The Wolf Cupboard

by Susan Gates

  The Wolf Cupoard

  Susan Gates

  Contents

  Chapter One Little Brother Lost

  Chapter Two The Wolf Cupboard

  Chapter Three All About Wolves

  Chapter Four Danny’s Wolf Stare

  Chapter Five Really Uncool!

  Chapter Six Real Wolves

  Chapter Seven Bad Boy

  Chapter Eight The Truth About Wolves

  Chapter One

  Little Brother Lost

  Leon was in big trouble. He had lost Danny, his little brother.

  That morning, Mum had dropped them both off at school.

  She had told Leon: “This is Danny’s first day at school. Make sure he knows where the toilets are. Make sure no big kids bully him.”

  And Leon had said, “Don’t worry, Mum. He’ll be all right with me.”

  Leon had meant to check on Danny at morning break. But he forgot. He played football with his friends instead.

  When the bell rang for home time, Leon went running out of the school gates. Then he suddenly remembered. He was supposed to be walking Danny home!

  He ran back to find Danny.

  The babies’ class had already come out of school. Mums, dads and carers were taking them home.

  Leon looked around for his little brother’s cheeky grin.

  But there was no sign of Danny anywhere.

  “Mum will kill me if anything happens to him!” thought Leon.

  Everyone went home. The playground was empty and quiet. And still no Danny.

  Then Leon really started to panic.

  “Where are you, Danny?” he whispered, his voice shaky.

  He felt sick. What if Danny had gone home without him? There was a busy road between school and home. Danny was only four years old. Leon had scary pictures in his mind, of Danny getting run over.

  Or what if some bad person took him away?

  Leon couldn’t even think about that. He blocked it out of his mind.

  Then he heard a noise. A kind of whimper, coming from behind the school bins.

  Leon ran over. “Danny? Danny? Is that you?”

  Leon shoved the big, heavy bin out of the way. And there was Danny, hiding behind it.

  Leon was really pleased to see his little brother. But he was angry too because he had been so scared that Danny was lost.

  “Danny!” he yelled. “I nearly had a heart attack! I thought you’d gone home without me!”

  Danny looked up. His face was covered with snot and tears. He looked really scared.

  “What’s the matter, Danny?” asked Leon. “Has someone hurt you?”

  Chapter Two

  The Wolf Cupboard

  Danny gave a big sniff and wiped the snot from his nose with his sleeve.

  “Hurry up and tell me!” said Leon.

  “This big boy…” Danny began.

  “What!” yelled Leon. “Did a big boy hurt you? Tell me his name!”

  “I don’t know his name,” said Danny. “He was just some big boy.”

  “Did he hurt you?” asked Leon again.

  “No,” said Danny. “He told me about the wolf cupboard.”

  “The what?” said Leon. “What wolf cupboard?”

  Danny began to cry again. “That big boy told me if you’re bad at school they shut you up in the wolf cupboard. And there’s a big, bad wolf in there. And he eats you all up.”

  Leon felt his fear rush away, like water down a plug hole. He burst out laughing.

  “Danny!” he grinned. “There’s no such thing as a wolf cupboard!”

  “Yes there is a wolf cupboard!” said Danny, still crying. “That big boy showed it to me. It’s outside my classroom.”

  “He was just trying to scare you,” said Leon. “Look, Danny, wolves don’t live in cupboards.”

  But Danny wasn’t listening. He gave a big shiver.

  “I hate this school,” he told Leon. “And I’m never, ever coming back here again!”

  “Oh no!” thought Leon.

  He’d promised to look after Danny. But what would Mum say if he took Danny home crying and scared and saying he was never, ever going to school again?

  “Mum will kill me!” thought Leon.

  She was on early shifts at work. So Leon would have to walk Danny to school tomorrow.

  “What if he won’t go?” thought Leon. “What if I have to drag him crying and screaming down the High Street?”

  Things were looking really bad.

  “I’ll just have to show Danny that this wolf cupboard is a load of rubbish!” thought Leon.

  He grabbed Danny’s hand. “Come on,” he said. “Show me where this wolf cupboard is.”

  “No!” yelled Danny. “I’m not going near it!”

  “Calm down,” said Leon. “We won’t go anywhere near it. I want you to show it to me. Just show me. All right?”

  Leon dragged Danny back into school.

  It was ages since Leon had been in the infant school. It felt really strange. The chairs and tables seemed tiny.

  Danny pointed a shaking finger. “There it is!”

  Leon said, “What, that little cupboard?”

  He almost laughed again. But he stopped himself because Danny looked so scared.

  “That cupboard must look really huge to a four-year-old,” Leon thought.

  Leon went up to the cupboard.

  “Don’t open it!” yelled Danny. “Don’t open it! Please!”

  Leon wanted to open the cupboard to show Danny there was nothing to be scared of. But the cupboard was locked shut.

  “See?” said Danny. “That’s so the wolf can’t get out!”

  “But there isn’t any wolf!” said Leon.

  “Yes, there is!” shouted Danny. “Me and this big boy, we saw my teacher going up to the cupboard with a big stick. And the big boy said she was going to check on the wolf and if she didn’t bash it with the stick, it would eat her too!”

