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In complete despair the two friends sat silently side by side,
both lost in their own thoughts as they watched it burn, still
hoping for a miracle, but each fearing deep down that they d
seen the last of their friend. Heather s eyes were watering she
wasn t sure whether it was tears or the sheer force of the heat
from the fire when suddenly her heart leaped as a blackened,
smoking figure burst out of the flaming doorway, landed on
his feet and then collapsed on the ground in front of them.
His coat was smoking, he was soaked and blackened, his eyes
were bloodshot and his chest was heaving, but as he lay half
dead on the ground, he opened his mouth and a beautiful,
clean, fluffy, yellow chick emerged. It shook itself dry, looked at
the sheepdog and cheeped crossly, before pottering off to find
its mother.
Heather galloped over to Alastair and licked his face as he
panted and gasped, while Rhona fetched the farmer, who gen-
tly picked up the dog and carried him into the farmhouse.
For the rest of the night Rhona and Heather slept in the
chicken coop and then the next day they went out to survey
the damage. The barn was destroyed, the roof was completely
gone, most of the walls as well, and although the toolshed
seemed to have survived pretty much unharmed, it didn t look
good. Alastair was still a bit coughy and wheezy. Isla and her
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dad had washed him down and cut away the scorched fur, and
the vet had said he was going to be fine.
Despite all this, Heather was quite chirpy. Nobody had died,
after all. In fact, as she munched on an apple she d found in
the field (Peck s Pleasant, highly aromatic, green-colored becoming
bright yellow with orange-red blush), she was humming to her-
self, until Rhona pointed to where Farmer Wolstenholme was
standing with Isla, gazing sadly at his ruined barn. What little
of the crops hadn t burned in the fire had then been destroyed
by the firefighters water, and the farmer was contemplating the
wreckage of his business. His hopes and dreams had quite liter-
ally gone up in smoke. Rhona mouthed to Heather to shh and
listen.
We weren t covered against fire. Everything else, but not
fire. It s Scotland, it doesn t burn here, it rains. So unlucky. It
could have sleeted, snowed, blown a tornado even, that would
all have been fine. Just not fire.
Heather whispered to Rhona, What does he mean not
covered ? What about the roof?
He means insurance cover. When humans think something
might go wrong or they might lose something, they pay a bit of
money to someone in case it does. Then if they lose the thing,
or there s a disaster, the person they ve paid gives them back
the value of the thing they ve lost. It s a bit like when squirrels
save loads of nuts. Even if they can t find any food in the winter,
they know they won t starve because they ve got the saved nuts.
It s called insurance.
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Heather sighed. I ve tried doing that saving food thing, but
it s so hard. I did it with some apples and then forgot where I d
put them. I was in a real panic and then Alastair remembered
where they were. So lucky I d told him.
There you go. You thought you might forget so you told
Alastair. That s insurance. The goat smiled at Heather, who
didn t look any wiser.
But what if I hadn t? Just imagine if they d been lost forever?
It would be like not eating something twice! She shuddered at
the memory. So is it bad, then, this insurance thing?
Rhona looked very gloomy. I rather fear it is, yes.
And as usual, Rhona was absolutely right. With his crops
ruined and no insurance, Farmer Wolstenholme couldn t repay
any of his debts and certainly couldn t afford to start again. He
was left with no choice but to sell the farm to Mr. Busby, and
at a considerably lower price than the chicken farmer had been
offering him before.
Mr. Busby wanted to move in immediately, so within a little
over two weeks Isla had to leave the place where she d been so
happy and prepare for life in London, staying with her Uncle
Max until they could find an apartment of their own. Saying
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