by Anna Cuffaro
“Can you pull it from that side, Gatwick, it’s unlocked?” Jet asked.
Gatwick tried to grip the door handle, but it was too high. The wooden spoon came to the rescue. Gatwick held it up as straight as he could, placed it on the inside of the handle and pulled and pulled until the door opened. There was Jet, on the floor exhausted. He panted while he said:
“You see, Gatwick, I told you I’d get you out!”
“Oh, Jet, Jet, my best friend. Thank you so much for freeing me. You are my saviour!”
“Well, I wouldn’t put it quite like that”.
“Yes, you are, you are. How can I ever thank you?”
“Let’s get out of the prison first, it’s not going to be easy”, whispered Jet. “People don’t usually take much notice of birds. If they see me, they’ll just try and chase me out with a broom. But, bears, that’s a different story. Especially, here in Switzerland. You know, they shoot them”.
“Yes, I know, but only when they’re big”.
“That’s true. By the way, I met your Mama up on Emerald Mountain. They’ll be after her”.
“You met my Mama? And, did you see Little Sister, too?”
“Yes, I did. They were leaving their cave when I saw them this morning. Very worried about you, they were. I told them not to worry, that I would look for you”.
“Oh, Jet. I can’t wait to see them again. It wasn’t too bad in here, but they locked the door and I couldn’t get out”.
“Course, they lock the doors, it’s a prison not Disneyland”.
Gatwick didn’t know what he meant. As long as he could see his family again, he didn’t care about understanding, or not understanding, things.
“Gatwick, we need a disguise to get you out”.
Gatwick had left his sunglasses and fake sideburns in his Edwardian case, or were they in Little Sister’s lime-green leather handbag? Whichever, they weren’t here.
“There’s nothing in this room that I can wear”. Gatwick poked his head around the door. He saw a bin, he could put that over his head.
“Wicked!”, exclaimed Jet. “You’ll look like a lampshade. You won’t see where you’re going, but I will direct you and tell you to stop when someone’s coming”.
After closing the door carefully, with the help of his wooden spoon, Gatwick ran to the bin, turned it upside down, crawled under it, and stood up.
“Walk straight on, five more paces then turn left, go on, straight ahead, now go down ten steps”. Jet could see a prison officer coming. “Stop!” Gatwick stopped in his tracks. As he passed Gatwick, the prison officer thought it was strange to have a lamp right there at the bottom of the stairs, and one with furry legs, too! Very strange. This young man had only been working at the prison for two days, perhaps he’d never noticed the lamp before, maybe it was new. He tried to think what the reason was for furry legs holding up a lampshade. He couldn’t think of anything.
When the prison officer climbed to the top of the stairs and turned the corner, Jet instructed Gatwick to start walking again. Straight on again, then stop again, they’d reached the prison entrance. The door was locked and bolted. Difficult.
“I know what to do”, whispered Gatwick. “Fly around the place and flap your wings as hard as you can. When they notice you, they’ll get a broom, and try to hit you out. They’ve got to open the door to do that”.
“Great idea!” said Jet.
So Jet starting flying around the prison, flapping his wings hard and making a loud whirring noise. The prison warden soon noticed Jet, he’d never seen such a big black raven before. ‘What’s a raven doing in here?’, he thought. ‘How did it get in?’ He went to get an enormous broom and, right enough, he opened the heavy steel door of the prison entrance, waved the broom about, and hit Jet out. Gatwick went from standing dead still just inside the prison doors, to standing dead still just outside the prison doors. ‘Another lamp with furry legs’, the prison warden thought to himself, ‘are these all the go nowadays?’ He didn’t follow fashion much.
As soon as the door was closed shut, Gatwick threw the bin off himself and started running as fast as his furry legs would take him. Jet swooped down and said:
“Steady, Gatwick, first we’ve got to pay a visit to a friend of mine. He wants to talk to you. Really, don’t worry about it because he can be very nice, when he wants to”.
“Jet, any friend of yours is a friend of mine. But I do so want to see my Mama and Little Sister”.
