It was a wet, rainy day in the school holidays. Poppy looked out of the window at the rain and thought about her parents. They were on a long holiday travelling round the world. They said Poppy was too young to go. So Poppy was staying with her Aunt Bella in her funny old house with lots of rooms and strange noises.

Today Poppy was bored. She was all alone – Aunt Bella was out shopping. It was the third week of the holidays and it had rained all the time. Poppy knew all the parts of the house and garden now. Downstairs there was a big living-room with squashy old chairs and the television. Next to that was the dusty dining-room with its enormous table and chairs. The dining-room was red and there were many old books in the bookcases, but they were not very exciting. The room smelt strange and Poppy didn’t like it. At the back of the house was the kitchen. That room was better – it was warm and full of delicious cooking smells.

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