Joey and Robin had been walking a while. They had called and tweeted for Ben but the hedge seemed to muffle the sound. A mist had been forming around their feet as the time went on, and now they could hardly see in front of them. Suddenly Joey heard the crunching of leaves, the hedge began to move just ahead. “Well, this is it” Joey thought and strung an arrow on his bow ready to shoot. The arrows weren’t sharpened, so they wouldn’t hurt anything, but would give them a bit of a donk as Granny called it. The rules were ‘no aiming at living things’, however this was a bit of an emergency. The rustling was now behind him, and he span around quickly walking backwards, his heart racing. Bow at the ready. WALLOP. He collided with something. He turned quickly bow at the ready, when his eyes met the eyes of… Ben! They were just about to burst out laughing with relief, when there was a louder rustle behind them. The boys looked ahead. The mist was swirling around mysteriously, when two glowing golden eyes appeared in the gloom. The boys looked at each other and raised their bows… “Prrrrrp. Prrrrp. Prrrrp” A small tortoiseshell cat with the black eye-patch of a pirate appeared in front of them. “Mim” shouted the boys, relieved once again. Ben put out his arm to stroke her, but Mim seemed to have other ideas. She ran back in the direction she had appeared from. “Mim. Where are you going?” shouted Ben and started running after her. “Ben, don’t be silly! Come back” shouted Joey running after Ben as he disappeared into the gloom.

Joey sighed. He seemed to have lost Ben again. “Where had that boy gone this time?” he thought. “Robin, we need to find them, and Grandad… and save Granny!” The Robin flew upwards from his shoulder, and away over the hedge and as he too disappeared Joey felt a little alone. “What would Granny say in this situation?” Joey wondered. The wind blew around him “Always with you. Onwards…onwards…don’t give up!” came a voice on the breeze. Joey looked left and then right, but which way? As he stood trying to make a decision a red-breasted form flew back over the hedge. It was Robin singing, “Follow me. This way. Follow me. That way. Follow me, follow me, follow me.” Joey did as he was told and as he turned the corner of a particularly large hedge he blinked as his eyes were blinded by the sun. As he blinked again to get used to the brightness, he saw that there were four familiar figures in the square in front of him. The centre of the maze. He looked at the scene. Ben and Mim, with wrists and paws bound by electric blue rope, looked sadly at a large cage. In the cage sat the familiar tall bearded figure of Grandad. He looked pretty comfortable all things considered being in a cramped space. He was sat in a wooden chair which looked a little bit like the Whacky Chair now waiting for them in the meadow. He was carving a piece of wood. A yellow bird was appearing from the wood as Grandad used his pocket knife to whittle it. Next to the cage on the other side stood the small figure of a wizard. He was dressed head to toe in bright blue. He had the typical sort of pointed wizard hat, but it looked scrunched up like something had bounced on it. He had blonde messy hair which seemed to escape from under his hat. He looked evil, but a little ridiculous too. He was standing on his tip-toes to look taller, and was pointing his wand at Grandad. The wand was also bent like something had bounced on it. Blue sparks were dripping from the end, sizzling as they fell to the floor. “I have asked you to help me. I have been nice so far, but now I have your lovely little Grandson, and your grumpy cat I am sure you will build me a chair just like yours that can travel wherever I want and to whatever time I want. I am going to go back to when Boris whatcher’m-call-it became prime minister. I am going to take his place. I am going to rule the country, and the world. I am getting rid of all the green stuff, and all of those, those small things with feathers or fur.” He pointed his wand at a blackbird which had appeared at the top of the hedge. A snake of blue light appeared from the end and encircled the blackbird which disappeared in a little puff of feathers. “There. Aaaa…AaAAAATCHOO” the Wizard sneezed and as he did he got a little smaller. “I am allergic to those trees and plants, and all those birds and small beasts. I need to get this sorted…I can’t keep getting smaller. I have lots of beautiful things. I live in a wonderful castle. I have gold and jewels, everything I want…but that chair. Now I need that chair. I see people like you, all out in your gardens. Laughing, laughing. Growing those green things, encouraging the birds, the bees, the bugs. Just like your witchy wife whom I have sorted out! [Insert evil laugh here]. There you all are hugging and laughing, all having such a lovely time. You shouldn’t be happier than me because I have EVERYTHING. Anyway, it gives me allergies. So I am going to get rid of it all. Concrete, I need concrete, and you all need to just get on with working for me to have more gold.” By this time the wizard was right up on his tippy-toes. More blond hair was peeking out from his hat. “It’s for the best you know. I only want what’s best for you all! So just get on with it…” with that he lifted his wand in a threatening way towards Ben and Mim.

