by Anna Cuffaro
30 Stud and Gatwick
Gatwick was still watching television in his cell in White Alp. He’d been watching some well-preened brainless robins, cavorting around, flaunting their legs and their breasts. He thought he was a show-off, but these were just something else. He’d soon got fed up with those and started watching some owls on another channel. The quiz show was called Universal Challenge. Four owls were sitting in a row above another row of four. A rooster was firing questions at them telling them to: ”Come on!” That was the same rooster as he’d seen talking about the war of the rooks. Universal Challenge was too difficult for Gatwick, so he switched it off. As he was looking around him, to see how to keep himself busy, his cell door opened. It was Sam:
“Oh, Mr. Gatwick. Our boss Mr. Stud, would like to invite ya to his office”.
“Fine, I’ll be up in a moment. Could you carry my wooden spoon up for me, please?”
“Of course, sir. This way”, Sam beckoned to Gatwick, unfolding his wing to show him the direction.
“Nice red carpet you’ve got here, a very fluffy pile, very soft to the paws”.
“Yes, sir. I’m glad ya like it. We put it down for you”.
Gatwick entered the room. Stud and Bird Dog stood up. They held out their wings and gave Gatwick’s paw a hearty shaking.
“Would ya like to sit down?”
Gatwick said: “Thank you”, as he took a seat.
“How was your trip here?” Stud asked.
“Pleasant, I’ve always liked travelling. But, that smell at the entrance here. Well, it’s really bad”.
Stud didn’t know what he was talking about so let that pass: “Can we offer ya a drink and some food, sir?”
“Oh, yes, please I’d love a fizzy drink, a tuna sandwich and some ice-cream”.
“No, problem. Sam, could ya go get Mr Gatwick what he asked for”.
“Yes, sir!”, and off Sam went.
“Mr. Gatwick, ya might be wonderin’ why we called ya up here. I hope ya didn’t take it bad. We simply wanted to meet ya and tell ya how much we admire ya. Also, we wanted to give ya a gift to show we’re friends of yours”.
Sam came in with the fizzy drink and food. Stud had to wait for Gatwick to finish eating and drinking before he could continue speaking.
“As I was saying there, I want ya to accept a little present from us. Sam, can ya go and get the box from the basement”.
Sam went off again, while Bird Dog kept smiling at Gatwick. There was a long silence so Gatwick thought he’d try some small talk:
“Rotten weather, isn’t it?”
“Oh, ya, ya, really rotten. I haven’t been out in a long time. Really, rotten, eh, Bird Dog?”
“Oh, ya, ya, really, really rotten”, agreed Bird Dog.
“The sun keeps coming out and going back in, it doesn’t know what it wants to do, does it?” Gatwick said.
“No, it doesn’t know what to do, it keeps coming out”, agreed Stud.
“No, it doesn’t know what to do, it keeps going back in”, said Bird Dog.
Thankfully, Sam came back with the box.
“Hey, that’s my box. I had it stolen from me!”
“Believe me, Mr. Gatwick. We found it, and we brought it back here for safekeepin’. Ya know we didn’t want it to get lost”.
Gatwick didn’t ask any questions, he had got his big box on wheels, tied up with red rope, back and that’s all that mattered. Well, what a surprise, never in a million years would he have expected to see his box again. And, right here of all places!
“Well, thank you so much, thank you”.
“Walk this way, Mr. Gatwick, and we will fill it up for you”.
Gatwick trundled his box along behind him to the store room, even the wheel had been fixed properly!
When the door to the store room opened, Gatwick saw so much money in there that he thought it was fake.
“Is it real?” he asked.
“Of course it’s real. This is the reserve of the federal bank, I tell ya”.
“Well, thank you very much for showing me your money. Can I go now?”
“Just a moment. Sam here is going to fill your box up. Would you like pounds, francs or dollars?”
“Mmmm. Can I have some of each, please?”
“Of course. Sam fill the box will ya?”
“Yes, sir. Of course, sir”, replied Sam.
“Goodbye, Mr. Gatwick and if ya need anythin’ in the future, just give us a call. Or, come up and see us, now you know where we are”.
