by Hobbs, Leigh
Hiding behind the door, Mr Badger stood and listened for a long time. Gradually he put two and two together and a very strange story emerged.
Incredible as it may seem, it appeared that this was Algernon’s home. Apparently, as soon as it was late and everyone was asleep, Algernon would sneak down through the trapdoor, then up to this, his own special flat on the top floor, and watch TV, cook a meal, or just read and relax. Sometimes he might have Sir Cecil over for dinner and a game or two of snakes and ladders. That’s if Algernon was in the mood to cook.
After a while, Mr Badger checked his watch and then looked at the clock on the wall. It was two minutes before five in the morning, but the clock on the wall had stopped. Not only that, Mr Badger noticed that the hour hand had fallen off and was lying on the floor.
Algernon hadn’t really disappeared at all. He was just late for work!
For these two old friends, time had stood still.
CHAPTER 10
A Race against Time
Mr Badger didn’t want the children to be disappointed any longer than necessary by Algernon’s absence. There was no time to waste.
While Sir Cecil and Algernon were deep in conversation, Mr Badger crept into the room, picked up the hour hand and carefully hooked it back into place.
As soon as he was out of the room, the clock struck five times. The noise was deafening, fortunately covering up the creaking sounds of the lift doors opening.
Just before the doors closed, Mr Badger heard Sir Cecil say, ‘Good heavens! Look at the time, I must be going. And so must you, old chap.’
So while Algernon cleared away the plates, gathered up the photographs and closed the snakes-and-ladders board, Sir Cecil put on his jacket and straightened his bow-tie.
Mr Badger scurried along the secret passageway, climbed the stairs, opened the trapdoor and crept out of Algernon’s case into the foyer just in the nick of time.
He heard footsteps coming up from beneath the floor and quickly hid behind a marble column. Slowly, the trapdoor opened. A head and then a body appeared from the floor of Algernon’s case.
Algernon was back.
Mr Badger always liked to look his best.
It was morning – too late for Mr Badger to go home. So, in his office, he put on a clean uniform and made a note in his diary. There was a clock on the top floor that needed a regular check.
But for now there were other things to think about. Breakfast was soon to be served.
CHAPTER 11
A Welcome Return
Mr Badger stowed away the curtain, polished the glass and stood back to admire Algernon’s case. How wonderful it looked now that Algernon was back in it!
Just then there was a whisper in Mr Badger’s ear.
‘Bravo, Mr Badger. How marvellous that our mysterious Algernon has returned from his holiday,’ said Miss Pims with a grin, handing Mr Badger a big bunch of flowers.
Later that morning there were definitely more people in the foyer of the Boubles Grand Hotel than usual.
This was perfectly understandable, as news of Algernon’s return had travelled fast.
And it wasn’t just the children who were lined up to see him, eager to ask where he had been for his holiday.
Grown-ups, too – employees and guests – wanted to see for themselves that Algernon was really back. There was such excitement that Mr Badger’s crowd-control skills were needed to keep the line orderly.
It wasn’t really too much of a surprise, however, that someone misbehaved. Sylvia Smothers-Carruthers, arriving for morning tea with her grandmother, pushed into the queue and inspected Algernon, who as usual was standing absolutely still.
Sylvia screwed up her nose and poked her tongue out at the ape in the big glass case.
Quick as a flash, Algernon screwed up his nose and poked out his tongue right back at her.
‘That ape poked its tongue out at me!’ cried Sylvia, stamping her foot.
‘Oh don’t be ridiculous,’ replied Lady Celia Smothers-Carruthers, dragging Sylvia off into the dining room. ‘That thing hasn’t moved for fifty years.’
Of course, no one but Mr Badger knew about Sir Cecil’s and Algernon’s secret.
And even they didn’t know that he knew.
Although, strangely, from that day on, when Mr Badger arrived for work in the mornings and greeted Algernon with a hello and a smile – as he had always done – Mr Badger felt sure that he saw Algernon give a little smile back.
And sometimes even a wink.
The End
More Leigh Hobbs books for you
to enjoy from Allen & Unwin
Horrible Harriet
Hooray for Horrible Harriet
4F for Freaks
Freaks Ahoy
Old Tom’s Big Book of Beauty
Mr Chicken Goes to Paris
For more details, visit Leigh’s website:
www.leighhobbs.com.au
Don’t miss Mr Badger’s other adventures
at the Boubles Grand Hotel.
A Little Bit about the Author
Mr Badger is unlike the rest of Leigh Hobbs’ characters, as he lives in a real city – London.
Many years ago, Leigh lived there too. Every day he would catch a bright-red double-decker bus into the centre of London, hop off at Trafalgar Square, and set off in a different direction.
Occasionally, Leigh would walk past a place quite similar to the Boubles Grand Hotel. Sometimes he even put on a tie and went in for afternoon tea.
Alas, these must have been the very days when Mr Badger was busy doing other things rather than helping serve tea and scones with jam, for he and Leigh never met…back then.