Joey could stand no more of people threatening his family, and jumped in front of the wizard, bow raised. “Oh, I thought I recognised him” hissed the wizard pointing at Ben. “You two thought you’d defeated me last time in this maze. You left me a bit bent” he said straightening his hat, and looking angrily at his wand “but I still have all my powers.” He raised his wand towards Joey and a blue snake of light began to form. The wizard moved his hand back ready to flick his wand and the magic at Joey, when Grandad shouted “Joey throw me the Raven Stick” Joey did two things – he threw the stick with all his might towards Grandad’s raised arm and ducked at the same time. The blue lighting bolt grazed Joey’s ear as he dived to the ground. As the Raven Stick landed in his hand, Grandad caught it and speared it into the ground. Several things happened. The beak of the Raven opened letting out a loud “Caw”. The rails of the cage fell to the ground freeing Grandad. One half of a gate flew over their heads into the woods beyond. The Wizard shrank with a small “plop” sound to the size of Grandad’s thumb. He stepped forward, picking up the tiny little figure between his finger and thumb, and was heard to say as he put the small wizard in his pocket, “We’ve had quite enough of that sort of thing, thank you.”

The companions walked through the beautiful trees now alive with birdsong. Everyone was happy, apart from the angry meow of Mim who thought those birds were taking liberties, and the very small sound of a sneeze from Grandad’s pocket. The wizard wasn’t getting any smaller thank goodness, or he might have disappeared. However, Grandad couldn’t make him any bigger either, despite trying. “This is a problem for Granny. She’s good at growing things” Grandad said as he patted his pocket. “Talking of Granny, where is she?” “Well” said Joey guiltily “There is something I need to explain.” They were just arriving at the edge of the woods where the Elder tree had stood. However, instead of a tree, Granny Annie was laying on the ground. Her eyes were closed as if she was asleep, and she looked oh so still except for her dreadlocks which were still rising upwards from her head, but were motionless like the branches of a toppled old elder tree. “Oh no. Granny!” shouted Joey. Grandad, Ben and Joey ran to her side. Grandad held her hand as the three gazed down at her. The Robin circled around her head. Mim climbed onto her, curling herself into a ball. One dark brown eye suddenly opened and then the other, blue stars brushing her eye-lashes. “You took your time” she said smiling.

Later after telling of their adventures, they climbed into the Wacky Chair, and it seemed to expand once again to fit them all comfortably. The Robin flew onto Granny’s shoulder depositing a little poo as it landed. Grandad, Ben and Joey pointed and laughed. Mim curled herself into a little ball on Ben’s lap, tired after her adventures. She thought, as she began to have a nap, that she might need two lots of dinner tonight. Joey held the Raven Stick. Grandad held Granny’s hand. Both the boys held onto the knobs of the chair. Granny put her other hand in her pocket to join the three lego pieces. Nothing happened. “It’s not working Granny” said Ben sadly. “What do we need to do to make the magic work?” said Joey. Granny and Grandad looked at each other before reaching over to tickle each of their Grandsons. As the both of them started to giggle, blue sparks flew out from the knobs. The chair began to bounce up and down. The Raven Stick began to jiggle. The Robin began to sing at the top of its voice. Granny’s eyes seemed to fill with blue stars. As the chair exploded into a sea of blue and a small sneeze emerged from Grandad’s pocket, Granny Annie was heard to say “Something that small wizard needs to remember: Plenty of laughter, and lots of love – that’s what makes the magic!”

