How Ali Ferguson Saved Houdini (17 page)

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Two weeks later

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Chapter 34

The letter box clattered. Ali stopped struggling with his tie and went to see what was in the post.

A card lay on the mat, a small rectangle with a picture of a sunset and a sandy beach. Ali's breath caught in his throat. He reached down and slowly turned the card over. On one side – the address side – there was lots of cramped writing. Nan had forwarded it from their old address. On the other side – the side for writing your message – there were three lines, scrawled in Dad's handwriting.

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Dear Ali,

I saw the sunset on this beach. It was beautiful. What an adventure!

Love, Dad

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Ali sighed.

‘Hey, sonny,' Dave said behind him. ‘Anything interesting?'

Ali turned and smiled up at him. ‘It's just a card. Dad's still doing OK.'

‘Good. Now you'd better hurry or we're going to be late for this shebang.'

Ali nodded. He rested the card up on top of the heater. It brightened up the hallway, he thought. Then he went to finish getting ready.

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The microphone squealed with feedback. The crowd all winced. The sloth in the enclosure didn't seem to notice; it carried on chewing at its pile of leaves.

‘First, I'd like to thank you all for coming,' the zoo manager said.

Ali let the rest of the speech roll over him, like blossom in the breeze.

The important thing was that Dave was fine.

Ali had pieced the story together slowly, with Caitlin adding bits as she wheedled them out of her dad.

Dave had suspected that Miss Osborne was smuggling something, but he wasn't sure what. So he'd gone to the river to investigate. He'd heard the eagle shriek inside the crate and realised what was going on. And so he'd been beaten up by Woody. Then the gang had tried to take Caitlin. Dave couldn't run the risk of them succeeding, so he'd given Falcon back and promised to stay away. But that hadn't been enough for Miss Osborne. And so he ended up in a hospital bed.

Now Dave was better, and the animals they'd found at Miss Osborne's were being given a temporary new home.

Ali tugged at the hem of his suit. It felt weird.

‘Stay still,' Mum hissed.

He caught her eye; she grinned. Next to her, Dave stood looking proud, with a grin wider than a bus. He had a suit on too, though Ali suspected it might have come off the back of a lorry. The label said Dulcey and Gabana.

‘We're here to thank a very brave group of children and to welcome the newest animals to the zoo. Without these children, these animals would have had a very dark future indeed. The animals will be staying with us for a while, until they can be returned to their natural habitats,' the manager said.

Caitlin pinched his arm gently. Ali knew that meant she was pleased. He felt that he knew Dave and Caitlin well now. They hadn't moved in or anything, but Caitlin had stayed with them until Dave was well enough to leave hospital.

Dave was talking about taking them all on holiday in the summer. Ali had thought about asking to go to Asia, perhaps to go and see monkeys running all over temples, or the view across the Himalayas. He had thought about it for about five seconds. But then he'd seen the huge smile on Mum's face. Dave made her really happy. Ali'd asked to go to France instead.

He hadn't opened his
Giant Atlas of World Animals
for a while. Dave had arranged with his mate at the zoo for Ali to help out at weekends. So Ali hadn't needed to look at the pictures – he had the real thing.

He would never throw away Dad's postcards, or stop wanting to see him again. He knew that. But Mum was right – life went on.

All around them, a crowd was gathered: Grandpa and Nan, Gez's whole family, people from the newspaper.

Everyone clapped as the zoo official finished his speech.

Then it was Ali's turn.

He felt Mum push him forward. Caitlin and Gez came with him too as he mounted the few steps up to the mic. Falcon stayed with Mum and Dave.

‘Thanks for coming, everyone,' Ali said into the microphone. He saw Mum wipe a tear from the corner of her eye, though she was still smiling. ‘The zoo have asked us to choose a name for the sloth, while he's staying here. We thought about it for a long time. His old name was Houdini, because he always wanted to escape. Well, very soon he'll be free. He'll go back to Costa Rica. So his old name isn't right any more. So we've decided to call him Dave. After one of the nicest men we know.'

This time it was Dave's turn to wipe something from his eye.

Ali continued, ‘If I'd have trusted Dave in the first place, then Dave-the-sloth might have been rescued much sooner.'

Caitlin stepped up to the mic. ‘But Gez and me are glad that you didn't, because then we wouldn't have fought the baddies. We liked doing that.'

Gez nodded in agreement, but seemed too awed by the crowd to speak.

‘I hope Dave-the-sloth will be happy in his new home,' Ali concluded.

The crowd cheered. Ali saw Grandpa shaking Dave's hand and Nan kissing Mum. He felt Caitlin give his hand a little squeeze and his heart swelled inside him, as though it were too big for his chest.

Behind him, Dave-the-sloth closed his eyes and chewed another leaf.

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Acknowledgements

This book would have floundered before it even got started, if it weren't for my lovely Bath writer-friends; thank you.

Thanks too to Rosemary and Jodie for their advice. Also to Emma M, Talya and Emma B at Bloomsbury for their help on this book and their support this last year.

And of course, to Simon, for all the chuckles.

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About the Author

Elen Caldecott wrote her first book,
How Kirsty Jenkins Stole the Elephant
, once she realised it was probably possible to steal anything. With
How Ali Ferguson Saved Houdini
, she wondered whether it was possible to keep a zoo in a terraced house. While writing the book, she decided that the answer to that question is a resounding ‘no'.

Elen lives in Bristol with her husband. She has recently moved into a bigger flat, so by the time you read this she will, hopefully, own a dog. It may, or may not, be called Augustus Snags.

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Also by Elen Caldecott

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How Kirsty Jenkins Stole the Elephant

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Bloomsbury Publishing, London, Berlin, New York and Sydney

First published in Great Britain in July 2010 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

36 Soho Square, London, W1D 3QY

Text copyright © Elen Caldecott 2010

The moral right of the author has been asserted

This electronic edition published in August 2010 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

All rights reserved.

You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise

make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means

(including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying,

printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the

publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication

may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

A CIP catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 978 1 4088 1296 9

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