“No, we’ve got to go and see my friend first. Look, if it wasn’t for me you’d still be in prison. Please just do me this favour and then you can go back to your family”.
Gatwick thought he had better keep Jet happy. After all, he was such a great friend.
“Oh, come on, then; let’s go to your friend”.
Jet took the scruff of Gatwick’s waistcoat in his beak and flew him to White Alp and Stud. It started raining hard, Gatwick and Jet got soaking wet. The White Alp cave was soon in sight. But, there was such a horrible stink. Can you imagine Gatwick being flown through the air in Jet’s beak with a wooden spoon in one paw and holding his nose with the other?
“I thought mountain air was supposed to be pure and clean”, Gatwick shouted up to Jet.
“Yes, well there was a delivery of cow dung, and it ended up at the entrance of the Eagles’ cave. First, it melted in the sun and now, I suppose it’s getting mixed up with rain water. At least it will be washed away”.
Gatwick just squeezed his nose as much as possible, the smell got worse and worse. He knew they had reached the cave because the smell was unbearable. Jet flew Gatwick in and handed him over to Sam.
“Hi man. Did ya have a good flight?”, without waiting for Gatwick to answer, he pushed him into a cell saying: “Ya stay in here till ya called for”, and then locked the door. Gatwick didn’t like locked doors. He wanted to be able to walk in and out of a room as he pleased. There was just a chair and a television in the cell no bunk bed – maybe he wasn’t staying the night. He thought that he might as well watch television to pass the time away. They were talking about other birds now: sparrows. They showed pictures of them dying in droves, whole areas were flooded and they were drowning. Some sparrows were selling little female sparrows as slaves to bigger birds and even to men. Gatwick really couldn’t understand the world of birds, nor that of people either.
It seemed to Gatwick that the answer to the world’s problems was in one word: love. There didn’t seem to be much of that around. If only they were all like bears and felt what Gatwick felt for his Little Sister, Mama and his friend Jet. What a silly lot birds and people were.
28 Miss Acid’s Emails
In the meantime, Stud was reading two emails from Miss Acid. The first email was about Little Sister. Miss Acid had enquired with the airline. Her findings were that Gatwick had an accomplice on the flight; a female who could be described as all white with red ears, a cherry-red, heart-shaped nose, red soles on her paws, and a red dickie-bow round her neck. A member of the crew had given Miss Acid a plan Gatwick had drawn of the plane. There was a drawing of the bear in the seat the little white bear had sat in. This surely was proof. It was clear that Gatwick’s accomplice had flown on the same flight.
The next set of enquiries about the little white bear were carried out in Lugano City Airport. Security staff there had checked CCTV footage for Miss Acid. They could see the little white bear jumping into Gatwick’s box. If they had nothing to hide, why was she travelling in that box?
“What a woman! That Miss Acid is really somethin’!” Stud exclaimed, “If only all the spies we Eagles have around the world were as clever as she is”.
He had to put her in for promotion. Maybe JFK Airport in New York, surely she was wasted at Gatwick Airport.
The next email from Miss Acid was even more interesting. She herself had been through all the CCTV footage of the few days before Gatwick left Gatwick Airport. As clear as anything she’d seen in her life, there was Gatwick spea
king to Arnold White, the big polar bear. They talked for a very long time indeed. It was also very clear that Arnold White had given Gatwick something. A close-up showed that it was some kind of silver coin, maybe a token of some sort.
Stud couldn’t believe this. He called Bird Dog and Sam telling them to be pretty sharp about it.
“OK, ya two now just perch ya fat backsides on those them chairs a moment. What I’m gonna tellya is gonna shockya. I know that anyone can be anyone, I’ve been in the spy trade for years, but this is the most surprising case ever”.
“Hey, sir, so what’s your problem?” Bird Dog asked.
“Shut it a moment willya? I’m gettin’ there ya jerk. It’s like this: Gatwick has been captured on CCTV at Gatwick Airport talkin’ to Arnold White for a long time. Arnold’s body language suggested destruction. And, before he left, Arnold gave Gatwick a token. Probably to open up lockers at Gatwick Airport. D’ya two fat heads know what this means? Ya don’t get it, d’ya?”
