by Monica Lim
The goblet stands serenely on the countertop—perfectly upright.
Danny pulled the branch back out the window and heaved a sigh of relief. “All those gadgets and we had to resort to using a branch!” he said.
Melody shrugged. “As long as it gets the job done, who cares? Great work!” Danny and Melody heard more cheers. This time, the commotion was even louder. They heard people entering Mr Pung’s home. Peering through the shutters, Danny saw a graceful, elegant lady in a green dress and hat. She even wore gloves. It was the Queen!
Danny heard voices. The Queen seemed to be asking Mr Pung about his home. Soon after that, Mr Pung came into the kitchen. He opened the refrigerator and poured out some fizzy lemonade into the glass that Danny had replaced.
Something was nagging at Danny. He felt as if he had forgotten an important detail. He pondered for a moment, the gears in his mind slowly clicking into place. Hmm…left or right? The glass that wasn’t poisoned had been in his right…no, LEFT hand...
He had given Melody the glass in his left hand. She had taken it in her left...no wait, right hand. Wait a minute...his left...was her RIGHT. The glass had been in her RIGHT hand. But he had asked for the left glass. She had given him the glass in her LEFT hand!
Mr Pung had already returned to the living room. He handed the glass of lemonade to the Queen.
“Er...Melody…” began Danny nervously.
“Shhhh! I want to see this!”
Danny bit his nails in worry as he watched the Queen accept the glass. He began hopping up and down frantically.
“Melody, there’s something I really-really-really need to tell you!”
“Hush! Later!”
Danny felt sick as he watched the Queen drink from the glass. “MELODY!” he gasped, tugging urgently at Melody’s sleeve. Finally, Melody turned around, annoyed. “What is it?” she snapped.
“We put back the wrong glass!” said Danny hoarsely.
Melody stared at him. Her eyes widened in disbelief. “What?” she whispered. “That’s the poisoned one?” Danny nodded mutely.
The two children turned to stare at the Queen in dread. The Queen had finished her drink. Danny and Melody held their breaths, expecting the Queen to collapse in front of them. It would be any moment now. The Queen gave a little cough. Melody nearly had a heart attack.
After what seemed like forever, the Queen smiled and the royal party left Mr Pung’s home. The Queen hadn’t dropped dead. The glass was not poisoned after all.
The two children sank to the ground in relief. “I don’t think my heart can take any more drama!” said Danny, with extreme mixed feelings. He was angry and relieved at the same time. He glared at Melody. “I want to strangle you! Your information was all screwy!”
“I really don’t understand it,” said Melody puzzled. “I was so sure I was right. When else would the Queen take a drink in the evening?”
“Er...at dinner?”
There was an awkward pause as the realisation dawned on Melody. She stared at Danny in despair. “The Istana!” she cried. “The Queen is having a banquet dinner at the Istana tonight!”
Danny smacked his forehead. “You’re really off your game today, Melody!”
Melody ignored him and jumped up. “Come on, we have to go to the Istana now!” She hurried towards the main road. Danny ran to catch up. “Why is the Queen having dinner at a department store?” he asked.
“What are you talking about?”
“You said the Queen is having dinner at Isetan!”
It was Melody’s turn to smack her forehead. “ISTANA! Not Isetan! The Istana is where the President lives! Don’t you know anything at all?”
“Says the one who didn’t realise the Queen would take a drink at dinner!”
“Oh, qwigglepuff!”
Just as the two children reached the main road, a black taxi with a yellow top drove by and Melody flagged it down. It was an old-fashioned type of car that Danny had only seen in magazines. The seat was springy and squeaked when he sat on it.
“Istana please!” said Melody to the taxi driver. Danny was still a little cross at Melody for creating all the confusion. He knew he would get into another argument with her if they spoke. So instead, he took out his Fantasy Squad comic book from his sling bag and began to read.
The Sinister Spy has taken innocent school children hostage! The Fantasy Squad tracks the cruel villain to his secret castle. It’s hidden deep in the heart of the Black Forest in Germany.
