Slowly, sadly, poor James got up off the ground and went back to the woodpile. Oh, if only he hadn't slipped and fallen and dropped that precious bag. All hope of a happier life had gone completely now. Today and tomorrow and the next day and all the other days as well would be nothing but punishment and pain, unhappiness and despair.
He picked up the chopper and was just about to start chopping away again when he heard a shout behind him that made him stop and turn.
Six
'Sponge! Sponge! Come here at once and look at this!'
'At what?'
'It's a peach!' Aunt Spiker was shouting.
'A what?'
'A peach! Right up there on the highest branch! Can't you see it?'
'I think you must be mistaken, my dear Spiker. That miserable tree never has any peaches on it.'
'There's one on it now, Sponge! You look for yourself!'
'You're teasing me, Spiker. You're making my mouth water on purpose when there's nothing to put into it. Why, that tree's never even had a blossom on it, let alone a peach. Right up on the highest branch, you say? I can't see a thing. Very funny... Ha, ha... Good gracious me! Well, I'll be blowed! There really is a peach up there!'
'A nice big one, too!' Aunt Spiker said.
'A beauty, a beauty!' Aunt Sponge cried out.
At this point, James slowly put down his chopper and turned and looked across at the two women who were standing underneath the peach tree.
Something is about to happen, he told himself. Some thing peculiar is about to happen any moment. He hadn't the faintest idea what it might be, but he could feel it in his bones that something was going to happen soon. He could feel it in the air around him... in the sudden stillness that had fallen upon the garden...
James tiptoed a little closer to the tree. The aunts were not talking now. They were just standing there, staring at the peach. There was not a sound anywhere, not even a breath of wind, and overhead the sun blazed down upon them out of a deep blue sky.
'It looks ripe to me,' Aunt Spiker said, breaking the silence.
'Then why don't we eat it?' Aunt Sponge suggested, licking her thick lips. 'We can have half each. Hey, you! James! Come over here at once and climb this tree!'
James came running over.
'I want you to pick that peach up there on the highest branch,' Aunt Sponge went on. 'Can you see it?'
'Yes, Auntie Sponge, I can see it!'
'And don't you dare eat any of it yourself. Your Aunt Spiker and I are going to have it between us right here and now, half each. Get on with you! Up you go!'
James crossed over to the tree trunk.
'Stop!' Aunt Spiker said quickly. 'Hold everything!' She was staring up into the branches with her mouth wide open and her eyes bulging as though she had seen a ghost. 'Look!' she said. 'Look, Sponge, look!'
'What's the matter with you?' Aunt Sponge demanded.
'It's growing!' Aunt Spiker cried. 'It's getting bigger and bigger!'
'What is?'
'The peach, of course!'
'You're joking!'
'Well, look for yourself!'