Darius Bell and the Glitter Pool
Odo Hirsch
Language: English
Pages: 214
ISBN: 1935279653
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
The Bell family's ancestors were showered with honours, gifts and grants of land. In exchange, they have bestowed a Gift, once every 25 years, on the town. The Gifts have ranged from a statue to a bell tower with stained-glass windows, but now it's Darius's father's turn - and there is no money for an impressive gift. It looks as though a wheelbarrow full of vegetables is the best they can do. Darius is determined to preserve the family honour, and when an earthquake reveals a glorious cave, with the most beautiful minerals lining the walls, he thinks he's found the answer...A wonderfully satisfying novel - fun to read, thought-provoking and wise.
to go any further, as Oliver had said. Maybe there was a way around the water, but if there was, it was too dark to see it. Darius turned. He and Oliver scrambled up out of the hole. Oddly enough, although they had gazed at the pool, straining to see how deep it was and how far it went, neither of them had given so much as a glance towards the roof of the cavern. 67 chapter 8 When they got back to the house, a big purple car was standing in front of the steps to the front entrance. A driver
tripled.’ 74 ‘A Bell never falls flat, Mr Podcock. Never has, never will. Simply doesn’t know how.’ ‘Nor would he want to, Mr Bell. It would be awfully humiliating, don’t you think?’ The mayor smiled cruelly. His lip curled. ‘The family name would hardly be worth the paper it’s written on. People would talk. People are cruel. A laughing stock, that’s all the name would be.’ Darius glanced at his father. Hector Bell flinched for an instant, but only for an instant, and then he recovered himself.
with the magnificent copper spire, topped with the bellringer windvane high in the air. On his right, in the square itself, he could see the marble statue of his great-great-great-great-grandfather, Cornelius Bell, and on the other side of the square, the Bell Fountain. It seemed that everywhere he looked he could see a Bell Gift. As they passed, the clock in the tower began to chime, ringing out on the Bell Bell, as if it wasn’t enough that Darius could see a Bell Gift wherever he looked, but
want to lose the House?’ 132 ‘Why not? It needs so much work it’s falling apart. We could move into something simpler and smaller and be much more comfortable.’ ‘I don’t want to move into something simpler and smaller and be much more comfortable!’ ‘Yes you do.’ ‘No I don’t!’ Darius didn’t. He really didn’t. He loved the House, even if it was falling apart. He loved the clock tower and the echo gallery and the dim, dusty rooms with broken furniture covered in sheets, and Mr Fisher’s vegetable
And yet there always seemed to be a grain of truth in what his father said, even if it sometimes took an awfully long time to find it. Because it probably was very easy to overcook a strawberry, thought Darius, as he ate another piece, and Mrs Simpson certainly hadn’t done that. And he ate yet another piece, just to be sure. ‘Well, there are some things I do know,’ said Cyrus. ‘Everything’s arranged. I got the letter from the university yesterday.’ His parents glanced at each other. ‘That’s nice,