Bird Dog and Sam looked at each other. Well, yes, in actual fact, no, they didn’t get it.
“It means that Gatwick is in the pay of Arnold White. It means that Gatwick is Arnold’s spy. It means that Gatwick through Arnold White has always been at our service”.
Now for readers who do not know who Arnold White really is, here is a quick run up. Arnold White, also known as Anton Weiss, is without doubt the most powerful creature on our planet. In other words, he can make mincemeat of the world, shove it into sausage skins and send it out into space. Under the guise of selling ice, he is the biggest arms trafficker in the world. In the North Pole, he has warehouses full of all sorts of arms and ammunition, anything you could think of: from hand guns, to rockets, to missiles, and to atomic and nuclear bombs. Up in the North Pole, Eagle Knevil, Arnold’s chemist genius, toys with red mercury and plutonium every day. Arnold only needs to press a button to trigger a nuclear reaction. He knows how to handle detonators and he can destroy any government. In short, the world is in Arnold’s hands.
“You don’t say!?” exclaimed Bird Dog.
“It’s a helluva problem we got here, sir; I just threw Gatwick in one of our prison cells”.
“Then you go get him out, ya thick skull. Bring him here, we gotta make it up with Gatwick before we upset Arnold”.
29 Little Sister
Back in Lugano City prison, the Chief Inspector was making his way to Gatwick’s prison cell. He was going to question him again, especially about the whereabouts of his sister and the money. The heavy metal door wasn’t locked. ‘Strange’, he thought. He put his head round the door, and his suspicions were confirmed: Gatwick had escaped! The inspector scratched his head and wondered how Gatwick could have done that. Only a highly sophisticated brain could plan such an escape in such a short time and carry it out. And, Gatwick didn’t seem that intelligent – but he must have been very, very clever to pull this off. Wow! That had never happened before. The Inspector rushed to set the alarm bells ringing. All the staff ran to search the prison itself and some then got into Jeeps and drove all around the nearby fields. Gatwick was nowhere to be found.
“Send the helicopters out again. I want that bear and his sister here now!” the Inspector shouted.
The police were soon out in full force and whizzed their way to Emerald Mountain. He had to be up there.
Little Sister and Mama were on their way back from their hideout. Up near the lake, they had found an injured sparrow. Mama had cut one of her apron strings off with her teeth and had bandaged the sparrow’s leg. She placed the little bird in her apron pocket and decided to take it back to the cave, so she could nurse it until it was better. When they arrived back in their cave, they started making lasagne... but, then they heard a noise at the cave entrance. Little Sister ran to the entrance thinking Gatwick might be back. Mama ran after her.
“Hello, can I come in, please?” It was Jet.
“Oh, Jet. Yes, of course, come in. Have you any news about Gatwick?”, Mama asked.
“Yes, he was arrested by the Swiss Police. I found out he was in prison and I helped him to escape”.
“So, where is he now?”, Little Sister asked.
“He’s with some friends of mine. But when he’s finished talking to them, I’m sure they’ll bring him here”.
Oh, the relief to know that he was still alive and well.
“Do you think he’ll be back this evening in time for my lasagne?”asked Mama.
“I don’t know about that. I wouldn’t bank on it”, Jet replied.
“Well, you can join us, then.”
“No, I’m so sorry I’ve got to be getting back. I just wanted to let you know Gatwick’s OK”.
“I’ll come with you a little way until you take flight. Thanks so much for bringing us news of Gatwick”, Little Sister insisted that she should accompany Jet.
“OK”, Mama agreed, “but don’t dilly-dally on the way, you know how worried I get”.
So, Jet and Little Sister set off. One thing Jet hadn’t realised was that the Swiss Police were following him. They had recognised him when they flew past him in their helicopter. Jet had showed up on the CCTV footage in the bank robbery scene, he was perched on the rooftop opposite the bank. Probably, another accomplice.