Silver Wing scopes out the castle with his longrange binoculars. “The castle is heavily guarded from the inside by giant ogres,” says Silver Wing. “They’re not very smart but they’re really strong.”
“Hmm...” says Energia. “I can’t blow the place up! That will injure the children.”
“We’ll have to sneak in,” declares Cryptic. “And I have just the plan…”
An ogre answers the castle door. He is surprised by what he sees. Silver Wing and Cryptic are dressed as clowns, with red noses and big yellow shoes. Energia is in a sparkly suit and a purple mask. Flex Rex, the super dog, wears a frilly white collar.
“Hi!” greets Cryptic. “We are circus performers. We’re here to put on a show for the Sinister Spy.”
More giant ogres gather at the door. “Circus?” they ask suspiciously. A few brandish their clubs.
Energia’s body glows as she conjures up three small flaming orbs. She juggles the fiery balls, her shining green eyes alight.
The ogres are entranced by the amazing spectacle. When Energia finishes, the ogres clap enthusiastically. “Aw…so pweety! Nice circus!” They let the Fantasy Squad in without a fight.
The superheroes race to the castle dungeon. Silver Wing’s body and wings change into pure silver. Hard as a rock, he swoops towards the steel dungeon door and rams it off its hinges.
The Fantasy Squad enters the dungeon. They come face to face with the Sinister Spy!
“NO!” yells the Sinister Spy. “How did you get past the ogres? That’s impossib—”
Flex Rex coils himself around the Sinister Spy, using his elastic body as a rope. All tied up!
“Time for a change!” Cryptic hollers as he transforms into a skeleton key.
Cryptic unlocks the dungeon cells and the cell doors open. The children are free!
“We’re here,” said Melody, as the taxi stopped by the side of a road. Danny stuffed his comic book back into his bag and the two children alighted from the taxi. They found themselves in front of a large compound surrounded by white fences. There was a tall white gate with an elaborate design. A few uniformed guards patrolled the entrance.
“How do we get in?” wondered Danny aloud. “I don’t think we can just ring the doorbell.”
Danger Dan is stealthy! He has lightning-fast reflexes! His karate chop is the finest in the land! Still, Danger Dan doubts that even his ninja skills can get him past the guards…
“I don’t know,” admitted Melody. She looked rather daunted. “Maybe we should just tell one of the guards about the Sinister Spyder’s plan.”
“You know they will never believe you! And you don’t have any proof.”
“If only there was some way of getting in unseen,” said Melody.
Not for the first time, Danny was inspired by the Fantasy Squad’s adventures. “We don’t need to be unseen,” he said. “We just need to be unnoticed.”
“What’s the difference?”
“Plenty,” replied Danny. “It means we have to go in disguise. Is there going to be a show for the Queen at the Istana tonight?”
“Hang on, let me check.” Melody tapped on her hair clip. “Yes! There’s going to be a cultural show for the Queen on the Istana lawn after dinner. There will be a flag dance, an Indian folk dance, a dragon dance…”
“Dragon dance! That’s it! We’ll go in as dragon dancers!” Danny pointed to a lorry parked across the road. Attached to the lorry were bright yellow flags with Chinese words painted on them. A big set o
f drums and small shiny cymbals were in the lorry.
“Do you know how to perform a dragon dance?” asked Melody, surprised. She followed Danny across the road.
“What’s there to know? You just hop around and jiggle the stick up and down. Come on!”
“Er...I don’t think it’s that simple,” said Melody doubtfully. Walking around the back of the lorry, Danny saw a majestic cloth dragon’s head. It was painted a vibrant red and gold, and had fierce black eyebrows and sharp white fangs. Danny thought it looked quite magnificent.
Some men in bright costumes were sitting on the grass along the side of road, eating chicken rice from brown paper packets. “Hello! Are you the dragon dancers for the Queen tonight?” asked Danny.
One of them looked up. “Yes, we’re dancing at the Istana tonight,” he answered.
“Do you need two more dancers? My sister and I are awesome dragon dancers!” Danny improvised a random hop-jiggle move to demonstrate his ability.
