Eggs on Legs Read online

  Titles in GEMS

  Eggs on Legs

  Jean Ure

  Cat Brace Face

  Danny Pearson

  Deep Trouble

  Danny Pearson

  Malekin

  Jane A C West

  Once Upon a Time

  Tommy Donbavand

  Pony Mad

  Roger Hurn

  Pink Football Boots

  Ian MacDonald

  The Sweet Trail Mystery

  Ian MacDonald

  The Best Day Ever!

  Roger Hurn

  The Terrible Tale of Melody Doom

  Tommy Donbavand

  Badger Publishing Limited

  Oldmedow Road,

  Hardwick Industrial Estate,

  King’s Lynn PE30 4JJ

  Telephone: 01438 791037

  www.badgerlearning.co.uk

  Eggs on Legs ISBN 978-1-78147-475-4

  ISBN: 9781781476741 (Epub)

  ISBN: 9781781477663 (Mobi)

  Text © Jean Ure 2013

  Complete work © Badger Publishing Limited 2013

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any form or by any means mechanical, electronic, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.

  The right of Jean Ure to be identified as author of this Work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  Publisher: Susan Ross

  Senior Editor: Danny Pearson

  Design: Julia King

  Illustration: Karen Donnelly

  2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1

  Contents

  Chapter 1 The garden

  Chapter 2 Tea with William

  Chapter 3 Rescue!

  Chapter 4 Voices from the stars

  Chapter 5 Going home

  Chapter 6 First prize

  Aliens and unusual pets

  Questions

  Vocabulary:

  bellowed

  clutching

  enviously

  frantically

  hovered

  peered

  scowled

  scuttled

  sniggered

  squatted

  Main characters

  Chapter 1

  “Mum!” Lara burst excitedly into the kitchen where her mum was busy making sandwiches. “Mum, there’s a thing running about in the compost heap!”

  “What kind of thing?” asked her mum.

  “A little egg thing. It’s running about,” said Lara. “All round the compost heap!”

  “Really?” said her mum. She picked up a bunch of radishes and frowned. “I wonder if William can eat radishes?”

  William. Lara pulled a face. William was her cousin.

  He and Auntie Meg were coming over for tea. Unfortunately.

  “This egg thing,” said Lara. “It’s like…”

  “Tomatoes.” Her mum tossed the radishes back into the fridge. “Even William can eat tomatoes!” She turned to Lara. “Or were they what made him sick?”

  Too late! Lara had already gone whizzing off to find her dad.

  Her dad was in the hall, using the vacuum cleaner. Lara shouted over the noise.

  “DAD!”

  “WHAT?” bellowed her dad.

  “THERE’S A LITTLE EGG THING RUNNING ABOUT THE GARDEN!”

  Her dad chuckled. “Where’s that come from, then? Outer space?”

  He was laughing at her. Why did nobody ever take her seriously?

  Her sister, Jade, was sitting on the stairs, painting her nails bright purple. Lara sat down next to her.

  “Guess what?” she said. “I’ve found this little egg thing. Running all about the garden.”

  “Oh, yeah?” Jade blew on her nails. “What’s it got? Wheels?”

  “Legs,” said Lara.

  “Egg on legs?” Jade sniggered. “That sounds likely!”

  “I’ll go and get it,” said Lara. “I’ll show you!”

  But when she went back into the garden, the little egg thing had gone.

  Chapter 2

  “I’m so sorry,” said Auntie Meg, “I’m afraid William can’t eat tomatoes. No, darling, don’t even try! I’m sure Auntie Chris can find something else for you. Some fresh fruit, perhaps?”

  “Yes, of course,” said Mum. “Lara, go and get some fruit for William, will you?”

  Lara stomped out to the kitchen and snatched up an apple and a banana.

  She got back in time to hear Auntie Meg say, “William did so well in his SATs. How about you, Lara? How did you do?”

  “OK,” said Lara.

  “I remember last year your mum was a bit worried about you.”

  “Yes. Well,” said Mum. She looked rather hard at Lara. “She’s doing a little bit better than she was.”

  “I’m so glad! I’ve never had to worry about William.” Auntie Meg patted the top of William’s head.

  Jade went, “Yuck!” and tried to turn it into a cough.

  Mum said, “Jade! I thought you were going out?”

  “I am,” said Jade.

  Lara watched enviously as Jade left the room.

  Auntie Meg said, “So, is Lara going to enter the writing competition this year? William’s going to.”

  William smiled a smug smile. He had already won the competition once. He had won it last year, when he was ten – a boring account of a day in the life of a stick insect. Yuck, yuck, yuck!

  “He’s going to do a proper, made-up story this time. But I’m sure that you could find something to write about, Lara!” said Auntie Meg kindly. “For instance, what’s been happening in your life?”

  “Found an egg thing,” said Lara hopefully. “Little egg thing? Running all about the compost heap?”

  There was a pause.

  “Probably just an ordinary beetle,” said William.

  It so was not!

  Chapter 3

  At six o’clock Auntie Meg said she and William must be going. Lara breathed a sigh of relief. At last! They all went to the door to say goodbye.

  “Don’t forget the writing competition,” said Auntie Meg.

  “Can’t think of anything to write about,” said Lara.

  William sniggered. “You could always write about your egg thing!”

  “Even if it is just an ordinary beetle,” agreed Auntie Meg. “William did a really lovely piece about his stick insect.”

  Lara scowled. She was sick of William. The minute he and Auntie Meg had gone, Lara went racing down the hall and into the garden.

  Next door’s cat was crouched by the compost heap. It was big and stripy, and was dabbing at something with its paw.

