Crab Apples: Part 3

By GED MAYBURY

Randy, who was feeling breathless for quite a different reason, looked more closely. It was only a tattered fragment of something that once must have looked quite impressive, alive and waving about under the waves, but even so it was very pretty, with long, curly, pinkish leaves and little grape-like bubbles.

He tried to squeeze one of the bubbles, hoping it would 'accidentally' burst all over Beau, but it was too tough and rubbery. It was sticky too, probably because it had begun to go rotten."They look like little apples," crooned Beau."Yeah, crab apples," said Randy knowingly, "because crabs eat them."

"I told you that," she murmured, turning the seaweed over, then holding it up to the light. She was so busy, so intent, that she didn't bother to add, 'and it was a complete load of bollocks, actually.'

Randy, meantime, had began to back away, thinking: No way am I going to hold that over my head and look heroic! It's heroic enough just breathing next to it!

"Well," he said casually, backing further away. "I _ ah _ I think I'll go down the shops and see if Piho's on the bus today."

"Yeah," answered Beau absentmindedly, still in her artistic reverie.

Publisher: Scholastic

Price: $13.95

Age group: 11 plus years