The Great Drain Escape

by Chris Mould

  “Oops, pardon me,” he said, holding his hand to his mouth.

  Meanwhile, in his eagerness to get to the food, Uncle Noggin had collided with a broken eggshell and was now covered in slimy egg white. He’d narrowly missed falling into a rotting pepper as he slipped and slid around. But then he’d found a pizza box and had quickly forgotten about the eggy slime. Inside the box was a stray piece of pepperoni the size of Uncle Noggin’s head. He settled himself down for a feast.

  Lily munched on a grape and a chunk of chocolate, then she got to work, gathering up what else she could. She picked up a sharp piece of eggshell and cut a slit in a soggy teabag, then she took off her pirate hat and patiently filled it with tea leaves, one handful at a time. When they got back to the ship in a bottle, she would dry them out and then, with the cake crumbs Button was now stuffing into his knapsack, they would be able to serve afternoon tea for a long while.

  Lily moved on to a stuffed carrier bag, where she discovered an old shirt and a pair of shoes. She tore pieces of material from the shirt so that they could make new clothes and repair the seat of Uncle Noggin’s trousers. A shoelace would be the perfect rope for Button to use when he went out climbing, so Lily pulled and tugged until it came free from the shoe. She looped it around her shoulders and climbed back out of the bag, pleased with her booty.

  By now, Button had discovered a chocolate cookie, half a sausage roll, and a whole chip in the corner of a discarded bag. He tried not to munch too much of the food he was supposed to be packing for later as he set about his task of breaking it into chunks and stuffing them into his backpack.

  “Splendid work . . . splendid,” said Captain Crabsticks, watching over his crewmates. Button had delivered him a selection of treats, and he was spearing and eating them with his sword while keeping a sharp eye out for danger. “You all right over there, old chap?” the Captain called to Uncle Noggin. The old pirate had moved on from his pepperoni and was now tackling a chicken wing the same size as he was.

  “Mmm. Happiest I’ve been in a long while, sir,” Noggin replied in a muffled voice, his mouth full of cold chicken. “Although, did I tell you about the time I got stuck to a boiled candy? Was forced to lick myself unstuck. Was delicious . . .” And he carried on stuffing his face.

  Eventually Lily and Button had gathered as much as they possibly could. Their arms, pockets, and bags were full to bursting. And so were their bellies. Everything seemed so much more cheerful now that they weren’t hungry anymore.

  But when the sun disappeared behind a cloud, the pirates realized that time was ticking on, and it would start to get dark soon.

  “We got out of the shop through Uncle Noggin’s secret air vent,” Lily said. “We should go back in the same way.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Button said. “Let’s get going, before the sun goes down.”

  And off the four little pirates headed, to the air vent, the junk shop, and home.

  “Now what?” said Button, scratching his head.

  They had arrived at the air vent, only to find that someone had dumped a heavy box right in front of it. Try as they might, they couldn’t move the box away, even with all four of them pushing.

  Lily was so exhausted, she felt like crying. She flopped down on the pavement, jamming her hat full of tea leaves onto her head.

  But then there was a squeal of brakes, and the sound of an engine turning off. It was the junk shop owner, Mr. Tooey, pulling up in his van.

  “Don’t get upset, Lily,” Button said, giving her a hand up. “Looks like we might be able to go back in the way that I got out!”

  When Mr. Tooey left in his van, he always came back with a collection of new bits and pieces to sell in the shop. Now he was unloading the back, leaving boxes and bags by the front door while he went back to fetch more. When Mr. Tooey’s back was turned, the Pocket Pirates snuck over to the collection of junk. There was one box with books inside, and the pirates knew that books would go on a shelf. Perfect!

  They helped one another up the side of the box, dropping down inside before Mr. Tooey spotted them. It looked like they were going to be delivered right to their own doorstep!

  “Budge up a bit, Uncle Noggin,” Button said from their hiding place between copies of Oliver Twist and Little Women.

  “Can’t . . . tummy in the way . . . too full . . .” Uncle Noggin huffed and puffed as he tried to make a bit more room for Button.

  “Shhhh!” Lily whispered. “He’s coming back!”

  As footsteps approached, the pirates fell silent. The box rose into the air and they were on their way.

  “We’re nearly home and dry, shipmates!” the Captain whispered.

  “Dry sounds good to me, Cap’n,” Lily whispered back. “I need to get out of these soggy clothes.”

  The familiar tinkle of the door chime told the pirates they were back indoors, and before long, the box was placed on the shelf.

  “Come on, Doyle. Heel, boy!” Mr. Tooey called to the dog as he left the room. Doyle uncurled himself from his basket and trotted after his master.

  “I think I’m going to move your basket back to its old spot. It’s a bit chilly in here, don’t you think?”

  “That’s enough exploring outside to last me a lifetime,” Button announced, once Mr. Tooey had gone and they had clambered back out of the box and on to the shelf. “And now that the Doyle problem is solved, it won’t be so difficult to find food anymore!”

  “Not that we’ll need to go looking for weeks now!” Lily said happily.

  “Just as long as Uncle Noggin doesn’t eat it all,” Button chuckled.

  It wasn’t long before three fresh-smelling, happy pirates were sitting by the candle stub, warming themselves by the gentle flame. Uncle Noggin was still in the bath, and the others could hear him splashing about and singing to himself. He had plenty of snacks within arm’s reach.

