Sharkmander continued…

Chapter 4 

I’m ready to run but there is only the dead end of the cave. The grey egg glows as I realise there are dark spots scattered around it. But we’re stuck!  The ex-employee was trying to calm me down with a soft voice and the Sharkmander.

The Sharkmander pauses and tilts its head to one side. Since we weren’t going to harm her egg we were about to say until we held out our hands to show we weren’t going to threaten her. It seems to be working since the Sharkmander was lowering itself. It’s working! The former employee was talking to the Sharkmander and it worked.

“We’re leaving now,” we both say calmly, whilst walking past the Sharkmander. If we make one wrong step it would stab us with it’s sharp thins, that our eyes can only just recognise the sharpest point. But we made it past safely. 

Outside, I take a few deep breaths knowing we’re safe. Inside, we hear the Sharkmander waddle back to its nest to calm her and warm up her precious egg.

The fog was slowly clearing. The bright moon shines at the beach with star studs drifting in the dark, sky. We walk back to the office and talk. No one must find that circus. No one must walk in and find the Sharkmander and her precious egg. The retired employee kept rapidly telling me his ideas. Like trying to make people think the circus is haunted and abandoned with clowns that could kill you in a matter of seconds. I listen as he speaks at a five mph pace 

By the time we are near the middle of town,the sun was still shining in the dark ocean mouth. Jeff-went-Unlucky was pulling a few deckchairs out at the beach thinking it was a lovely day to celebrate Chads Ice cream Galores opening. We start setting off to go back to Gumdrops Galore and then the traffic starts getting hectic. 

I search for the keys in a hurry and grab the door heavily. Inside, it’s warm and relaxing. When I sit in my office I wonder if the Sharkmanders egg will hatch safely. 

Outside, The old employee wanders to look at our famous Gumdrop Galore painting. She points to her favourite bit and I sit there wondering what my favourite bit should be.

All day, the ex-employee sticks his nose all into the new stuff that wasn’t here when he was. Until he finds an old recipe written in 1907. Later that night I couldn’t stop thinking about the recipe and who wrote it because this business opened in 1913.