The Looming Lamplight

by Ursula Dubosarsky

  You will find some hints to help you at the back of the book.

  Chapter Five

  And then light.

  And then dark.

  And then light.

  And then dark.

  And then light.

  And then dark.

  ‘Che!’ shouted Señor Romeo in a furious voice. ‘Leave that light alone right now, or there will be no torta de queso for you!’

  The light came on with a click.

  ‘Bueno,’ said a small voice.

  It took a few moments before Coco and Alberta could focus properly after all that flashing. When they did, they could scarcely believe what they saw. There, perched on a stool, with his claw on the light switch, stood a small brown, black and white guinea pig. A small brown, black and white guinea pig with a familiar and annoying face.

  ‘Ernesto!’

  Coco and Alberta simply gaped. Ernesto! The supremely spoilt and annoying little guinea pig who had caused Coco so much stress and worry in the matter of the Perplexing Pineapple. And here he was, standing in front of them, looking, once again, particularly pleased with himself.

  ‘You know my nephew, do you?’ said Señor Romeo, wearily sinking back into the armchair. ‘Why am I not surprised?’

  ‘I don’t understand,’ said Alberta. ‘I thought the portero said you lived alone.’

  ‘Shhh!’ Señor Romeo put a claw to his lip. ‘Not so loud! You’ll get me evicted. It’s a secret that he’s here. Haven’t you seen the sign? NO CHILDREN. Oh, do stop that, Ernesto!’ because little Ernesto had begun to switch the light on and off again.

  ‘What is he doing here then?’

  ‘He’s staying with me while his parents are on holiday in the Malvinas,’ groaned Señor Romeo. ‘Normally his grandmother would take care of him, but she’s gone to Salta for a tango competition.’

  ‘What an active family,’ remarked Alberta.

  ‘I’m bored!’ complained Ernesto, who had crawled down from the stool and was now bouncing up and down on the sofa. ‘There’s nothing to do.’

  ‘Of course there’s nothing to do,’ shouted Coco. ‘It’s the middle of the night!’

  ‘I told Ernesto to hide in the pot plant on the balcony until you were gone,’ continued Señor Romeo, ‘but of course, he will never stay still. What a nightmare this has been. He never stops turning the lights on and off, did you notice? And then the other day he stood on the balcony popping paper bags! I had to tell the portero it was me. He obviously thinks I’m losing my mind …’

  ‘Your mind! What about my mind?’ shouted Coco, advancing on Ernesto.

  Ernesto instantly leapt from the sofa and dived into the nearby drawer of a sideboard.

  ‘The thing is, you see,’ said Alberta, struggling to understand the situation, ‘we thought the lights were flashing a message to Coco, in morse code.’

  ‘Morse code?’ repeated Señor Romeo. ‘How would Ernesto know morse code? He doesn’t even know how to spell!’

  ‘I do so!’ squeaked Ernesto from inside the furniture.

  Alberta went over and opened up the drawer. Ernesto had hidden himself inside a long blue sock.

  ‘Ernesto,’ said Alberta sternly to the blue sock, which was doing its best to wriggle away, ‘were you sending Coco a message in morse code by flashing the light on and off? Explain yourself!’

  Ernesto poked his little head out of the sock and gazed at her in a pitiful manner.

  ‘Please don’t be angry with me,’ he whimpered. ‘I didn’t mean it!’

  He crept meekly out of the sock, and climbed up the stool to where he could reach the light switch.

  ‘It’s like this,’ he said. ‘We are learning a lovely song in kindergarten. It goes: La la la la, La, La loooo la la, La looo looo la, Looo looo, La!’

  ‘That is a very unpleasant song,’ said Coco, coldly. ‘I’m sure I never learnt it in kindergarten.’

  ‘It’s about a lonely octopus,’ Ernesto explained.

  ‘Do get on with it, Ernesto!’ said his uncle.

  ‘Anyway,’ continued Ernesto, frowning meaningfully at Señor Romeo, ‘after a while I got the idea that I could switch the lights on and off while I sing. Like this.’

  Ernesto started to sing the lonely octopus song again, turning the light on and off as he did so. A long flash of light for each Looo! And a short flash of light for each La!

  ‘La la la la, La, La loooo la la, La looo looo la, Looo looo, La!’

  ‘Please be quiet!’ moaned Coco. ‘I think we understand now!’

  Ernesto stopped.

  ‘Don’t you like my song?’ he asked, sounding hurt.

  ‘Yes, yes, we love your song, but you must be quiet now,’ begged Señor Romeo. ‘You’ll wake everyone up and the portero will hear about it and I’ll get evicted.’

  ‘You don’t like my song!’

  Ernesto’s little face crumbled. Large tears began to grow and wobble in his beautiful brown eyes.

