Читать книгу False Bottom - Hazel Edwards - Страница 5

Chapter 1

No Standing

I’ve left Wilhelmina sitting in the No Standing zone,’ said Aunty Viv. ‘Since she’s sitting, not standing, I hope the van won’t get booked.’

‘Is Wilhelmina one of your relatives?’ asked the airport attendant politely.

The twins laughed. ‘Wilhemina is a goat. She belongs to Aunty Viv’s Animal Actors business.’

Amy remembered that earlier embarrassing moment. How could she ever forget?

‘Hey! You can’t park here. This is a No Standing zone!’

The international airport was big. And so was the parking officer.

‘If it’s only No Standing,’ said Amy politely, ‘what about sitting? Would we still get a parking fine?’

The animals in the back of the Animal Actors mini van made a fuss.

‘Sit!’ said Amy in a loud voice. ‘Sit down!’ The goat sat. Luckily, the parking officer laughed.

‘I’ve heard lots of excuses for parking in the wrong place. But I’ve never put a parking ticket on a goat. Where are you flying to?’

‘Singapore,’ said Christopher quickly.

‘Do you live there?’

‘Sometimes. Our mum’s from there and our dad’s Australian. But mostly we live here in Sydney.’

The twins looked alike with their black hair, glasses and jeans but they were good at different things. Christopher was the artist and Amy was the collector. She collected stickers, stamps and clues. Solving mysteries was her favourite hobby. And she wore badges with slogans on them like Save The Trees and Save Anything all over her jacket. Bumping into the twins was dangerous. Amy’s badge pin might stick into you. Or Christopher might sketch you.

The parking officer frowned. ‘You can’t leave those animals here. Hey! He’s trying to eat my pad of parking tickets!’

Christopher was too slow. The tickets vanished between Wilhelmina’s moving jaws.

Chomp! Chomp! Chomp!

‘Sorry about that. Wilhelmina has snack attacks,’ Aunty Viv said.

‘I’ll only stay long enough to check the twins in.’ Aunty Viv stopped the goat nibbling. Christopher’s name tag was in danger.

‘Then my animals have to perform. They’re in a Petty Pet Food TV commercial today.’

‘Five minutes only,’ he warned. ‘Good thing my shift finishes now. I couldn’t write any more tickets anyway.’

Aunty Viv parked in her usual bang crash way. ‘Grab your cases, twins. I’ll hold the goat!’

‘Thanks.’

Just then, some of the name tag on Amy’s backpack vanished. Only the Y was left. AMY LEE, CLARKE RD, SYDNEY vanished into the goat’s mouth.

‘Oh no!’

The goat took off, dragging her chain behind her.

‘Come back, Wilhelmina!’

The chain clanked. It caught around poles. It dragged against parked cars.

Amy and Christopher ran between the cars chasing her.

‘Oh no!’

The chain caught on the bumper bar of an old car. With a giant tug, Wilhelmina got away. Part of the bumper bar came with her, slowing her down.

‘Got you!’

Muddled on the ground were the twins, Wilhelmina and the chain. The bumper bar clanked as they moved.

‘Put the bumper bar back,’ said Aunty Viv, scribbling a note. She stuck the note on the windscreen of the old car. ‘I’ve left my name and insurance company. They’ll know it’s me, again!. Bring Wilhelmina over to the van.’

Aunty Viv tied the goat to the rubbish bin stand. She used a special knot.

‘Wilhemina might eat that rubbish.’ Amy said, and looked at the bin full of lolly wrappers, banana skins and a crumpled pop magazine. A pop singer The Mouth and the singer’s little dog Bozo were on the cover.

The goat put her head into the bin and took a bite of the magazine.

‘Wilhelmina’s eating The Mouth!’

The twins laughed. ‘Perhaps we should call her that!’

‘I’ll be back very soon,’ Aunty Viv shouted to the parking officer’s back.

He left in a hurry before anything worse happened.

Quickly the twins carried their luggage through the touch- open doors. They liked travelling alone, even if listed as Unaccompanied Minors, under the care of the flight attendant.

REPTILE SMUGGLERS ARRESTED said the headline on the newspapers outside the airport news agency. Amy glanced at the story underneath. Luckily she was a superfast reader . She sped through the news. Wildlife officers had caught two smugglers with frozen lizards stuffed in socks.

Amy didn’t have time to buy a paper now. She’d read the rest on the plane. Newspapers were free on board. Amy liked to keep up with any international news or do the puzzles. Christopher usually read the cartoons if he wasn’t watching movies.

Aunty Viv checked them in. Amy wrote out another label to replace the nibbled one. Their bags disappeared carried away by the moving belt. The twins collected their seat numbers.

‘Gate 8. Flight Q9. Okay? I’ll have to go, before my animals cause a traffic jam or get booked again! Give my love to your parents. If the plane crashes over water, swim backstroke the way I taught you.’

Aunty Viv’s black Doc Martens thudded across the departure lounge. As she turned, her long black skirt swished over a rubbish bin. It fell loudly, rolled in front of an old woman in a wheelchair being pushed by a tall, bearded man.

‘Careful!’ The bearded man said, and picked up the bin.

‘Sorry, said Aunty Viv. ‘See you, Amy. Have fun, Christopher. Draw me the best orchid you see in Singapore.’

‘Bye, Aunty.’ As Christopher waved, the woman in the wheelchair muttered. Her escort nodded. People usually did stare at their black T- shirted Aunty.

Amy preferred travelling without parents or Aunty Viv who was always warning them about what to do when they crashed.

‘It’s gone! Look. Q9 is missing,” Christopher said, pointing at the board.