The Digglers

The Picnic

Everything was now back to normal after the storm. The fence and the window had been repaired and a new shed was in the garden. The old shed had been found on High Rise Hill so it must have been blown right over the house! The owl had become friends with the two girls and during the day, he perched on the roof so he had been named Roofus.

That morning, the girls were very excited. They were taking a letter to school. It was from Diane's father asking the teacher if she would like to bring the class to the island for a picnic. Diane and Lucy were hoping the teacher would let them come but Diane wouldn't cross her fingers, not after last time! They were pleased that afternoon as a letter from the teacher was taken home to say that she would be glad for the class to come. It was arranged for the following Friday and that they would spend the whole day on the island.

During the next few days, Diane and Lucy were very busy. They told the other children all about the island and took in their map and the book of pressed leaves and flowers to show them.

On the Thursday before the picnic, the teacher, Miss Hallas, told the children what they would be doing the following day. The head teacher, Mr. Kirk would also be going with them. He had hired a boat that would take them across at nine thirty. At first they would spend some time on the seashore collecting shells and pebbles. After, they would walk to High Rise Hill. From there they could see the whole of the island. They would then walk to Mirror Lake where they would have lunch, and after lunch a trip into the wood looking at the trees and plants and stopping for a while at Bubbling Brook. Then it would be time to go back to the beach and back to school.
'What a perfect day,' sighed Diane. 'I hope the weather is perfect too.'

That night, the girls stayed up to listen to the weather forecast on the radio.
'Tomorrow would be mainly fine with a few scattered showers,' said the weatherman.
'I hope he's right about the sunny bit,' said Diane as she made her way to bed. Every few minutes she got out of bed and went to the window to see if it was raining. It wasn't and after a few visits she became tired and fell asleep.

The next morning when she woke up she found much to her delight, the sun poring in through her window. Her mum didn't have a job getting the girls up! They were already dressed and downstairs before she came down.
'A lovely day for a picnic,' she said as she started to make breakfast.
'I do hope the other children will like the island,' she said to her mum.
After breakfast the two girls wanted to go down to the beach and wait for the other children.
'Don't forget your sandwiches, and I'll pop over to Mirror Lake at lunch time to see how you are getting on. Have a nice day!' shouted Diane's mum as she waved to them as she stood at the front door watching them as they walked down to the beach. Diane and Lucy had made a large cake for the teachers and the rest of the class and Diane's mum was going to bring it to Mirror Lake at lunch time.

At last the boat arrived. Miss Hallas and Mr Kirk helped the children get off. They spent some time on the beach and then went onto High Rise Hill. It was a lovely clear day and they could see the whole of the island. The children were feeling very hungry as they walked down the hill towards Mirror Lake. Everyone thought the lake was beautiful. It wasn't very big and was surrounded by trees. Miss Hallas has brought her camera and she took photographs of the children by the lake. They could now eat their sandwiches so the children sat in little groups. Diane and Lucy sat with two other girls. Whilst they were eating, Diane noticed Kevin walk over to the edge of the lake and start to pick some yellow flowers. He threw them into the water and threw stones at them to make them sail out into the lake. This was too much for Diane and she ran over to him and started shouting.
'What do you think you are doing picking those flowers?'
'Oh, shut up!' he replied rudely, 'Go and leave me alone!'
Kevin went over to some more flowers, picked them up and this time threw them on the floor and jumped on them. Diane rushed at him and he fell over and into the lake. Unfortunately, neither Miss Hallas or Mr Kirk had seen what was going on. A very wet Kevin crawled out of the lake and went over to where Diane had been sitting. He picked up the remainder of her sandwiches and threw them into the lake. Again Diane rushed at Kevin and they both fell fighting onto the ground. This time the teacher had seen them and hurrid over to separate them.
'What's going on?' she demanded as she picked them up off the floor.
They both looked very sorry for themselves as they stood their covered in mud.
Miss Hallas found out from the other children what had happened
'You must never pick flowers,' she said to Kevin severely. 'Others want to see them to.'
Afterwards he said he was sorry. Miss Hallas didn't punish Diane as she could see she was upset at losing her sandwiches and that was punishment enough. Besides, she had been right, it was just the way she went about it that was wrong.
Diane's mother arrived with the cake and it wasn't very long before she heard about the incident. Miss Hallas had a word with her and explained it really wasn't Diane's fault. Her mum took Kevin home with her to find him some dry clothes and she left everyone tucking into the cake.

After lunch they walked on to the wood. Diane soon felt better as she began to look for interesting things to collect and take back to school. Kevin who had now rejoined the group made sure that the things he collected were not growing and he kept one eye open for Diane. By the time they got to Bubbling Brook, it was late afternoon and the children were feeling rather tired. Just as they were sitting down to have a rest, they felt a few drops of rain. The sun had disappeared and the sky was covered with thick black clouds. Diane told her teacher about the cave by the beach. Both Miss Hallas and Mr Kirk thought it would be a good idea to shelter there until the boat came. After a few minutes walk they reached the cave just as the rain was getting heavier. They would only have half an hour to wait for the boat. Whilst they were waiting, Miss Hallas told them a story about pirates. At last the boat arrived and the children said goodbye to Diane and Lucy. Diane went over to Kevin. A look of fear came over his face and he wondered if she was going to push him into the sea!
'Good-bye, Kevin. I'm sorry I pushed you into the lake but you mustn't treat flowers like that.'
'I'm sorry too,' said Kevin and the two children shook hands. Diane and Lucy stood at the entrance to the cave and waved until the boat was out of sight. They then ran all the way home.

The children in the class were very busy over the next few weeks. All the things they had collected were put on a large table and labelled. The children wrote about their trip to the island. In the centre was Diane and Lucy's map. When all the work was finished, Diane's mum and dad were invited to see the display. They were pleased and proud and so were Diane and Lucy.
'Well you can't grumble about sharing your island now,' said her mum tucking Diane in bed that night.
'No,' said Diane, 'but I wish everyone could be as happy as me!'