by Judy Brown
‘Yes, yes! My mum’s got all that white fur fabric left over from the polar bear costumes she made for the school play.’
‘Whoa, whoa!’ said Archie, holding up a paw. ‘This is getting out of hand. I never agreed to dressing up.’
‘But it’s the only way you’d get away with it,’ said Jack.
‘They have a point, Archie,’ Flo told him. ‘The plan won’t work unless you look like Charlie.’
Archie winced. It was something he’d rather overlooked. He really couldn’t picture himself in a cat costume performing in a talent show. It seemed a little bit silly for a robot cat with his own particular digital talents. He sighed, then nodded his agreement.
‘That’s settled then,’ said Sophie. ‘Anya, you’ll have to come over to my house tomorrow night and stay over so we can make the costume.’
‘That means we’ll need Archie at your house too, to make sure it fits properly.’
‘Good point,’ agreed Sophie. ‘He’d have to be there on Saturday morning to leave for the competition anyway.’
‘Ooooh, ooooh!’ Flo said. ‘A sleepover!’ This is so exciting!’
Archie had a feeling things were getting out of control.
‘Now wait,’ he said. ‘We can’t just wander over to your house.’
‘No,’ said Sophie, ‘but if Jack and Anya come round for tea, I’m sure Mum would come and pick us up – we could smuggle you into the boot or something.’
‘Perfect!’ said Flo, ‘and I’ll fly behind the car and follow you home.’ If she had been any more excited, she would probably have exploded.
‘Can I go in your pocket?’ asked Sparky, happily doing wheelies around the cupboard again.
Sophie smiled. ‘Of course you can.’
‘We’ll need power points to charge up overnight,’ Archie pointed out.
‘No problem,’ she said, ‘you can do that in my room.’
‘It’s going to be so great!’ said Flo.
Archie hoped their plan was as simple as it sounded.
After school, Jack, Anya and Sophie walked home via Peggy’s Pet Emporium.
‘You two had better wait outside,’ said Anya. ‘If there is something fishy going on and she recognises you, she might get suspicious.’
‘Fair enough,’ said Sophie.
Anya pushed the door open. Tinkle, tinkle rang the bell over the door.
The shop was shabby and dingy, crammed with stock that looked very old. It really needed a makeover. There were lots of newspaper articles displayed on the walls: some were about pet shows, others were stories about talented pets. The sound of Mexican music playing quietly was coming from the back of the shop.
The owner, a short lady with grey hair, was on the phone. Anya recognised her from the film that Flo had shown them and realised this must be Peggy. She could see that Peggy had been reading about the missing pets in the local paper.
‘Yes, I know, Mrs Brown, it’s awful, isn’t it? It’s all over the papers.’ She paused, put her hand over the mouthpiece and spoke to Anya. ‘Can I help you, dear?’ she asked.
‘Er, just browsing,’ answered Anya, who was happy to eavesdrop and take a look around the shop.
‘Yes, dear, Chico’s here safe with me, but who knows what’s happened to those other poor animals? Anyway, I’d better go, I’ve a customer in the shop. Must go. Bye, dear.’ Peggy put the phone down. ‘Were you looking for something in particular?’ she asked Anya.
‘Umm,’ said Anya, aware of the fact that she only had twenty pence in her pocket. She scanned the shelves for something cheap and spotted a catnip mouse in the ‘reduced’ box. ‘Just this!’ she said triumphantly, walking over to the counter.
‘Big spender’, thought Peggy. ‘And that’s all, is it?’
‘Yes, thank you. Terrible about those pets going missing, isn’t it?’ she replied, handing over her twenty pence. ‘So do you have a pet in the competition yourself?’ Anya asked casually. There was something really familiar about Peggy but Anya couldn’t put her finger on it. She glanced past Peggy into the room behind the counter, noticed a big blonde wig on a stand and it suddenly dawned on her where she’d seen Peggy before.
‘Er, yes, dear, that’s right,’ said Peggy, ‘but with all this trouble, I’m not sure if I really want to carry on.’ She put the catnip mouse into a paper bag. ‘Here you are, dear, please come again.’