“I certainly will”, Gatwick assured him, “any friend of Jet’s is a friend of mine. Oh, and by the way, thank you for the fizzy drink, tuna sandwich and ice-cream”.
After the box had been filled to the brim, and the red rope tied up nice and tight, Jet was called and told to take Gatwick to wherever he wanted to go. As far as the Eagles were concerned, they’d managed to avoid the world coming to an end, at least for the near future.
He was the happiest bear alive, off to see his Little Sister and his Mama. At the entrance of the cave, Jet took Gatwick by the scruff of his waistcoat again. Gatwick held his wooden spoon in one hand and the box in the other: “Take me to Emerald Mountain, Jet!”
They arrived after about an hour’s flight. Mama was so pleased to see Gatwick that she started crying: “Bambino mio, bambino mio, bello!” She hugged him, she kissed him, and hugged him again. “Saint Lucia has answered my prayers”.
“Where’s Little Sister?” asked Gatwick.
“Bambina mia, bambina mia, bella!” she repeated, “they’ve taken her away in a helicopter, Jet told me”.
“Yes”, Jet agreed, “Little Sister had been taken away by the Swiss Police. I watched it from a distance, they tried to get me, too. But, I managed to escape. It was strange but she didn’t put up a fight, she didn’t run back to the cave to take refuge”.
“She did it to protect me, mia bambina bella”, sobbed Mama.
Gatwick explained to Jet:
“If the Swiss shepherds find out that Mama is here on Emerald Mountain, they’ll shoot her like they shot my father, Bertie. They believe that she would kill their sheep, but she wouldn’t because she doesn’t eat mutton or lamb. Let’s sit down and think about what to do”. Gatwick started to think and put his finger on his chin. “We’ve got to work out a plan, we’ve got to get Little Sister out of jail”.
“It’s not as simple as you think, Gatwick”, argued Jet. “After your escape they will have stepped up security. I can’t get her out, the way I got you out. They’ll have a guard on her door 24 hours a day”.
“So, there’s only one way, isn’t there? We’ve got to talk to Stud. He said if I needed help he would be ready to give me a hand. Let’s go and see what he can do for us. I’ll take my Edwardian case, with my sunglasses and fake sideburns, with me just in case I need to disguise myself”. He put his wooden spoon in the case as well, and off they went.
Mama cried. She didn’t know if they were tears of sadness or joy. Her family might all be together again soon. The thought made her so happy. She wanted to celebrate by making some spaghetti with goat’s cheese, followed by fillet of fish, and apple crumble and custard for dessert. She took the sparrow out of her apron pocket, and placed it on a little feather bed she had made for it. “Now, let’s get down to work”, she said to herself putting her apron on.
*
Stud was very surprised to see Gatwick back so soon. What could he want? More money? Was he going to dry up the federal reserve? Stud thought he’d better call up Bird Dog as witness. This time, Jet was at the discussion, too. Gatwick began:
“Mr. Stud, I know you my friend, as I said before any friend of Jet’s is a friend of mine. Although, I wanted to go home rather than come here after being released from prison by Jet, I want you to know how glad I was to meet you. You offered me kind hospitality by giving me a fizzy drink, tuna sandwich and ice-cream, you gave me my beloved box back, and filled my box with money. Now I want to ask you to do me
a huge favour like you do for friends”.
“Well, ya know, Gatwick, I will do anythin’ in my power to help ya. D’ya need more money?” Stud felt cornered. You can’t say no to someone who is the spy of the most powerful being in the world. Stud had no choice; he had to do whatever Gatwick wanted. ‘Let’s just hope he doesn’t ask the impossible’, Stud thought to himself. These were the people who were going to blow up the Kremlin for the Eagles.
“Oh, no, please, I don’t want any more money. I have so much I don’t know where to put it. No, what I need is for you to help me get my Little Sister out of prison. She has been wrongly accused of being my accomplice in a crime I committed last Friday. She is totally innocent”.
“I’ll do what I can. We can do it in two ways. We can either talk to the Prison Director and Chief Inspector, or we can blow the place up”, Stud said confidently.