The End of the adventure…at least for today…

Granny Annie opened her eyes “Oh no, we’ve been transported to Australia – the world is upside-down!” She groaned. There was a giggle next to her “Granny you are upside down.” A grinning face appeared in front of her vision, and the small hand of Ben helped pull her upright. “Oh-er” said Granny “I feel a bit dizzy like I have been on a rollercoaster” she added, holding her head. Joey appeared. The Raven stick was in his hand and the bow and quiver of arrows could be seen peeping out from over his shoulder. “Yes, it was rather fun wasn’t it!” he laughed. “Fun? Call that fun. My head is spinning…Oh gosh, is everyone here? Is everyone here?” said Granny panicking and trying to stand up, but sitting down again with a thump. Joey made a whistling sound and there was a small rustle of wings as Robin landed gently on his shoulder. A kissing noise was heard next to her. It was Ben and as he clicked his fingers too, Mim appeared, to wrap her tricoloured tail around his legs, before sitting next to him to accept the strokes under her little furry chin. “Well I see that everyone is very happily getting on whilst I was left upside down! Where are we?” She cast her eyes around her. It felt rather familiar. Joey and Ben came to stand next to her where she sat on the Wacky Chair which seemed to be all in one piece, although still there was the odd blue spark bouncing off the two shiny knobs. “I have had a quick look around” said Joey. He lifted his hand to point. “That way is just a beautiful flower meadow. Not much to see. But Ben and me went that way, and there are woods. You really need to see what we found.” He was pointing towards the edge of the meadow where there looked to be a dark forest. Granny pulled herself to standing. “Right” she said in a very determined voice. The boys looked at each other. That voice meant that Granny would stand no nonsense. She placed her hands on her hips. They knew that stance. The whole family called it the double-teapot. All the aunties did it. Mummy did it. It usually meant there was thinking being done and something was about to happen. They weren’t quite prepared for what happened next however. As Granny looked her eyes seemed to get darker and blue sparks seemed to dance off her eyelashes. Granny’s long dreadlocks began to rise in the air to stand above her head like the waving branches of the trees ahead. Robin flew from Joey’s shoulder to perch perfectly in her branch-like hair. Mim miaowed once, before running tail up to stand next to her feet – her whiskers seemed to twitch as she looked at the trees ahead. “Right” she said again. “Have your bows and arrows at the ready boys” she declared as she pointed towards the woods. “Joey, you lead the way. Show me what you found.” Joey and Ben were staring open-mouthed at their Granny. She often played their games with them as did Grandad, but this was something else! She looked like the elder tree near the patio. Although it had long since died, the trunk was left to support the clematis flowers. At the top of the old trunk, small branches spread out like hair. Granny called it “Mrs Elder” and often talked to her like she was alive. Granny liked to laugh when she did it. “I’m completely bonkers – all the best people are you know.” Joey thought that he quite liked her that way as he led the small group through the long grass and meadow flowers, the butterflies and bees rising up as they were disturbed by the footsteps of the companions.

Granny stopped. Her mouth opening and closing like a fish once more. “This is what I found Granny” whispered Joey. In front of them stood two iron gates – the same gates that stood in Granny’s garden. They were still hovering in the air, still blue sparks bounced around the lock, but this time the gates stood ajar. “Well, well” said Granny “This is a turn up. What now? Through the gates, or go back?” Granny and Joey, Robin and Mim stood looking at the gates, and as they stared a waving hand and grinning face looked at them from the other side. It was Ben. “Gotta save Grandad” he declared “Come on.” Granny starting blustering and waving her hands. “It may not be safe. What are you doing? What would your parents say? What would they say if I had to tell them I let you be eaten by a…by a…by a um…dragon or something!” Joey and Ben looked at each other and laughed. “Oh Granny. We can look after each other. Did I tell you about our A-maze-ing adventure the other day?” Granny shook her head “Joey we haven’t time at the moment. Look Ben is getting out of sight!” Granny grabbed Joey’s hand and pulled him through the gates, Robin sat on her shoulder, and Mim was striding a few steps ahead. As Granny passed through the gates, a large snake of bright blue lightning shot upwards towards the sky like a firework, and exploded into a sea of blue sparks that fell around them. As they hit the ground, big shoots of green began to erupt from the soil. Leaves appeared on each new branch to join with the next tree until a long, tall hedge appeared in front of them. “Oh Granny. I know what this is. This is what I wanted to tell you about. This is where Ben and I had an adventure, with a wizard, in a maze. We got him in the end…with a bouncy ball of all things!” Granny was unusually quiet he thought as he finished telling her. He turned to see what she was doing. First of all he noticed the blue sparks still falling from the sky, and then he saw where they were landing. A new elder tree stood before him, and as he looked up he saw that it had the face of Granny. Joey was shocked and stunned until suddenly a voice said “Well, blow me down. Now look what has happened. What a day!” The voice sounded remarkably like Granny. Eyes opened at the top of the tree. They were dark like Granny’s and there were long dark twiggy eye lashes which danced with blue sparks. Lips suddenly appeared and two side branches bent to touch the trunk. A definite double teapot. “Well, don’t just stay standing there with your mouth gaping like a goldfish, you need to get going. Grandad and I won’t save ourselves and your brother is off somewhere, probably up to mischief.” Joey shook his head. This was all getting just a little strange. However, he knew that voice – you just had to go with it or she would just keep on. He turned to make his way through the gap in the hedge, the Raven stick in his hand. “Ummm, haven’t you forgotten something? Mim ran off when the hedge grew, but you’ll need a friend.” With that Granny’s twiggy hair waved as if a breeze had moved it, and Robin flew up from one waving dread-loc branch. He tweeted with a flutter of indignant feathers, depositing a tiny poo on the trunk before landing perfectly on Joey’s shoulder. “I really hate it when you do that” said Granny. The Robin tweeted a song again as Joey turned. It sounded distinctly to Granny like a little laugh.