The man shook his head. “No, we don’t need any more dancers.”
Disappointed, Danny and Melody retreated to the back of the lorry. Up close, the long red dragon looked even more impressive. Just then, Melody spotted a few small, clear plastic bags of milky soya bean and black grass jelly drinks hanging from the inside panel of the lorry.
“I’ve got an idea,” whispered Melody. “I’ll put something in the drinks so two of them won’t be able to perform.”
“You’re going to poison them?” Danny wagged his finger at Melody disapprovingly. “You’ll end up in jail with the Sinister Spyder!”
“It’s not poison, qwirklehead! It’s an Energy Fizz Wizz. It’ll just liven them up a little.” Melody stuck her hand into her skirt pocket and took out a small purple bottle. She opened it and showed Danny the contents. The bottle was filled with little transparent pellets that had a sapphire shimmer. Danny thought they looked almost like bubbles.
“Won’t that just make them dance better?” asked Danny.
Melody poured out six Energy Fizz Wizzes. “Not if you use three instead of one. My cousin tried that once and…” Melody giggled. “Let’s just say the result was quite unexpected.”
Making sure nobody was looking, Melody popped three Energy Fizz Wizzes into a bag of soya bean milk and the other three into a bag of grass jelly drink.
The Energy Fizz Wizzes dissolved into a puff of tiny bubbles, leaving no trace.
Danny and Melody stood by the side and waited. Finally, the dragon dancers returned to the lorry and drank thirstily from their bags of drinks.
At first, nothing unusual happened. Then…
One of the men began to tap his feet to a quick, exuberant beat. He proceeded to climb into the lorry, then out of the lorry. In and out. In, out, in, out. In-out-in-out-in-out. Then he started bouncing.
He jumped up and down, up and down like a jack-in-the-box. He couldn’t stand still at all. He flailed his arms, he leapt into the air. He did cartwheels and bunny hops. Danny and Melody had to stifle their giggles. It was a comical sight.
The man’s friend rushed over to him, concerned. “Hey! Are you okay? What’s the matter...OOH!” His eyes suddenly widened and a silly grin popped onto his face. “I feel AWESOME! I-think-I-could-just-talk-all-day-I-feelYIPPEE! andallthatYAAHAA!ohhappyhappyhappyhappy YEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!”
He hopped into the lorry and attacked the drums.
He finished with a thunderous clash of the cymbals. He threw the drumsticks into the air and somersaulted next to his friend.
“Hahaha! Hohoho! Haw-Haw! Heehee! HAH!” giggled the two men uncontrollably. They did the chicken dance and flapped their imaginary wings. They clucked to the other dragon dancers who gaped in astonishment.
“WAAAAAHOOOOO!” They sped off down the street. Melody could hear them singing in the distance.
The remaining dragon dancers looked at each other, dumbfounded. After a long silence, one of the men scratched his head and said, “I don’t know what just happened but it looks like we’re now short of two dancers.”
The dragon dancer whom Danny had spoken to earlier saw the two children standing a few metres away. He gestured for them to come over.
Act cool, Danger Dan. Don’t be too eager. Nice and steady now.
“Hey, you two! Didn’t you say you were dragon dancers?” asked the man. “Can you fill in for those two guys?”
“I thought you’d never ask!” squealed Danny excitedly. The man handed Danny and Melody each a bright orange shirt and matching pants. Danny wore his costume on top of his school uniform. The pants were too large and long for him. He tugged them right up to his chest and tied the yellow sash tightly across his waist.
Danger Dan and Gadget Girl have suited up. They are ready to infiltrate the Grand Palace. They board the mission van together with the Dragon Heroes. It transports them to the palace gates where a guard inspects the mission van for any suspicious items. He gives the passengers a quick scan.
Danger Dan tenses up. Will the guard see through his disguise?
The guard nods and waves them in. The mission van makes its way past the Grand Palace gates.
Success! They’re in.
The lorry trundled down a long driveway, passing rows of tall trees, lush green lawns and flower bushes. The lorry reached the top of a hill and stopped in front of a grand, white building. It was enormous and had rows of magnificent arches and spacious verandas.
