To the north east of Horsmarlonerpool there’s a huge mountain, called Lomberstack.
It’s snowy at the top, it’s got forests in the middle, and towards the bottom there’s green, open pastures where cows graze, rabbits hop, and a stream of crystal water gives everyone a refreshing drink when they’re thirsty.
At the very top, up above the forests in the snow, lives a friendly monster called Belvedere. But that’s not the strangest thing about Lomberstack Mountain. The strangest thing is that you can have three very different days’ weather on it at any one time.
At the bottom it can be warm and sunny, in the middle - in the forests - it can be misty and spooky - and at the top it can be blowing a fierce, icy storm.
OR! At the bottom it can be cold and dry, in the forests it can be raining, and at the snowy top it can be sunny and warm!
And so if you were headed there for a picnic or an adventure, knowing what you should pick out to wear was VERY important.
Luckily, Belvedere the monster would wake up every morning and look outside his ice house, down the mountain, and post today’s weather on his blog for anyone to read. And today it read ‘Always changing about’.
So when Ben and his sister Emily were busy packing for their mountain hike, they put on swimming gear, shorts, warm trousers, a vest, a T-shirt and a snow jacket. They’d packed everything they could possibly need for the journey: Two apples, a cherry pie, four bottles of water and some lemonade as a lunchtime treat.
When Mummy dropped them off in the car by the heather at the bottom of Lomberstack Mountain, it was mild and sunny - the perfect place to have their lunch - and maybe share what was left with the rabbits and the cows. But Emily said “We’ve only just got here, Ben! If we have our lunch now, then we won’t be hungry at lunchtime.” Ben said that maybe they should just have half an apple each, for energy, and then continue up the mountainside. “Agreed”, said Emily. “And we’ll have some of our water, too.”
When they’d walked through the pastures in the lowlands and got as far up to find the beginning of the forest, it was colder, and it was harder to walk through the thick undergrowth. Now they were both glad that they hadn’t eaten their lunch early. To think they had a nice cherry pie in the bag made everything feel a little bit more comforting.
You see, the forest wasn’t always nice if you didn’t know it well, and Ben and Emily had only been here once before, and that was with Mummy and Daddy. Then it seemed like fun, but now it seemed… lonely and a little bit creepy.
But Ben and Emily weren’t the sorts to be scared of a few trees, and soon they reached a nice, calm clearing. There they could see two things: A huge storm up at the top of a mountain, and a beautiful clear lake - the sort that mermaids might live in.
“We’ll never get all the way to the top with silly weather like that up there!” said Emily.
“No way,” said Ben. "And I’m exhausted! And I’m hungry. If we can’t get to the top then maybe we should eat our lunch here and then go back down.”
Well, the aim of the day had been to get to the very top and say hello to Belvedere, who they’d made friends with the last time, but Emily was right - it looked cold and dangerous. Why ruin their day out?
So they unpacked the cherry pie, and ate it by the crystal clear lake. Then they drank down all of their lemonade. The forest wasn’t so bad really, and they relaxed and started to laugh. It was very, very warm - like a lazy summer afternoon.
“I fancy a swim,” said Ben, and - without warning - leapt into the water! Emily thought that you should never go swimming without Mummy or Daddy, but Ben would be safer if two of them were there, so she jumped in too.
They swum down under the water and explored. There were several fish, the remains of an old building and right at the bottom… well you’ll never EVER guess what was right at the bottom. Was it plants? Mud? Or sand?
No. Right at the bottom of the lake was a big lever.
It was covered in slime, but they could make out the words engraved at the base. There seemed to be three settings for the lever to be pulled to: “Sunny top” “Windy top” and “Stormy top.”
Emily looked at Ben through the water. This must be the weather chooser for the top of the mountain. The fish must play with it, and that’s why the weather always changes! At the bottom of the lever was an arrow, and it was pointing to ‘Stormy Top’. Together, they pulled and pulled and pulled and switched the lever to ‘sunny top’ and then swum for the surface.
When their heads came out of the water, they looked up the mountain and saw the clouds clearing. It was glorious up there, and the snow at the summit shined like diamonds.
The forest wasn’t nearly as scary now there was warm sunlight falling through the branches, and soon they made the long long climb, out of the forest, into the snow and right up to the top.
From there, they could see all of Horsmarlonerpool, and even their house. The sun was bright, and they didn’t have a care in the world.
Except… “I wish we still had lemonade,” said Ben. “I could do with some lemonade.”
Emily suddenly felt thirsty too. She had her water, but lemonade sounded even better. Why did they have to drink it all by the lake?
“I’m going to close my eyes and wish for lemonade,” said Ben.
“Oh don’t be silly,” laughed Emily, shaking her head. “That doesn’t work!”
But Ben closed his eyes and wished and wished and wished and then heard the clink of glass by his feet. He slowly opened his eyes to see… two bottles of fresh lemonade!
“I thought you might fancy a nice drink after such a climb,” said a voice.
Ben and Emily turned around to see the huge, furry friendly shape of Belvedere.
They were so pleased to see him, and him so pleased to see them, that they rushed into a huge, hairy hug.
But just then, the wind whipped up and it started to snow.
“Oh those silly fishes,” chuckled Belvedere. “They’ve been playing with that lever in the lake again.”
And so Ben, Emily and Belvedere hurried up to his ice house - where it was always cosy, always safe, and there was always soup and toast waiting to warm them up.
