Hiya! You look a bit pale. Are you sure youâre all right? No medical problems I can help you with? No aches or pains, bumps or bruises? Are you sure now, because Dr Kenny is at your service. Hey, donât look at me like that. I know what Iâm talking about. Iâve spent a lot of time in hospital recently. Well not that much time, actually, but enough to know that I absolutely definitely still want to be a doctor. No, I havenât been ill or anything. But Rosie has. Well not ill exactly⦠Look, youâd better sit down and Iâll tell you everything.
OK, well, the whole thing started a few weeks ago when we were round at Rosieâs for a sleepover. It was this really warm evening and we were getting pretty wild, as you do. Now you know what Rosieâs house is like, donât you â itâs kind of big and ramshackle and needs doing up. Rosieâs always freaking out because her father keeps promising to come back and make a start on it, but he never does. He was pretty mean if you ask me, moving his family to this stonking great wreck of a house and then upping sticks and moving in with his new girlfriend as soon as they get here. Still, Rosieâs mum seems happy enough and so do Adam and Tiff, her brother and sister. Itâs just Rosie who gets all wound up about it sometimes.
Anyway, there we were chasing around outside Rosieâs house, and Fliss â who else? â was being really boring.
âWe shouldnât be messing about round here,â she whined. âMrs Cartwright told us not to. Itâs dangerous!â
Now it was true that Rosieâs mum had warned us hundreds of times not to play round the back of the house because there was loads of rotten old junk on the patio area. You know the kind of thing â a cruddy old bedstead with springs poking out of it, rotten planks of wood, hundreds of rusty nails, you get the picture. But the trouble was that even though we knew we werenât supposed to play there, it somehow drew us like a magnet.
But Fliss is such a goody-goody. She always does everything adults tell her. I mean, thatâs not normal is it? So what can a girl do but rise to the challenge?
âCome on Fliss, live dangerously!â I mocked, climbing on top of the rusting heap of junk. âWhat do you thinkâs going to happen? Do you think the rubbish is going to leap up and BITE you?â
As I yelled that, I jumped up, and a load of old manky pipes came clattering down behind me.
âI think you ought to be careful Kenny,â warned Frankie. âIt does look kind of dangerous over there.â
Thatâs typical of Frankie these days! Not too long ago sheâd have been up on that pile of rubbish herself. But now? Oh no, sheâs gone all responsible, hasnât she? Just because sheâs got Izzy her baby sister to think about. I mean, Izzyâs not even with her half the time, but Frankie still thinks sheâs got to set some kind of example. Crazy if you ask me. And kind of boring. Now donât get me wrong, she can still be kind of wild sometimes. Itâs just that on this particular evening she definitely had her serious head on.
âOh come on, you guys! Whatâs the matter with you?â I yelled exasperatedly. âIâm only trying to have some fun. You remember what that is, donât you?â
The others were all standing at the bottom of the junk heap looking up at me.
âWhat about you Lyndz?â I asked. âYou always like a laugh, donât you?â
Lyndz has four brothers, so she knows how to hold her own. And sheâs usually up for most things too.
âNah,â she shook her head. âI think Iâll give it a miss, thanks.â
What a load of wimps! The only person who looked kind of intrigued was Rosie herself.
âCome on then Rosie-Posie!â I teased. âLetâs see what youâre made of!â
I climbed higher up the pile of junk and stared at her defiantly. âDonât tell me youâre chicken as well,â I goaded her.
Rosie flashed her eyes at me and fixed her mouth in an expression of determination. She was just about to put her foot on the bottom of the pile when Lyndz said:
âI wouldnât do that if I were you, Rosie. Iâve just heard your Tiff come in the gate. Sheâd be furious if she saw you.â
âYeah, sheâll tell your mum and then weâll all be in deep doom,â reasoned Frankie.
I was fed up with the others interfering. So I started to cluck and flap my arms about. But it was pretty tough keeping my balance, because I could feel all the rubbish shifting beneath me whenever I tried to move my feet. Rosie looked round, but there was no sign of Tiff â just Fliss and the others looking at her anxiously.
âCome on Rosie, donât be a wimp. Itâs ace up here!â I called, throwing my arms wide. The bedstead creaked ominously beneath me.
Rosie looked at me and grinned.
âDonât do it Rosie. Please!â whispered Fliss.