The Ice Monster
Page 6
The girl could swear she heard scuttling. Maybe it was a rat. Maybe it wasn’t.
“Hello? I’m looking for the Sticky Fingers—”
Before she could utter the word “Gang”, a cloth bag was thrown over her head.
“HELP!” she screamed.
BONG!
“Shut your face,” hissed an unseen voice.
Elsie was hurled into a corner, and she took the bag off her head.
BONG!
A number of children appeared from the shadows.
“What the stink are you doing here?” demanded Big Joe.
BONG!
Zoe pushed him aside. “What are you doing here, little mite? If you want to join our gang, you better think again.”
BONG!
The two sisters Sanaya and Riyana pulled Elsie to her feet, then began playing catch with her as if she were a ball.
“Think you’re tough enough, do ya?” said the elder one.
“You couldn’t punch your way out of a paper bag,” added the younger one.
BONG!
Suddenly a shove came from behind. Elsie turned round. It was Grace. The girl yanked Elsie’s ear.
“OW!”
“Crybaby!” snorted Grace.
BONG!
George, dressed in his choirboy disguise, stepped forward, wielding a hymn book.
BONK!
He it down on the girl’s head.
“OW!”
“OOPS!” he chuckled. “I dropped me hymn book!”
BONG!
Now it was Bella’s turn. The little girl marched forward and her stool down in front of Elsie. She climbed on it and then poked Elsie in the eye.
PLONK!
“ARGH!”
BONG!
“You ain’t seen nothing, right? Or if you like I can do the other eye?”
“NO, NO, PLEASE…” pleaded Elsie.
BONG!
Then Asia and Athena took their turn, using the girl as a punchbag.
“She’s about as tough as a plate of jelly.”
“She’ll be jelly when we’re finished with her.”
BONG!
Finally, Nellie stepped forward. She wore heavy boots far too big for her and stamped on the little girl’s toes.
DONK!
“AAAHHH!”
BONG!
“Not so tough now, are you?” sneered Nellie. “Why don’t you go running back to Mummy?”
Elsie took a deep breath and gathered her thoughts. “Because, like you, I ain’t got no mummy. And, please, I need you to help someone, or rather something, that don’t have one neither…”
“Something?” asked Zoe.
The all leaned forward.
Elsie grinned from ear to ear. She had them hooked.
This was the best bedtime story ever. Up in the clock tower of Big Ben, Elsie told the gang of child thieves the whole tale. Just as with all the orphans at , the girl had the entire audience enthralled with her storytelling. She told them how the mammoth had been found, about visit and how the plan was to bring it back to life with a bolt of lightning.
“Let me get this straight,” began Big Joe. “You need us to help you steal one thousand silk handkerchiefs?”
Elsie nodded her head.
“Well,” began Zoe, “that should be all in a day’s work for the .”
Indeed, it was. And, for Elsie, the most fun day ever.
London had become so cold that winter that the River Thames had frozen over. Ladies and gentlemen had put on their skates and were spinning across the ice. The perfect setting for a ballet of pickpocketing. Elsie became part of the most infamous child gang in London for the day, as they swooped and twirled and robbed.
When two policemen made their way across the ice, Elsie assumed that the fun might be over. Far from it. The were such skilled thieves they simply stole from the policemen too!
DING!
A cheese-and-pickle sandwich.
DING!
A pair of handcuffs.
After a long and surprisingly tiring day of robbing, the gang and Elsie retired to the clock tower to share out the spoils.
“I’ve lost count of how many ’kerchiefs we got,” said Zoe. “But there must be over a thousand ’ere! The rest of the loot we’ll give to the poor!”
“Yeah! Us!” snorted George.
All the gang laughed.
As for Elsie, her eyes lit up with joy. With the help of her new friends, she had achieved the impossible. Now she could return to the Natural History Museum in triumph.
“Good luck, kid,” said Bella.
It was strange being called “kid” by someone considerably smaller than you, but Bella was a feisty one and so Elsie let it pass.
“Goodbye,” said Elsie as she threw the haul of handkerchiefs over her shoulder, and hurried out of the clock tower as the bell chimed eight times.
BONG! BONG! BONG!
BONG! BONG! BONG!
BONG! BONG!
The girl had done it.
Elsie took the thousand silk handkerchiefs and one pair of ladies’ bloomers to the professor. Immediately, he put her and Dotty to work sewing them all together to make something that resembled a balloon. The other bits and pieces the professor asked for were gathered together, and by the end of the week the unlikely trio were ready.
As storm clouds gathered over London, the professor decided that tonight was the night to take to the skies. Now was the moment to see if a prehistoric creature that had been dead for ten thousand years really could be brought back to life.
But, before all that, there was the little problem of Mr Clout. The security guard patrolled the Natural History Museum at night and, although he wasn’t the brightest spark, there was every chance he would notice a live mammoth.
You could hear him coming a mile off in those hobnailed boots of his.
“Good evening, Mr Clout, sir,” said Dotty as she pretended to mop the corridor.
