The Thing I Found by Harcourt Tendhall

16 March 2021  { Crime/Thriller }


It was dark in the woods, they said, but it wasn’t to me. The woods are like magic, a great place to play. All my animal friends live there. I even took one of my best school friends there once, but she didn’t like it. She said it was mucky cos she got mud on her shoes.

The woods are at the end of our garden. We have our own gate and there’s a big fence, so nobody can get in. It’s great for me, cos we live here on our own; we’re eye slated, Daddy says. It’s too far from the village to walk here, so my school friends can’t just visit, and I can’t just visit them, not without Mummy or Daddy. When friends do visit me, we just have fun in the garden. Grown-ups don’t like it when they can’t see us, so we don’t go in the woods. I don’t undestand why they need to see us all the time. They don’t watch what we’re doing; they’re too busy talking, but that’s the rules.

Anyway, I have some great friends in the woods. The ants are brilliant. They keep the woods clean by taking stuff away that’s died. I love the way they work together, and they’re super-strong, carrying things much bigger than they are. The wood lice are shy. I’m very careful when I turn over rottin branches, so’s not to scare them, but they always run away, them and the beetles. The mice are shy too, but if you sit really, really quiet and really, really still for long enuff, they come out to play and gather nuts and things to eat. They have to be very careful, or they might get eaten. I only see them when it starts going dark. Finkin about it, lots of the animals only come out then, like the foxes and badgers. The foxes are a bit like dogs, but I think the badgers are best. They’re all nok nocturnel.

In the daytime, I see birds more, except the squirrels, and the weasel, of course. He’s always around, rummagin in evryfin. He’d eat a mouse if he could catch one. Squirrels are my most faverit. They love playing and chasing each other up and down the trees. They make me giggle. Mummy says they’re Red Squirrels and they’re in danger. They don’t look in danger to me.

The birds are amazing. I can tell where they are by hearin before I see them. They all have diffrent songs. It’s like their way of speaking and kind of like they all speak a diffrent langwige, but I think it’s the same langwige, but with diffrent words, like, ‘I’m a robin, where are all my robin friends?’ And he’ll get a reply, like, ‘Hiya Jack Robin, Gill Robin here.’ They all do this, but diffrent words. I can tell what type of bird it is by their song and there’s lots of diffrent ones.

There’s a pond at the bottom of the wood. It’s not very big, or very deep, but I know I’ve not to go in it. It’s impotent not to disturb the animals that live in the pond. There’s frogs and newts in there. They’re special cos they can hold their breath under water for ages. They’re a bit shy too, but if you sit very, very still, the frogs pop up and you can watch them and hear them croaking. Sometimes, there’s loads of frogspawn that turn into tiny tadpoles and they grow into little frogs. When that happens, they leave the pond. I know a lot of them get eaten by other animals, but that’s nature, that’s what my teacher says.

That’s the thing with the woods. I see lots of it. Animals eat other animals. Some catch and eat smaller animals, but sometimes, it’s the other way round. If a big animal dies, like a fox or a badger, smaller animals eat it. And when they’re full, even smaller ones tuck into what’s left. Then, when they’ve all done, the ants come along and clear evryfin away, like Mummy does after our tea. That’s how nature works.

It was when I was down near the pond that I found it. It was diffrent and I didn’t like it. I only saw a blotchy hand, but I knew it shouldn’t be there. It wasn’t nature, and it was smelly. The rest of it was still buried. It looked like the badgers had dug it up, there was fresh soil everywhere and their claw marks in the hole. I ran home.

‘Mummy, come quick, there’s a man in the woods, near the pond.’

She looked at me with quizzy eyes, ‘What did you just say?’

‘A dead man, near the pond; the badgers dug him up.’

‘It can’t be a dead man. Just a minute, I’ll get my wellies and you can show me.’

I ran to the gate and looked back, ‘Come quick, Mummy!’

She was walking so slowly, but said, ‘Okay, okay, I’m coming.’

I ran on ahead and found the spot straight away. I had to remember Mummy is a grown-up and can’t just go the same way as me, so it takes her longer.

When she got there, she put on a frowny face and when she got closer, gasped, ‘Oh, my God! Come away, we’ve got to phone the Plice!’

She grabbed my wrist and started crashing through the trees, back to the garden.

‘Mummy, Mummy! It hurts. Let go.’

She stopped and said, ‘Oh, I’m sorry, darling. Mummy’s a bit shocked. Come on, you lead the way.’

I ran ahead and held the gate open. Mummy ran through and straight to the house. I always shut the gate proply; make sure the catch is on. When I got there, she was on the phone, asking for the Plice.

When she finished talking to them, she said, ‘There’s going to be a lot of plicemen here soon. I want to let them into the field, so they can get their cars closer to the bottom of the wood. I need to ring Daddy. Can you open the gate for me? Be careful of the road.’

I ran out of the house but checked the road for cars before I went to the big gate. It’s just next to our garden. It was hard to get the rope off the post. I had to climb on the gate, but I’m good at climbing, so I did it. Then I had to push really hard to get it open. It was a good job I still had my wellies on, cos it was muddy.

When I got back, Mummy said she’d spoken to Daddy, and he was coming home straight away.

* * *

After all the Plice got here it was like, crazy for a bit. Then this nice lady asked me to show her where the man was. I didn’t think she was a Plicewoman, cos she didn’t have a uniform. I think she was a tective, like on the telly. Anyway, I took her through the wood and showed her the man. She had a frowny face too and asked me if I’d seen anything else, so I pointed to the big fence. There was a piece of cloth stuck to the bard wire. She looked and said there was a footprint as well. She said she’d leave them for a man called Sockoe to invest a gate. I didn’t undestand, but that’s what she said. Maybe we’ll get a new gate at the end of the wood. I told her it was important not to disturb the frogs and newts. She smiled and nodded, so I think they’ll be okay. We went back to the house and she spoke to lots of other Plice.

Daddy was home when we got back, so he asked me all about it. I felt very impotent, cos they all wanted to speak to me. Daddy said I must tell the Plice evryfin I know, but I don’t think they wanted to know about the squirrels and the mice, or even the foxes. They did ask me about the badgers, though.

Later, when it got quieter, I snook out of the house and into the woods. I crept through the trees quietly, although I could hear lots of Plice where the dead man was. When I got closer, I stopped and stared. There was a big white glowing tent where the dead man was. Lots of Plice, all in white clothes, with hoods and gloves and masks, were in and out of the tent. All of them had blue plastic bags on their feet. Maybe they were to keep their shoes clean. They should just wear wellies. Some of them were looking at the ground all around the tent, like they’d lost sumfin.

I wanted to tell them they’d never find it. I’ve lost money, buttons and evryfin and never find them. I think the ants take them away to their underground rubbish tip, like they do with evryfin else. Anyway, I didn’t tell them, I just crept back to the house and Daddy told me off for going looking. I’m not allowed back in the wood now until Mr Sockoe has gone.

The nice Plice lady is staying with us. Someone called her Fam Liyay Son. It sounds Chinese, but she’s not Chinese. She said I can call her Sally and she’s my friend. I’ve told her all about the animals and birds in the woods.

The next day, Daddy went to work, like normal, but Sally is still here. We talked again, but I’m fed up with her now, cos she keeps talking about the man and the badgers. She doesn’t want to know about the other animals at all. She told Mummy that Mr. Sockoe will be finished today, and they’ve caught a man for killing the man in the wood, who they’re keeping in custard. She said he’s up to his neck in it. That made me giggle.

I can’t wait to see our new gate.


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