Granny Annie opened her eyes and all she could see was the blue sky and the green leaves of the Strawberry Tree above her head. She began to sit up making that noise which all older people seem to make when they try any sort of movement requiring the use of their backs. It’s a cross between an ooo-argh and a hissss, and of course they have to hold their back too, for good measure. So Granny sat up, holding her back and making that noise. As she started to look around, her eyes seemed to swivel as she noticed a smiling Joey and Ben in front of her. She smiled, said “Oh no, it’s true, the sun and lockdown have got to me,” and then quickly screwed her eyes up shut. She began to open her eyes again slowly, one then the other. “Hi Granny!” the boys said in unison. Granny for the second time in this story started to gasp, her mouth opening and closing like a cod. Then it started – a Granny tirade of questions. “What are you doing here? You shouldn’t be here because it’s lockdown. What would Boris-oojamaflip say? I know he told us we had to stay at home, but not if we had to go to work, and only if we could beam down without using public transport. Or was that last week? Anyway…What will your mum and dad say? What would Grandad say? Oh Grandad where are you?”

By the time Granny had finished her outpouring Ben and Joey were sitting munching on biscuits, the red biscuit barrel with the yellow pattern sitting on the patio table in front of them. Both boys knew exactly where the biscuit barrel lived in that house. Joey finished his last bite, before reaching for the next biscuit and saying “Well Granny, you invited us!” Granny huffed loudly, “Huff, I did no such thing!”

Joey smiled “Well Granny that’s not strictly true. Do you remember on our last day here, before lockdown, when we were all playing with lego? Remember first I left, then Ben left to go to the loo?” Granny nodded. She was listening but had that face on which said ‘I’m not yet quite convinced’. “We didn’t have a wee, we buried lego pieces in the garden” Ben added, giggling loudly “and they were magicked!” Joey pointed his biscuit towards Ben “Exactly! So when you put the two pieces together Granny, you invited us here…to help you with something.” Granny now had the look on her face that said ‘almost convinced’. Joey waited for the ‘but’ that often came next. “But what about the third piece?” she declared brandishing the black lego 8-er. Joey shook his head, “There wasn’t a third piece Granny, just a yellow one for me, and a white one for Ben.” Granny still didn’t look like she quite believed that the boys had learned magic, but she smiled as she placed the black lego piece that Grandad had given her into her pocket. “Well, you are here now. Let me tell you what has happened, but first…” She reached out her arms to hug them as she told them what had been happening in the garden, knowing that the magic kept them safe.

Granny Annie had finished telling the boys about what had happened earlier in the day. They all looked thoughtful. “It’s no good, I just don’t know what to do.” sighed Granny. Joey looked at her. “Sometimes it’s good to think about things you’ve been doing before, to remind yourself of anything important. You know, retrace your steps”. Ben jumped up nodding, grabbing Granny’s hand “Come on Granny, let’s go!” So the three of them had a tour of the garden. They had now been all around and looked at flowers, bushes, and lots of empty soil. Ben noticed something towards the bottom near the Apple tree “What’s that?” Granny looked to where Ben was pointing. “Oh that’s a chair that Grandad was making. It’s not quite finished. I don’t think that’s what we are after.” “Well Granny, I think Ben might be right. Let’s go. What is it you always say?” He knew full well that Granny always had a saying or a song lyric. “Never leave a stone unturned!” she stated. Joey wasn’t quite sure what she meant but led the way towards the chair whilst she seemed pleased with herself.

