Adventure 2016

Chapter 4: the telescope.

The pigeons formed a sphere of furious flapping. They were swinging their beaks and weapons and squawking and cooing as they attacked. Elf gasped and pushed forward to save her cat but James held her back.

"Look." He pointed past the pigeons. Claudia was sauntering along the railing away from them. She didn't even look back as she jumped down from the bridge into some trees and disappeared from sight.

"Let's get out of here before those bird realise Claudia's gone and decide to pick on someone else." James led them down the stairs and they walked slowly back to the park.

"Your cat is fast," James said. "She waited until the last millisecond before she dodged the attack. And pigeons have fast eyes too. Fooling them is not easy."

"I never knew she was so deadly," Elf said. "Or that she spoke with an English accent. I always thought she was French."

"It looks like the Empress of Six Dials lured her into a trap," Jenny said. "Only your cat was more than a match for the pigeon ambush. I guess that King Pigeon need cat-help to get rid of Archduke Crackwing."

"And the Empress needs help to get rid of Claudia," James turned to the other two. "So we've got cats warring for the ground and seagulls and pigeons warring for the air. The starlings are caught in the middle, and it looks like the squirrels are on your cat's side. But the real question is: what can we do to help?"

Neither Elf nor Jenny had an answer. All the way home they tried to think of a plan, but without any idea how they could make a difference. If the seagulls fought the pigeons, did they care who won? Elf wanted to help Claudia, but they all agreed that the cat looked like she could take care of herself. The only real losers right now were the starlings, who didn't seem too unhappy roosting on Balfour's school roofs.

They left Elf at the bottom of her garden. She agreed again to speak to Claudia, if the cat came home. Jenny and James spent the rest of the walk to their houses thinking of ways to get rid of Archduke Crackwing from under the pier. But they did not come up with anything good. They would have another think tomorrow at school.

***

But when they did sit down together the next day at breakfast club, there was a lot of noise and distraction coming from the other children.

"What's going on?" Jenny asked a year four boy named Wilfred, who was a part-time member of the gang.

"Haven't you heard?" he said, stuffing the half-crust of a piece of toast into his mouth. "There's going to be a mega-grotto on the end of the pier next Saturday. There's a poster about it on the wall by the toilets. I don't really know what a mega-grotto is, but this one's got live music, celebrities, and most importantly the best grotto prizes in the world. They've been donated by millionaires, so they're not your usual kazoo or bouncy ball. We're talking the best consoles. Gold-plated mountain bikes. Some crazy telescope that'll let you see craters on pluto. Signed football shirts from the best players in the premiership. Best prizes in the world!"

He walked off to get more toast.

"Why would anyone want a gold-plated mountain bike?" Jenny asked the others.

But James had left them and was looking at the bright red and green poster by the door to the toilets. He came back and looked excited.

"It's incredible!" he said, sitting back down.

"You really want a gold-plated bike?" Jenny asked.

"What? Oh, no. Not the bike, the telescope. It's one of a kind." James looked awestruck. "It's not just any old telescope. It was commissioned by the European Space Agency, before they started working on space-telescopes. I don't know how this grotto got hold of it, let alone why they'd make it a prize to give to children."