by Johnson Pete
‘Yes, thank you,’ he replied. He turned to the person he'd brought with him. Our school nurse. Then he looked at Mrs Davis again.
‘Er, Mrs Davis, would you mind standing up for a moment, please?’
‘Standing up. Well, yes, all right,’ Mrs Davis murmured, looking more than a little puzzled. She got to her feet and stared back at him. She was the same height as him again.
He staggered back. ‘But you're…’
‘Yes, Mr Catton?’
Both the school nurse and Mrs Davis were looking questioningly at him now.
‘You're…’ he said again. Then he muttered, ‘I'm working too hard, that's what it is. I need a holiday,’ and he rushed out of the door with the school nurse close behind him.
Brave Bill grinned. ‘Now, that bit of the lesson I did enjoy.’
All the class were staring at Brave Bill and whispering, ‘He must be the real one. He must.’
Suddenly Brave Bill called out, ‘All right, ma‘am, if I go and explore for a little bit?’
Mrs Davis, who was still looking a little confused, murmured, ‘Yes, I suppose so.’
Brave Bill winked at Reema and me. ‘See you later, landlubbers.’ Then he bounced off.
Reema whispered, ‘I'm glad he turned Mrs Davis back.’
‘So am I.’
‘He's got quite a bad temper, hasn't he?’
‘I suppose so,’ I agreed. ‘He's still brilliant though, isn't he?’
‘Oh yes,’ she said quickly.
‘But it's more trouble than I thought, taking a magic pirate into school. I wonder what's he's doing now?’
The minutes ticked by and Brave Bill still hadn't come back. Our school was quite small. He must have explored it all by now. So where was he?
Maybe the magic had worn off and he'd just disappeared.
That would be awful.
‘Excuse me, Mrs Davis,’ I called. ‘May I go and check my friend William's all right – and hasn't got lost.’
She looked up. ‘Well, be very quick now.’
I raced out of the classroom.
7. Thief in the School
Usually, when you're away from a lesson, the caretaker springs out at you, yelling fiercely, ‘And what are you doing?’ Then he pushes his head very close to yours. And you can even smell his breath. (It always smells of coffee.)
His name is Mr Tyrell. But we call him Mr Terror, because he's always cross and in a bad mood.
But today he was nowhere to be seen. And neither was Brave Bill.
I walked up and down the empty corridors. ‘Brave Bill,’ I hissed, ‘are you hiding? You haven't gone, have you?’
And then, through the glass, I spotted him on the back field. I ran out.
He saw me and waved. ‘Ahoy there.’
‘I was getting worried,’ I said. ‘I thought the magic might have worn out.’
‘Oh no. I've just been having a good look around.’ But there was a strange expression on his face and I sensed he had been up to something.
We went back to the classroom.
Every five minutes Brave Bill would hiss in my ear, ‘Is it time to eat our rations yet?’
And when morning lessons finally ended he was off like a hare to the dining hall. Reema and I have a packed lunch, so we sat at the packed-lunch table with Brave Bill. Aunt Nora had put in some extra jam sandwiches and fruit and chocolate for Brave Bill, all of which he wolfed down. Then he started looking longingly at the contents of Reema's lunch box. So of course she shared some of her food with him too.
All around us there was a lot of whispering about Brave Bill and his magic eye. But no one came up to us. I think they were all too scared.
A boy called Adam walked past our table. He's younger than Reema and me, but he usually eats his packed lunch with us. Today he looked very upset.
‘What's wrong?’ Reema asked.
‘My mobile phone,’ he exclaimed. ‘At break time it was in my locker, but now it's vanished.’
‘We'll help you look for it,’ I said.
Reema and I searched all round the school. But Adam was right. It had vanished. It was a really good one too, all in silver.
And Adam's mobile phone wasn't the only thing to disappear out of the lockers. A girl's gold chain had gone. And some people's keys had gone missing too.
Soon everyone was looking for Mr Terror. Surely he must have seen who the thief was, he was always patrolling the corridors. But no one could find him either.
‘Maybe Mr Terror has stolen all those things and run away with them,’ Reema said.
