Olive of Groves and the Great Slurp of Time by Katrina Nannestad Read Free Book Online

gobbled and gulped until the book was completely gone. ‘Num-num-num-num-num-num-num!’
    â€˜Oh no!’ cried Olive. ‘What have you done?!’
    The dinosaur screwed up her nose, coughed and spluttered. ‘Ghak! Ghak! Pfft!’
    A small damp shred of paper shot from her mouth and landed on Olive’s knee, its bold red uppercase letters glaring and sinister: BEWARE!
    â€˜Good grief,’ said Olive.
    â€˜Num-num-num-num-num-num-num!’ The dinosaur dropped onto the floor and gobbled Olive’s sock right down to where it disappeared into her shoe.
    â€˜Beware . . .’ muttered Basil. ‘Once the Time Slurp slips into reverse . . . what ?’ He stood up, snapped his braces, shook his head and wandered out of the hall, trying to recall something that he had once read . . .
    Something important . . .
    Or maybe not . . .
    If only he could remember . . .

9
    In which we see that the study of plants is every bit as entertaining as the study of bottoms
    â€˜Num-num-num-num-num-num-num!’
    Olive entered the science laboratory an hour later, with the dinosaur gnawing on her elbow. Pigg McKenzie was seated at the front of the room. A large notebook, a ruler, five pens and a pencil sat on the table in front of him. His front trotters were folded primly in his lap. Basil sat to his right, but the rest of the chairs at his table were empty. The pig’s goody two-shoes act fooled no-one . . . except poor, silly Mrs Groves . . . and Basil, of course, who was too new to realise that one should Avoid the Pig at All Costs.
    Pigg McKenzie smirked at Olive and patted the chair to his left.
    â€˜Urgh,’ she moaned and walked to the back of the room, as far from the pig as possible. She sat beside Frank, plonked the dinosaur on the table and yanked her elbow free.
    The prehistoric babe howled, dived past Olive and wrapped her jaws around Frank’s arm. ‘Num-num-num-num-num-num-num!’
    â€˜Oh, Olive!’ cried Mrs Groves, smiling and fluttering her eyelashes. ‘You seem to have a new pupil with you. Three newcomers in one day, how terribly exciting. A time traveller, a pig of great charm and a . . . a . . . a talking animal, I presume?’
    â€˜Num-num-num-num-num-num-num!’
    Frank’s eyes watered with pain.
    â€˜Num-Num!’ cooed Mrs Groves. ‘What a charming name! Unusual but charming.’
    â€˜Num-num-num-num-num-num-num!’
    â€˜Welcome to Groves,’ sang the headmistress. ‘I hope you will be very happy here, Num-Num.’
    Olive shrugged. It was as good a name as any!
    Frank pulled his arm free and frowned.
    â€˜She’s a baby dinosaur,’ Olive explained to him. ‘It’s a long story . . . unbelievable but true.’
    â€˜I prefer stories that are believable but untrue ,’ said Frank, who was a compulsive liar. His eyes twinkled andhe added, ‘You do know that baby dinosaurs double in size every twenty-four hours for the first three weeks of life?’
    Olive cast a nervous glance at Num-Num, who had just eaten an entire pencil case and its contents – thirty-six coloured pencils, eight jumbo crayons and a strawberry-scented eraser. The end of the zipper dangled stupidly out the side of her mouth. Was Frank lying . . . or did Num-Num already look bigger than when she first hatched?
    â€˜Today,’ announced Mrs Groves, ‘we are going to investigate a branch of science called botany.’
    â€˜Hee, hee! Bottomy!’ giggled Blimp. ‘Mrs Groves said a rude word!’
    â€˜Not bottomy! Botany! ’ groaned Wordsworth. ‘The study of plants.’
    â€˜Oh,’ sighed Blimp, his whiskers drooping with disappointment.
    Today’s lesson was botany , and while it was not quite as entertaining as discussing bottoms, Mrs Groves had filled the science laboratory with a spectacular range of plants in order to make the lesson as exciting as possible. There were moist mosses