‘Thank you,’ said Anya. She smiled sweetly and left the shop.
Peggy stood quietly, thinking for a moment. She had an uneasy feeling about her young customer.
‘What did you find out?’ asked Jack as they walked away from the shop.
‘Well,’ said Anya. ‘You’ll never guess who Peggy is!’
‘Who?’ asked Jack.
‘There was cha-cha music coming from the back room of the shop.’
‘And?’ Jack said.
‘And then I saw a big blonde wig in the back room.’
‘So what?’
‘You remember Chico, the dancing dog in the first round?’
‘Yes,’ said Sophie, ‘it was really cute.’
‘Peggy is Carmelita, Chico’s owner! We didn’t recognise her yesterday without the massive wig.’
‘So do you think she’s a suspect?’ asked Sophie.
‘Dunno,’ said Anya, ‘she said she was thinking of pulling out because of all the trouble, and she could have written for the local paper, I guess. There were loads of articles on the wall.’
‘Nothing concrete then,’ said Jack.
‘Nope,’ said Anya. ‘But I wonder what she was doing at the auditions if she’d already got through.’
Chapter 9
The Sleepover
The Petbots spent the next day preparing to stay over at Sophie’s house. Flo was ecstatic to be going for a sleepover.
‘It’s going to be brilliant!’ she said. ‘I can’t wait to see Sophie’s house.’
‘Do you think she’s got a garden?’ asked Sparky.
‘I don’t know, but we’ll have to stay out of sight, in Sophie’s room,’ Archie reminded them.
‘Yes, I know, I know,’ said Flo.
‘I’ve printed a list of tools to take in case we need any emergency repairs,’ said Archie, always wanting to be well prepared. ‘Do you two want to start getting it together? I’m going to do a bit of practice on how to behave more like a real cat.’
So while Sparky and Flo packed a tool kit, Archie watched some cat videos on the Internet. First of all he did some cat-like stretches – they actually felt rather good! Then he tried pretending he was rubbing against people’s legs using some boxes – but he knocked them over.
Flo chuckled.
‘You’re too strong, Archie!’ she said. ‘You have to do it gently.’
Next Archie practised meowing and purring, but he got a bit carried away.
Flo was watching 5B in the classroom below on the monitors. They were having a lesson about Egyptian mummies, a particular favourite of hers. Suddenly she realised that they could hear Archie. They were all looking around for a cat.
‘Shhhh, Archie!’ said Flo. ‘The Year Fives can hear you.’
‘Oops. Sorry, Flo,’ he whispered.
Below, Sophie, Jack and Anya had a fair idea where the sounds were coming from.
‘Archie must be practising how to be a cat!’ giggled Sophie. ‘How adorable!’
When the group met up at lunchtime, Anya told Archie about their trip to the pet shop.
‘Nothing solid to go on then,’ said Archie.
‘Not really,’ she said, ‘but I think Peggy the pet shop owner might have something to do with it. You’ll never guess who she is … she’s Carmelita, the lady with the dancing Chihuahua! She looks completely different without the wig.’
‘Of course!’ said Flo. ‘I knew she looked familiar.’
‘Interesting,’ said Archie, ‘so we’ll definitely watch her carefully. Are we all set for later?’
‘Yep,’ said Jack. �
�We’ll meet you in the stationery cupboard at the end of school and smuggle you out. Sophie’s mum is expecting us all for tea, and Anya is staying over.’
‘We’ve got the fur fabric and we’ve borrowed some fabric paint from the art room for the black patches,’ said Sophie. ‘How’s the cat practice going?’
Archie walked over and rubbed against their legs to demonstrate, then purred quietly.
‘Excellent!’ She stroked his head. ‘All you need now is the fur.’
The rest of the day dragged for the children, but in the attic the Petbots were busy rehearsing. Flo was projecting Charlie’s performance and Archie was copying him, using a paper keyboard that they printed out and stuck together. He’d even managed to have a go on the school piano overnight.
