Chapter 2

Chapter 2

It was a bright day in Daisyfield, but the day’s sun had no warmth.  Instead, the children of the quaint little village were wrapped in scarves, coats, hats and gloves in all manner of colours and checks and stripes and polka-dots that it hurt the eyes to look at them for too long.  It was winter, and the snow had fallen as far as the eye could see, the hills looked like a blanket of ice-cream.  Of course, like any self-respecting child, Lyla-Mae was dragging her sledge to the top of the biggest hill (and not because she thought it looked like ice-cream!)  No, she was going to do what no other child in Daisyfield had done before; she was going to ride her sledge as fast as she could all the way down Hairy Hill - quite why it was called Hairy Hill, no one knew . . . or asked too closely, but still, Hairy Hill was its name, and it was the biggest hill around.

She marched up the slope, in one hand she held onto the sledge’s string and Teddy Radson (looking as dapper as always in his fetching blue suit), and in the other she held the hand of Esther the purple hippo, her ears making a crinkly noise every time the wind rustled them.  Her black boots (which were both big and small at the same time, if that is possible) made the snow crunch pleasingly beneath every foot-fall.  Her legs were getting tired from all this stomping – Hairy Hill was big, but even bigger to Lyla-Mae, who is only small – but if there is one thing Lyla-Mae isn’t, it’s a coward.  “Stupid Toby,” she grumbled to herself as she kept going up and up and up. “Stupid boys!”

Puffing and panting ten steps behind her was Toby, so chubby he was almost a perfect circle.  His face was beetroot red from the walk, and despite the cold weather, he was pumping with sweat.  “I heard that Lyla, I’m telling on you,” he whined (it seems Lyla-Mae didn’t keep her grumbling entirely to herself after all!)  Toby was the mayor of Daisyfield’s son, and because of this he thought he was the best and most important of all the children in Daisyfield, and was boasting about how he was the bravest of them all.  Well, obviously this did not sit well with Lyla-Mae, who takes too much after her mommy sometimes.  So Lyla-Mae being Lyla-Mae, she challenged Toby to prove who was the bravest child in all of Daisyfield by sledging as fast as they could down Hairy Hill.

Finally, she got to the summit.  Toby was still some way behind, his stumpy legs were moving so slowly it looked like he was swimming through treacle.  Taking a few deep breaths, she looked back at Daisyfield.  It looked so small from up here, but she could see her and mommy’s house, with cotton wool snow thick on the roof.  The chimney was giving out smoke, the fire was going.  It will be nice to be sat in front of the fire with a lovely cup of bubble tea and a slice of cake after I have won, Lyla thought to herself . . . she just wished Toby would move faster and get to the top of the hill so she could win faster – it was cold, and her little nose had gone all red and sniffly. 

Eventually, after what seemed a millennium, Toby had caught her up at the top of Hairy Hill.  He looked down, and seemed startled as to how high up they were.  The children at the bottom looked like specks of soot on a blank white canvass. 

“Let ready to lose, Lyla!” Toby jeered breathlessly, sticking out his tongue.

“You can take that back when we get to the bottom,” replied Lyla-Mae.

And that, the two of them ran (well, Lyla-Mae ran; Toby more sort of galumphed) to the edge of Hairy Hill, put their sledges down, sat on top of them, and after making sure her cuddly toys were all safely in (Esther sat at the front, Teddy Radson was second-in-line, and then sat Lyla-Mae) they were off!  The big race to see who was the bravest child in all of Daisyfield had begun!