He had been boring, very boring. Then one day he found himself in a parallel world and everything about him changed. He was whisked through a magic rainbow into a world of talking animals, islands of boats and other exciting and dangerous things. After those adventures (told in ‘The Awakening of Billy Bonkel’) neither Billy nor his life would ever be the same again.

The Bonkel’s farm is arable, so they don’t have animals, but they do have fields, orchards and a beautiful lake. At the edge of the lake is a huge weeping willow tree with wonderful thick green tumbling foliage that in the summer months droops into the water. Hidden amongst the thick curtain of leaves Billy moored his little rowing boat that he had named Eleanor after his first adventure through the magic rainbow. The weeping willow, which hid his boat perfectly, was his second refuge when he wanted to be alone. Billy’s big sadness, and the main reason he got so bored, was that there were no other children who lived anywhere close to the Farm. In the Christmas holidays there was very little to occupy a lad like Billy. And the lake froze in the wintertime so Billy tended to stay away.

Billy was excited when the snow first came and made a snowman - a real piece of craftsmanship – but, after a few days, he grew bored with his masterpiece and pelted it with snowballs. Next, he fetched his homemade sledge from the barn and spent a few hours climbing the hill to the southeast of the farm and sliding down again. That too had been fun for a while but now, once again, he was bored.  When Billy was bored he got a bit grumpy and occasionally he even became quite unpleasant.

Term time was better and he found plenty to do, especially since his incredible adventures in far-off places. Billy, who had previously been known by the other children in his class as ‘Boring Billy Bonkel’, was now the most popular and interesting boy, not just in his class, but also throughout the school. He loved this new role. It was as if he had woken from a long sleep and now viewed the world in a whole new way. No longer dull and grey, his world was shimmering with beautiful colours.

These days, Billy joined in just about everything that was going on. He would tell the most fascinating stories of little people in far-off lands, or of talking dogs and cats who were enslaved by evil eagles. In short, he liked school, the school liked him and the more he liked it, the better things got. He was on an upward spiral.
And things had changed inside him too. It was as if his first adventure had woken him and he now saw how he could make a real difference to the things and people around him. Deep in his heart he was convinced that he was on the earth for a reason and some greater being had chosen him for great things.

During his adventures Billy had developed something very important: self-respect. It changed the way he approached life – and the way that he responded to the people around him who now seemed to enjoy his company. As a result, the autumn term had been a new experience for ‘not so boring Billy Bonkel’. He had enjoyed every moment of it. There were so many new and exciting things to do, and during the quiet times he was able to think back to his incredible, action-packed adventures.

But now that he had broken up for the Christmas holidays, once again Billy found himself wandering around with nothing much to do. Boredom made him grumpy and miserable. When his mother asked him to help her with the washing up, he only agreed reluctantly and dropped a glass on the kitchen floor, which smashed into tiny pieces.
Of course he apologised to his mother, but he didn’t really think he was sorry and suspected that he might have dropped the glass deliberately, out of a combination of devilment and a desire to break the monotony.