer.” Snip spun round. There was nothing there. Just a rock. But now it had spikes. And it was much, much closer. “Ollie,” whispered Snip, “I think that rock is following us.” “Rocks can't follow anybody,” whispered Ollie. “Rocks can't even swim.”

The third door was Mr. Snapper's. Mr. Snapper did not have a door. He had a rock. “Trick or treat!” said Ollie and Snip. “No,” said Mr. Snapper, at once. Then he gave them a sweet each. He had been saying no to trick-or-treaters for a hundred years. A sweet was quicker than an argument. That always worked. But Snip didn't go away. Right behind them was the big spiky rock. Snip leaned in. “Mr. Snapper,” he whispered, “is that a rock?” Nobody in Sunny Lake knew more about rocks than Mr. Snapper. Once, a duck had thought he was a rock. Mr. Snapper looked at the spiky rock with one eye. Then he looked at it with the other eye. “No,” said Mr. Snapper.

Not a rock. Ollie's gills went flat. “Then what is it?” asked Ollie. Snip gulped. “A Halloween monster.” Then Ollie thought of something much worse. “Snip! If there's a monster loose in Sunny Lake, Mrs. Puffer is all by herself!” Sweets could wait. Mrs. Puffer's cave was only a little way back. They swam there faster than ever. So did the rock. Her door was open. Her big bowl of sweets was still full. But Mrs. Puffer was gone. “The rock got her,” whispered Snip. The rock had not got her, of course. Mrs. Puffer was right outside, behind a rock, doing her very best to be one.

Ollie was very, very scared. His gills shook. His tail shook. His face smiled, because it always did. But Mrs. Puffer was the kindest fish in Sunny Lake. “We have to rescue her,” said Ollie. He turned to Snip. “Are skeletons ever scared?” “Skeletons are never scared,” said Snip, in his smallest voice. They went back to the front door, as quietly as they could. It is very hard to sneak when you glow. And there, right under Mrs. Puffer's window, was the big spiky rock. Ollie took the biggest breath of his life. Then he shouted, just the way she had told them. “Mrs. Puffer!” And from behind the big spiky rock, a voice said, “Yes, dear?”

Out came a spiky, freckly, smiling face. “It's Mrs. Puffer!” shouted Snip. “You followed us!” “I did not,” said Mrs. Puffer. “I just happened to be going the same way. Every time.” “We came back to rescue you,” said Ollie. Nobody had ever come back through the dark to rescue Mrs. Puffer before. It was a wonderful surprise. She puffed up, and even her spikes had spikes. “Oh, you dear boys,” she said. One by one, her spikes went down. There was one door left. Her own. Mrs. Puffer hurried inside and shut the door. “Trick or treat!” said Ollie and Snip. “Goodness,” said Mrs. Puffer. “Trick-or-treaters! I didn't see you coming.” Her bowl was still full to the top. Nobody had been home to answer the door.

Later, Ollie and Snip tipped all their sweets out on Mrs. Puffer's floor. Mrs. Puffer tipped her whole bowl on top. Indoors, with the lamp on, Snip said it in his biggest voice. “Skeletons are never scared.” “Mrs. Puffer,” said Ollie, “next time, you can just come with us.” “Thank you, dear,” she said. “But who would answer the door? I won't follow you. Not one fin.” Snip looked at Ollie. Ollie smiled. This time, it really was his happy face. Mrs. Puffer had already picked her rock.