The Riverbank Otter Read online

  First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Children’s Books in 2018

  Published in this ebook edition in 2018

  HarperCollins Children’s Books is a division of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd,

  HarperCollins Publishers

  1 London Bridge Street

  London SE1 9GF

  The HarperCollins Children’s Books website address is

  www.harpercollins.co.uk

  Text copyright © Sarah Lean 2018

  Illustrations copyright © Anna Currey 2018

  Cover illustration © Polly Noakes 2018

  Cover hand-lettering type © Anneka Sandher

  Cover design © HarperCollinsPublishers 2018

  Sarah Lean and Anna Currey assert the moral right to be identified as the author and illustrator respectively of the work.

  A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook onscreen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

  Source ISBN: 9780008165758

  Ebook Edition © 2018 ISBN: 9780008165765

  Version: 2018-01-08

  To Peter Lean and Wells Rotary Club for helping to bring stories to the children of the Korup region in Cameroon.

  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Map

  Chapter 1. Surprises

  Chapter 2. Spinaway

  Chapter 3. Lucky Day

  Chapter 4. Holding On

  Chapter 5. Walking the Plank

  Chapter 6. Happy Day

  Chapter 7. Letting Go

  Chapter 8. Diamonds

  Keep Reading …

  About the Author

  Also by Sarah Lean

  About the Publisher

  Map

  Tiger Days loved tigers. She lived in a busy town and spent a lot of time indoors where she liked to draw pictures of tigers. But ever since Tiger had been visiting her grandmother, May Days, at Willowgate House in the countryside, she was beginning to be more adventurous outdoors. May Days used to live on a wildlife reserve in Africa, and even now she sometimes looked after animals that were in need of helping hands.

  Tiger was on her way to Willowgate with her dad. She never knew what might happen during her stays and was often nervous about new things. But she was looking forward to sharing the summer weeks with Holly the cat and her friend Tom, who stayed with his grandfather next door during the holidays too.

  While driving along the country road, all of a sudden Mr Days slammed on the brakes.

  “What happened?!” said Tiger, frowning. Her tummy was now turning in a worried twirl even before they had arrived.

  Mr Days asked Tiger to stay put while he got out of the car and walked cautiously around to the front. “No need to panic, Tiger,” he said. “Come and look.”

  Toddling across the road in front of the car was a duck with an emerald green head and orange beak and feet. It could have been unfortunate for the duck crossing the road at that moment.

  “You are a very lucky duck,” Tiger said and sighed with relief.

  “Animals have no road sense,” said Mr Days, hurrying the flapping, quacking duck to the verge on the other side. “Nobody teaches them to cross the road.”

  “They need to go to duck school,” Tiger said, and laughed thinking about lessons for ducks: Feather Fluffing, How to Waddle Nicely, and How to Land on a Pond Without Doing an Embarrassing Roly-poly.

  “Hopefully you won’t have any more unexpected surprises at Willowgate,” her dad said as they set off again.

  Tiger wondered about this and felt annoyed at herself for always feeling wobbly when something unexpected happened. Tiger decided that this visit would be different. She would stop feeling worried and instead be prepared for anything. Tiger made a plan …

  “This time I am going to surprise May Days,” she told her dad.

  “How will you do that?” asked Mr Days.

  “I’ll think of something,” said Tiger. She would have to wait for a good opportunity, but she was very determined she would surprise her grandmother for a change.

  Willowgate House looked as raggedly grand as ever, with its tall chimney pots and the conservatory on the side that leaned slightly to the left. Tiger asked her dad to park the car at the end of the drive, so they could go quietly up to the house.

  The grass was even longer than the last time they visited and they had to lift their legs up high to get through.

  “I am going to surprise May Days straight away,” Tiger said.

  Tiger crept around to the back of the house. May Days was in the kitchen putting biscuits on a plate. Holly the cat was sitting on a chair staring at the open back door, her eyes wide like green glass marbles, as if she already knew her favourite friend was about to arrive.

  May Days saw Holly prick her ears, and turned round. “There’s a tiger in the house!” she said, before Tiger could creep up on her.

  Her first attempt at a surprise had not worked, but Tiger quickly decided she’d think of something bigger and better.

  “You need a lawnmower, Mum,” said Mr Days as he came in.

  Tiger knew that her dad and May Days would spend the next few hours catching up over gallons of tea at the kitchen table before Mr Days drove home, so she quickly asked a few important questions first.

  “Is the house still skewwhiff?” she said, hugging her grandmother while her dad waited for his turn. Willowgate House was very old and needed lots of repairs. They used the kitchen, but apart from that the house was not ready to live in.

  “It is,” said May Days.

  “Will we still be sleeping in the tent in the garden?”

  “Yes, we will.”

  “Are there any new animals to look after?”

  “Not this time,” May Days said. “And, before you ask, Tom’s already here with Grumps next door and, yes, the foxes have gone.”

  Earlier in the year, Tiger and Tom had loved seeing the fox cubs who had made their home under the garden shed. Now the cubs were grown, they had left their den to find new homes.