  Leon gave a big sigh. “Did you see the teacher open the cupboard? Did you see her bash the wolf?”

  “I saw her open the cupboard,” said Danny. “But then I ran away in case the wolf jumped out and gobbled me up. And I hid behind the bin.”

  Leon gave an even bigger sigh. It was going to be hard work, making Danny see that this wolf didn’t exist.

  Chapter Three

  All About Wolves

  On the way home, Danny wouldn’t shut up about the wolf.

  “It’s a big, grey wolf,” said Danny. “With great big sharp teeth. Like the wolf that ate Little Red Riding Hood’s grandma.”

  “Did the big kid tell you that rubbish?” asked Leon.

  “No, I thought of that all by myself,” said Danny.

  As they walked past the library, Leon suddenly remembered, “I have to take Mum’s book back.”

  He got the book out of his backpack. He was just handing it in at the counter when he heard Danny yell, “This is what that wolf is like!”

  “Oh no!” thought Leon.

  Danny had found a book about wolves. He was looking at a photo of a huge, grey wolf. It was like the big, bad wolf from fairy tales. Its fierce, yellow eyes stared right at you out of the page.

  It had sharp fangs. They looked strong enough to crunch your bones. They were dripping blood.

  “Look at his teeth!” yelled Danny. “He’s just eaten a bad boy!”

  “No he hasn’t!” said Leon. “And anyway, if he only eats bad boys, why can’t you just be good?”

  “Because I can’t be good all the time!” Danny shouted back. “I’m bound to get put in that wolf cupboard. So I’m not going to school. Not ever again.”

  Leon almost said a bad word. But then he saw the librarian staring at him. So he said it inside his
head.

  “Are all little brothers such a pain in the neck?” he thought.

  Leon grabbed the book. “This is a stupid book!” he said. He slammed it shut and was about to shove it back on the shelf when he saw the cover.

  The book was called All About Wolves. There was a lot of stuff written on the front. But some words seemed to leap out at Leon.

  “How To Avoid a Wolf Attack,” they said.

  And suddenly Leon had a brilliant plan. It was so brilliant he was proud of himself.

  He had given up trying to tell Danny the wolf didn’t exist. But he could use this book to show him that he didn’t have to be scared of it.

  “And then everything will be all right again,” thought Leon. “And Mum won’t kill me when I get home!”

  Leon told Danny, “I’m going to borrow this book right now!”

  “But you said it was a stupid book,” said Danny.

  “I’ve changed my mind,” said Leon. “This is a great book. This book will save my life!”

  Chapter Four

  Danny’s Wolf Stare

  When they got home, Leon took Danny up to his bedroom. There wasn’t much time. He had to sort out this wolf problem before Mum got home.

  “Right,” said Leon, flicking through the book again to find the page on “How To Avoid a Wolf Attack”.

  Danny was not in a good mood. His lower lip stuck out like a fat pink slug. He was chanting, “I’m not going back to school. I’m not going back to school!”

  “Will you stop saying that?” snapped Leon. “I’m trying to help you. I’m trying to make sure that, even if you do get chucked in the wolf cupboard, you won’t get eaten. So there’s no need to be scared. OK?”

  “OK,” said Danny. But he didn’t sound sure.

  Leon found the right page and read it. “These are great tips,” he thought. But would they work for Danny?

  “Imagine there’s this great big angry wolf, with very sharp teeth,” said Leon. “And it wants to bite you!”

  Leon showed his teeth, like an angry wolf. He gave a loud growl. “Grrrr!”

  “You’re scaring me!” cried Danny.

  “But you don’t need to be scared!” said Leon. “Because this book tells you what to do.”

  “What do I do?” asked Danny.

  “Well,” said Leon, “you do what another wolf would do. You stare at the wolf.”

  “What, just stare at it?” said Danny, puzzled.

  “Yes!” said Leon. “It’s called a wolf stare. The wolf in the photo is doing it. Wolves stare fiercely at each other. And the one with the fiercest stare wins.”

  “What, like this?” asked Danny making his eyes big and round.

  “That’s really good,” Leon said.

  Danny kept staring, his eyes wide, not blinking.

  “You can stop staring now,” said Leon. “It’s creepy!”

  Finally, Danny blinked. “But what if the other wolf has a fiercer stare than me?” he asked. “What if it wins? Will it bite me?”

  Leon could hear Mum turning her key in the front door. He looked at the book for an answer.

  “No, the wolf won’t bite you,” said Leon. “You’ve just got to do this.”

  Leon rolled onto his back, like a dog that wants to have its tummy tickled.

  “What are you doing?” asked Danny.

  Leon said, “The book tells you, if a wolf loses a staring contest, it rolls over onto its back, like this. It’s like saying, ‘I give in.’ And then the other wolf won’t bite.”

  “Oh, I get it!” said Danny. He rolled over onto his back too.

  “And if you whimper as well,” Leon told him, “the other wolf knows for sure you’ve given in.”

  “Like this?” said Danny, whimpering and pawing at the air with his hands.

