An Excellent Invention Read online

  ‘But there are facts everywhere in here.’ Mila pointed to the posters on the walls. ‘Since we got here I have learnt all the capital cities of the world. I know how big Jupiter is. I know how caterpillars turn into butterflies,’ Mila said. ‘We Tinklers learn very quickly. That’s why we don’t need to come to school very often.’

  ‘But you have to come to school every day,’ said Miss James.

  ‘Every day?’ said Mila. ‘That’s not possible. If we came every day who would feed the pigeons? Who would eat the bakers’ treats? Who would argue with Mrs Fitz? Who would play Ludo with the Splatleys?’

  ‘We never play Ludo with the Splatleys,’ Marcus reminded her.

  ‘Good point,’ said Mila. ‘But all the same, I think it is time to go, don’t you?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Turtle.

  ‘I guess so,’ said Marcus. He thought school seemed pretty fun. Maybe they could come back another time, when Mila’s head had stopped buzzing.

  Outside, the bed gave a loud creak. It thought it was time to go home too.

  THE TINKLERS headed towards the open window. ‘Why are you going that way?’ asked one of the kids in the class. ‘The door is over there.’

  ‘It’s one of our rules,’ said Mila.

  Marcus had never heard this rule before. But he liked it.

  One, two, three – JUMP!

  Marcus was the first Tinkler out the window. Mila went next. Last was Turtle. She landed on her shell. For a moment she lay there, waggling her legs in the air.

  Then she rolled onto her front and stood up. Miss James and the class were watching through the window.

  ‘See?’ Turtle said. ‘I told you turtles could jump.’

  Miss James looked worried.

  ‘Don’t worry, Miss James,’ Marcus told her. ‘We will come back another day.’

  ‘When?’ asked the kids.

  ‘When my head needs some new facts,’ said Mila.

  But Marcus knew it would be a long time before they came back. Mila never ran out of facts. She was always making up new ones.

  Marcus fluffed up the pillows of the bed-mobile. He patted down the covers. All the kids watched out the window. Miss James watched too. It was clear they were all thinking the same thing: I wish I could RIDE on a BED-MOBILE!

  Marcus started the engine and the bed-mobile lifted up onto its back wheels. The Tinklers had to hold on very tightly to stop from falling off.

  The bed ZOOMED off across the playground and out of the school. On the street Mila started calling out facts. She yelled ‘The capital of France is Paris!’ to an old man walking his dog. She yelled ‘Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system!’ to a mother pushing a pram.

  ‘What are you doing?’ asked Marcus.

  ‘I’m getting some of these facts out of my head,’ said Mila.

  Mila kept calling facts out to people. But they soon started to change. At the traffic lights, Mila told a woman that the sun could fit in a teacup. And by the time they bed-mobile arrived back at thirty-three Rushby Road, Mila had told the man in the fruit shop that the capital of Australia was Pluto.

  She smiled. ‘Phew! I finally have all those facts out of my head. Now I can start making up my own ones. Just as well, because today I’m going to write a new book, called Trees Can Swim.’

  The Tinklers went upstairs to their flat. Mila started her new book. Turtle went to her room to get all the crumbs out of her shell. Marcus took the bed-mobile down to his workshop. The Tinklers didn’t need to go to school again anytime soon. They wouldn’t need to use the bed-mobile for a while.

  But Marcus already had a new idea about what to do with the bed-mobile. Maybe he could turn it into a bed-plane instead? It was certainly worth a try.

  An Excellent Invention

  published in 2014 by

  Hardie Grant Egmont

  Ground Floor, Building 1, 658 Church Street

  Richmond, Victoria 3121, Australia

  www.hardiegrantegmont.com.au

  This ebook is also available as a print edition in all good bookstores.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers and copyright holders.

  A CiP record for this title is available from the National Library of Australia.

  eISBN: 9781743581438

  Text copyright © 2014 MC Badger

  Illustration copyright © 2014 Leigh Brown and Jon Davis

  Series design copyright © 2014 Hardie Grant Egmont

  Design by Elissa Webb

  Illustrations by Leigh Brown and Jon Davis

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