Percy was a gargoyle, but not a very good one.

Most gargoyles sit on castles, watching all the people below.  Some of them warn you if you’re in danger.  Some of them spit giant goobers on your head.  But all of them have one thing in common: they live high above the ground with no trouble at all.

But not Percy.  Percy was scared of heights.

No, not just scared.  Percy was terrified of heights.  He had nightmares about climbing stairs.

One day, Percy was sitting at the bottom of his castle, when a young boy with very wet trousers came stomping past him.  Every time the boy took a step, his shoes went squerch and shot apple juice out into the lawn.

Percy wanted to laugh, but it was against the rules for people to know that gargoyles were alive, so he kept very quiet.

The boy took a drink bottle out of his knapsack and started twisting the lid off.  But the lid was stuck, and it wouldn’t budge, so the boy pulled harder and harder until POP! it flew off and smacked him right in the head!

But before he could say any more, there came a big booming voice, yelling: “IAIN!  WHERE ARE YOU?”

Iain got to his feet just as a large boy came stomping up the hill.  His eyes were a bit too far apart, and his forehead was big enough to land an plane on.  He was angry.

“I’m hungry, Iain!” he growled, “Where’s my lunch gone to?”

“Oh!” exclaimed Iain, rummaging through his knapsack, “I’m sorry, Graeme!  I didn’t realize it was lunch time already!  Here you go!”

He handed over a plastic-wrapped sandwich and a bag of cheesy sticks.  Graeme snatched the food and started munching away.

“Where’s my drink?” Graeme said, “I’m getting thirsty.”

Iain smiled weakly.

“I’m sorry, Graeme,” he said, “the lid to my drink bottle broke and it… it spilled all over me.  It’s gone.”

Graeme stopped chewing.

“It’s what?” he asked.

“It’s gone.  I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean for it to haaaaaaaa—”

Graeme grabbed him by the shirt and lifted him off the ground.

“Listen to me, stickboy!” growled Graeme, “I need juice, so now you’re going to have to give me your apple, too!”

Iain nodded and handed Graeme the apple without a word.

“See you around!” Graeme called as he munched on the apple, walking away.

Iain slumped down next to Percy.

“That boy is rude and disgusting and he smells like rotten bananas wrapped in seaweed,” said Percy, “Why did you give him your lunch?”

“Because if I don’t, he’ll beat me up,” sighed Iain, “it’s been that way since we were both little.”

“Well I think it’s silly,” said Percy, “You shouldn’t be scared of him.”

“And you shouldn’t be scared of heights!” Iain argued, “That’s even sillier!”

Percy frowned.

“I‘d love to be brave,” he sighed, “but I don’t think I can do it.  I don’t know how.”

The next day, as Percy was gluing the TV back together, Iain came home from school and ran straight to the kitchen.

“Give me five minutes!” he shouted, shovelling crackers and cheese down his throat so fast little bits were flying all over the room like slimy orange confetti.

“Graeme took your lunch again, didn’t he?” asked Percy.

“Only a little bit,” said Iain, “Now let’s get going.  We’re going to see how you do in the tree house!”

“T-t-t-tree house?” gulped Percy, “Couldn’t we try standing on a phone book first?”

“Don’t be scared, Percy,” smiled Iain, “I’ll be right below to catch you if you fall.”

“Don’t say the F-word,” whimpered Percy.

They walked out into the back yard and stood beneath a tall oak tree that seemed to reach up past the clouds.

“Don’t worry,” smiled Iain, “I’ll help you up.”

Before he could say anything, Percy was picked up and swung towards the wooden ladder that led to the tree house.  He reached a trembling hand out to catch it, but when he looked down…

The next day, Percy was just about finished putting the doorknobs back together when Iain came home from school and ran to the kitchen again.

“Give me five minutes!” he shouted, shoving an entire ham into his mouth and squirting mustard up his nose with a straw.

“Did Graeme take your lunch today, too?” asked Percy.

“Mmwf-bmm-wf-gluu,” said Iain, trying to chew, “Today you’re standing on a car!”

“A c-c-c-car?” gulped Percy, “You mean a toy car, right?”

“Don’t be scared,” smiled Iain, “It’s not that high off the ground.”

“Everything is high off the ground for me,” whimpered Percy.

They walked out to the road where Iain’s mum’s car was parked.  Despite what Iain had said, the car looked gigantic to Percy.  Like a humongous mountain with wheels.

“Don’t worry,” smiled Iain, “it’ll be easy!”

Before he could say anything, Percy was picked up and lifted towards the shiny blue metal.  He reached a trembling hand out to grab hold of the roof rack, but he made a terrible mistake!  He looked down and…

That night, Percy brought Iain fresh ice packs for his fingers.

“I’m really sorry, Iain,” he said, “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“It’s okay,” said Iain, “I’m used to hurting.  It’s not a big deal.”

