Chapter Eleven

They soon found a spot nearby that was perfect for a picnic lunch. The porcupine made a fire and boiled water from the stream for tea. Jamie and Rachael laid out the table cloth while Jennifer unhitched the horse from his harness. The horse was beside himself with anticipation, and when they were all finally seated he eyed the sticky buns greedily. They were definitely enticing all right: large, round and marvelously sticky with fat juicy raisins all over. The horse licked his lips and drooled a little. But they were too far away for him to reach.

"This reminds me of a picnic I had once with a badger," said the porcupine. "He explained to me the method of confounding interest, and a delicate process it is too!"

The porcupine began to tell them all about it, taking both his own part and the part of the imaginary badger.

"Not that story again," groaned the horse and he jabbed Jamie in the ribs. "Pass the sticky buns!"

Jamie looked at the porcupine to see if he should, but the porcupine was too busy telling his story to notice.

"Pass the sticky buns," the horse whispered, a good bit louder this time. "Sticky buns! S-T-I-C-K-Y Sticky! ... BUNS!" he said and he poked Jamie's ribs again.

"Ooof!" said Jamie.

"We have to wait for the tea to brew," said Jennifer.

"Couldn't I have just one or two?" pleaded the horse.

"Oh, for heaven sakes," said Rachael. "Give him one!"

The porcupine was still talking to the imaginary badger, so Jennifer reached over and picked up the plate of sticky buns. The horse grabbed one while the plate was still in the air, and he snatched two more as Jennifer set it down. He crammed all three into his mouth at once and ate them with a moan of pleasure.

"And that's just what he did," said the porcupine, turning back to Jennifer as he continued his story. "That badger kept sneaking in a seven when the other numbers weren't looking, and when they finally added it all up they were completely confounded. And he just kept it up, he confounded them over and over again, just slipping in sevens. Made a lot of money that way. Imagine!"

"Imagine!" said Jennifer.

"Imagine! " echoed the horse in a sticky sort of voice.

"So I said to him," said the porcupine turning back to the imaginary badger again. "Badger says I, if you can confound them with a simple seven, just think what you could do with a stray eight or a sly nine, slip in a couple of pies too while you're at it and then see what happens. Well, he was absolutely flabbergasted!"

So were the children. They watched in amazement as the horse ate four more sticky buns.

"Mmmml" he murmured and he reached for the plate again.

"No," said Rachael, she picked it up first and handed it on to Jennifer. "Don't be a pig, they're for everyone!"

This slowed down the horse briefly but not for long.

"Look out for the bee!" he whispered to Jennifer.

"Where?" said Jennifer who was not overly fond of them.

"Up in the tree!" he told her and pointed overhead.

Jennifer looked up and saw nothing at all, but when she looked down she did see two more sticky buns disappearing down the horse's throat.

"That wasn't fair!" she protested. "You tricked me!"

"All's fair in love and war and sticky buns," said the horse, and he bumped her arm to make her dump two more.

They were eaten by the time Jennifer recovered. When the porcupine looked to see what all the commotion was, he was very surprised to find only one last sticky bun left on the plate Jennifer was holding.

"You must be extremely hungry, my dear," he said. "That's quite all right, missed your breakfast no doubt. But I think you should leave at least one sticky bun for the horse. They're his very best favourite you know."

"Oh, I know," Jennifer assured him.

"Oh brother!" said Rachael.

"Oh sister!" said Jamie.

"Oh, thank you!" said the horse and he took the last of the sticky buns and ate it in one satisfied bite.