“Why are you still here?” asked the security guard. He took pleasure in treading all over the clean part of the floor, so poor Dotty would have to do it all again. It was way past closing time at the museum, and Clout was used to having the place to himself. Dotty should be long gone by now.
“Yes, Mr Clout, sir. And behold. There is a very stubborn stain on the ceiling.”
“The ceiling?”
“Yes.”
“How would there be a stain on the ceiling?”
“Maybe someone spilled their tea and it went upwards.”
“Upwards?”
“It can happen.”
Clout peered up. “I can’t see anything.”
“Keep looking,” urged Dotty.
This was Elsie’s cue. Unseen by Clout, she crawled between his legs and began untying his long bootlaces.
Dotty stole glances at the girl to check her progress.
“There is no stain,” said the man.
“Keep looking!”
Then Elsie began tying his boots together.
“I think you have finally lost your marbles, madam.”
“Keep looking.”
Elsie nodded to Dotty. That was her cue. The cleaning lady whisked up her bucket and slammed it down over Clout’s head.
CLANG!
The man couldn’t see a thing.
“Who turned the lights out?”
As his boots were tied together, he couldn’t get away.
“QUICK!” shouted Elsie, and together she and Dotty bundled him into the cleaning cupboard.
“GET OFF ME!”
They slammed the door.
DONK!
And locked it.
CLICK!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Clout thumped on the door. “LET ME OUT!”
Outside the door, the pair giggled like naughty schoolchildren.
“TEE! HEE! HEE!”
“Right,” said Elsie, “let’s get to work.”
Standing on the top of one of the NAtural History Museum’s tower
s, Elsie ordered Dotty to listen.
After a few moments, the lady became restless and asked, “What are we listening for?”
“Silence,” replied the girl.
“It’s quite hard to hear that.”
“Shush!” chided Elsie. “Listen, the birds in the trees have gone quiet.”
“You’re right,” replied Dotty.
Above their heads, black clouds rolled across the sky.
“It feels too cold to rain,” said the lady.
“It’s not going to rain. It’s going to snow. Thundersnow. You get to know this stuff when you don’t have a roof over your head.”
“Thundersnow? Sounds very dramatic. Do you think it’s safe to be all the way up here during a ‘Thundersnow’?”
“No.”
“I thought as much. Oh well, if anything happens to me, please tell Titch I love him.”
“Oh yes. Titch.”
“You’ll find him at the Royal Hospital. He lent us this tin helmet.”
“Oh yes. I thought it was tiny.”
“Good things come in small packages. Now, I want to leave all my earthly goods, my mops, my brushes and my bucket to you, Elsie.”
“That’s very kind. I’m touched, Dotty. Truly.”
“But if I get a job as a cleaning lady in heaven I’ll need them back. Understood?”
“Yes. You can have them back any time you want them, either in this world or the next. Now, let’s get this fire going.”
They turned their attention to their home-made hot-air balloon, which they had assembled by following the professor’s instructions.
After a few attempts, they got the wood in the drum burning. Hot air began to rise. Slowly, the balloon of handkerchiefs (and one pair of bloomers) began to inflate. Miraculously, the stitches held firm.
The multicoloured globe grew and grew until it looked big enough to take Dotty’s not-inconsiderable weight.
Elsie turned to Dotty. “Now, when I tug on the copper wire three times, that means the other end is stuck right in the mammoth’s heart.”
“The manmoth’s? Yes.”
There wasn’t time to correct her, so Elsie ploughed on. “Then, and only then, should you launch the balloon into the air. Understand?”
“Yes. Three times.” Dotty nodded.
BOOM!
Thunder echoed across the sky.
To the side of the tower was a narrow chimney pipe. It wasn’t much wider than a dinner plate. Elsie breathed out all the air she had inside her, and lowered herself feet first down the chimney.
“See you at the bottom,” she called up.
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” asked Dotty.
Elsie looked up at the lady, confused. “The wire?”
“Oh yes. That would be useful,” said Elsie.
“You’re as daft as I am!” chuckled Dotty.
She held out the end of the wire and Elsie placed it in her mouth before disappearing down into the darkness. The girl’s hands and feet frantically searched the sides for nooks and crevices to hold on to. Eventually, she could see a tiny square of light beneath her. It was the fireplace that opened into the museum director’s office.
SQUAWK!
“Argh!” screamed the girl. Something was attacking her. Feathers. A beak. Talons.
A bird! It must have been nesting in the chimney stack.
The creature seemed as frightened as she was. Both were flailing around in a desperate attempt to survive.
In all the commotion, Elsie began sliding down at speed.
AAAHHH!” she cried.
What seemed like a split second later, she was lying in a crumpled heap on the floor of Sir Ray Lankester’s oak-panelled office. The girl had brought a cloud of soot with her, and she couldn’t help coughing and spluttering as she tried to breathe.
“HUH! HUH! HUH!”
As the cloud passed, she found herself face to face with a horned creature.
“NOOO!”
