Something fell over in the shop; it sounded like a chair. Then there was the noise of steps, careful and deliberate, outside in the hall. A moment later, the living room door opened, and Mr Coombes appeared. But he looked different. His usually neat collar was undone, his velvet hat was upside down and was filled with strange fungi, and his coat was inside out and marked with grass. But it was his face that had changed the most. It was white as a sheet, his eyes were wild, and he was grinning from ear to ear.
‘A merry hello!’ Mr Coombes said, danced three steps into the room, and bowed.
‘Jim!’ cried Mrs Coombes, her mouth open wide in surprise.
`Tea!’ said Mr Coombes, `and toadstools too. A jolly thing!’
‘He’s drunk,’ said Jennie.
Mr Coombes held out a handful of the fungi to Mr Clarence, `Have some,’ he said. ‘It’s jolly good stuff,’ Mr Coombes said, sounding happy and relaxed. But a moment later, when he saw their shocked faces, his mood changed completely. `It is my house!’ he yelled furiously, ‘I am master here and you will eat what I give you!’
He stood in the middle of the room and stared at them. In his outstretched hand, the red and yellow fungi lay.
EFLshorts 