by Danny Parker
Lola felt uneasy. Much bigger than normal buttons? Silver?
She had seen something. Something bigger than normal buttons, and in silver.
Then she remembered. Silver medals swinging in the lights.
Five Alive!
‘How many buttons are there?’ asked Lola, knowing the answer already.
‘Five,’ said Felix. ‘The Timberfield Treasure is five large silver buttons.’
Lola knew there was something odd about that group!
‘I’ve made a mistake,’ said Lola, ‘but it’s not too late to fix things.’
Just then, five tall toys, all dressed in black cloaks, ran across the stage. They jumped into the audience and ran away!
‘Come on!’ cried Lola as she raced after them, followed by a crowd of excited toys. ‘It’s the medals!’
‘Of course!’ yelled Buddy as they ran, his long wobbly legs going as quickly as they could. But Five Alive were running faster.
They’re too fast, thought Lola. We’ll never catch them. If only they would trip!
A memory stirred. She had tripped over in Nick’s room. That’s it!
Lola turned to Buddy.
‘Your juggling balls!’
‘What?’ said Buddy, confused.
‘Throw your juggling balls!’
Buddy shook his head, looking worried.
‘Not to hurt them,’ said Lola. ‘To trip them up!’
Buddy grinned. He grabbed three balls and took aim. Lola could see his long arm shaking.
‘You can do it, Buddy. You are an ace juggler.’
Buddy stood up tall, took a big breath, and threw.
One, two, three balls flew into the air! Everyone watched them fly towards Five Alive.
One landed under the feet of the first toy. The second landed under the feet of the second toy. They both stumbled. The third juggling ball flew higher, and …
Bonk!
It hit the head of the first toy, knocking him over. The others tripped over him and landed …
Splash!
… in the duck pond!
‘Buddy, you’re the best!’ cried Lola, picking him up and spinning him round.
Five Alive were dripping wet. They each had a wooden duck on their heads.
A crowd of toys gathered around.
Lola, Buddy and Felix took the large silver medals off the wet toys. Lola could see that they were not medals at all, but the Timberfield Treasure.
‘Well done, Lola,’ said Felix. ‘You too, Buddy. You’re a great team.’
Under their cloaks, Lola could see that Five Alive were made of yellow plastic.
Aha – they were Almost Toys!
Almost Toys worked for the Plastic Prince, a powerful toy who lived in a place called Nevercalm. The Plastic Prince would do anything to upset the other toys in the Kingdom.
‘Almost Toys!’ said Felix. ‘They must have been sent here by the Plastic Prince to steal the treasure. Guards, take them away!’
‘Wait!’ cried Lola.
Lola had met Almost Toys before. She always felt sorry for them. They seemed so unloved. And they weren’t very bright.
There was something Lola didn’t understand.
‘You stole the treasure,’ said Lola to the Almost Toys. ‘So why didn’t you escape before the show started?’
One of the yellow toys looked up and spoke quietly.
‘We just love to sing. The Plastic Prince doesn’t like singing. When we saw the stage, we wanted to stay and perform.
‘Then your act was so funny, we stayed to watch. And then the Wooden Wonder was amazing too …’
The Wooden Wonder – oh dear! Lola felt terrible about calling him a thief. I must find him and say sorry, she thought.
Lola whispered into Felix’s ear. He nodded and turned to the crowd. ‘Lola has given me an idea,’ he said. ‘Five Alive are great singers. As their prize for winning the talent show, they will stay in Timberfield and sing for you all – every night!’
The crowd cheered!
Lola hurried off to find the Wooden Wonder to say sorry. He shrugged and smiled, and then pulled a golden button from behind her ear.
She met Buddy and Felix back at the treasure chest.
‘Goodbye, Lola,’ said Felix warmly. ‘Visit again soon?’
Lola knew she would be back.
‘It’s been the best adventure!’ she replied. ‘We’ll be back. Promise.’
She picked up Buddy and climbed into the treasure chest. But Lola climbed out of …
Lola climbed out of her toy box, back in her bedroom.
As she popped Buddy on her pillow, her glue stick rolled out from under it. Oh dear! Nick didn’t have my glue after all.
That’s another mistake Lola had made. First the Wooden Wonder, and now the glue.
She had been sure it was Nick.
‘Well, Buddy,’ she said to her toy. ‘I need to say sorry again. This time to Nick for going into his room.’
She knew what to do. She sat down at her craft table.
She had just finished when she heard Nick run upstairs.
‘Oi Lola,’ he yelled. ‘Have you been in my room?’
Lola held out the card she had just made. ‘Yes. I thought you had my glue, so I came in to get it. But then I fell over your tennis balls and broke your water pistol. I’m sorry.’
First Nick looked cross, then he grinned. ‘You fell over the tennis balls? Ha! That’s funny!’
Nick opened the card and read it out loud.
Dear Nick,
Roses are red,
violets are blue.
I’m glad to have
a big brother like you.
From Lola
P.S. Sorry I broke your water pistol.
Nick looked at Lola and grinned again. ‘I so wish I’d seen it!’
He walked out and slammed the door behind him, still laughing.
Phew!
Lola looked at the mess in her room.
I should tidy up, she thought. I should put everything away. She looked at the craft things all over her table.
Then she looked at her toy box. Finally she looked over at Buddy.
Hmmmm. Tidy my room or go back to the Kingdom?Tough one.
Lola grabbed Buddy and jumped back into her toy box, giggling as she closed the lid.
The Timberfield Talent Show
published in 2016
Hardie Grant Egmont
Ground Floor, Building 1, 658 Church Street
Richmond, Victoria 3121, Australia
www.hardiegrantegmont.com.au
This ebook is also available as a print edition in all good bookstores.
A CiP record for this title is available from the National Library of Australia.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers and copyright holders.
eISBN 9781743583982
Text copyright © 2016 Danny Parker
Illustrations copyright © 2016 Guy Shield
Series design copyright © 2016 Hardie Grant Egmont
Series design by Stephanie Spartels
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