As if from nowhere, the puppet master produces two puppets with strings attached and gets them standing on the stage. One is much taller than the other. The show has begun!
I’ve got Kissing Doorknobs open in front of me but hear Polly gasp. She is staring intently at the stage, but she must see something I can’t from this distance.
The smiles on the little faces in the crowd tell me the show is funny. I move closer. The big puppet is smacking the little one with the branch of an apple tree. One can see the apples bouncing, still on the branch, which does give the scene some humour, but not if you consider the perspective of the one being smacked.
I look at the smaller puppet again and this time thinks he looks familiar. I know I haven’t seen this puppet show… Boffo!
I shriek silently. The little puppet looks exactly like Boffo and is even wearing the same cheerful clothes.
The poor kid with OCD is not living happily. ‘Step on a crack:’ I can see how that rhyme could drive you mad, but I feel I must return the book to the shelf and go quickly to the back of the cardboard theatre. I must see if Boffo is watching all the fun, just as he’d asked to.
It occurs to me to wonder what on earth I would do if Boffo, this boy who is no relation, is turned into a puppet on my watch and is not now smiling behind the cardboard. Marian the Librarian – hurray! – takes control. ‘Polly,’ she hollers, ‘grab the small puppet!’ and Polly jumps up instantly, grabbing the puppet before the puppet master has a chance to react.
The final chapter next week!
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