As her hand reached out to stop it attacking her, she realised it was stuffed. A plinth underneath read PYRENEAN IBEX (not that Elsie could read).
The girl scrambled to her feet. Although everything hurt, she hadn’t broken any bones.
Elsie took the copper wire in her hand and tiptoed over to the door of the office.
She rattled the handle. It was locked!
BLAST! That wasn’t part of the plan.
There must be a key somewhere in the room. Elsie opened every drawer, turned every box upside down and swept her hands over every shelf, but she couldn’t find it anywhere. There was a cupboard of clothes, and she felt in every pocket, but there was no key.
Elsie looked back at the strange horned creature. It looked back at her. The stuffed Pyrenean ibex was the perfect battering ram.
She leaped on to the creature’s back and, using her feet to power it along, slammed against the heavy oak door. It barely made a scratch.
BING!
Elsie had an idea. She returned to the cupboard and pulled out a pair of elasticated braces from some trousers that were hanging there. She tied the ends of the braces to the leg of the heavy desk on one side, and to the door handle on the other. Then she moved the ibex into position, with the braces behind its behind. Using all her might, the mite pulled it as far back as she possibly could.
Elsie had created a giant catapult!
When she couldn’t hold it for a moment longer, she let go.
The braces shot the ibex across the office. It smashed through the door.
BOOM!
It sent shards of wood flying through the air.
W H I Z Z !
Elsie couldn’t help but smile at the destruction she had caused.
She picked up the end of the copper wire and with a smile on her face waltzed through the hole she had made in the door.
Down in the main hall, the professor was sitting in his wheelchair, staring up at the Ice Monster. Frozen air was smouldering from the glass tank. Elsie dashed down the steps to join him.
“The ice! It’s melting!” she exclaimed.
“Yes, child. I turned off the cooling system,” replied the professor. “Otherwise we would never get the end of that copper wire into the creature’s heart.”
“But what if we bring it back to life and it immediately drowns in the water?”
“I’ve thought of that, young lady. That’s what this is for!”
From under his wheelchair, he produced a frightening tool that looked halfway between a hammer and an axe.
“A pickaxe?”
“Yes, child. This will break through the glass. Now, are you ready?”
“Ready for what?”
“To dive into the tank, of course.”
“Me?”
“Yes, you.”
“I can’t swim. What if I drown?”
The professor thought for a moment. “Then, urchin, you will be immortalised.”
“Immortalised?”
“Yes, immortalised as a short footnote* in the story of how I, the great professor, brought the Ice Monster back to life. Now climb to the top of the tank.”
Elsie looked around the hall. “Have you got a ladder, Professor?” she asked.
The man’s expression darkened. “Oops,” he replied. “I forgot that.”
“Not so great after all, are you?” mused the girl.
The professor gripped the pickaxe tightly.
“I’ll find a way,” said Elsie.
She looked around the main hall for something, anything, that could be used as a ladder. Elsie realised that the answer was standing right next to her.
“The Diplodocus!” she exclaimed.
The enormous dinosaur skeleton was towering over her.
“You can climb that?” he asked.
“Yes! I have monkey feet! I’ll think of it as a dino-ladder!”
“What a genius idea of mine!” announced the professor. “Then, when you reach the tank, you must swim down to the creature’s heart.”
“What do you mean?”
“Professor, may I borrow that pickaxe?”
“Be my guest.”
The girl took it from him. It felt really heavy, but she did her best to pretend it wasn’t. She marched over to a glass cabinet that housed a rock the size of a football.
CRASH!
She smashed the glass, and heaved out the rock.
“That’s a meteorite!” remarked the professor.
“Here you go,” she said, passing back the pickaxe. “This meteorite will make me sink.”
“What a splendid idea of mine!” he mused.
Elsie placed the end of the copper wire back in her mouth, and picked up the rock. Slowly but surely, her monkey feet began stepping along the bones of the tail.
As if climbing a dinosaur skeleton holding a meteorite weren’t hard enough already, it was dark in the museum. The only light was the occasional flash of lightning outside the snow-encrusted windows.
“Quickly!” ordered the professor. “We’re going to lose the lightning!”
“I’m going as fast as I can,” snapped back the girl.
The bones themselves were smooth, which meant it was very easy to slip on them. Elsie took it slowly, letting her toes grip as tightly as they could. In a short while she had reached the skeleton’s back. This being a much wider part, she managed to speed up. Now the girl was at the base of the neck, and a very long way up.
Elsie looked down. That was a mistake. It was a very long way down. Instantly she felt . She shut her eyes. This just made her feel .
“Why on earth have you stopped, you pathetic, pathetic child?”
Elsie took a deep breath. A bolt of lightning struck just outside the window, illuminating everything for a split second. The girl knew she had to act now. Still holding the meteorite, she took a step forward, and another and another. Soon she was halfway across the skeleton’s neck, and within leaping distance of the mammoth’s tank.
BOOM!
A roll of thunder roared across the sky. It was so loud that the museum shook a little.
It made Elsie’s heart skip a beat, and she lost her footing.