Page 10 of Sunrise By the Sea

‘Excuse me, Mr Bat-BAY-er, do you KNOW any bears?’ asked Avery.

The man looked at the boy, seemingly puzzled. He clearly hadn’t been listening before.

‘I . . . You think I am bear like GRRRRR?’

He made a growling noise and lifted his huge hands and made them into a claw shape, and both the children squealed, half-delighted, half-terrified.

‘Children!’ said Polly, anguish. ‘Stop it!’

‘Oh! Yes. I know many dangerous bears. They are playing piano very bad, but they pay honey so I am not sad.’

‘Our dad makes honey!’

‘Ishebear?’ said Mr Batbayar.

This hadn’t occurred to either of them and their eyes grew even wider. Polly felt this was getting slightly out of hand.

‘So if you follow Sandy Lane all the way up to the end, where the road runs out – they haven’t finished the road, I’m afraid, one of the reasons Reuben is letting them go cheap.’

The man nodded.

‘You’re the second on the right.’

‘Thank you.’

He turned his furry face on the children once more.

‘And do your practice or I will be EATINK YOU UP!’

The children squealed in horror and ran behind the counter to hide in their mother’s skirts.

‘Mr Batbayar is only joking,’ said Polly.

‘I am not Only Jokink,’ said the man. ‘Nyam nyam.I am hungry bear. Please may I have four of thinks with . . . red, if there are no children to eat at this time.’

Polly lifted up four strawberry tarts and took his money.

‘Good day.’

And he left the shop, the door dinging behind him.

Chapter Eight

‘Gosh,’ said Polly. ‘Avery, I hope you’re not crying. He was only joking.’

‘NO!’ said Avery bravely, although Polly slightly feared for bedtime.

‘He’s not really a bear.’

‘But he said he was very hungry and was going to munch me up!’

Polly thought she would have to have a word with Reuben about his hiring practices, not for the first time.

‘Um . . . I’m sorry about that,’ she said to Marisa.

‘It’s okay,’ said Marisa, who had managed to calm herself down, and was wondering if people had always been so strange and she just hadn’t noticed, or if the world really had changed that much while she’d been sitting alone in her bedroom in Caius’ flat.

She quietly steeled herself to open her mouth.

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