Simba #3: Simba and the Ghost House E-Book

Michael Kamp

• Herausgeber: Tellerup
• Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
• Serie: Simba
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Seitenzahl: 62

Beschreibung

Simba has settled in well at Charly's mom's house in the suburbs. He enjoys spending his time with Otto the dog and his fox friend Ronja, who has just moved into a new den in their neighborhood. But all is not well. Dodgy characters have been selling fake Kitty Krunch to Charly's mom, and there's no way, Simba is going to stand for that. Meanwhile, there's an old, abandoned house nearby that people say is haunted by ghosts, and Simba can hardly wait to explore it! ​​​​​​​Soon, Ronja og Simba find that the house does indeed harbor a secret, and now, they'll have to use their smarts to make it through the night!

Leseprobe

Simba and the Ghost House

by

Michael Kamp

Simba

It’s been a couple of months since the dramatic events in Peter’s vet clinic. Simba has settled nicely into his new home.

Chapter 1

Kitty Krunch

Simba yawned and stretched his body in the armchair.

By now, the sun streak had moved so much that he was no longer in its light. This was his signal to get started on the day’s work.

He leapt onto the living room floor and sauntered off to his food bowl.

Charly’s mom had filled it to above the brim, and Simba was just about to have a mouthful, when he froze.

It didn’t smell right.

Simba sniffed the dry fodder carefully.

He could still make out a whisper of the real Kitty Krunch underneath the other smells, but for the most part, this fodder smelled like a bad imitation.

Weak and bland.

He circled around the bowl and sniffed at the whole pile, before finally sitting down and looking for Charly’s mom.

He wanted real Kitty Krunch. Not this stuff.

Otto sauntered in there to join him and dug into the contents of his own food bowl.

He started gulping down big mouthfuls of dog food immediately, as if he hadn’t been fed for a week.

“Don’t you think the food has an odd smell?” Simba asked.

“Sure,” Otto snorted and buried his head in the food again. “It’s god-awful.”

Simba’s tail swept from side to side as he watched the greedy dog.

“So how can you eat it?” he asked.

“I almost can’t,” Otto groaned and swallowed another mouthful of food before eagerly licking the bowl. “It’s really bad.”

“Don’t you like the food?” said a voice right behind them.

Charly’s mom came in with a pack of Kitty Krunch in her hand and looked down at Simba.

“You always love your Kitty Krunch.”

Simba turned up his nose and turned his back on the food bowl.

Otto wagged his little tail fiercely and tiptoed back and forth on the spot out of sheer excitement.

When he sniffed at Simba’s food bowl, the cat jabbed at him with a claw-tipped paw, though.

Even though Simba didn’t want to eat his own food, Otto didn’t have the right to just dig into it.

Charly’s mom turned over the box of Kitty Krunch in her hands and furrowed her eyebrows.

“Hold on,” she said and sniffed at the contents. “This doesn’t look right. What is this?”

The line between her eyes grew deeper as she flipped and turned the box.

“Hmm … have I been duped? I bought this at the market. It was almost half price.”

Simba turned his snout away and made a point of rejecting the food every time he felt certain that Charly’s mom was looking at him.

Then he sauntered back through the living room and set course for the patio door. And his new cat flap.

It had been installed just a couple of weeks ago, so he wouldn’t have to meow to get in and out.

He walked over to the stiff plastic flap and pushed his head against it before slipping outside.

As the flap fell shut behind him and clattered a bit, and he heard the sound of quick, little paws running on the other side. Claws on a wooden floor.

Otto.

Every time the cat flap was opened, the little pug heard it.

Simba backed up a bit and pushed one of his hind legs against the cat flap.

A bonk was heard from the other side, when Otto bumped his head into the flap, and Simba had to tighten every muscle in his body to stay standing.

Then loud sniffing sounds where heard as Otto examined the mysterious cat flap fiercely, before finally slinking off again.

Otto still hadn’t quite understood how the flap worked.

Simba took a deep breath.

Aah ... all the scents out here really were a lot better than the smells of the city.

He lingered until he was certain that Otto had left and then traipsed across the garden towards the hedge.

He had to stop and smell the flowers on the way, though. He just loved that scent.

He walked slowly and sniffed at all the exciting flowers and plants Charly’s mom grew in the flower beds.

Soon after, he set course for the back hedge again and squeezed through the hole.

Barely had he squeezed through, before a red figure jumped out of a bush and landed on all fours in front of him.

“BOO!” Ronja yelled and laughed, when Simba’s fur stood on end on his entire body.

Simba sat down and panted with a paw pressed against his chest.

“Please don’t do that, Ronja. One of these days, you’ll be the death of me.”

“Tish-tosh,” Ronja said and swept her tail around his body as she walked around him. “Having those tame genes shaken up a bit is good for you.”

Then they bopped snouts.

“Come with me,” she said and ran off along the hedge. “I wanna show you something.”

Simba started running and tried to keep up.

Chapter 2

Wild Squirrels

Behind the backyards of the neighborhood was a strip of tall grass and wild nature.

Simba and Ronja whizzed in and out amongst the bushes and fruit trees on their way to the green space at the end of the row of houses.

Recently, Ronja had moved into a new den over there.

On the way, Simba whizzed up a small tree and peered over the nearest hedge.

He saw a young girl walking back and forth behind the windows.

It was Sally from the vet’s clinic.

Simba looked for the large constrictor and spotted it in its terrarium at the back of the living room.

It was asleep on a thick branch.

He made a point of checking that at regular intervals the constrictor was still in its place.

Just to be safe.

Then he shot back down to Ronja, and they walked on.

Soon after, they stepped out from between the two rows of hedges and into the shade of the pine trees in the green space.

Simba stopped and heaved for air.

“Wait up,” he panted. “I need to catch my breath.”

“Looks like someone’s been spending too much time curled up on the couch, huh?” Ronja teased him and took a turn.

“No way,” Simba said. “I just didn’t have a cat flap when I first moved here.”

Ronja let her bushy tail sweep back and forth under Simba’s snout until he sneezed.

Then, just as he was about to say something to her, a small pinecone hit him in the head.

He looked up and spotted a squirrel up among the branches of a pine tree.

“Get-outta-here!” it said very quickly.

“Who? Me?” Simba asked puzzled.

The squirrel darted a couple of meters down the trunk and onto a branch.

It bared its teeth and growled at Simba.

“Go! Go-go-go! This is my tree!”

Simba looked at Ronja, who was licking her lips as she watched the squirrel.

Simba was struck by another pinecone. This time, it hit his ear.

“Ow,” he said and looked up. “Watch it!”

“Go away! Go-go-go.”

Another pinecone flew down, but Simba managed to step aside. And ducked when the next one came.

“Hey! Watch it there, buddy!” Simba shot out his claws and placed a paw on the trunk.