Crossing the Silver River

People. Listen up!

Read SONG FOR A SCARLET RUNNER and you'll understand why an Onion was extremely delighted when Julie Hunt crossed the Silver River Bass Strait to deliver this bunch of everlasting daisies...*

No, seriously. Read SONG FOR A SCARLET RUNNER.

It's classic children's fantasy-adventure. Remember how you felt when you read C.S. Lewis, or T.H. White, or Robert C. O'Brien? It's like that. We're not bluffing. Here's a taste.

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As soon as I took out the bread, something shot past my shoulder and leapt into the tree. A face peered down at me through the leaves: a sharp, narrow face fringed with reddish fur. The eyes were bright and mean. If the creature sprang at me now I could fall. I broke off a small piece of bread and threw it, and he caught it in midair.
'There, we're even,' I whispered. 'Bread for water. Now go away.'
I put half the bread back in the bag and began eating the rest. The creature ate too, then moved closer, wanting more.
'I need this. I have a long way to go.'
He blinked and held my gaze. His eyes were grey-green, like the marshes.
'I have to eat. I have to get down from here,' I told him, as I threw him another piece of bread.
The creature caught it, then he ate slowly, looking deep into my eyes.
'What are you?' I asked. He wasn't like any animal I had seen near the Overhang. He wasn't a rabbit or a fox.
'You're small and sleek,' I said. 'And you are not to be trusted. I'll call you a sleek.'
The creature blinked and closed his eyes as if satisfied, then suddenly he sprang, snatching the remaining bread out of my hands and disappearing down the rock face.

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Okay - you have to wait until April, but it will be WORTH THE WAIT. Seriously.

* This post contains A Clue about something else exciting happening this year for us in the House of Onion, something that we'll be talking a lot more about in coming weeks. Oh the excitement! Stay tuned.