  “Go away!” shrieked Lara.

  She squatted down by the compost heap.

  There, under a pile of old leaves, was the little egg thing. Very gently, she picked it up. It wasn’t a beetle! It was an egg thing. Tiny little egg thing with two arms, two legs and a face. Big eyes stared up at her.

  Carefully, Lara walked back indoors with the egg thing cupped in her hands. “What have you got there?” asked her mum.

  “Just a leaf,” said Lara.

  She could have said, “See? An egg thing!” But she’d suddenly had a better idea. She would keep the egg thing a secret, just for a little while.

  She would observe it. And then she would write about it. ‘A Day in the Life of an Egg Thing’. She bet nobody had ever written about an egg thing before!

  She might even win the competition. That would show them!

  Lara? they would say. Lara has won a writing competition?

  With any luck, Auntie Meg would faint with the shock.

  Chapter 4

  In Lara’s room was a cage that had once belonged to her hamster. Lara settled the egg thing inside it. It had a little hamster house and was just right for an egg thing! Now she had to find out what egg things liked to eat.

  She went back down to the garden. She would try it with some bits of greenery. And maybe some carrot.

  When she got back to her room, the egg thing had vanished. Lara knelt down and peered into the hamster house. A pair of big eyes peered back at her.

  She pushed the greenery and the slices of carrot into the cage. The eyes went on peering.

  By the time Lara went to bed, the egg thing had eaten its carrot and was nibbling on a piece of greenery. As soon as it saw Lara, it began to run frantically to and fro, squeaking loudly as it did so. Lara sank back onto her heels.

  Maybe it was cruel to keep it in a cage? But she needed it for study! She had to enter the competition and show Auntie Meg she was just as good as that stuck-up William.

  She must obviously take a photo! No one would ever believe her if she didn’t have proper proof. They would all go, Oh, that’s just Lara making things up.

  The egg thing squeaked all night. It was very upsetting. Lara sat up in bed.

  A single star was shining through a gap in the curtains. The egg thing was stretching out its arms towards it. What did it want?

  Lara picked up the cage and carried it over to the window. The egg thing had stopped squeaking. It stood very still, clutching at the bars with tiny hands.

  It seemed to be listening. Lara listened, too. Faintly, in her head, she heard a voice.

  “Come,” it was calling. “Come!”

  “Oh, all right,” said Lara crossly, “we’re coming!”

  Chapter 5

  It was dark in the garden – just the odd star and a strange light that hung over the compost heap.

  T
he egg thing was jumping up and down, squealing with excitement.

  Clutching the cage, Lara hurried down the path. In the beam of light she could see two more of the egg things. Bigger ones, this time.

  They hovered just overhead. Lara opened the cage. With loud squeaks of joy, the baby egg thing scuttled out.

  The two big ones immediately swooped on it.

  “Earthling, we thank you!”

  The words echoed inside Lara’s head. “You rescued our child from the savage beast!”

  “Please don’t mention it,” said Lara politely.

  She supposed that a large, stripy cat would seem like a savage beast if you were an egg thing.

  The voice went on inside her head: “We were on our way through space when our child fell to Earth. We feared he was lost to us forever. So thank you, Earthling, and farewell!”

  Lara watched until the baby egg thing and its parents were no more than tiny specks high up in the sky. And then the light faded and they were gone.

  Lara sighed. “At least,” she thought, “I took a photo.”

  Chapter 6

  Nobody could believe it when Lara won first prize in the writing competition. Lara could hardly believe it herself.

  “Mum!” she cried. “Look!”

  “What’s this?” asked her mum. “Lara Jenkins… first prize? For her short story, ‘A DAY IN THE LIFE OF AN EGG THING’?”

  “Wow!” said her dad. “We have a writer in the family!”

  “Go on, then,” said her mum. “Read it to us!”

  Lara did so. “Thing is,” she said, “it’s not really a story. Not a made-up one. It all actually happened!”

  Needless to say, nobody believed her. “Yeah, yeah,” said Jade. “Little egg things from outer space!”

  “How did you manage the photo?” asked her dad. “Did you make a model?”

  Lara said, “Dad! I didn’t have to. I had the real thing!”

  Dad laughed. Jade rolled her eyes. Mum said, “You know what? I’m really looking forward to telling Auntie Meg… by the way, Lara won first prize in the writing competition. Oh, yes! A real story.” She looked at Lara and giggled. “That’ll show her!”

  Later that evening Lara went into the garden and gazed up at the stars. Somewhere out there was the little egg thing. And nobody but her believed that it was real!

  Aliens and unusual pets

  Nobody knows whether or not intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe.

  However, the universe contains billions of galaxies. Each galaxy contains billions of stars, like our sun. If just a few stars have planets like Earth, then hundreds, or even thousands, of alien civilisations could exist.

  It is perfectly possible that one day alien beings could visit the Earth. They might be as strange as the real pets some people have.

  How about a hippopotamus that lives in the house?

  Or a Mexican dog fish, which the Japanese call Wooper Loopers?

  Skunks are good pets. You can cuddle a skunk. But be sure not to scare it or it will make a horrible smell!

  Questions

  How did Lara’s mum, dad and sister react when she tried to tell them about the little egg thing?

  Why is Lara sick of William?

  What did William say the little egg thing probably was?

  Where does Lara keep the little egg thing?

  What is her plan?

  Why does she take a photo of the egg thing?

  What makes her let the egg thing go?

  Where do you think the egg things might have come from?

  Would an egg thing make a good pet?

  How would you describe Lara?

 

 

  Jean Ure, Eggs on Legs

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