Free Kirabo by Ronnie Rowbotham Page A

no dogs in the house, well not unless you counted Kirabo’s toy dog, Togo.
    It had been a few days since Kirabo had arrived and spoilt Brady’s birthday. Since then she hadn’t said very much at all. Girls were boring, Brady thought. He heard the pitter-patter of feet running across his ceiling once again, followed by more giggling. This time he got out of bed to investigate.
    Carefully, so as not to wake his mum and dad, Brady tip-toed up the stairs to the attic. The door at the top of the stairs was already open and the early-morning sunlight shone through a small dusty window, making the attic seem magical. The room was full of cardboard boxes, old toys and trunks full of old clothes. Brady had never been up here before. He stood looking around with wide, excited eyes. In the furthest corner of the attic Brady heard giggling as two tiny feet disappeared inside a large cardboard box that was laid on its side.
    Kirabo, Brady thought crossly. He walked over to the box and looked inside. It was as black as night.
    “Kirabo?” Brady shouted inside the box. He heard his voice echoing ‘ boo, boo, boo ’and from far away he heard a ‘woof’. Brady stood up and looked at the box. It was just an ordinary cardboard box. Brady got onto his hands and knees and put his head inside. “Kirabo, are you in here?” he shouted crossly. He heard his voice echoing back, ‘ here, here, here ’.
    Brady slowly crawled inside the box. He noticed that instead of cardboard, the floor suddenly felt hard and cold. Beneath his hands he could feel small stones that stuck into his skin. Brady looked around him. Instead of the smooth brown box he saw rough rock walls. To his surprise he realised he was in a cave, a big cave. Far ahead Brady heard a girl giggle. He stood up and began to walk forward.

    Brady’s heart was beating very fast but he refused to turn back. If Kirabo can come this far into the cave then I can too, he thought to himself. A little dog ran up to him, wagging its tail and barking happily. Brady blinked in shock. It was Togo, Kirabo’s toy dog.
    “Togo?” Brady asked in a surprised voice.
    The dog woofed happily in reply. Brady knelt down and Togo jumped into his arms licking his face and making Brady giggle.

    “Okay, Togo, show me where Kirabo is,” Brady said, putting the dog down.
    Togo rushed off deeper into the cave with Brady following close behind.
    He didn’t have far to go. Just around the corner Brady heard a girl singing. She had such a beautiful voice that without realising it Brady had stopped walking just so he could listen. Brady had never heard Kirabo sing before, or even talk. His mum said it was because she was very sad about her parents going away. Togo stopped and gave a little cry, telling Brady that he wanted him to follow. Trying to be as quiet as he could, Brady followed the little dog around the corner.
    Kirabo was sitting on the floor in front of a large rugged wall singing,
    ‘Hush now, dear, and dry your tears,
    I am here to ease your fears.
    The time has come to smile once more
    To laugh and play as you did before.’
    Brady was just about to step forward and say how beautiful the song was when the cave began to rumble and shake.
    “Thank you, Kirabo,” a voice boomed.

    Brady looked up to see a giant looking down at Kirabo.
    “Aaahh!” Brady yelled.
    “Aaahh!” the giant yelled.
    The whole cave shook as if it was in the middle of an earthquake and Brady had to grab hold of the wall to stop himself from falling over.
    “It’s alright, Cedric,” Kirabo said gently. “This is Brady. He is part of the family I’m staying with.”
    “Hello,” Cedric boomed.
    Brady looked up at the giant. In all the stories he had read about giants they were never very nice and they liked to eat people. Brady did not want to be eaten by a giant.
    “Don’t worry, Cedric is a very nice giant,” Kirabo said, as if she had read Brady’s mind. “Cedric is like me. He doesn’t have a family