Percy frowned.

“It is a big deal, you know.  You can’t let Graeme steal your food every day!  You need to eat too!”

“I know,” sighed Iain, “but what can I do?  Graeme is so much bigger than me!”

“You’ve got to tell him no!  Be brave!”

Iain just sighed and looked away.  Percy stood up suddenly, and put on his most serious face.

“If you can be brave with Graeme tomorrow, then I’ll be brave too.  I’ll… I’ll climb into the tree house.  And I won’t go crazy.  I’ll climb right up and be one hundred percent fine.  That’s my promise to you.  So do we have a deal?  Will you tell Graeme to get his own lunch?”

Iain thought a moment.

“You’ve got a deal!” he said, “Tomorrow, I’m having my own lunch, and you’re climbing a tree!”

The next day, Percy was just about done putting all the raisins back where they belonged when Iain came home from school.  This time, he didn’t go to the kitchen.  He looked well-fed and happy, except for a giant black eye that looked like he’d been hit in the face with an extremely fat moose.

“What happened to you?” gasped Percy.

“Graeme punched me,” Iain replied, “because I wouldn’t give him my lunch.”

“He punched you?” gasped Percy, “That’s horrible!”

“It’s not so bad,” smiled Iain, “Graeme got suspended for a week, and I got to eat my lunch for the first time in years!  I had no idea sandwiches tasted like that!”

Percy wasn’t nearly as excited about this as Iain was.

“I did it, Percy!” exclaimed Iain, “I was brave like you said, and it worked!  It worked!”

It took a minute before Percy realized what this meant. 

“So I guess I have to climb up there, don’t I?”

Iain and Percy stood beneath the horribly gigantic oak tree.  Percy wanted to run and hide under the bed, but he’d made a promise, and he was going to have to be brave.

“I’ll go by myself,” he said to Iain, “Just in case.”

Percy climbed up the ladder, careful not to look the down even once.  One, two, three steps up, then four and five and six and… before he knew it, he was standing in the tree house!

“I did it!” he yelled, “I’m here!  I’m… oh dear!  Help!”

“Percy!  Are you okay?” called Iain.

“I’m good!” squeaked Percy, “It’s not so bad!  I’m just going to live here from now on!  With my eyes closed!”

“Don’t be silly,” called Iain, “if you don’t come down soon, I’ll have to eat all the caramel pudding myself!”

Percy looked out of the tree house door very quickly.

“Did you say caramel pudding?”

Percy hopped down the steps two at a time and tore into the house so fast he left burn marks on the rug.  In less than two-and-a-half minutes, they had finished all the pudding, and were laughing and playing and enjoying how brave they both were.

“Stickboy!” boomed a voice from behind.  Iain spun around and saw Graeme lumbering up the steps, eyes narrow with anger.  “My mum’s furious at me for being suspended!”

Iain stumbled backwards.  Percy ducked lower in the pack.

“From now on, sticky,” continued Graeme, “I’m going to take whatever I want out of your bag, whenever I like!  And you’re not going to say a word about it, got it?”

Before Iain could react, Graeme scooped up the bag with Percy inside, and started shaking it upside-down.

“Let’s see what you’ve got in here!” he laughed.

“Graeme!  Don’t do that!  Please!”

Iain grabbed hold of one of the bag’s straps and started to pull.

“Let go, or you’ll be sorry!” Graeme snorted.

“It’s my pack, Graeme!  Leave it alone!”

“Wrong!” yelled Graeme, “It was your pack!  Now let go!”

Graeme pulled so hard that Iain lost his grip, and then Graeme and the knapsack tumbled backwards, right off the edge of the castle!

“Help!” shouted Graeme, dangling off the edge, “Somebody help!”

Iain tried to reach, but Graeme was too far down, barely holding on to the backpack, which was caught on the side of the roof!

Inside the pack, Percy was shivering with fear.  He couldn’t look outside… it was too scary!  He kept his eyes shut tight, and he thought about happy things… happy things like… like caramel pudding.  And talking to Iain.  And Iain telling him he could be brave.

He opened his eyes.

“I can be brave,” he said.

He jumped out of the pack with a mighty leap and grabbed hold of the side of the castle.  With the other arm, he reached out to Graeme.

“Grab on to me!” he shouted.

Graeme looked at the gargoyle above him and nearly wet himself.

“Holy cucumber sauce!  You’re a… a… a…”

“I’m the gargoyle who’s going to save your butt!  Now hurry up!”

Graeme grabbed onto Percy’s hand, and with a mighty heave, the two of them flung themselves up and back onto the castle top!

“Percy!” Iain gasped, “that was amazing!”

Graeme got himself to his feet, face white as a ghost!

“You… you know this gargoyle?” he stammered.

“Percy is my friend,” Iain said proudly.