Harriet put him in her pocket and returned to go on with the day’s classes. During lunch hour, he looked up at her eating and eagerly anticipated his turn.

After school, Harriet started walking out of the school grounds with her friends.

“You can’t eat him, Harriet,” said the girl who had asked if she’d been serious, “He’s just a little boy.”

“I can eat whoever I want to eat!” said Harriet defiantly, “Say goodbye to my friends, little boy. By the time I see them again, you’ll be far down in my tummy.”

“Goodbye,” said Delbert.

“I think we should tell Miss Booth now,” said another girl.

“Oh you do, do you?” said Harriet, “I’m going to walk home with Delbert in my mouth. If Miss Booth or any other teacher comes anywhere near me, I’ll gulp him down before they can do anything about it. Or you can all just mind your own business, and he’ll at least have one more afternoon before I swallow him.”

Delbert didn’t want Harriet’s well-meaning friends to spoil his plans.

“You better just let her do it,” he said.

“Wise words, young lad. Now in you go, just to be sure,” said Harriet.

In front of her friends, she opened her mouth wide and placed him onto her tongue and then closed it. Half an hour later she opened her mouth and he could see that she was sitting at a table in her house.

She took him out and placed him on her shoulder.

“It was nice being in there,” he said, “Your tongue is very big, Harriet.”

“It was only nice, because I didn’t swallow you yet,” teased Harriet, “You can expect some huge gulps the next time you go into my mouth!”

“You’ve got me, Harriet. I’ll just have to be swallowed.”

She laughed and smiled.

She did her homework and then took him to the dining room table and sat down, looking lovelier than ever.

“Goodbye little boy. I’m going to eat you all up for my dinner now,” she said.

She put out her tongue in a taunting manner and licked him.

“You’re the tastiest meal I’ve ever had,” she said, “Now I’m going to swallow you.”

Harriet put him into her mouth and lifted her tongue up and down a little, probably to tease him. Then she suddenly drew him into her throat. He was being swallowed! It was the most exciting thing that had ever happened to him. He went down and down and down and into her tummy.

He felt a tingling all around him and realised that her stomach was beginning to digest him.

“Now that I know how much fun this was, I’ll always remember it, but I wish I could go back to this morning,” he thought.

Suddenly he felt time unravelling again. He was back on the footpath approaching the school bus stop. This time he caught the bus to school and lived out the remaining few years as normal, not eaten, and not meeting Miss Harriet Stone until 5th class. He made sure to leave sticky cheeks after eating his desserts in this time too, having remembered the previous encounters with Miss Stone’s tongue.