  Tiger put biscuits in her pocket, kissed her dad and said she’d see him in a couple of weeks.

  “Well, this is a surprise,” said Mr Days, who was used to Tiger clinging to him before he left. “Where are you going in such a hurry?”

  Tiger grinned. It was easy to surprise her dad. “Tom and I have been waiting and waiting to make our own den in the shed,” she said. “Come on, Holly.” The cat jumped down from the chair and followed Tiger into the garden.

  Tiger ran to the gap under the hedge between Willowgate and Tom’s grandfather’s house. Summer growth had made the hedge thicker than ever and Tiger had to scrabble through on her elbows and tummy, although the tunnel was about the right size for Holly.

  Tiger could hear Tom and Grumps in the kitchen and she gently pushed Holly ahead through the open door.

  “Hey, it’s Holly!” said Tom.

  Tiger jumped out from behind the door. “And me!” she said, pleased that she had made Tom jump when she sprang out.

  “How is our little wildlife expert?” said Grumps. “Any animals at Willowgate to keep you busy this holiday?”

  “Not today,” said Tiger and she told them the news tha
t the foxes had gone from under the shed.

  “At last we can make our den!” said Tom.

  They wanted to start right away and together they scrambled back under the hedge and raced across Willowgate’s wild garden, fighting their way through the tangled grass, with Holly leaping closely behind.

  The shed was partly hidden by bushes and trees, and the windows were covered in dusty boards. Tiger and Tom had only been in the shed briefly once before, so they were excited to explore it properly.

  They smiled at each other and pushed on the large door that creaked as it swung open. Sunlight peeped through gaps between the planks of the walls.

  An enormous green mound, as big as a car, loomed in the middle of the floor. When they had first seen it, they’d convinced themselves it was a monster, but now they knew it had to be something else …

  “Maybe it’s a big pile of logs like in Grumps’s shed,” said Tom, “or a car.” He crouched to look underneath, but there was no sign of any wheels.

  “It would be good if it was a giant lawnmower,” said Tiger, thinking she could run back up to the house and tell her dad he could mow the long grass for May Days. Tiger hoped it wouldn’t be a nasty surprise and was determined not to be worried, whatever it was. It was about time they found out.

  Holding the corners of the green tarpaulin, Tiger and Tom tugged it away, blowing up a cloud of dust. They coughed and blinked, and their mouths fell open at what was underneath. There, left upside down many years before, was a wooden boat. Tiger bent over to read the upside-down name painted on the side.

  Spinaway

  Tiger and Tom asked May Days and Grumps to come down to the shed so they could show them what they’d found.

  The grandparents took down the boards from the windows to let in more light. Dust floated in the air as sunshine streamed in. They gathered around Spinaway, which was lying upside down off the floor on four long blocks of wood, while Holly sat on top of the boat.

  “We didn’t expect to find a ship in the shed,” said Tom.

  “Actually, this is not a ship. It’s a twelve-foot sailing dinghy with a clinker-built wooden hull,” said Grumps. “It’s fine to call it a boat, though,” he added.

  Tiger and Tom stared at Grumps with their mouths open.

  “How do you know all that?” asked Tom.

  “I sailed as a boy,” Grumps beamed. “And this is not a shed – it’s a boathouse.” He opened the big double doors at the other end and beckoned them over. Behind the boathouse, a concrete slope, called a slipway, led down to a wide river. As the garden was overgrown, with many parts still unexplored, the children hadn’t even known there was a river there. The water glinted in the sunlight. But, of all the things they could have discovered, water was one of Tiger’s least favourite. Despite her promise to herself, she began to worry.

  Once, Tiger had been in a blow-up rowing boat with her dad at the seaside. She remembered how wobbly she’d felt bumping over the waves, and how she had panicked when the boat tipped up and she fell in. Even though she was wearing armbands and could swim and the water wasn’t very deep, it wasn’t a nice memory at all.

  Tom had already found blue lifejackets in a box.

  Grumps found Spinaway’s mast and the sail, which was rolled up in a bag. A little sewing would fix the tear.

  “I would be happy to restore Spinaway to former glory, as she needs a little bit of work before she would be fit for us to sail in,” Grumps said.

  “I can’t wait to be on the water,” said Tom, while Tiger tried very hard not to feel anxious about what might lie ahead this holiday.

  May Days seemed very happy to let Grumps take care of the boat. “I have some clearing to be getting on with up at the house,” she said. “Looks like there’s some cleaning up to do here too!”

  “Holly has already started dusting,” said Tiger. The cat was nosing in a corner and had cobwebs on her whiskers. “I think I’ll help her. I want to have a look around and think about what sort of den we can make,” she said, hoping this would mean she wouldn’t have to go out in the boat.

