The next moment was all hustle and bustle. Geraldine was up on her hooves; Pet was frisking around; Leo roaring commands and Priscilla uncurling her elegant legs. 'It's A PURRfectly marvellous idea' she said. The children jumped up and down with excitement and when they saw Corky struggling to carry all his presents, they rushed to help him. 'I'll take your flowers' said Susan. 'I'll take your map' said Bazu. 'I'll take your box' said Tiny. Corky put his pebble into his pocket and held on to his precious picture.
'Climb onto my back' bellowed Leo. So having collected everything, the party set off merrily singing at the tops of their voices:-
'We're off to Corky's house
We're off to Corky's house
He'll be surprised
When he's inside
We're off to Corky's house'
'Of course we could go a much quicker way and use THOUGHT travel' said Miss Wise 'but we THINK you'll enjoy seeing the countryside this way.'
'Oh I know wot you mean, like when I was on top of that whopping great tree when I first met Geraldine. That was super!'
They left the lake-side and wandered happily through meadows carpeted with tiny brilliant flowers like the balls in Corky's pebble. They crossed streams which made gurgling sounds as if they too were joining in the fun and where a rainbow-coloured fish darted in and out. On they went, through cherry orchards with pink fluffy blossom like candyfloss, and forests where sunbeams twinkled through the leaves of the tall trees and lit their path with golden light. No one seemed a bit tired, not even Chubby who trotted alongside Leo and Pet. 'That's because they THINK they can do it, so they CAN' Miss Wise explained.
'I know that' said Corky suddenly remembering Geraldine's poem, 'If I FINK I can do it, then I can, I know. I can FINK myself anywhere I want to go. So I FINK I'd like to be at my 'OUSE!'
No sooner had he said that when they were standing in a quaint little street lined with the prettiest cottages imaginable. They were all different shapes and sizes, and each had a garden in front, where the flowers were in proportion to the size.
'That's nine' said Tiny, pointing to the tallest, and the flowers growing round the walls were gladioli, hollyhocks and sunflowers 'And that's mine' said Chubby. It was very small and the flowers were forget-me-nots, buttercups and daisies. Susan, Ming and Bazu were eager to show him theirs, but they knew he was simply LIVING to see his, so they decided he could visit theirs later when he'd settled in.
The great moment arrived. 'This is YOURS!' said Miss Wise smiling, and everyone shouted 'Welcome home. Corky!'
'COR!' was all he could say - it was so beautiful. Bigger than Chubby's and smaller than Tiny's, it was the right size for him. It was a black and white timbered cottage with a thatched roof just like the ones he'd seen in his history books but with no chimney and no glass in the windows and no front door - just an opening as Susan had said. The outside walls were covered with crimson and gold creeper and the air was filled with the scent from his favourite flowers - roses of every colour - red, pink, yellow and white.
Suddenly he felt everybody was watching him and there was a silence. Then he realised they were waiting for him to say something.
'It's LOVERLY!' he cried. Relief broke out of their faces and they all joined hands and made a circle round him dancing and singing:-
'This is the cottage in his mind
What he imagines, he will find
For with his THOUGHTS, he has designed
Corky's heavenly dream house! '
'I do hope you're going to invite us all in', said Geraldine
'ORL of you?' cried Corky in dismay, wondering how on EARTH they could possibly ALL get in!
'They can't on EARTH!' she replied, 'but this is THINK LAND, so just THINK they can. Remember my poem'
And that was exactly what Corky did!
