Davina Dupree Puzzles a Pirate Read Free

Feathered Gull. Do you see how it only has feathers on its wings and not on its body?’
    ‘Gross,’ Clarice called from further down the wall.
    ‘Is that the rarest bird there is, Mr Fossil?’ Arabella asked.
    ‘No, the rarest bird I know of is the Kapatoo,’ Mr Fossil sniffed excitedly, warming to his subject. ‘Some even believe it to be extinct. The last sighting of it was actually on Ni Island where we’ll be camping, so we’ll all have to keep a special look out for it as you just never know, we may be lucky enough to spot one. Actually, it’s been my life’s ambition to find one.’ His eyes misted over. ‘It would be so utterly exciting.’
    ‘Well, if we’re going to keep a look out for Kapatoos we need to know what they look like?’ I said.
    ‘Yes quite, Davina,’ Mr Fossil said. ‘Now let me see, they’re rather plump birds-‘
    ‘Bit like Davina then,’ Clarice interrupted, smiling maliciously and high fiving Cleo. Arabella gave her a death stare and clenched her fists. I stared down at myself, feeling very annoyed. For goodness sake, I knew I wasn’t a stick insect but I thought I looked pretty normal and Carrie always said it was much better to have a healthy appetite than to be all dreary and picky about food.
    ‘Er,’ Mr Fossil said, not understanding. ‘Yes, anyway as I was saying, the Kapatoo is a well-covered, short bird of roundish appearance that stands about a foot high from the ground. It has extremely large, scaly feet and it has been said that they walk like clowns in a circus, flapping their big feet out in front of them. It’s face resembles an owl’s, with green and blue feathers fanning out around dark eyes, and it’s body is like a large chicken’s, and is covered in green, blue and violet feathers. One peculiar fact to note about Kapatoo’s is that they can’t fly more than a few feet above the ground, possibly due to the size and weight of their feet.’
    ‘They sound ridiculous,’ Cleo snorted, earning herself a hurt look from Mr Fossil.
    ‘They sound sweet,’ I said loudly, meaning it. ‘I hope we all get to see one on Ni Island, Mr Fossil.’
    ‘Suck up,’ Clarice hissed.
    ‘Idiot,’ Arabella spat back.
    ‘All still here are you, my favourites?’ Mrs Fairchild trilled as she danced back into the mess room. ‘I’ve spoken to Mr Snap about our teeny weeny pirate issue and he says that while there
are
a few retired pirates that still roam the seas, they’re nothing to worry about as most of them play online bingo all day. Officers from the Police Department of the Seven Seas arrested all the naughty pirates several years ago.’ Well that’s a relief!
    I have to go now diary as Mr Fossil’s given us each a project folder and we have to spend the next hour looking out of our cabin portholes and drawing any sea or bird creatures we can see.
    Thursday, 8 th January
    Sandy times, Diary.
    I have to say, this school trip is such fun!
    We spotted Ni Island on the horizon yesterday afternoon, just as the sun was setting. Arabella and I had already filled in quite a few pages of our project folders with drawings of three dolphins, a small whale, another Lesser Feathered Gull, some normal seagulls and five jumping fish. A golden shape on the horizon started to become more distinct and as we sailed towards it, it became clear that it was a sand island, full of exotic trees.
    Mrs Pumpernickle came round after dinner to say that the pirate ship was no longer in view, but that Ni Island was and that we would be arriving and mooring the boat first thing in the morning so we should get an early night, which we did. I’d got used to the rocking of the yacht by then so didn’t sleep with a sick bag under my pillow unlike last night, and we both fell asleep pretty much immediately.
    This morning, after a scrummy breakfast of smoked salmon and creamed cheese bagels with cherry juice to drink, Mr Snap stood up to talk to us about the day. He usually tries to smile,