‘You don’t want to play too well, though, Archie,’ said Flo. ‘It would look suspicious.’
‘I suppose so,’ agreed Archie. ‘I need to be good enough to attract the petnapper’s attention, though. Which reminds me,’ he said, picking up a small metal box, ‘I’ve modelled this transmitter to send out a signal so that you can both track me. It’s tuned into your operating systems.’
‘Cool!’ said Sparky.
‘It’s magnetic, so I’ll attach it under my costume and activate it when we’re ready.’
The bell rang for the end of school.
‘Right,’ said Archie, ‘let’s check the monitors to see when the coast is clear.’
Flo and Sparky were excited enough to burst. Fifteen minutes later, Anya came to the cupboard as arranged.
‘Sophie and Jack are outside waiting for her mum, and there’s no one else around at the moment. Are you all ready?’ asked Anya.
‘All ready,’ confirmed Archie. ‘Flo, you’d better fly onto the roof and wait for us to come out.’
She didn’t need to be told twice and went off in a flurry of metal feathers. Anya put Sparky in her pocket, and Archie picked up the portable repair kit.
When Sophie saw her mum’s car turn into the road, she waved to Flo, who was perched on the roof waiting eagerly for her signal.
‘Sophie’s mum’s here,’ Flo told Archie and Sparky over their intercom.
‘Hi, kids!’ said Sophie’s mum from the car window.
‘Hi, Mum,’ said Sophie. ‘Anya’s just coming. I’ll put our stuff in the boot.’
Jack engaged Sophie’s mum in conversation, while Anya, closely followed by Archie, exited the school and headed for the car.
‘Are you excited about the live semi-final tomorrow, Mrs Stuart?’ he asked, keeping half an eye on Anya and Archie. ‘Charlie was awesome, wasn’t he?’
‘Quick!’ whispered Sophie. ‘Hop in, Archie!’
Archie got into the boot and the children moved the bags to cover him up.
‘All done,’ said Sophie, shutting the boot. She and Anya got into the back seat.
‘Off we go then,’ said Mrs Stuart.
Back at Sophie’s house, her mum parked the car on the driveway.
‘Do you need a hand with your stuff?’ she asked.
‘No, Mum, we’re fine thanks,’ said Sophie.
Her mum opened the front door and went inside the house.
‘Quick!’ said Jack. He opened the car boot and ushered Archie inside and up the stairs. Charlie was on the landing, yawning, stretching and wondering what all the sudden activity was about. When he saw Sophie he began scratching at her bedroom door.
‘Not now, Charlie,’ she said, tickling him under the chin, ‘we’ve got things to do.’
The first thing they did when they entered Sophie’s room was open the window. Flo fluttered in, landed on Sophie’s bed and looked around.
‘It’s just how I thought it would be!’ she said. ‘It’s very you.’
‘Er, thank you, I think,’ said Sophie.
‘Right,’ said Archie quietly, ‘we’d better make a start. Sparky, do your stuff.’
‘Okay, boss!’ said Sparky. The smallest petbot whizzed round Archie using his laser vision to take accurate measurements of Archie’s dimensions. Archie made sure he’d made himself exactly the same size as the real cat. Flo, fascinated by Sophie’s room, was investigating every corner of it. She especially liked the large mirror framed with fairy lights.
When Sparky had finished he transmitted the measurements to Archie, who converted them into a pattern for the costume, which he downloaded to the laptop. Then it was Flo’s job to project the pattern onto the fur material ready for cutting. The children sat and watched in awe at the efficiency of the process.
‘Perfect!’ said Sophie. ‘I’ll fetch Mum’s dressmaking scissors.’
Archie smiled. ‘No need – Flo, over to you.’
Flo set to work with her powered beak and the pattern was cut out in no time.
‘Brilliant!’ cried Anya.
‘The sewing is all up to you, I’m afraid,’ said Archie. ‘We weren’t programmed to deal with needles and thread.’
Sophie and Anya looked at each other.
