The thing from the river

Our story begins with May and Lou best friends since either one could remember.
It was the school holidays and the friends were fed up. The wind was blowing the rain falling and getting higher with each passing day, they had been stuck indoors days due the bad weather. Now for anyone living in Porridge this was to be expected what with it being the world record holding town of rain fall for the last 90 years.
As they watched the rain bounce down, they wondered what it be like if the only way to get from place to place was by row boat.  Deciding this would be slow and take hours to get anywhere gave no more thought to the idea.  Lou stopped over at May’s house that night; falling asleep they agreed that what ever the weather when they awoke they would go out and seek an adventure.  For an adventure was just waiting to be had that they were sure of.
Porridge was a small place and everybody knew each other.  It had cobbled streets and old fashioned back roads where people kept their disgustingly smelly bins.  The people were friendly and helped each other out; you could leave you door open and have to worry about it, although this would probably lead to a wet porch. 

May and Lou awoke early the next morning to find yes, it was stilling raining!  With a groan they got washed and dressed, went downstairs for breakfast and watch early morning TV.  While watching the TV they talked about where to go what to do when they went to seek their adventure that day. 
By the time they were ready for going out in their rain proof clothing it was lunch time May’s mum had prepared a pack lunch for them to take out.  She asked where they would be going and told them to be careful! 
“Oh we will mum, love you” said May.  “We will thank you Mrs Sage” Lou said.
They had decided that the best way to find adventure was to head through woods to the river on the other side. 
The woods were about ten minutes from May and Lou’s road, seven if they took a short cut through Granny Beth’s garden.  She didn’t mind the children cutting through her backyard as they always waved and shouted hello, and if they could spare the time they would stop and have tea and cookies with her.
Today however they just passed through.  As they passed the window Granny Beth was sat in her favourite chair and they each waved to the other.


They were close to the woods now, looking at each other both said at the same time “do hear something”?  Looking around they could see no one or anything.  Discussing what they heard as they carried on to the woods, they decided that it was nothing and that they had just been hearing things.
On entering the woods they heard the noise again but louder, jumping aback Lou said “what is that”?!  May who hadn’t moved but still nervous said “nothing it’s the woods and all kinds of creatures sleep here, don’t be so cowardly.  Come on Lou you want to explore or go home to you’re mummy”. 
At this Lou marched ahead leaving May struggling to keeping up. 
After about ten minutes of rushing ahead Lou slowed down, just May was catching up to him she tripped up a tree root sticking out  the ground.  “You ok”? Lou asked.  “Yeah fine help me up?  Hang on . . . what’s that”? May replied.  As the friends looked closer they discovered the something was moving, as they moved closer still the creature screamed realising that this was the same something that was making the noise that they had heard earlier gave each other a worrying glance. “‘GULP, H H hello, I’m May is there something wrong can we help”?  “May! Come on leave it, it can’t understand you”!  “I I IM Woo, from wobbly, I’m lost and can not find my way back home, if I could only find the water to show me the way”?
From the tales that the children had heard, Wobblers who all live in Wobbly can only use the rivers to guide their way.  Through the rivers they can also see the past, present and future to allow them to do good deeds to help others. This is because Wobblers have magical powers.
Although the children were still a bit nervous of Woo, they felt really sorry for him.  He looked so sad.  They could see he belonged in the river because of the fins that peeped through his wings.  He was a strange looking creature.  He had the head and wings of a bird and the fins and tail of a fish.  “How did you get here” said May. 
“It’s a long story which I will tell you later but it’s important to get me back to the river please” said Woo.
Both Lou and May bent down and picked up Woo.  He felt a bit slippery and wet and they had trouble stopping him from slipping out of their arms.  Woo pointed in the direction of the river and ask them to hurry.  The children were out of breath but they reached the river as quick as they could and plopped Woo into the water.  Woo disappeared under the water.  The children waited for him to surface but he never came to the top.  After about five minutes they were really worried that Woo had been hurt.  Lou was willing to go in the river to look for Woo.  Just as he was about to take of his shoes there was a loud splash.  Woo appeared looking much better.  His feathers and scales were shining bright.  “Thank you so much, if you had not got me to the river I would not have lived for much longer”.
Woo started to tell the children how a gang of boys had pulled him from the river and played catch with him.  He said he was in a lot of pain where the boys were so rough with him.  When Woo started screaming with the pain of being thrown about, the boys ran of and left him in the woods.  May and Lou had saved his life and Woo was so grateful.
Woo told the children about all the good that the Wobblers do.  If any birds are injured they save them, foxes get caught in traps and they rescue them.  The good thing about Wobblers being able to see into the future is that Woo will know where to find the naughty boys who were so cruel to him.  Woo explained that he must always stay in the river to be able to use his powers.  He was able to fly to help anyone in need but once out of the water he no longer had the powers to see past present and future.
“How can we help you to find these boys” May said.  Both May and Lou thought that if they go unpunished they will try to do something bad again.
Woo told the children to stay on the bank of the river for a few minutes while he uses his powers to find where the boys were.  They watched as Woo went under the water, jumped in the air and back under the water.  He did this three times.  He then told the children to follow along the river bank and keep watching where he goes.  Lou and May followed Woo for a few yards and suddenly they heard shouting ahead.  They both thought this could be the naughty boys who had hurt Woo.
Woo popped his head up in the river and told the children that he had led them to the boys.  He told them to hide behind the bushes while he called for help.
In a few minutes there appeared seven older versions of Woo in the river.  The strangest thing then happened.  The older Wobblers all stepped out of the river and appeared as men.  They went into the woods where the noises of the boys were coming from.  Within minutes they returned with all five boys.  The Wobblers were holding them by the ears and they were all screaming “let me go”
The boys were so scared, they saw Woo and realised why they were being brought to the river.  “You must be taught a lesson” said the leader of the wobblers.  He pushed all the boys in the river.  He told them that being in the river was dangerous for them the same as it was dangerous for Woo to be thrown into the woods.  The boys were waving their hands in the air and shouting “save me”.
Of course the Wobblers took the boys out of the river before they could come to any harm.  They learned their lesson well because they all said how sorry they were to Woo and promised never to do anything like that again.
May and Lou were watching behind the bush and were so pleased to see the boys had learned a lesson not to be cruel to creatures ever again.
After the boys went on their way Woo once again thanked the children for saving him. I would like you to come to the river whenever you feel like an adventure.  Woo said he knows how much it rains in Porridge and if they are bored this is what they must do.
They must find the big red rock on the bend of the river.  Under the rock is a whistle.  If the children blow on this whistle five short bursts, Woo will know where to find them.
The children had to make their way home but promised their new friend Woo they would be back for more adventures.
They would also make sure that if anyone talks about the Wobblers from Wobbly, they would believe everything they heard about them.
Lou and May went to bed that night looking forward to their next adventure with Woo from wobbly.