  Now there was daylight coming into the boathouse, they could see there was a lot more to it than just a place to store Spinaway. There were wooden ladder-steps beside the back double doors, and Tiger clambered up to the loft-gallery where she could just about stand up under the sloping roof. She climbed over piles of boxes, ignoring the wooden oars, an anchor and coils of rope. Behind all the sailing things she wasn’t interested in Tiger found a triangular window looking out over the river. She rubbed the dust from the glass with her sleeve to see out.

  Drooping across the river on the other bank were willow trees, much smaller than the one at the end of Willowgate’s drive. At the side of the slope, hidden behind lots of reeds, was a jetty – a small wooden pier you could walk on, out over the water to where a boat could float. On the post at the end of the jetty was a duck. It looked exactly like the one Tiger had seen on the road.

  It flapped and flew off, landing smoothly in the river. Tiger decided what she wanted the den to be for, and bounded down the steps to find Tom.

  Before Tiger could say anything, Tom said, “I’ve got a brilliant idea. We could make the boathouse into a pirate den!”

  Tiger wasn’t expecting Tom to say that. Tom was excited about being a pirate, bravely roaming the river in the boat, and Tiger felt too embarrassed now to tell him that she was scared. She smiled at Tom and tried to look happy about being a pirate.

  “That sounds great, but my idea is that we make it a nature spotter’s den and learn about wildlife,” she said, hoping she could persuade Tom to change his mind.

  “But this is a perfect place to make a pirate den,” said Tom, who had his own strong idea. “We can walk the plank on the jetty and fly a skull and crossbones flag from the boat!”

  “We could,” said Tiger, “but we could also have a table and chairs and sit upstairs with binoculars and draw all the animals and wildlife we find.”

  Tom frowned a little. “We can pretend the river is the sea and go sailing to look for treasure,” he said. “Grumps could teach us how to sail and I really, really want to learn!”

  “But May Days could teach us about all the river animals,” said Tiger, although it made her feel uncomfortable to think she would be spoiling things for Tom.

  “This boathouse is so big,” said Grumps, hearing the children’s disagreement. “Lots of room for lots of ideas!”

  Disappointed in herself and feeling awkward, Tiger looked at the floor. Tom looked at the ceiling. Usually they wanted to do the same project – like being animal trainers or pet detectives – but not this time. Surely it would be much more fun if they were doing something together, but they’d need to agree first. Tiger could see how much Tom wanted to be a pirate. It didn’t seem fair to make him do something else.

  “We can do our own thing instead, if you want?” said Tiger, trying to look cheerful.

  “Only if you want to,” said Tom quietly.

  They agreed it might be better this holiday to try their own different things.

  “I’ll make a nature spotter’s den upstairs,” said Tiger.

  “I’ll make a pirate den downstairs,” said Tom.

  Tom and Grumps washed and dusted everything for the boat and screwed hooks into the walls to hang it up neatly. Grumps checked for holes and rot in the boat and declared that Spinaway only needed sanding and repainting.

  Tom made pirate plans with Grumps, but Tiger didn’t have anyone to share her ideas with as May Days was busy up at the house. She sat on the slipway with Holly. The cat stretched out in the sunshine and fell asleep, and Tiger watched and watched the river hoping to see the lucky duck again, but it had gone.

  In the tent that night, Tiger and May Days got into their sleeping bags on the camp beds.

  “You’ve been very quiet today,” said May Days.

  Tiger hadn’t wanted to be worried about unexpected things this holiday. But all she had succeeded in doin
g was making herself feel upset by not saying how she really felt about sailing on the water.

  “I wish we hadn’t found a boat,” she said.

  May Days held her hand. “I’m rather glad you did. Tom and his grandfather seem rather taken with Spinaway.”

  Both Tom and Grumps were very happy they had found the boat, and Tiger felt mean wishing they hadn’t.

  “Is there something else on your mind?” said May Days softly. “You can tell me.”

  Tiger took a deep breath and told the truth. “I’m scared of going on the water,” she whispered.

  “We all have things we are afraid of,” said May Days, and squeezed Tiger’s hand across the camp beds. “Perhaps, for now, you could think about something you’d like to do? Something important to you?”

  Tiger decided she would concentrate on making her own den special instead.

  Tom and Grumps were down at the boathouse, having a jolly time together. Tiger did what she liked best and drew a picture of a tiger and taped it to the wall of her den, but she had no luck spotting wildlife and had nothing to write in her journal. Feeling lonely without someone to share her project, she came back up to the house to find a friend, and scooped up Holly, carrying her around under one arm. She followed May Days in and out of the conservatory while her grandmother was busy cleaning some plant pots.

  “What’s going on down at the boathouse?” said May Days.

  “Tom and Grumps are telling each other pirate jokes,” Tiger said. “What do pirates eat at parties? Jelly Roger and cust-har-hard.” But she didn’t laugh as she was now feeling jealous that Tom was having such a good time without her.

  After lunch, Tiger sat in the kitchen with Holly on her lap trying to think of what else was important to her. Then she remembered her earlier promise to herself to surprise May Days. Normally she would ask Tom for ideas, but he was still at the boathouse with Grumps.