  Señor Romeo turned around desperately.

  ‘Oh, it’s just ghastly when he cries. The noise he makes! It’s fatal, I’m telling you!’

  ‘You know what’s fatal?’ said Coco. ‘My nerves! It will take me weeks to recover from this. Air, air – I need air! I think I’m going to faint!’ and he staggered to one side.

  And perhaps he might have fainted, had he not caught sight of a shadow out the window, moving up the wall of the building. Something that looked like a leg – actually, several legs, crawling over to Señor Romeo’s balcony.

  Coco’s heart leapt. He rushed out to the balcony in an instant. And before they knew what was happening, the dreaded pillow burglars of Buenos Aires fell straight into the arms of the law!

  Chapter Six

  Coco had done it again! He had caught the two wicked pillow burglars who had been spreading terror all over the city. He was a hero.

  A great crowd gathered around the Obelisco and raised three cheers for their exalted Chief of Police when they heard the news. They set off firecrackers and sang and stamped their feet in celebration. The citizens of Buenos Aires could sleep on their pillows in peace again at night, all thanks to Coco Carlomagno!

  Ernesto’s parents came back from the Malvinas and his grandmother returned from Salta, where she had won third prize in the tango contest. Señor Romeo went away immediately for two weeks in a rest home in the mountains, but not before he sent Coco and Alberta some tickets for his next performance of Amleto.

  Coco was summoned to the Casa Rosada, and awarded a Medal of Honour for Extreme Courage, which the President herself pinned to his sash. Coco and Alberta were guests at the Presidential Banquet that same evening. They ate and drank and laughed and danced until deep into the night.

  It was only when they stepped into the courtyard to watch the sun rise that Coco noticed Alberta had her brown-paper bag with her.

  ‘You’re not going already, are you, Alberta?’ he said, his face falling.

  ‘I think I’d better, primo,’ replied Alberta. ‘I need to have a bath, you know.’

  ‘So soon,’ said Coco glumly.

  ‘Cheer up, Coco,’ said Alberta. ‘Look at your marvellous medal!’

  ‘Yes, although unfortunately, they spelled my name wrong again,’ said Coco, looking down at it with a sigh.

  ‘Never mind,’ consoled Alberta, who was herself never quite sure how to spell Coco’s name. ‘The main thing is that it glows.’

  A light sprinkle of rain began to fall. Alberta reached inside the bag and brought out her raincoat.

  ‘Just as well you told me to bring it,’ she said, pulling it round her shoulders.

  And in a moment she was gone, past the presidential guards and out the Casa Rosada gates. Coco was left all alone.

  But Coco knew one day she would return. For now, he would sit quietly here in a comfortable banana chair, and watch the sun rise again over the wondrous and beloved city, humming the words of his favourite tango, until the next emergency …

 
; My Buenos Aires,

  Land of flowers,

  Where I will spend my last days …

  CAN YOU CORRECT THE SPELLING OF COCO’S NAME?

  CLUES FOR PUZZLES

  WHICH FLOOR?

  With a confusing problem like this, sometimes the best way to solve it is to make a drawing. Then you can count slowly up and down on paper instead of trying to keep it all in your head!

  Here’s a drawing of a building for you, with the numbers of the floors marked. Have a close look at what the portero tells Coco and Alberta. Cross out the floors in the building in the story that don’t exist. Can you work out which floor they need to get out at now?

  MORSE CODE

  Morse code is named after one of its inventors, Samuel Morse, who lived over a hundred years ago. It is a way of sending a message using a special alphabet made up of long and short signals. Usually you tap the signals, but you can also flash lights, as happens in this story

  This is the alphabet – so can you work out what the message of flashing lights is saying?

  And what about this message?

  ERNESTO’S UNCLE

  Ernesto’s uncle is a famous actor in tragic plays, so he is named after five tragic heroes in titles of plays by William Shakespeare. But names can be different in Spanish – I wonder if you can work out which plays he is named after? I have filled in the first one for you.

  One more thing – if you take the first letter of each of the Spanish names, what word does it spell? Ah, that’s how Alberta knew he was an actor!

  Amleto Hamlet

  Coriolano

  Tito

  Otelo

  Romeo

  RHYMING SLANG

  Yes, those wicked pillow robbers are speaking a kind of slang called ‘Rhyming Slang’.

  In Rhyming Slang, instead of saying a word or phrase, you say something that rhymes with it – just to confuse anyone who might be listening!

  So instead of saying pillow, the two robbers say weeping willow. Now, think. What rhymes with dancing bears, that you have to climb up to get to the top of a building? That’s right!

  See if you can work out the whole conversation, like Coco did.

  GUINEA PIG CROSSWORD PUZZLE

  Can you help the portero complete the crossword?

