‘Which means the Mayor might never have left his house!’ Willow finished excitedly. ‘Toby, you’re a genius!’
Willow and Jack rushed back towards the Mayor’s house and once they were there, Willow knocked on the door as loudly as she could. She also opened the letterbox and shouted through it: ‘Is anyone there?’
She put her ear to the letterbox as she listened for a reply – and then she heard a muffled voice. ‘Help! Help me!’
Willow’s heart skipped a beat. The voice was male – it had to be the Mayor’s! ‘It’s him,’ she said to Jack. ‘He must be locked in somewhere. How are we going to get him out?’
‘There’s a window open up there, look,’ Bouncer said, pointing upwards with his trunk.
Jack almost jumped out of his skin at the sound of Bouncer’s voice. ‘You can talk as well?’ he gaped, staring down at his Hoozle.
Bouncer winked one button eye. ‘You bet,’ he said. ‘And you can hear me. Isn’t it great?’
Meanwhile, Toby was staring up at the open window. ‘Bouncer, I reckon you and I could squeeze through that gap,’ he said thoughtfully. ‘If we can just get up there …’
‘Jack could throw us,’ Bouncer put in. ‘I’ve seen him with a cricket ball and he’s a mean shot!’
Jack grinned. ‘Thanks,’ he said.
‘Willow’s a good shot too,’ Toby said loyally. ‘You could throw me all the way up to that window, couldn’t you?’
Willow gazed from Toby to the window. ‘I’ll give it a go,’ she said. ‘One, two, three … Hoozles away!’ She hurled Toby up as high as she could, almost scared to watch as he soared into the air. She hoped he wouldn’t bash against the wall of the house, or worse, crash down hard on the ground.
But her aim was perfect, and Toby landed neatly on the windowsill. He got to his feet and waved down at them.
‘Now it’s your turn, Bouncer,’ Jack said. ‘Ready? Here we go!’
He too threw his Hoozle up into the air. ‘Wheeeee!’ they heard Bouncer cry breathlessly as he sailed towards Toby. But he went too high – and for a moment it looked as if he was going to plummet straight back down again.
‘Oh no,’ Jack murmured anxiously, positioning himself ready to catch Bouncer. Luckily, Toby had seen what was happening and, in the blink of an eye, held out a paw and managed to grab Bouncer as he fell past him.
Willow held her breath as Toby hauled Bouncer on to the windowsill, and then both Hoozles waved down at them to show all was well.
‘Phew,’ Jack said, wiping his forehead. ‘That was close.’
The two toys squeezed through the open window and just a few moments later, Willow and Jack could hear them trying to unlatch the front door. After a bit of scrabbling, the door swung open. They were in!
‘Hello?’ Willow called into the house. ‘Mr Mayor, where are you? We’ve come to get you out!’
‘I’m upstairs!’ came the shouted reply. ‘In the bathroom!’
Willow and Jack ran upstairs, carrying their Hoozles. On the landing they saw two rooms ahead of them. One door was open, and one had been wedged shut with a door stop. Croc must have done it!
‘Just a moment,’ Jack called, pulling out the door stop. He tried the handle. ‘There,’ he said, as the door swung open.
The Mayor came out, still in his pyjamas. ‘Thank you so much,’ he said. ‘I’ve been stuck in there all morning.
Can’t think how on earth that happened. And now there’s only minutes before the parade begins! Do excuse me, children, but I must get dressed. I’ll be with you as soon as I can.’
He rushed into his bedroom and shut the door, emerging moments later in his full ceremonial robes. ‘Oh dear, I was meant to be at the toy shop ages ago, wasn’t I?’ he said to Willow, fastening his watch. ‘I’m so sorry. Did your aunt send you to track me down? I’m jolly glad she did.’
Willow smiled. ‘She said she’d see you at the start of the parade, and she’d take Wizard with her,’ she told the Mayor. ‘If we hurry, we’ll be just in time to meet her.’
‘Wonderful,’ the Mayor replied. ‘What are we waiting for? Let’s go!’
The three of them raced towards the centre of town as fast as they could. A crowd had gathered now and some people cheered the Mayor as he went by. There was a lovely, buzzy atmosphere as everyone waited for the parade to begin, and Willow felt excitement building inside her. She was so relieved that they’d found the Mayor and stopped Croc from spoiling everything!