She was joking, of course. But somebody must have robbed all those lockers. Then I had a really horrible thought: it wasn't Brave Bill, was it? He had been roaming about by himself for a long time. No, he would never do that, would he?
A crowd of pupils gathered round Reema, Brave Bill and me in the playground. There was a lot of murmuring and people kept giving Brave Bill suspicious glances. Then someone yelled, ‘Brave Bill is a thief.’
Immediately he whirled around. ‘Say that again and I'll make you walk the plank.’
At once everyone shrank back. It was Russell who'd called out. But he was too scared to own up. I watched him edging towards the back.
I turned to Brave Bill. I was very keen to defend his good name. Just tell everyone that you didn't take their belongings.’
‘I can't do that.’
‘Why not?’
Smirking now, Brave Bill replied, ‘Because I did take them.’
There were gasps all around me. And I had this nasty, sinking feeling in my stomach.
‘You didn't really,’ Reema cried.
‘Yes I did,’ he said. ‘I've got every one of those things.’
‘But why?’ I asked.
‘Because I'm a pirate, and that's what pirates do. All those gold and shiny things belong to me now. It's my booty.’
A few people hissed him, but very quietly. Adam looked as if he was about to burst into tears. So did the girl whose gold chain had been stolen.
‘Oh Brave Bill, you can't take their stuff. That's not fair,’ I said. ‘Give it back.’
Brave Bill gave me a furious glare. ‘Be silent, you miserable slug.’ Then he tapped his eyepatch. ‘Or else.’
Reema whispered, ‘Don't say any more, Jamie.’
And I could see Brave Bill becoming angrier and angrier. But I was furious too. I felt he had really let me down.
I was very scared too. In fact, I was petrified. But I swallowed down my fear, gulped twice and said, ‘Brave Bill, you must give everyone back their things.’
‘What did you say?’ His face was the colour of a beetroot now.
A breathless silence fell on everyone.
‘No one should steal other people's belongings, not even you,’ I said in a shaky voice. ‘And I'm telling you to give them back now.’
‘I take orders from no one,’ Brave Bill snapped. And then his hand swung up to his eyepatch.
Everyone, except Reema, stepped back two paces.
I stood there, trembling all over.
Any moment now I was about to start shrinking.
8. Treasure Map
I closed my eyes and waited for the worst to happen. I was pretty small already but in a moment I'd be half my normal size. Or maybe less than that. Someone let out a yell. I shut my eyes even tighter.
Then I heard a voice call my name. It sounded just like Reema. I opened my eyes. It was Reema. And she was smiling at me. There was no sign of Brave Bill either.
‘He just walked off,’ she whispered.
I let out a great sigh of relief.
‘And he threw this piece of paper on to the ground,’ Reema went on. ‘It's got your name on it.’
I unfolded the paper. At the top of the page was a picture of a skull and crossbones and two words:
TREASURE MAP
The map showed the back field. Now, behind this field is a wood. We weren't supposed to go into this wood, not ever. And there was
a large wire fence separating our field from it. But there was
a gap in the fence. And Brave Bill had marked this gap on the map. After which he'd written in huge letters:
‘TO FIND THE TREASURE: WALK SEVEN PACES THEN TURN TWO PACES TO YOUR RIGHT.’
‘This might be a trap,’ Reema said.
‘Maybe, but I'll have to go and see.’
‘If any teachers catch you in the wood, they'll go mad,’ she warned.
‘I'll be all right.’
‘You will if I act as lookout,’ she replied.
We rushed off. A few people from my class, including Russell and Elliot, followed us. But no one got too close. I think they were afraid Brave Bill was lurking near by.
The gap in the fence was pretty small. But then, so am I. So I scrambled through it easily enough. After which I counted out seven paces, then took two more paces to the right and looked up. A massive oak tree loomed in front of me. At the bottom of the tree was a mound of sticks and leaves. This must be where Brave Bill had buried his booty.
I crouched down and started digging under the leaves with my ruler.
‘Stay still,’ Reema hissed. ‘Mrs Davis is coming.’
I froze – and waited.