Jet flew off. One of the helicopters followed him. They couldn’t catch him; he twisted, turned and span. The helicopter was not as agile as Jet. The other helicopter crunched its way to Little Sister. She ran as fast as her little furry legs could go. Then, she stopped to think: if she ran back to the cave, the police would find Mama in there, it would be leaked out that there was another adult brown bear on Emerald Mountain, and she would surely be shot. Little Sister gave herself up to the Police. If Gatwick had been through this, she could endure it, too. And, who knows, Jet might come and help her escape. She stood there, quite still, waiting for them to land. A man came towards her, and showed her his identity badge. Following him into the helicopter, she thought of Mama, how very sad she’d be on her own, without her little cubs. Poor Mama! But, at least she was safe, nobody would shoot her.
They locked Little Sister in a prison cell similar to the one Gatwick had been in but in the female wing of the prison. Soon the Inspector arrived.
“Now, little Miss, I just want to ask you a few questions about last Friday” began the Inspector. “Do you remember where you were?”
“Oh, yes. That was the day we went shopping. We bought a handbag, a suitcase and some chocolates. Oh, and we also went to the bank”.
“What did you go to the bank for?”
“To get some money. We got lots and lots, then we put it all in my suitcase”.
“So it was a big amount. Do you know how much?”
“No, sorry, all I know is that half was in francs and the other half in pounds”.
“How do you know that?”
“Well, Gatwick asked me how I wanted the money”.
“So, you knew about this?”
“Well, of course, that’s what we went to the bank for”.
“Don’t you think that Gatwick did something very wrong, very uncivilised?”
No! Now she realised why she was there. Gatwick had dropped litter. She remembered how she had started crying because he was not civilised; how Gatwick had felt so guilty. “Inspector, I am so sorry for what my brother did. I think that being civilised means that you always do the right things. Doing the wrong things means that you will go to jail”.
Now Little Sister was worried. She went on:
“I promise you that he will never ever do it again. I will make sure of that. I hope you will forgive him. We didn’t think anyone saw us. Really, he’ll never do it again”.
Then Little Sister burst out crying: “I told him he shouldn’t do it, and I did tell him off”.
“Well, it’s too late for that now. You’re an accomplice. Will you sign a confession?”
“Yes, of course Inspector. I’m very civilised, though I don’t know what ‘accomplice’ means
. I might be that as well”.
“Where’s the money now?”, asked the Inspector.
Little Sister wasn’t going to do something as stupid as to tell him that. Not because of the money, but because the suitcase was in the cave with Mama and, if they found the suitcase, they would find her Mama:
“I’m so sorry, Inspector, I can’t tell you that”.
“Why, can’t you tell me?”
“Because I don’t know”.
“I don’t believe you. We’re going to look for that suitcase. You mark my words. We will get it, I promise you, whether you tell me where it is, or whether you don’t”.
“All right, Inspector, I’ll tell you the truth. I know where it is, but I’m not telling you!”
“OK, we’ll talk about that later. For the time-being, we’ll get your confession drawn up. I’ll be back soon. Do you want anything to eat or drink?”
“Yes, please. Could I have a fizzy drink and some chips?”
“Fine, I’ll see what I can do. By the way, that necklace you’re wearing. Where did you get it from?”
“Oh, this? It was a gift from Gatwick. He found it”.
The Inspector went off thinking what a strange pair these two bears were. He was quite confused, couldn’t believe how easy it had been to get them to confess. But, they really did not want to hand that money back. He called a prison warden and told her this cell had to be guarded 24 hours a day. One escape was enough. What would public opinion be of the police now?
*
Mama Bear cried in despair. All she had left to keep her company was that little lame sparrow. She cried and cried. “Mannaggia! Damn it!”, she wailed. “God, I have such a pain here in my heart. First I lost my Bertie, then I lost my son, and now I’ve lost my daughter. Why?! Why?!” She threw the lasagne out of the cave entrance and it rolled down, down all the way into the valley below.