“I think you’d better talk to them. Little Sister would be so frightened if she heard explosions, and we don’t want to frighten Little Sister, do we?”
“Hey, ya dead right, no way do we wanna frighten your little sister. That’s a deal. I’ll phone ’em and scare the hell fire outta ’em”.
“Thank you so much. I’m sure I can return the favour in future”.
Now, that was like music in Stud’s ears. Someone as powerful as Gatwick saying he will be on their side in the future – excellent – they needed to keep their dominant position in the world and force freedom on every stubborn nation which didn’t agree with them.
“Mr. Gatwick and Jet, do you mind, going downstairs to our sitting-room, while I make a few phone calls?”
“No, of course, not”, replied Gatwick.
Gatwick and Jet left the room, then Stud picked up his big red phone:
“Hello, there, can I speak to the Director of the prison, please? This is White Alp Eagle speaking”.
“Hold on a moment, Mr. White Alp Eagle, I’ll put you straight through on our priority phone line”.
The telephonist knew who White Alp Eagle was.
“Ah, good day to you Stud, how can I help you?” said the Director.
“Good Day to ya, Walter, how are ya? Look y’know I try to disturb ya as little as possible, don’t ya?”
“Yes, I haven’t heard from you for a long time”.
“Well, I need a big favour from ya. Ya have a little white bear in that there prison of yours, she goes under the name of Little Sister. I think she’s been arrested for bein’ an accomplice to a crime committed by Gatwick”.
“Oh, yes, they pulled off one of the biggest bank robberies of all time. Then we arrested him, and he managed to escape – we still don’t know how he did it or where he is”.
“I ain’t surprised. D’you know who he is?”
“I’ve already understood that he puts on an innocent appearance, but that he’s really very shrewd”.
“He’s only Arnold White’s spy. Do y’know what that means?”
“My God, I had no idea. That explains it, do you know that he signed his confession by drawing an explosion of an atomic bomb – yes, like Hiroshima”.
“There ya are then, what did I tell ya. Ya gotta let her go”.
“Yes, yes, you’re right. But, what do I do about public opinion?”
“Sorry, Walter, that’s your problem. I got enough of my own problems up here. I’m sure ya’ll work it out”.
“Fine, Stud, leave it to me. Can you send someone round to fetch her? Or, do you want me to accompany her”.
“Give her something to eat. Her brother and Jet, a raven, will come and meet her. I’ll send Sam, too. Jet can only carry one of the bears in his beak”.
“Fine, I’ll do what you asked. By the way, Stud, thanks for telling me all this. We could have been in big trouble, if we’d carried on with this case. Bye for now”.
“Bye and thanks a lot”.
The Prison Director phoned the Chief Inspector and told him about the telephone conversation.
“You’ve got to let this little white bear out, I’m sorry”, the Director told the Chief Inspector.
31 The Bank Robbery
The Chief Inspector was very angry – all that work. He’d given up his weekend, worked nights even, to follow through this investigation. All for nothing. What was the use of putting all that effort into work if this is the result? Nothing! It was no use. He would have to start all over again. “Luigi, go and get me that CCTV footage, let’s go over it again”. The Inspector sat there patiently going through the footage again with his assistant. It was clear to them that the bears were guilty. But, the police had to feed public opinion with culprits otherwise they would think the police didn’t know what they were doing.
“The only thing we can do”, suggested Luigi to the Chief Inspector, “is to put the blame on those workers. Yes, I know it’s not fair, but they were the only other ones around. They’re like us, you know, Inspector, they work and work for very little satisfaction”.
“Yes, I agree with you, Luigi; sometimes we have to do horrible things like that. Have them arrested and bring them here”.
The Inspector made his way to Little Sister’s cell. When he got there, he told the guard to go home, there was no need for him any more. The prisoner was being released, she was ‘not guilty’.
“You mean to say, I’ve been standing here all this time for nothing!”, the guard said.
“Afraid so. She’s being released”.
“They just brought her another bowl of chips, sir. I think she’ll want to finish those first”.
The Inspector went in. “Hello, Miss Little Sister, I’m glad to see you are enjoying your stay”.
“Oh, yes, very much thank you, sir. Please let me finish my chips, and please also don’t ask me where the money is. I can’t tell you”.
