Mr Badger and the Missing Ape (5 page)
Mr Badger crept across to the door, held his breath and silently turned the handle.
Gently, he pushed the door open, just a tiny bit.
Just enough to take a peek inside.
What he saw now was truly a big surprise. With his white gloved paw, Mr Badger stifled a gasp of amazement.
For inside a very comfortable-looking sitting room with nice furniture and carpets, tables and lamps, sat two figures laughing and chatting, enjoying a cup of tea. In between them, on a table covered with a fresh white cloth, was a plate with scones and jam and cream, what appeared to be the remains of a big banana cake, a teapot and a snakes-and-ladders game in progress. It looked like a tea party. It
was
a tea party, and it appeared that it had been going on all day and all night!
A tea party was in progress.
There was Sir Cecil Smothers-Carruthers and, pouring the tea and about to eat a scone, was Algernon.
They were chatting about their times together in the jungle, reminiscing about how Sir Cecil had brought Algernon back to live in the hotel and how funny it was that Algernon had had to learn to âstand still,
very
still' in his glass box during the day. It wasn't that difficult for him as apparently he had learnt to sleep with his eyes open when he was a baby.
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.
M
r 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, âGood 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.