  Here is a list of types of different guinea pigs that will help you find the answers to the crossword:

  Abyssinian Lunk Self

  Agouti Merino Silkie

  Alpaca Peruvian Skinny

  Crested Red Dutch Teddy

  Dalmatian Rex Texel

  Himalayan Ridgeback

  CLUES

  Across

  1 The Chief of Police in Buenos Aires.

  3 This guinea pig is named after a famous mountain range in India.

  5 The first word of this guinea pig is a colour; the second word is a name for someone from Holland.

  8 This guinea pig has the same name as a sheep that is famous in Australia for its wool.

  9 This guinea pig has no fur, just skin. So that’s where it gets its name …

  10 This guinea pig has a relative in South America with the same name.

  11 There is a kind of dog with this name – a Rhodesian _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

  12 Me, my _ _ _ _ and I! (The missing word is a type of guinea pig.)

  13 This long-haired guinea pig is named after a country in South America. Paddington Bear came from the same place. (Remember him?)

  14 Coco Carlomagno’s favourite cousin.

  16 There is a spotty dog with the same name as this guinea pig.

  Down

  1 There is a bird called a Sulphur _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Cockatoo. The word in the middle is also a type of guinea pig.

  2 You might have a toy bear with this name. It is also a kind of guinea pig.

  4 This guinea pig has the same name as a cat with a special coloured coat.

  6 This guinea pig has curly hair, even on its tummy. In the middle of the word there is an X.

  7 This guinea pig sounds like it must have lovely soft fur!

  10 There is a furry animal a bit like a llama that has the same name as this guinea pig.

  11 This guinea pig’s name means ‘king’ in Latin. It is also part of the name of a very big dinosaur …

  15 This Swedish guinea pig is SUPER-furry.

  GLOSSARY

  a ver (ah vair) let’s see

  Avenida General Fósforo (aven-eed-ah hen-air-al foss-for-oh) General Fósforo Avenue

  buen viaje! (bwen vee-ah-hay) good journey!

  bueno (bwen-oh) good, okay

  buenas noches (bwen-oss noch-ess) good evening

  Casa Rosada (cah-sa rose-ah-dah) the Pink House, the palace of the President of Argentina

  che! (chay) hey! you!

  churros (choo-ross) a kind of long doughnut

  claro (clah-roh) yes, absolutely

  empanada (em-pah-nah-dah) a little meat pie

  fósforo (fos-for-oh) match

  Las Malvinas (lahs mal-veen-ahs) islands in the Atlantic Ocean, also known as the Falkland Islands

  mate (mah-tay) a green tea, very popular in Argentina

  Obelisco (obb-ell-isc-oh) the Obelisk

  pasen (pass-un) come in

  Piso Once (pee-soh on-say) Floor Eleven

  portero (port-air-oh) doorman, janitor

  prima (pree-mah) girl cousin

  primo (pree-moh) boy cousin

  Salta (sal-tah) a city in the north of Argentina

  señor (sen-yor) Mr, Sir

  señorita (sen-yor-eet-ah) Miss

  torta de queso (tort-ah day kay-soh) cheesecake

  Preview chapter: The Perplexing Pineapple

  It was the middle of the night, and Alberta was just starting a jigsaw puzzle when a letter arrived with a bang at her door.

  ‘Great carrots!’ said Alberta out loud. This was what she said when she was surprised, which, being a guinea pig, was most of the time. ‘I bet that’s from my cousin Coco.’

  Alberta’s cousin Coco Carlomagno was Chief of Police in Buenos Aires, a big city in Argentina, South America. Alberta had a lot of relatives in South America. Millions, in fact. But Coco was her favourite.

  She scurried out to get the letter. It was from Coco. Whatever could he want at this time of night? She tore open the envelope. This is what it said:

  ‘Hmm,’ said Alberta.

  Coco had an unusual way of writing, but she was pretty sure she understood what he meant. It was true, she reflected, she had a gigantic brain. It was the biggest in her family. When she was born, her father peered inside her tiny pink ear, caught sight of her brain, and fainted on the spot.

  ‘Now, what could be this strange thing that’s upsetting Coco?’ wondered Alberta.

  Even though he was Chief of Police, Coco panicked easily. Alberta remembered the time he begged her to come over because of a sinister dripping sound in the apartment upstairs. That had turned out to be nothing more than a leaky lemonade bottle.

  ‘The jigsaw puzzle will have to wait,’ she decided at last. ‘I’d better go and see Coco straight away and find out what’s up.’

  She packed up the puzzle, put some lettuce leaves and a pack of cards in a brown-paper bag, and added her favourite red turban, just in case.

  Then she left a note for neighbours, locked the door and headed off for South America.

  Find out what happens next in The Perplexing Pineapple!