“No, Miss Little Sister. You can keep your money. Mr. Gatwick should be arriving any moment now to pick you up. We’re letting you go”.
“Oh, Gatwick, my big brother. I can’t wait to see him again!”
“Yes, we’ll go to the main entrance and wait there”.
“It was about time you let me out. I was starting to get bored here. Not much to do. How do you stand it?”
The Inspector didn’t answer that one. He was so fed up with these bears, glad to see the back of them. They waited at the entrance for a few minutes, until they saw a cub and two birds coming their way in the sky. They got closer and closer, and were dipping ready for landing. The bears were so pleased to see each other after all that time, they kept hugging and kissing, hugging and kissing. Then, Sam said:
“Come on, ya guys, stop freakin’. We’ve gotta get outta here”.
So Jet took Little Sister by the back of her red dickie bow, and Sam hooked Gatwick by his waistcoat. Off they flew to the cave in Emerald Mountain.
32 The Cave
Mama’s joy was immense when she saw her little ones again. She was so overcome with emotion. “Oh, my bambini, you are both safe. The pain in my heart was so strong. Saint Lucia answered my prayers. Thank you Jet, and thank you Mr. Eagle for bringing my cubs back to me. Now, let’s be happy. Let’s celebrate. Let’s eat!”
Mama brought out the spaghetti in an enormous terracotta bowl. There was enough to feed an army.
“Come on, eat up, eat up; and be happy”, she kept repeating.
Jet and Sam had never tasted worms as delicious as these.
“Hey, Mama, ya got the recipe for these here worms”, asked Sam, “I’d sure like to cook these for Stud”.
“My dear, I always make my recipes up as I go along, anyway they are top secret”.
Sam could relate to that. He knew how important secrecy could be. He asked if he could have a little more please.
“Of course, eat up, I like my guests to have a healthy appetite”.
After he had finished yet another bowl of spaghetti, he thought it was time to get going.
“You want to go already!”, exclaimed Mama. “But, we’ve only just started eating
. You’ve got to try the fillet of fish”.
“Oh, my God!”, pleaded Sam. “I can’t eat any more”.
“Yes, you can”, argued Mama. “I’m sure you’ve got a little space in the corner of your stomach for Mama’s best fillet of fish. What is it? Don’t you like my cooking?”
“I love your cooking, it’s just that...”
“Then come and eat, and be happy”.
So, Sam had two big helpings of fish, followed by two slices of apple crumble and custard. After that, he explained he really had to be going – his country needed him.
After bidding Sam ‘goodbye’ and thanking him over and over for his help, the bears settled down to doing the dishes. When all the washing up was done, Gatwick went to get a box of chocolates for them to share. Jet was invited to eat chocolates with them and stay; he accepted.
That evening, the bears and Jet talked about their future. They all agreed that living in the cave in Emerald Mountain was far too dangerous for Mama. Also, going up to the secret lake every day was fine while she could still manage it. There would come a day when she’d be too old for that climb. No, they had to go somewhere else. They had to go back to Gatwick Airport. Now, the only problem would be to get Mama down the mountain without being seen by hunters. To go down the mountain in the daytime was impossible; they would spot her. The bears couldn’t go down on foot at night because it was pitch black, they’d get lost. Impossible. Jet said he couldn’t fly Mama down because she was too heavy, his beak would break. The only way was for her to disguise herself and go down by train with the others.
They decided they would leave early next morning and catch the first train down. There were always fewer people around at day break. Gatwick would walk in front of Mama, and Little Sister behind her. Jet would fly around the area and make sure there were no hunters. If there were, he would peck them in the face.
That night they started getting their belongings together. Mama wanted to take her dinner set because it was a wedding present from Bertie’s parents; and she had a lot of memories of the good dinners she’d enjoyed on those plates with Bertie. They packed the pieces of the dinner set, layering them with the money so that they wouldn’t get broken. It was sad for Mama to leave the house she’d shared with Bertie, but she knew he would have wanted her to be safe. He would not want her to live in danger and, anyway, she was now starting a new life with her little ones who brought her so much joy.