CLARA’S PEARLS Chapter 4

Uncle Bron and his wife Clara had been invited to dinner with their friends Rex and Queenie. Bron spruced himself up and put on a bow tie, and Clara put on her beautiful pearl necklace, which had been a wedding present from Bron. Clara was a very glamorous brontosaurus, and famous far and wide for her beautiful singing voice. Queenie had cooked a big fish pie for them and made a strawberry trifle for pudding. After dinner they played Greedy and Boggle, then they played Spoons, and their roars of laughter echoed round the swamp. After drinking a glass or two of wine, they decided to go for a swim in the blue pool before going to bed. There was a full moon and the pool looked particularly inviting surrounded by ferns and tall trees. Clara hung her pearls on a high branch, and splashed in the pool with her friends. Then after thanking Rex and Queenie for their lovely meal, Bron and Clara walked home to bed.

It was several days later that Bron came home to find Clara with enormous tears in her eyes.

“Oh Bron,” she cried “I can't find my pearls anywhere. Do you think I could have lost them in the blue pool the other night? After two glasses of Rex's blackberry wine I can't be sure what happened."

“We'll go and look for them straight away,” Bron said, “Don't cry. Remember you are going to sing at the Hurly Burly on Saturday and crying could upset your voice.” Tears rolled down Clara's cheeks and plopped into the swamp, as she remembered that on Saturday she was to give a special performance of six songs that had been written especially for her by the famous composer Sir Edward Eel Gar, and without her pearls she knew that she wouldn't feel properly dressed for the occasion. Bron and her friends went on searching the blue pool until its clear waters became quite muddy, but the necklace could not be found.

When the news spread, all the animals searched, until not a path or place where Clara had walked had not been searched. But still the pearls were not found.

When Sophie went with Sonya and Sybilla for their weekly singing lesson with Clara, they found her sad and dejected, not like her usual happy self. They decided that on their way home they would fly across the blue pool and look again for the pearls. Back and forth they flew, and their sharp eyes missed nothing in the water or on the verges of the pool. At last they flew up to rest in the branches of the trees. Then Sophie saw the pale gleam of Clara's pearls hanging on a branch. The string of pearls was long and heavy, and she called her friends to help her carry it. Carefully they lifted it in their beaks and carried it back to Clara. Clara cried more than ever when she saw her pearls again, and gave the pteranadons huge brontosaurus hugs, which left them feeling rather squashed. 

When Sophie got home Suzy was waiting on the edge of the cliff with a broad smile on her face.

“Guess what, Sophie?” she said “I was looking for Clara's pearls near to the blue pool and I found this.” She held out the medal that Sophie had won at the carnival. “That creepy little crocodile has lost it, the chain is broken I'm afraid, but Dad can soon mend that for you.” Sophie  was very happy to have her medal back, shethanked Suzy and told her how she had found Clara's pearls in a tree, and they both had a good laugh, because Clara was known to be a scatter brain.

On Saturday Sophie  wore her medal to the Hurly Burly, and Clara wore her pearls, and a wreath of lilies on her head. She stood in front of the choir and sang her six songs, right beside Sophie. She was in fine voice and the audience clapped and shouted for more. So she sang “Gondwana fair,” which is the swamp's national anthem, and all the audience joined in. They threw streamers and popped balloons, then the band struck up the dashing white dinosaur and the dancing began.