As the river Gurgleglug flows away from Lomberstack Mountain, it doesn’t all flow straight to the sea. Most of it goes forward through Horsmarlonerpool, and under the Twisty Bridge and under the Bridge of Flags, but a little bit branches off to the right to form Merrytime Stream.
And where Merrytime Stream leaves the River Gurgleglug, there’s a water mill. The fresh water spins the big wooden wheel, and inside, Mister Harry works the equipment that does so many important jobs - like grinding grain, or rolling out paper, or spinning thread.
Mister Harry worked very long days, which gave his son Elliot and daughter Eilidh plenty of time to explore. And there was nothing that Eilidh and Elliot liked to do more than explore!
Luckily, they lived in just about the best area for exploring in the whole area. Anywhere’s good for adventure, but where Elliot and Eilidh lived was - as far as they were concerned - just right.
You see Merrytime Stream runs through fields that lead to three places: Merrytime Marsh, Bubbleyuk Swamp, and Alex’s Pond. Off they ran then, this one warm day, brother and sister, to head to Alex’s Pond and find Alex.
As they got closer to the Marsh, Elliot and Eilidh slowed down. Well it’s important to stick to the paths in a marsh, because marshes are so wet that sometime you take one step and there’s water up to your middle.
But the marsh wasn’t a scary place. There were animals here that you wouldn’t find in normal fields - there were otters, and beavers, and where it was really wet - a family of herons. Eilidh and Elliot waved to the herons as they made their way to Alex’s Pond, when suddenly they heard a noise. The marsh was full of noises, because a marsh can be a strange place, but these noises were stranger than most. It sounded like… engines being dunked in mud. Rrrr-glop. Rrrr-glop. And the noises were coming from Bubbleyuk Swamp!
The swamp was different to Merrytime Marsh. It was muddier, and smellier, and even a bit dangerous. Sometimes if your boot got glooped up too deep in the mud, it wouldn’t come out EVER, and you’d have to pull your foot out and walk home in your sock.
Your muddy, smelly sock!
And the swamp was also full of strange noises; like gurgles, and pops and squelches, but nothing like this noise… Elliot and Eilidh decided to not head straight for Alex’s pond, but to go and investigate.
As they got closer, and the noises got louder, they began to see - and then saw for sure - what was causing them. Five machines, a little bit like small boats, and a little bit like huge hair dryers, and on top of each of the boats five of the older boys and girls from the town were driving around on top of Bubbleyuk Swamp. Bouncing on the mud, turning sharply through corners - causing big curtains of gloop to rise up and get thrown aside - and then driving on through the muck around a track that they’d leveled out in the mire.
Well as Eilidh and Elliot watched, they saw that the drivers had challenges to complete. As they drove around the track on their swamp racers, huge arches of ooze would rise up like gates, and the riders had to race their boats through each to get more points.
All of a sudden, the racers were approaching where Eilidh and Elliot were standing, and as they got closer, and closer still, Eilidh and Elliot sheltered for cover as the five racers turned sharply, spraying them with smelly mud. The boats had huge fans on the back that propelled them along, and even as they drove away, Elliot and Eilidh continued to be pelted with pong!
Well that wasn’t very nice, but as they watched, they saw that really this looked like HUGE fun! Maybe they could be Bubbleyuk racers, too? But they didn’t even have a boat…
“I’m sure they’d share a boat?” said Elliot.
Well Eilidh had her doubts, but nodded.
As the racers came back around on the next lap, Eilidh and Elliot both shouted: “HEY!”
But no luck, so as they came around on their next lap they shouted louder: “HEY!”
But still no luck! So when they came around a third time they shouted as loud as they could: “HEEEEY!!”
All the racers stepped on their breaks, which meant the fans reversing and throwing mud up all over them.
“Oh. Sorry about that,” said Eilidh, as politely as she could without laughing. “We were just wondering if we could have a go?”
“Of course!” said one racer. “If you’ve got your own swamp boat?”
Eilidh and Elliot looked at each other.
“Oh, no. I’m afraid we don’t,” said Elliot.
“Well then you can’t race then, can you?” said the rude racer.
But then, all five of racer’s eyes widened in horror.
“I was rather hoping,” said a voice, “That my two friends here, might borrow two boats whilst two of you had a little rest?”
Eilidh and Elliot looked around. And there, in the grass, was their friend Alex.
“Y-Yes! Of c-course!” said two of the racers, and jumped off their boats into the mud. “Anything you say!”
“Bring the boats over here…” said Alex.
The racers did so. As quickly as they could! And then helped Eilidh and Elliot on board.
“Here you go! Here are the controls! They work like this. Have fun!”
“Oh, what a good sport you are,” nodded Alex.
“Oh! No, problem! They can race as long as they like!”
You see there’s one thing I haven’t told you yet. I told you before that Eilidh and Elliot had a friend called Alex. And I told you before that he lives at Alex’s Pond. But what I haven’t told you is that Alex is a very big, and very long, alligator.
And the racers were terrified of him.
Well, you would be, wouldn’t you?
Alex watched on proudly as Eilidh and Elliot screamed around the course with the other three racers. They didn’t win, but it was their first time, and they had the most fun they’d had all year!
After the race, Eilidh and Elliot introduced Alex the alligator to all the other racers, and they found a nice patch of dry grass to sit down and have something to eat.
The racers thought themselves very brave, sitting down and eating with an alligator, but they soon realised that Alex was a friendly and charming individual.
After one more race around the track, Elliot and Eilidh headed back home happily towards the watermill. They’d learnt two important things that day. One: That Bubbleyuk racing is very fun but very tiring. And two: That it’s really, really useful to be friends with an alligator.
