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all right?’

    Archie sat up, slowly. ‘My head hurts,’ he said.
    ‘I’m not surprised.’ The porter peered at the back of Archie’s head. ‘You took quite a knock. We’d better get someone to look at that.’
    He sat Archie on his trolley and wheeled him off down the corridor. ‘I’ve got a friend in the children’s ward,’ he said. ‘She’ll look after you!’
    The porter’s friend was a nurse with short, dark hair and a friendly smile. She took Archie into a room with a bed and an armchair and examined the lump on the back of his head.
    ‘He gave you quite a thump, didn’t he?’ she said cheerfully. ‘Wait here. I’ll get you a glass of water and an aspirin.’
    Archie sat in the armchair and waited.
    ‘How’s the head?’ asked a voice, and he looked up to see another nurse, this one tall and wearing glasses, looking down at him.
    ‘Well, it still hurts a bit,’ Archie told her.
    ‘This should help,’ said the nurse, holding out a little plastic cup of medicine. ‘You get that down you.’
    Archie did as he was told and drank the medicine, which tasted rather nice.
    ‘Now,’ said the nurse. ‘You know what’s going to happen next?’
    Archie shook his head.
    ‘Well, it’s nothing to worry about. We’ve got one of the doctors coming down shortly, and he’ll explain it to you.’

    The nurse with short, dark hair appeared in the doorway with a glass of water and an aspirin, but the tall nurse waved her away.
    ‘It’s all right,’ she said. ‘I’m looking after Archie!’
    ‘Oh. OK!’ The dark-haired nurse smiled at Archie and left.
    ‘As I was saying,’ said the tall nurse, ‘the doctor will explain about the operation, so if there’s anything you want to know, you ask him.’
    The operation?
    Archie hadn’t thought the bang on his head had been
that
serious but, curiously, he wasn’t really worried. There was a wonderfully relaxed and floaty feeling running through the muscles of his arms and legs and for some reason it was impossible to worry about anything.
    ‘How’s the head now?’ asked the nurse.
    ‘Issfine,’ said Archie. And it was true. His head did not hurt any more and he was feeling calm, relaxed and without a care in the world.
    ‘I told you the medicine would help,’ said the nurse. ‘Now, let’s get you undressed and into bed!’

    Cyd, meanwhile, had been telling Miss Jensen about all the things that had happened earlier in the week. She told her about Miss Hurrell, the teacher who thought Archie wanted to murder her, and about Miss Humber and the Brazilian Wandering Spider, and about Miss Henley getting trapped in the stockroom. She told her about Mrs Hemp thinking that Archie had turned into a dog, and then about the man from Health and Safety getting a toilet stuck on his head.
    ‘Though I didn’t actually see any of that one ,’ Cyd admitted. ‘Archie was taken out of the class, so I missed it.’
    Miss Jensen gave a little sigh. ‘I know how you feel,’ she said. ‘I’ve missed a whole week of Archie’s adventures, stuck in here. And it looks as if I might have to miss another.’ She paused for a moment. ‘I wanted to ask if there was any news of your father coming home, but before I do . . . Archie’s taking rather a long time getting that jar of water, isn’t he? Do you think something’s happened?’
    ‘Hmm . . .’ said Cyd. ‘I’d better go and check.’

    *
    ‘Well, now!’ The doctor stood at the foot of the bed and smiled down at Archie, who was dressed in a pair of hospital pyjamas. ‘I’m the doctor who’s going to put you to sleep for your operation and I came to see if you had any questions.’
    Archie had to think quite hard before he remembered that he did have one question.
    ‘This operation,’ he said. ‘What’s it for?’
    ‘Ah,’ said the doctor. ‘Well, the X-rays have shown us that there’s a blood clot in your skull – that’s what’s been causing all the pain you’ve been getting –