Layla went outside and drew some pictures in the sand with a stick while, inside, Shireen opened the puzzle box and started turning the puzzle pieces picture-side up.

Outside, Layla found a piece of old rope and tied it around the loquat tree so that when Shireen was finished with the puzzle they could play skipping. But inside, Shireen was struggling to fit the pieces of the puzzle together. She wished that she had not said that she was the best at puzzles. Quickly, she broke up the bit of the puzzle she had managed to do and put all the pieces back into the box. Then she ran outside and called to Layla who by now had climbed high up in the loquat tree, “I’ve finished!”

“All of it?” asked Layla.

“Yip,” said Shireen and she began climbing up into the tree.

“Stop!” Layla shouted back. “I’m coming down to see.”

“But I have packed the puzzle away already,” said Shireen.

“Why?” asked Layla.

“So that you don’t have to pack it away later,” replied Shireen.

“Oh,” said Layla, “but what about this piece?” She held up the piece with the eagle’s eye on it that she had kept.

Shireen went very quiet. She sat in the tree feeling foolish.
After a little while, Layla shouted, “Hey, guess what, I found some ripe loquats. Do you want some?”

“Yes, please,” said Shireen in a teeny little voice.

Layla climbed down to the lower branch where Shireen was sitting and handed her some. And there they sat, eating loquats and seeing how far they could spit the pips.

Shireen spat the furthest.

“You’re the best,” said Layla.

“And you,” said Shireen, “are the best, best friend.”