The Great Brain Robbery Read online

  And what a Christmas it was turning out to be! On Christmas Eve there was a surprise fall of snow. Frankie and Wes gasped as they looked out of the frosty window at a smooth white landscape sparkling beneath the bluest of blue skies. The scene reminded Frankie of one of those nature programmes about life in the Arctic Circle and, all of a sudden, a shiver ran down his spine. Somewhere out there, bobbing about on an iceberg with only killer whales for company was his arch-enemy, Dr Calus Gore.

  ‘Are you thinking . . . ?’ said Wes with a tremor in his voice.

  Frankie took a deep breath, then smiled. ‘Well, I hope he remembered his mittens!’ he said. The two boys laughed till their sides ached then, grabbing their bobble-hats, they ran out into the snow and swept Dr Calus Gore clean out of their minds.

  Frankie, Wes, Neet and Timmy spent all day tumbling around in the fresh, dry snow. They made snow-angels, sucked on icicles and raced toboggans that Alphonsine had hammered together that very morning.

  ‘We should build an igloo!’ said Frankie as they were walking back home for tea.

  ‘Great idea!’ laughed Neet, knocking the snow from her ears. ‘What do you think, Wes? . . . Wes?’ But Wes had stopped dead in his tracks.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ asked Frankie. But Wes didn’t answer. He just dropped his toboggan in the snow and raced towards the house at breakneck speed. Frankie and the others exchanged alarmed glances, then sprinted after him. As they approached the house, Frankie noticed a rusty old car parked outside. His heart started pounding with fear – somebody was there.

  ‘Wes! Wait!’ he yelled.

  But Wes had already rushed through the front door.

  Seconds later, Frankie burst into the house after him and CRASH!! He ran straight into Eddie, sending a plateful of mince pies spinning through the air.

  ‘Frankie, Frankie! Whatever is the matter?’ Eddie exclaimed, as Colette caught the falling pies in her jaws.

  ‘Sorry, Eddie,’ Frankie puffed breathlessly, as Neet and Timmy piled into the house behind him. ‘Where’s Wes? What’s happening?’

  ‘Deary me, calm down,’ smiled Eddie. ‘We have guests, that’s all. Now take off your snowy boots and go and say hello.’

  As Frankie pulled off his wellies, he heard shouts of excitement coming from the lounge. He ran in to see a man with curly red hair and a woman with spectacles as thick as jam-jars hugging Wesley tightly and lifting him high in the air. Frankie smiled and wiped his brow in relief as he recognised the surprise guests.

  ‘Mum! Dad!’ Wes cried in delight.

  ‘We’re so sorry, Wesley,’ said Mrs Jones.

  ‘What happened?’ cried Wes. ‘Where did you go? I thought you’d been eaten by a lion, or sat on by an elephant!’

  ‘We got completely lost, didn’t we?’ said Mrs Jones. ‘Completely lost!’

  Mr Jones nodded. ‘I was holding the map upside-down,’ he said sheepishly, ‘and then it blew away and got eaten by a baboon.’ Frankie could see that Wes’s parents weren’t quite as clever as their son.

  ‘We just got home but didn’t know where you’d gone. It was only when we saw you on the news that we realised what had happened,’ said Mrs Jones. ‘We’re so sorry, Wesley. We’ll take you with us next time. You know how to use a compass, don’t you, you clever sausage?’

  Wes smiled and clung tightly to his parents’ legs. Yes, he knew how to use a compass, and he would never let his mum and dad go wandering off without him ever again.

  Once the mince pies had been eaten and the carols sung, Frankie’s friends all went back to their families for Christmas. Frankie waved goodbye from the doorstep, then closed the door against the snowy winter air. By the time he climbed into bed, he was so tired he thought he might melt into the mattress.

  ‘Night, night, Frankie,’ said Alphonsine, tucking him in tightly. ‘Happy dreamings. Don’t have any nightscares.’

  ‘Oh,’ smiled Frankie, turning off the light, ‘I think the nightscare is over. Night, night, Alfie, Eddie. Happy Christmas.’

  As Frankie lay in bed, he looked out of the window at the clear Christmas sky. The moon was full as a glass of milk and the stars were sparkling like crystals of sugar. Then, just as his eyelids began to droop, he thought he saw one star moving quickly through the night. Frankie rubbed his eyes. The star seemed to be changing colour from white to green to red to gold and he thought, for just a moment, that he heard the distant sounds of sleigh-bells. Was it a shooting star? Was it just the wind shaking the icicles outside his window? Frankie couldn’t be sure. But, one thing was for certain, as he dropped off to sleep, Frankie Blewitt felt fuller and happier than the biggest Christmas stocking in the world.