‘It's all right,’ whispered Reema a few moments later. ‘She's gone again. She was looking for Mr Terror. Have you found anything yet?’
‘Not yet.’ I carried on digging. Then I cried, ‘Result!’
‘What have you found?’ Reema asked.
‘One gold chain.’ Then I dug up Adam's mobile phone. Soon I'd retrieved all the stolen goods.
Reema and I carried them proudly back to school. Adam was so pleased to have the mobile phone back he slapped me on the back, while the girl whose gold chain had been stolen gave me a kiss.
‘There was no need to do that,’ Reema sniffed.
Russell and Elliot stood watching all this. Then Russell said to me, ‘You did pretty well. Even though it was your fault all those things got stolen.’
‘It wasn't Jamie's fault,’ Reema said at once.
‘Yes it was,’ Russell argued. ‘After all, if the Shrimp hadn't brought Brave Bill into school, none of this would have happened. Still, well done, Shrimp.’
‘And stop calling me the Shrimp.’ I said this so loudly Russell and Elliot jumped back from me. ‘I don't like it.’
‘No, fair enough,’ Elliot said. ‘See you then, Jamie.’ And he and Russell ran off.
‘I'd like to say “well done” too,’ Reema said. ‘The way you stood up to Brave Bill like that, I was very proud of you.’
I hoped I wasn't turning bright red. ‘But inside I was very scared,’ I admitted.
‘That just makes you even braver. After all, you didn't have a magic eye to help you, did you?’ Then she added, ‘I don't like Brave Bill any more.’
‘Why not?’
‘I think he's a bit creepy. And I wish I hadn't given him three of my sandwiches.’
Suddenly a thought struck me. ‘Don't you think it's a bit strange no one's seen Mr Terror all lunchtime? Hadn't we better go to his office and check Brave Bill didn't… Well, shall we just see?’
We knocked nervously on the door of Mr Terror's office.
‘There's no answer,’ Reema whispered.
I opened the door slowly. ‘Mr Tyrell,’ I called. Then I thought I heard something. ‘Listen.’
‘I can't hear anything,’ Reema murmured.
But I did – a tiny, squeaking sound. ‘I think Mr Terror is here. Only very much smaller than usual.’
‘Oh no,’ Reema gasped. ‘Well, we must find him.’
We searched around Mr Terror's office. There was a table and a chair in there, a noticeboard with a rota in big letters at the top, and a line of hooks with keys on them. There was also a large cupboard which was locked. And in the corner was a sink.
Suddenly, Reema let out a cry. ‘Look.’ In the sink was a jam jar. And inside the jam jar was Mr Terror. He was banging against the glass and looking very angry. He was trying to speak too. But all he could do was give off these high-pitched squeaks.
It was so weird to see Mr Terror, no bigger than my finger now, but still wearing his brown overall.
‘It's good how, when people shrink, their clothes shrink too, isn't it?’ I whispered to Reema.
She nodded, then added, ‘I don't think
Mr Terror is too impressed though.’
And he went on banging against the glass.
I put my face down to the jar. Just relax, Mr Tyrell. We'll have you back to your normal size soon.’
‘Will we?’ Reema asked,
‘I don't know. I was only trying to cheer him up. I wonder where Brave Bill's gone.’
At that moment the door creaked open, and there was Brave Bill. He saw Mr Terror in the jam jar and laughed.
‘Why did you put Mr Terror in there?’ Reema demanded.
‘Because he's a right misery-bucket,’ Brave Bill replied. ‘And he made me angry.’
‘Everyone makes you angry,’ Reema murmured.
‘Will you turn him back?’ I asked Brave Bill.
‘I suppose so,’ he said reluctantly. ‘Tip him out of the jam jar.’
I unscrewed the lid and carefully shook Mr Terror on to my fairly clean handkerchief.
‘Stroke his head,’ Reema suggested. ‘He's probably feeling a bit scared.’
I moved my hand near him. Mr Terror promptly shook a tiny fist up at me.
‘He's not very friendly, is he?’ Reema muttered.
‘Put him on the ground and I'll turn him back,’ Brave Bill said.