  Jones the cat had been excited to see his friends return, but refused to go anywhere near them for a cuddle or a stroke until they’d had their baths. Now he was curled up in Lily’s lap, purring and content after a huge meal of half a meatball.

  Button and Lily had unpacked all the food and arranged it in the cupboard. The tastiest stuff was on high shelves, out of Uncle Noggin’s reach. Now, Lily was showing Button how to mend the tear in the seat of Noggin’s trousers. The cabin boy was bent over the needle and thread, concentrating hard.

  Apart from Uncle Noggin’s singing, all was peaceful. Just how the Pocket Pirates liked it. It had been a long and tiring day.

  “Crew, I shall be happy to stay on dry land for a while,” Captain Crabsticks announced. He was sitting between the pages of a book on growing your own vegetables. “Even a pirate captain can get a bit tired of water now and again.”

  “I—” Lily began, but she was cut off by a crash and a sudden whooshing sound.

  “Flood alerrrrrrtttttt!” Uncle Noggin yelled, tumbling along the shelf toward them, on a tidal wave of bath water.

  “So much for dry land, eh, Captain?” Button said, leaping up to avoid getting totally drenched.

  Noggin came to a skidding halt in front of them, coughing up soap bubbles.

  “I reached for a snack and the whole sufferin’ bathtub capsized,” he choked, as Lily tipped water out of her boots and Jones swatted at the bubbles flying about the shelf.

  “Better fetch a mop, young Button,” Captain Crabsticks said, with a chuckle.

  Later that evening, when the bathtub was back upright and everything was dry again, the Pocket Pirates sat down for a bedtime snack of hot chocolate and cookie crumbs.

  “Maybe we should go to sleep now, before anything else goes wrong,” Captain Crabsticks suggested, when they’d munched the last crumb and slurped the final drop of hot chocolate.

  And so the little pirates blew out the candle, took down the pirate flag, and said good night.

  “What shall we do tomorrow?” Button said to Lily, once they were comfortably curled up in their hammocks below d
eck.

  “I need a rest!” Lily replied. “How about we do absolutely nothing?”

  But before Button could answer, he was fast asleep, already lost in dreams of new adventures.

  Turn the page for a peek at Book 1 in the Pocket Pirates adventures:

  THE GREAT CHEESE

  ROBBERY

  Button the ship’s boy had spent most of the afternoon exploring. He’d climbed in and out of piles of books and boxes of this and that to see what he might find. He’d even snatched a quick nap inside the old cuckoo clock.

  But on his way back down to the shelf, Button had caught the back of his jacket on an old picture hook and now he was hanging helplessly on the wall.

  “Oh, crumbs, not again,” he said out loud to himself.

  He looked over the shop. It was one of those perfect evenings. The moonlight was pouring in through the window and shone a silvery blue over the ship in the bottle. Everything had been calm until now. He tried to shake himself free, but it was no good.

  High above Button, something had awakened in the dark. Mr. Dregby, the house spider, was keen to make a snack out of Button. He’d had his six eyes on the boy for some time. And now he could see that his perfect meal was hanging there beneath him, waiting.

  “The young ones are the juiciest,” Mr. Dregby cackled in delight.

  Button heard a scritching sound above and he looked up in alarm. A tangle of long hairy legs and beady eyes was rushing toward him.

  And then, all at once, he felt himself being pulled by the legs. He slipped clean out of his jacket and landed in a heap on the floor, on top of his rescuer. She let out a muffled “YELP.”

  It was his best friend, Lily, the youngest of the pirate crew. She jumped to her feet, waving a long darning needle in Mr. Dregby’s direction. The spider scuttled grumpily back into the darkness above the shelf.

  “Thanks!” said Button as he straightened himself out. “That was close.”

  He looked up to see his coat was still hanging on the hook.

  “You’re not supposed to go wandering off on your own,” Lily said. “It’s dangerous!’

  “I was looking for an adventure,” Button replied.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  CHRIS MOULD went to art school at the age of sixteen. During this time he did various jobs, from delivering papers to washing dishes. Chris loves his work and writes and draws the kind of books that he would have liked to have on his shelf as a boy. He has won the Nottingham Children’s Book Award and has been shortlisted for the Greenaway Award and commended for the Sheffield Book Award. Chris has also worked for the RSC, the BBC, the FT, and many other famous initials, as well as for Aardman Animations, where he did character and environment development work on the film Flushed Away. Chris is married with two children and lives in Yorkshire.

  Aladdin

  Simon & Schuster, New York

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  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  ALADDIN

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  First Aladdin paperback edition June 2018

  Copyright © 2015 by Chris Mould

  Originally published in Great Britain by Hodder Children’s Books

  Published under license from the British publisher

  Hodder & Stoughton Limited on behalf of its publishing imprint

  Hodder Children’s Books, a division of Hachette Children’s Group

  Also available in an Aladdin hardcover edition.

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  Cover designed by Karin Paprocki

  Interior designed by Mike Rosamilia

  Cover illustration copyright © 2018 by Chris Mould

  The illustrations for this book were rendered in pen and ink.

  Library of Congress Control Number 2017957348

  ISBN 978-1-4814-9118-1 (hc)

  ISBN 978-1-4814-9117-4 (pbk)

  ISBN 978-1-4814-9119-8 (eBook)