‘I’m rubbish at sewing,’ complained Anya.
‘Me too,’ said Sophie.
‘Don’t look at me,’ said Jack, holding his hands up in surrender. ‘Anyway, I have to leave after tea.’
‘We’ll manage somehow,’ Sophie assured them.
‘How hard can it be?’ said Archie.
After tea Jack dashed back upstairs to say goodbye to the Petbots as Anya and Sophie helped in the kitchen.
‘See you at the competition tomorrow,’ he said. ‘I can’t wait to see how the costume turns out!’
Archie raised an eyebrow.
The sewing did not go well. By the time the girls had sewn all the pieces together there were far more lumps and bumps than there should have been. They put the costume on Archie to see how it fitted.
Archie looked in the mirror. He could see that Flo, Sparky, Sophie and Anya were trying desperately not to laugh. It was obvious why – he looked ridiculous.
‘This is humiliating,’ he said.
Flo was giggling. ‘It’s not that bad. It’s just a bit, er, baggy here and there.’
‘Yes,’ said Sophie, ‘but the black splodges will help loads. I’ll get Charlie so that we can get the shapes right.’
She opened the door to find Charlie sitting patiently outside. He strolled in and stopped dead when he saw the strange-looking cat in Sophie’s room. Sparky quickly hid under the bed in case Charlie was the kind of cat that liked chasing mice. Fortunately, Charlie was very easy-going and rather than hissing and spitting stalked over to give Archie a sniff. It gave the girls the perfect opportunity to paint black patches onto Archie’s costume to match Charlie’s fur.
‘There!’ Sophie stepped back to admire their handiwork. Sparky, forgetting his earlier caution, zipped around the room to get a view from every angle. Charlie spotted him and tried to pounce, but Sparky was much too fast. After a couple of half-hearted swipes with his paw Charlie gave up and wandered towards Sophie’s door to head downstairs for food.
With the black patches painted on, the costume looked a whole lot better and Archie felt a little less stupid.
‘You look amazing!’ said Flo.
‘Cool!’ Sparky agreed.
Archie did a couple of circuits of the room, practising his cat moves. It was hilarious!
‘I never knew you were such a good actor!’ Anya had tears rolling down her face. Sophie couldn’t speak she was laughing so much.
‘He’s been practising all day,’ said Flo proudly.
After they’d cleared up all the mess they’d made, and started to get ready for bed, Sophie suddenly had a worrying thought.
‘We have to take you in the pet carrier, don’t we?’
‘Yes,’ replied Archie. ‘Why?’
‘Well, I won’t be able to carry you in it. You’re too heavy.’
‘She’s right, you know,’ said Flo.
Archie thought for a moment.
‘Can you bring the carrier here?’ he asked. He kne
w what to do.
Sophie went downstairs and returned with the carrier almost immediately.
‘Sparky,’ said Archie, ‘can you use your laser to make four holes in the bottom? If that’s okay, Sophie?’
‘Um, what for?’ she asked, puzzled.
Archie held up a metal paw and pointed to the underside of the carrier.
‘Your wheels!’ exclaimed Anya.
‘One of the extra attachments the Prof thought of. If the carrier is close enough to the ground you can wheel me along.’
‘Great idea,’ said Sophie. ‘Go for it, Sparky.’
When Sparky had finished, Sophie put Charlie’s blanket back inside the carrier so her mum didn’t see the holes. Afterwards, tired out from all the hard work, they all settled down for the night. Archie plugged the Petbots in to charge, ready for the excitement of the next day.
Chapter 10
A Star is Born
It was Saturday … competition time!
‘Time to get Charlie ready, so Mum and Dad don’t get suspicious,’ said Sophie. ‘Anya and I will get him brushed and into the pet carrier.’
‘We’ll prepare up here,’ said Archie. ‘Let us know when you’re ready for the switch.’
Sophie and Anya headed downstairs and Archie, Flo and Sparky discussed the plan.
‘Flo, you can watch the competition from where you were before, up above the stage, and warn us if you see anything suspicious.’