So I lowered Mr Terror down on to my handkerchief, then hissed, ‘Cheer up, won't be long now.’
Mr Terror raised two tiny fists at me this time.
But then, in the blink of an eye, he grew back to my size. And in another blink, he was his usual height again.
He scowled at the three of us. ‘What are you all doing in my office? I never said you could come in here.’
I couldn't think what to say. ‘Well, er, Mr Terror…’
‘How dare you call me that! My name is Mr Tyrell, as you very well know.’ And both his chins wobbled furiously.
‘I'm very sorry,’ I began.
‘And who dropped this dirty handkerchief?’ he demanded.
‘Er, I think that's mine, actually,’ I said.
He hurled it at me, and the three of us made a hasty exit.
‘He wasn't at all grateful to us for turning him back,’ said Reema.
‘We should have left him in the jam jar,’ said Brave Bill. ‘Anyway, I'm going now. I've had enough of school.’
‘Bye then,’ Reema called. ‘Hope I never see you again,’ she added, under her breath.
‘See you, Brave Bill,’ I said. But he was already walking away. I stared after him.
Reema gave my arm a squeeze. ‘Come on, let's forget him.’
When I walked into the classroom all the pupils clapped and cheered me, as if I were a famous footballer. They went on clapping. Just about everyone knew how I'd stood up to Brave Bill.
But I felt really flat and let down. Brave Bill was my all-time favourite character. And we'd got on so well at first. But we'd parted on very bad terms. And I'd probably never see him again.
During the afternoon someone said
they'd seen Brave Bill hanging around outside. I rushed to the window but I couldn't spot him.
I walked home with Reema as usual. She tried to cheer me up and said she'd pop round later.
I rang the doorbell. Aunt Nora opened the door and smiled at me. She seemed especially happy this afternoon. I wondered if Harry had come back. No doubt he'd have lots of tales about his day as a pirate.
I followed Aunt Nora into the kitchen. And there, sitting at the table, eating yet another enormous meal, was Brave Bill.
9. Message in a Milk Bottle
Brave Bill had taken his hat off and was really tucking into the meal Aunt Nora had prepared.
&n
bsp; ‘He said he was still hungry,’ Aunt Nora explained.
Beside him was a huge pile of sandwiches. ‘My shipmates are going to love these,’ he said, nodding at them.
‘I made forty-three. So no one's left out,’ Aunt Nora said.
Brave Bill gave a happy sigh. ‘A delicious meal, ma‘am. Thanks again.’ Then he looked at me. ‘I suppose I'd better get back to my story.’
‘Oh, must you go?’ Aunt Nora cried.
‘The sea's calling me back,’ Brave Bill replied.
‘Well, have a safe journey,’ Aunt Nora said. ‘And I hope we see you again.’
‘Yes, I'd like to drop anchor here again one day,’ Brave Bill said.
He and I walked up the stairs in silence. I was still cross with him, yet I didn't want him to go either. I was all mixed up and didn't know what to say.
I went to the bathroom, splashed water on the cape and brought it back to my bedroom. Brave Bill was standing there, the box of sandwiches under his arm.
Still neither of us spoke.
Then I mumbled to the cape, ‘Number Seven, please take Brave Bill back to his story.’
I looked up at him. ‘The magic's a bit creaky, so you might have to wait a few minutes.’
To my surprise Brave Bill smiled right at me.
‘So where did you go after you left Reema and me?’ I asked.
‘Oh, I hung around at your school for a
while,’ he replied.
‘Someone said they saw you.’
‘Well, there was something I wanted to see.’
‘What was that?’ I asked.
‘You being cheered when you walked into your classroom. It made me very happy to see that.’ And his eyes suddenly lit up.
Now I was confused. ‘Why did that make you happy?’
‘Because you're much braver than you thought. But it took Brave Bill to show you, didn't it?’ He was grinning from ear to ear now.
‘What do you mean…’ I began.
Then in a flash I realized the truth.
‘All those things you took – you didn't really want any of them, did you?’ I cried.
‘Of course I didn't. We've got a secret island full of treasure.’