by Sue Clarke  

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Page 1 

Steve, Katie, Lauren and Boff are four friends. One day Steve's dog, Benjie, disappears into a hole in a field. The children follow, and find themselves in a time tunnel. They have travelled back to Ancient Egypt, and have just met a boy - Ramses. Ramses is showing the children his home and his village.

Imagine a small red brick house. Imagine a small bedroom with a red blanket. Imagine a small head with a round face and freckles, red hair sticking up. Steve was asleep in his bed. The alarm clock rang and he woke up. He got out of bed like a sleep-walker, got washed, dressed very slowly in his designer jeans and then went downstairs to have his breakfast. He sat at the table eating coco-pops. His sister Katie came in. She was bright and pretty and wore her blond hair in a pony tail.
"Hurry up!" she said to Steve. "We'll be late for school!"

Ten minutes later they left the house and went to the corner of the street to meet their friends as usual. Katie's friend Lauren was already waiting. She had short brown hair and glasses. Steve didn't like her much as she was very bossy. Just then Boff arrived. He was a strange sight. He was very tall and thin like a stick insect. His face was quite spotty and his hair wasn't combed. His clothes were really uncool but he didn't seem to notice.

They set off walking along the road to school – past the shops, past the enormous grey factory building and down towards the river. Then suddenly they heard a noise behind them.
"Woof, Woof!"
"Oh, no," said Steve. "It's Benjie."
Benjie was Steve's dog and he was very very disobedient. He often escaped and Steve had to take him home again. Benjie ran off in front of them into a field.
"Oh, no," said Steve, "he's seen a rabbit! He's gone into the field. We'll have to catch him."

The four children groaned and then climbed over the fence into the field to look for Benjie.
"Here, Benjie!" they shouted.
But the dog ran off into the distance, chasing a rabbit.

At the back of the field was a wall. The rabbit and the dog ran towards it - and then disappeared!
"Where are they?" cried Katie. "They've just gone!"
They went closer to the wall and looked. There was a hole at the bottom of the wall.
"Maybe they went down there," said Lauren.
Steve went down to look and then fell over.
"Ow!" he cried, and then disappeared!
"Where is he?" said Katie.

The three children went down the slope towards the hole. Suddenly they felt their heads spinning and turning, and the world went black. They felt as if they were flying, and indeed they were - back into the mysteries of time itself.

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