The Mystery of Banshee Towers (Discontinued-Nearly Finished)

Fatty is a real friend

The little company went in at the back gate of Fatty's garden, and trooped down to the shed - Fatty's cosy little workroom. The two dogs trotted along amicably together, Bingo occasionally giving Buster a friendly lick. Bingo's tail never stopped wagging or waving.

  'You'll wear it out if you're not careful, Bingo,' said Ern, as they went in close file down the path, Bingo's tail slapping against the nearest legs. Bets laughed. She didn't feel scared any longer - just pleased and excited. she was glad that Ern had got away from unkind Mr Goon. It would be nice to have him at their meetings.

  The workroom felt warm when they opened the door, and was full of a golden light from the sinking sun.

  'Well, here we are once more,' said Fatty. 'Get out the toffees, Bets - they're in that cupboard. I'll just go up to the house and see if I can find a camp-bed - or a spare mattress, if not.'

  He disappeared, and Bets went to find the toffees. Trust Fatty to have something to chew or suck or drink! Good old Fatty to think of rescuing poor Ern!

  Fatty was in the middle of hunting about for a camp-bed when his mother appeared. She was astonished to see him in the spare room. 'What in the world do you want, Fatty?' she said.

  'Er - well, I just wondered if there was a camp-bed to spare,' said Fatty.

  'A camp-bed? Whatever for?' said his mother. 'Fatty, I will NOT allow you to sleep out in the garden yet! You'd catch your death of cold!'

  'Mummy dear, I'm not think of such a thing!' said Fatty. 'I like my own warm bed too much to want to shiver outside, with beetles and frogs and ants all over me. I just wondered if we had a camp-bed to spare, that's all.'

  'Fatty, why are you so mysterious about it?' asked his mother. 'Look at me! Why this sudden idea of a camp-bed?'

  'Mummy, you are always so curious,' said Fatty, taking her hand. 'Can't you trust me? I don't  want to sleep on it. I don't want to sell it. I don't even want to take it off the premises. I just want to borrow it. I'm afraid if I told you why I need it, someone might ask you questions, and then you'd answer - and someone else might suffer. Please trust me, Mummy, and believe that, like the Boy Scouts, I am about to do a good deed!'

  'I never in my life knew anyone who could wheedle things out of me like you, Frederick,' said his mother, beginning to laugh. 'All right, I won't ask you any questions. I'll trust you - as I always do, dear! There's a spare camp-bed in the cupboard under the stairs.'

  'Bless you, Mummy, you're a pet,' said Fatty, and gave her a smacking kiss on the cheek. He went o the cupboard and found the camp-bed. In no time at all, he had carried it down the garden, unseen, and Larry was helping him to take it through the door of the shed.

  'Did you have any bother getting it?' asked Larry. 'I always have to go into long, long explanations when I want to borrow anything like a camp-bed.'

  'No. Fortunately my mother trusts me as much as I trust her,' said Fatty, putting up the camp-bed with Ern. 'Nothing like trust in a family! I can recommend it thoroughly.'

  Ern starred at Fatty. What odd things Fatty sometimes said - but they were worth remembering, Ern thought. 'Nothing like trust in a family.' That meant trusting each other. There was quite a lot in that idea. Ern decided to think about it when he was in bed. He felt excited when he saw the camp-bed neatly made up in a corner of the workroom.

  'Luvaduck!' he said. 'It's a miracle, this! Me sleeping here, all on my own, safe as houses, and my uncle not knowing a thing about it. I don't know how to thank you enough, Fatty, that I don't.'