Narrow Escape Read Online Free

cushions. “It’s a treasured childhood toy and it would scar his little psyche to find it wrapped around a set of oily pipes.
    Geoff grabbed my arm and tried to roll me onto the floor; his long fingers digging into the spots between my ribs making me laugh and scream. I retaliated by trying to poke him in the tummy button. Mortimer, wondering what was going on, decided to join in. He couldn’t decide who to protect so he just jumped over both of us until we all fell off the sofa and lay in a screaming, giggling, and barking heap on the carpet.
    The noise finally roused Sam from the model he was making. I looked up to find him standing above us, shaking his head and looking long-suffering. Reaching down he plucked Beddy Bear from Geoff’s hand and, with a muttered “Mine I think,” wandered off down the boat.
    Geoff stood up and brushed himself off before pulling me to my feet. “Well I’d better go and try to defrost that stupid pump.” He glared at me and gave me one last poke in the ribs. “And, now that you’ve stolen my teddy bear, I’m going to have to find something else to melt the ice with.”
    Standing by the door he pulled on another pair of thick socks, a pair of boots, his fleece, a waterproof jacket, hat, and gloves. Turning carefully so that his increased girth wouldn’t knock anything from the top of our new TV cabinet he gave me a meaningful look. “Are you doing anything useful at the moment?” he asked.
    I stared around the sofa, my book lay face down on the cushion and my empty coffee mug had been knocked over. The blanket that I’d been burrowing into lay in a heap on the floor, it didn’t look like an area that was being used by a busy person. “Yes?” Well, it was worth a try.
    â€œI thought not.” He nudged the log basket with his foot. “We could do with some more fuel.” Grinning at me from under his hat he turned and headed out into the cold.
    Watching him go I considered if mutiny was an option. Grabbing my blanket I wrapped myself back up and sat on the sofa. Nope, I wasn’t going to get away with this. Eventually I couldn’t put it off any more and after faffing about clearing the coffee cups away I sighed and went to find my own outside gear.
    The wood was cosy and protected inside a small log store which, like a lot of other things at this time of year, was also covered by a heavy tarpaulin. Every time we needed fuel for the fire we had to battle with this frozen covering which seemed intent on staying exactly where it was. The wood was being used up at an alarming rate during this very cold snap and I knew that I would have to get into the store on my hands and knees to get to the back. I shuddered, there was no end of multi-legged ‘things’ that liked to live in the protective dark of the wood store. I peered into the coal scuttle. Oh poo, we were out of coal as well.
    Trying hard not to think about Cold Comfort Farm , I peered under the tarpaulin and did a good job of ignoring the scuttling shadows that rushed away from the sudden influx of daylight. “There’s nothing nasty in the woodshed.” I told myself firmly and inched my way under the tarpaulin.
    Holding the tarp up with my back and shoulders I reached in blindly and grabbed as much wood as I could and passed it out into the log basket. I knew from past experience that four handfuls of short-sawn planks would be enough to fill it. Something danced lithely over my knuckles, light and hairy, it was there and gone within seconds. I drew a breath in and stayed still while it tiptoed off into the darkness. Well that was the end of anything resembling sanity. Grabbing as much wood as I could I threw it into the basket, all the while trying to ignore the imaginary hairy little feet across the back of my neck. Finally, I pulled out from under the tarp and stood up; breathing hard. I could still feel something huge and hairy