Trapeze

"Bump! BUMP! CRASH!

Ritchie started up in bed. He switched on his reading lamp.

That noise! He was sure that noise came from straight above his head. He sank back and gazed up at the ceiling. To his astonishment he saw a small lump like a blister bulge out of the plaster.

He must be asleep.

This must be a dream.

His rubbed his eyes. His eyelids felt sore, so it didn't feel like a dream. But when he next looked up, that lump had disappeared. Vanished as quickly as it had come.

Now the plaster above his bed was as smooth as a cricket pitch. All he could see were lines in the paint spreading out like spider-webs. His bed-lamp threw strange shadows on the ceiling. They reminded him of cracks in the pavement. Or the bars on a jungle gym. Or maybe a trapeze - the kind he'd seen acrobats use on TV."

Link to Teachers' notes

TREKKERS. GREEN.
Macmillan Education. 2005
ISBN 0-7329-9940-5

Readers: 10.5 to 12.5 years.

'Life is pretty tough for Ritchie at the moment. Mum and Dad have separated, and Dad has moved to Darwin. Ritchie and Mum are now living in a large apartment block. And now Ritchie's eyes are playing tricks on him. Surely lumps and bumps don't just appear in the ceiling and then vanish without any explanation? The one good thing in Ritchie's life at the moment is his new friend, Lilla Winterbottom. Lilla used to be an acrobat who flew from one trapeze to another.'