They reached the front of the parade where the floats had been set up in preparation for the grand procession. ‘We made it,’ Willow sighed happily.
‘Yes, we did,’ the Mayor agreed, but then his smile faded. ‘Wait a moment though, where’s your aunt, and Wizard?’ he asked. ‘We can’t start the parade without them!’
Willow gazed around in dismay. It was true – Auntie Suzy, Freddie and the other Hoozles were nowhere to be seen! Oh, no. Had Croc somehow got to them too?
‘I’ll be able to see better from up here,’ the Mayor decided, climbing up on to the float to look for Auntie Suzy.
While he was peering at the crowd, Willow caught sight of an orange streak on the float. ‘There’s Croc!’ she hissed to Jack. ‘What’s he planning now?’
‘Something else to ruin the parade, I bet,’ Jack replied. ‘We’ve got to stop him!’
Willow was just about to jump on to the float herself and grab the naughty crocodile when the Mayor reached down and scooped him up. ‘Ahh! So your aunt has been here after all,’ the Mayor said to Willow, holding Croc. ‘She must have left me this Hoozle to hold – and what a fine fellow he is, too. A wonderful substitute for Wizard. Look at his lovely smile!’
Willow nearly got the giggles, imagining how furious Croc would be to hear the Mayor praising his ‘lovely smile’. The crowd cheered as the Mayor held Croc up to show them, and Willow was sure she spotted a sulky look in Croc’s eyes. She knew very well that he must be hating all of this. Being cheered by happy Hoozle-loving people was not exactly Croc’s idea of fun!
‘Sorry we’re so late!’ came a panting voice just then and Willow, Jack and the Mayor turned to see Auntie Suzy and Freddie running over. Auntie Suzy’s hair was tumbling out of its ponytail and she was red in the face, but she was carrying all three members of the Hoozle Council, and Freddie had Wobbly on his shoulders too. ‘We waited until the very last minute to leave,’ Auntie Suzy explained. ‘Just in case you showed up at the toy shop.’
The Mayor didn’t seem to hear Auntie Suzy very clearly over the noise of the excited crowd. He beamed at her and held up Croc. ‘Not to worry, my dear, we found the Hoozle you left for me,’ he said. ‘Very nice little chap, this. Extra cuddly!’
Willow didn’t dare meet Jack’s eye for fear of bursting out laughing. And if she wasn’t mistaken she was sure she’d heard a tiny growl of rage escaping from Croc!
Auntie Suzy looked from Croc to Willow, her eyes puzzled. Willow tried to indicate with a smile that it was all OK, and just part of a Hoozle adventure. Auntie Suzy knew all about the magic qualities of the Hoozles, of course, so she just smiled politely at the Mayor and said she was glad he liked Croc.
‘Now then, we’d better get this show on the road,’ the Mayor said. ‘And I’d like my two rescuers to come and stand with me, please.’ He held out a hand for first Willow and then Jack to climb up on the float with their Hoozles. ‘You two saved the day,’ he told them. ‘Thank goodness you found me!’ Then he turned to the crowd. ‘Are we all ready? Then let the Summertown Spectacular parade … BEGIN!’
A huge cheer went up as the Mayor pressed a button and the float began to move slowly along the road. Auntie Suzy and Freddie walked beside them, holding Wizard, Lovely, Grouchy and Wobbly. To Willow’s delight, she noticed that lots of people in the crowd were holding their own Hoozles too – a green zebra Hoozle, a pink hippo Hoozle, a black cat Hoozle with a long velvety tail, and many more. How
lovely to think that there were so many Hoozles
living happily in Summertown!
Willow looked across at Jack with a big smile on her face, and made Toby wave his arm at Jack and Bouncer. Jack grinned back at Willow as he made Bouncer wave too. Now they both knew the special secret about the Hoozles. What fun, thought Willow with a rush of excitement. She couldn’t wait to find out what Hoozle adventures they would have together!
Copyright
Special thanks to Sue Mongredien
First published in 2010
by Faber and Faber Ltd
Bloomsbury House
74–77 Great Russell Street
London WC1B 3DA
This ebook edition first published in 2010
All rights reserved
Text © Working Partners Limited, 2010
Illustrations © Penny Dann, 2010
Hoozles is a registered trademark of Working Partners Limited
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly
ISBN 978–0–571–25863–5
The Hoozles Page 2