The chair was slightly wacky, something that summed up Granny and Grandad’s house and garden nicely. It seemed oversized, made of larger tree branches for the legs, and woven with smaller branches to form a seat. Well, actually it looked more like a boat than a seat. On the arms there were two knobs both with a hole in the middle, one on each side of the chair, one light brown and one a deep red-brown, and both incredibly shiny. “See, I told you. Not finished” declared Granny plonking herself down on a step. “No, but it’s pretty cool” said Joey. He plonked himself on the Wacky Chair. It was a large chair. “What now?” said Ben sitting himself down next to Joey. Joey looked at Ben. That was strange Ben seemed further away than expected. “Did Grandad make anything else in the garden recently?” asked Joey still puzzling how the Wacky Chair seemed to have grown. “Well just one thing. I’ll get it” Granny said as she made her way up the garden. When she returned she was carrying what looked to Joey like a spear. It seemed to blend into the shadows whenever she passed through them.

“When we were cutting down brambles and digging up roots, Grandad noticed this piece of wood. He decided it looked a bit like a raven and that it would make a nice stick top. This is it.” She held out a long piece of wood and on the top the shiny black head of a wooden raven. Grandad must have polished it, because it was shiny black, with some ridges like feathers, and on the top of the head he had placed a feather. “The Raven Stick” declared Granny. As she handed the stick to Joey to see, the Wacky Chair seemed to give a little jump and then another. “Well, that’s weird” said Granny overbalancing and falling into the chair. Joey was waiting to be squished up by a rather cuddly Granny joining he and Ben in the chair. However, no, she seemed to have fitted in with plenty of room – that was impossible. The Wacky Chair seemed to have stretched. It seemed to jump every so often, but nothing else seemed to be happening. Ben was kneeling on the chair next to one of the shiny knobs and began to trace his fingers over the light brown one. Tiny blue sparks bounced off his fingers. “That looks fun” laughed Joey and moved to touch the red-brown knob on the the arm of the chair. He giggled as the blue sparks bounced from his fingers. As he and Ben laughed the chair seemed to react by bouncing up and down a bit more. “Something seems to be happening. We need to think of other things from your day Granny.” “Ummm…Robin” she remembered. Robin flew down from the Apple Tree where he had been watching these events. He looked at Granny Annie and sang her a little song, depositing a little poo on her back as he flew onto the chair behind her. “That’s a pretty song Granny” said Joey but to Granny it sounded like Robin was saying “Time, time. About blinkin’ time!” Ben meantime was giggling and pointing at Granny’s back and nudging Joey.

“This doesn’t seem to be enough” declared Joey looking out at the garden. The Wacky Chair had been hopping about for the last 5 minutes like a fairground ride. The blue sparks from the knobs on the chair were tickling the boys making them laugh. The Raven stick placed on the back of the chair was jiggling about. The Robin was singing loudly. It was chaos. Mim the tortoise-shell cat appeared having been awoken by the commotion. She yawned and started to stretch – her bottom in the air. Ben held out one hand to her (the other was busy being tickled). He made kissing noises to try and call her to him, and at the same time rubbed his fingers together. People kept saying that Mim was getting incredibly podgy. Granny and Grandad couldn’t understand it. They were only giving her the usual meals, yet it looked like she had been eating twice as much. Anyway, Mim thought they were very rude to comment on an old lady’s weight – she decided to ignore Ben’s invitation and turned her back on them all to have a wash instead.

Granny decided that it was time to come clean. “ummm, I have a confession to make” she said, having to raise her voice to be heard over the giggling, tweeting and jiggling. “It was me that buried the Black piece of lego in the garden”. Everything stopped for a moment and there was silence as Granny held out the black piece of Lego which had been in her pocket. ‘Held out’ wasn’t quite accurate, actually it was hovering above her hand “And you aren’t the only ones who can do magic!” she added triumphantly.

With that two things happened at the same time. Mim decided she would not be left behind and jumped perfectly, landing with a flop into Ben’s lap, and with a loud thunder-clap the chair exploded into a sea of blue sparks.