  “That’s really great!” said Leon.

  Mum looked round the bedroom door.

  “What are you two up to?” she said.

  “We’re pretending to be wolves,” said Danny.

  Leon went red. He felt really silly rolling around on the floor.

  At least only Mum had seen him, and not his mates at school. They would have laughed their socks off.

  Mum went back downstairs. Leon stopped pretending to be a wolf. He stood up.

  “Now, remember, Danny,” he said. “If you get chucked in the wolf cupboard, you can use your wolf stare. And if that doesn’t work…”

  “I know,” said Danny. “I roll on my back and give in.”

  “Right!” said Leon. “You’ve got it!”

  “I’m not scared of that wolf now,” said Danny.

  Leon thought, “My plan has worked like a dream!”

  But you never knew with little brothers. Who could tell what went on in their heads?

  Just then Mum came back into the bedroom. She asked Danny, “Did you like your first day at school?”

  “Well, I didn’t like school at first,” began Danny.

  Mum frowned. Leon held his breath. He was thinking, “Please Danny, don’t make trouble for me!”

  Then Danny put a big smile on his face.

  “But everything’s all right now,” he told Mum. “So I’m going again tomorrow.”

  Mum was smiling too. Leon thought, “Phew! I’m not going to get into trouble!”

  But what would happen tomorrow? When Danny woke up, would he still not be scared of the wolf in the cupboard?

  Chapter Five

  Really Uncool!

  Next morning, Danny seemed quite happy when he got up.

  He didn’t say, “I’m not going to school!”

  Leon thought, “My plan is working really well!”

  There was just one tricky moment. When Mum gave Danny his cornflakes she asked him, “Why are you staring at me like that? It’s creepy!”

  “I’m practising my fierce wolf stare,” Danny told her, with wide unblinking eyes.

  A bit later, when Leon walked Danny to school, they passed a gang of tough-looking teenagers, leaning against a wall.

  “Why is that little kid staring at us like that?” one of them asked Leon. “Is he trying to be funny?”

  “No, no,” Leon told them, dragging Danny away. “He’s only four. He doesn’t even know what he’s doing.”

  “Yes I do!” yelled Danny. “I’m practising my fierce…!”

  “Will you shut up?” hissed Leon, clamping his hand over Danny’s mouth. “You’ll get me into a fight! Save that stare for the wolf cupboard.”

  “OK!” agreed Danny. “I’ll practise giving up instead.”

  He rolled onto the pavement, whimpering and waving his paws in the air.

  “You do it as well!” he said to Leon.

  “Are you crazy?” said Leon. “There are people watching!”

  Danny’s eyes began to fill with tears. “If you don’t help me,” he said, “I’m not going to school.”

  “Oh no!” thought Leon. He checked his watch. They had only ten minutes to get to school!

  Leon looked around again. None of his mates was about.

  “All right,” he told Danny. “I’ll pretend to be a wolf. But only for five seconds. Then will you come to school?”

  “OK,” said Danny.

  So Leon threw himself on his back on the pavement. He waved his arms and legs about. He whimpered. He put his tongue out of his mouth like a panting dog.

  “Hey, you’re a great wolf,” said Danny.

  There was a bus going past. Leon looked up.

  Some girls he knew were staring at him from the window.

  “Oh no!” thought Leon. “They’re going to think I’m really uncool!”

  He jumped to his feet. He grabbed Danny’s hand. He dragged him along the street and into school.

  All that day, in lessons, Leon thought about Danny. How was his little brother doing?

  “With any luck,” thought Leon, “he’s forgotten all about the wolf in the cupboard.”

  Chapter Six

  Real Wolves
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  At the end of school, Leon waited for the baby class to come out. At last, he saw Danny running towards him, with a big smile on his face.

  “Phew!” thought Leon. “He looks OK.”

  But, as they walked home, Danny asked him, “Will you read me some more of that wolf book?”

  “Why?” said Leon. “You’ll only get scared again.”

  “I won’t,” said Danny. “I told you, I’m not scared of wolves any more.”

  “No!” said Leon. “No more wolves!”

  Wolves were nothing but trouble. They had nearly got him into a fight with those teenagers. They had made those girls on the bus think he was really uncool.

  But Danny went on and on until Leon agreed.

  So, that night, Leon sat on Danny’s bed and opened the book All About Wolves.

  “Just five minutes’ reading,” said Leon. “And you’ve got to promise me you won’t get scared.”

  “I promise,” said Danny.

  Leon looked down the page, to find something nice to say about wolves.

  “Hey,” he told Danny, “it says here most people are totally wrong about wolves. Real wolves are nothing like the big, bad wolves in fairy tales.”

  “So what are they like, then?” asked Danny.

  “It says real wolves are shy. They run away from people. They only attack you if you hurt them first. Or try to hurt their cubs. I didn’t know that,” said Leon, getting interested.

  He turned over a few pages. “Hey!” he said again. “It says wolves make really good parents. And you know when they howl?”

  “Yes,” said Danny. “I’m good at howling.” He threw back his head and gave a really loud howl.

  “Cool!” said Leon. “That’s a great howl!”