The rest of the afternoon passed in a state of listless anxiety. Our wonderful father, the man on whom Jimmy and I depended entirely for our livelihood, our support and our happiness, had been reduced to a pitiful husk of himself, all shreds of his growing confidence now drained away. Who could have predicted that such an idyllic-looking village, home to so many genuinely nice people, could have brought a good man so low? And all of Pa’s problems – Eli’s hut, the fate of the woodland, and the missing five thousand pounds – led back to one individual: the Blackness.

Eventually I encouraged Pa to go up to bed. Jimmy and I sat down to eat the cold supper Mrs D had left out for us, but he seemed strangely unsettled, pushing the food around on his plate, when he would normally have wolfed it down in half the time it took me to finish.

‘What’s up, Jim?’

‘Parrot,’ he said.

‘Oh, don’t worry about that,’ I replied, relieved it wasn’t anything more serious. ‘Kit will find it soon enough. And if he doesn’t, we’ll go and look for it ourselves, shall we? I’m sure it will be safe on the island. Birds like being outdoors. Now, eat up and we’ll run you a bath.’

He seemed satisfied enough and ate a few mouthfuls of ham and hard-boiled egg, followed by some leftover bread-and-butter pudding, one of his favourites.

I ran a bath and scrubbed his back, which Jimmy loved; and then, at his insistence, I read the dragon stories all over again. And as I read, I realised what the next chapter should be about.

THE UGLY DRAGON

by Molly Goddard

Chapter 6: About evil

Jimmy and the crocodile were eating currant buns that Mrs D had declared were too stale, but he liked them anyway. So did the crocodile.

‘Goodness, these buns are tasty. Got any more?’ she asked. He passed them over and then realised that if he wasn’t careful, she would eat the lot – paper bag and all. So he took out a couple of buns and put them on the ground beside her. In two great chomps and with much clattering of teeth, they were gone.

‘Can I ask you a question?’ Jimmy said.

‘Feel free,’ she said. ‘Any more buns?’

‘Some people say you bring evil to the village if you are disturbed, and they’re blaming us children for playing on the lake and disturbing you.’

‘Ha-ha-ha-ha,’ she laughed. ‘Fancy me having the power to bring evil to the village.’

‘So it’s not true then?’

‘Of course not. I’m only a small ugly drag . . . I mean crocodile. Although there is an old legend about a black serpent who lives at the bottom of the lake and comes out to flick poison from his tongue. But tell me, what evil am I supposed to have caused?’