56

„Grandpa, tell me the story!“, little Amy pleaded. „All right, I've already prepared one.“, grandpa said and pulled a mysterious thick book out of the drawer. „This is my scrapbook. When I was your age, I lived in a village in a small house. Look, this is the map I've drawn. This red cross represents my village. Opposite the village there is a railroad track that was always very interesting to children, but no one could approach it without the permission of the adults. Our village was surrounded by meadows and mountains. It was a perfect place to play and see the animals. The most interesting place there was a huge old castle and children were not allowed to go there. Everyone feared that castle because they thought it was haunted. I used to play every day with a friend Alisha. We often played hide and seek, we even built a small tent. We were very proud of it. We kept sweets, stickers and toys there. Our other friends were animals: squirrel Luna, rabbit Puki and bear Leon. We could talk to them like to kids. “How did that bear not eat you?“, Amy was suspicious. „Bruno was a very good bear and he would never eat his friends. We always played and helped each other. One day Luna came to us and wept. „The forest is destroyed, all the trees are cut down!“, Alisha and I quickly followed her to the small bush where Puki and Bruno were waiting for us. I took the binoculars out of the bag and looked. Every tree was destroyed. „Now we all have to move away.“, Puki said. “No, we will save your home!“, I tried to play a superhero and not to cry because that part of the forest was our favourite place to play. „You can move into our small tent until we find the solution!“, Alisha suggested. „We have to go home, it is getting late. See you tomorrow!” I said and ran into the house. That night I could not sleep. Who did it and why? How bad are those people! I will show them! What will happen to Luna, Puki and Bruno? We need to find them a new home! And that castle? There is certainly enough room for them in it! But this castle is haunted ... and I bet our parents just want to scare us with that story! I have no choice... animals are my friends and I will find them a home! The following afternoon, I presented Alisha, Luna and Puki my plan and soon our entire squad was in front of the spooky castle. „I’m scared!“, Puki said. „Ok then! All of you who are afraid stay here outside and the rest follow me in the castle!“, I said, and headed for the entrance. Only Bruno followed me and others shuddered with fear. Suddenly we heard the banging behind a huge wooden door. Bruno peered through the key hole. In the room there was a man sitting in a white cardigan with a funny hairstyle and big glasses. He looked like a real scientist. „Hahahahaha ... now my dream will finally come true! “, he shouted. „What dream? “, Bruno was confused. Fortunately, the scientist was busy talking to himself and he didn’t hear him. “This miserable forest will be turned into the most successful factory ever! And I'll earn so much money that I won’t have to live with my mom anymore! I just hope that all these boring trees go away as soon as possible!“ Then Bruno sneezed. The crazy scientist was so upset that he fell from his chair. Then he screamed: “Ghosts, help! “ Bruno and I quickly ran out of the castle and the rest of our group joined us without questions. We explained them everything in the tent. „Hey, if he is such a coward we will easily get rid of him! “, Alisha cautiously smiled.“We’ll meet tomorrow morning in front of my garage. Good night! “, said Alisha and we went home. In the morning we all met in front of Alisha’s garage. Alisha brought us to her attic and opened a huge chest. There were Halloween costumes and toys inside. „How will this help us to defeat a grownup man?” Luna was confused. „This scientist is very fearful. We'll go to the castle this evening and scare him away!” Alisha laughed. Soon, we all dressed up in costumes. Alisha became an Indian girl, Luna dressed up as a Batman, Puki dressed as a knight, Bruno became unrecognizable with the help of pirate costumes, and I was a red dragon. We also took some weapons from the chest: an umbrella, a broom and a toilet brush. Soon, the evening came and we all went to the castle. „Ok, this is the plan: I'll light the lamp and we'll all make a scary pose and make noisy sounds when I give you a sign. And be quiet while we climb up the stairs!”We all slowly climbed to the big room and saw the scientist.“On three! One! Two! Three!“, I shouted and turned on the flashlight. We all started screaming, shouting and dancing. The scientist saw our shadow and screamed. He tried to stand up, but he slipped on one of his papers and fell on the floor. We all ran outside, hid behind a huge oak tree and soon saw the scientist running out of the castle and yelling „This place is haunted, help me!“. „He’ll never come back!“, Puki said and we all laughed. The next day we planted the seeds of oak trees for the new forest and we became the happiest squad in the world.“, said Grandpa and closed the scrapbook. „Wow, this was the best story ever!“ exclaimed Amy. Grandpa kissed her and got out of the room. „And did she like the story?“, a cute squirrel jumped on grandpa's arm. „Of course, Luna!”, Grandpa smiled and looked through the open window.