Danny gasped. He thought the Istana looked like a palace.
Melody whispered to Danny, “In order to poison the Queen, the Sinister Spyder must have access to the Istana kitchen. We should look for the poisoned glass there.”
As the Dragon Heroes unload the equipment, Danger Dan and Gadget Girl sneak off in search of the royal kitchen. They ascend a marble staircase before entering the main tower of the Grand Palace. They creep stealthily past stately pillars and long hallways, keeping an eye out for any guards.
Danger Dan picks up a scent! The aroma is enticing. Danger Dan pushes open a door. It reveals a hive of activity. Chefs buzz around with ladles and knives.
Pots and pans sit on top of every stove, bubbling away. This is it! The royal kitchen. Time to hunt for the poisoned goblet.
The wonderful sights and smells of food made Danny salivate. He suddenly realised how hungry he was. All he had eaten for lunch was the ice cream sandwich and that was many, many hours ago.
Danny tried looking for the glass but he was distracted by all the glorious dishes as he walked past the rows of hot stoves. Large steamed fish with seasonal vegetables, drizzled with soya sauce. Rich and fragrant simmering soups. A circle of glassy, pink prawns in a bowl of gravy. Plump, succulent roasted ducks with crispy skin.
One dish caught Danny’s eye. It was a plate of freshly grilled beef slices. The beef was seared and browned on the outside, but on the inside, the meat was moist and pink. Danny was so hungry he couldn’t resist it. Making sure no chef was looking at him, he picked up a slice and popped it in his mouth.
Oh! Delightfully tender and juicy. It was heaven in a mouthful.
A waiter came into the kitchen. Seeing Danny and Melody, he scolded them sternly, “You two! What are you doing here? You can’t be in the kitchen! Go on now!”
He firmly led Danny and Melody out of the kitchen. “Aren’t you the dragon dancers?” he asked, noticing their costumes. You should wait at the back of the Istana. The Queen will be arriving soon.”
The waiter pointed the way and hurried off. Danny turned to Melody. “The Sinister Spyder could be a waiter!” he said. “That would be the easiest way to get a poisoned glass to the Queen, wouldn’t it?”
“You’re right,” agreed Melody. “Maybe he’s in the banquet room right now!” The two children sneaked up to the room opposite the kitchen and peered through the glass panel above the door. It was a fancy dining room with chandeliers hanging from the high ceiling. There were several round tables with linen tablecloths and large dining chairs. In the middle of the room
, one table stood out with its velvety cream tablecloth and impressive floral centrepiece. Nobody was in the room.
Danny noticed that the silverware and cutlery were all neatly laid out on the tables. “The glasses are already there!” he said. “Does that mean the poisoned one is on the table right now?”
“It has to be one of those on the main table,” said Melody. “That’s the VIP table. But which one?”
“It doesn’t matter,” said Danny decisively. “We’ll replace all of them!” He pulled Melody into the room and looked around for a cabinet. Spotting an antique one in a corner, he ran to it and opened its door.
Jackpot! The wine glasses were kept inside the cabinet.
“Qwintastic!” said Melody delightedly. She removed all the wine glasses from the VIP table as Danny ran to replace them with those from the cabinet. As she stored away the wine glasses she had taken in the cabinet, she mused, “What if they use these glasses in the future? One of them has been poisoned!”
“No time to think about that!” said Danny. “Just hope they wash the glasses properly before they use them!”
Job done, Danny and Melody left the room and waited at the back of the Istana. A few minutes later, they heard the sound of voices and people entering the hall. The Queen had arrived!
Danny furrowed his brow, deep in thought. “How will we know if our plan has worked? What if the Sinister Spyder tries to poison the glass during dinner?”
“You’re right,” said Melody. “Maybe we should keep an eye on the glasses just to be sure. If he tries anything, we can warn the Queen.”
Danny and Melody sneaked back to the door of the banquet room and peeked in. All the tables were filled with guests dressed in suits and gowns. The Queen was seated at the head table.