Cirrus@Austlit

'Eight is a plush toy octopus. He and Timmy have been together for a long time, and he is a special toy, the one that goes to bed with Timmy and sometimes even to school with him, too. They are almost inseparable. One day, Timmy and Mum and Dad go for a picnic in the national park, and Eight comes too. They go for a walk in the bush and a row on the river and play near the water.

'Suddenly it starts to rain, and Mum and Dad and Timmy gather all the picnic things together quickly and pack up and go home. It’s raining heavily now, but Timmy has a hot bath and something to eat and goes to bed. As the storm goes on outside, Timmy wakes in horror to find that Eight is not in bed with him. He must still be at the picnic spot in the national park! Timmy and his parents go to look for Eight the next day, but he is nowhere to be found. Timmy is sad to lose his friend, and wonders about what he is doing. Dad suggests that maybe Eight woke early, and made a raft and sailed down the river. What would he do if he met pirates, Timmy wonders.

'While Timmy returns to life without Eight, his toy has many adventures, which may be just in Timmy’s imagination, or not ... One day Timmy and Dad are down by the water again, and Timmy is looking in the shallows, finding interesting things. At first he finds a bucket which looks a little like one he has played with once before, and which Eight might even have used for a pirate’s hat. He sees something stuck in a mangrove and pulls out a very sodden Eight! They take him home for a spin in the washing machine and the clothes drier, and Eight is as good as new.

'Timmy feels now that his friend can sit on his shelf where the boy can see him, as Eight is big and strong enough and brave enough to sleep on his own.' (Publication summary)