By Eleanor Trotman Illustrated by Shu-Ti Liao
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By Eleanor Trotman Illustrated by Shu-Ti Liao
” ! t u o k o “ Lo
Verdù woke up just as a golf ball thudded into the sand beside him, narrowly missing his head.
“
Hey,
watch where you’re whacking those!” he yelled, rubbing his eyes and glowering at the golf ball. “You can’t just go hitting balls around here – this is the
kids’ club!”
A caddy peered down into the sand bunker and frowned at the little hedgehog. “This is the golf course, Verdù,” he sighed. “Have you been sleep-walking from your sandpit at the kids’ club again? I told you not to eat cheese before bedtime.”
The little hedgehog remembered last night’s mozzarella and blushed.
hate
“I cheese,” lied Verdù, leaping out of the bunker in a cloud of sand. “Anyway, I’d better run – got to get back to Verdùland before anyone notices I’m missing!”
8
With that, he scampered off as fast as his little legs could carry him, scattering sand all over the green as he went.
By the time he reached the Torre Bar, he was very out of breath indeed.
pi n g
Just as he stood there g a s , a group of golfers came wandering towards him. They queued up beside VerdĂš, rubbing their shoes on his spiky back before heading inside.
“
They must think I’m a shoe brush!” thought Verdù, trying very hard not to giggle as their feet tickled his spines.
When the last of the golfers had gone, it was time for Verdù to make his escape. He hitched a ride on the back of a passing golf buggy and sat at the back, feeling very pleased to have saved himself some more legwork. “This must be the way back to Verdùland,” he grinned. “I feel it in my spines!”
As the buggy trundled past the spa, one of the beauty therapists ran out to greet it. “Stop,
stoooopp!” she squealed,
bringing the driver to an abrupt halt. “Oh thank goodness!” she cried, rushing towards Verdù with her arms outstretched.
“I can’t give my famous scrubs without a spiky sponge. We’ve been getting through so many today, I thought we might run out!”
“Shoe brush, sponge… what else will I be today?” he muttered to himself, just as a group of teenagers cycled past on their way to the Water Sports Club.
“Hey
look, a sea urchin!”
called one of them, skidding to a stop and bundling Verdù into his beach bag. “Poor
little thing – let’s return him to his habitat!” Verdù, who was starting to get very used to this sort of thing, made no protest as they sped on towards the coast.
“Good
luck, little urchin!”
said the teenagers as they pulled Verdù from the bag and threw him out to sea. “You’re
free at last!”
oa re
s
d
Verdù through the air, trying very hard to remember his swimming lessons in the paddling pool.
Luckily, he didn’t have to – he landed, with a bump, on the hull of a sailing boat.
“I’ll never get home now!” gasped the little hedgehog as the boat sailed away.
“This
is a disaster!”
But before he could start to cry, the port of Sciacca came into view, bustling with fishing boats bringing in the day’s catch. As soon as his boat reached the harbour, VerdÚ hopped ashore and ran for the safety of dry land.
“Well, look at that!” cried a fisherman, pointing to the little hedgehog. “I’ve never seen a fish so spiky in all my days!”
He dropped the tuna he was carrying and paused to stare at Verdù as he z ig z ag g ed through the harbour. “That’s right strange, that is,” mumbled a second fisherman. “That fish looks almost exactly like a hedgehog!”
When VerdĂš finally escaped the port, he felt very lost indeed. He sat under a palm tree, staring out to sea and wondering how to get home.
“Verdù! Verdù, is that you?”
The little hedgehog’s ears pricked up. It was a surprise not to be mistaken for something else for once.
“Oh Verdù, it is you ! You look so tired! What on earth are you doing in Sciacca?”
The little hedgehog’s eyes lit up – it was Alessia, his friend from the kids’ club.
long
story,” he murmured. “It’s a “Can you take me back home please?”
Without a second thought, Alessia scooped VerdĂš up and bundled him onto the back of her scooter.
e t-
or
win
t he
ug
on g t he c o a s t, a nd a l ve s g ro ’s s pi ne s a s t he y we e rdÚ nt . hV
ro
ge
th
an
sm el dr lin us g hi ng
s we ug h
e d t h ro T h e y z o om
When they arrived back at Verdùland, the children all rushed to welcome them. “Where have you been, Verdù? We missed you this morning!” they said, all piling in to hug him.
“The children are about to have their cooking lesson,” said Alessia. “Why don’t you tell them over lunch?”
As Alessia and the children prepared pizza with the chef, Verdù’ told them all about his adventure.
They listened in amazement as he recalled his epic journey, from his daring escape at the sand bunkers to his incredible cross-country ride home.
Wow,” whispered
“
one of the children.
“I thought Verdù just looked like a hedgehog, but now that I think about it…”
Right” called the chef, bringing
“
everyone back to their senses.
Time to wash up!”
“
He reached towards Verdù with one hand, a bottle of washing up liquid grasped in the other.
“
Wwaaa
i i it t t t ! ! ”
s ho ut e
d A le s s ia.
That’s not a washing up brush, that’s V…”
“
ELEANOR TROTMAN Eleanor has been writing stories since she was little. She studied English and French at the University of Oxford, and lives in London, where she enjoys hanging out with Alby the monkey at Brown’s hotel.
SHU-TI LIAO Shu-Ti is an award-winning children’s book illustrator whose work draws on the humour of everyday life. She studied at the Cambridge School of Art, and lives in Taipei, Taiwan, which is famous for its delicious food.
Published by Rocco Forte & Family (Hotel Management) Ltd. 70 Jermyn Street, London, SW1Y 6NY, UK. Š2017 Rocco Forte & Family (Hotel Management) Ltd. This book is a work of fiction. No part of this publication may be reproduced, adapted, distributed, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means without prior permission from Rocco Forte & Family (Hotel Management) Ltd.
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