The Charlie Moon Collection

by Shirley Hughes

  The Lady Illustrator’s hair had begun to escape rather wildly from her bun. The floor was covered with pictures. Ray leant forward with interest. He would have liked to ask her to draw something for him but he knew it would make Trevor cross. A small stir was created at the back of the room as a horse’s head appeared inquisitively round the door, but Linda hurried over to it.

  “You can’t come in here, you two,” she whispered. “Go back outside at once!”

  “What are they doing in there, anyway?” Charlie wanted to know.

  “Just Ait, that’s all,” said Dodger.

  Now Linda and the Lady Illustrator unrolled a huge piece of paper on the floor. Felt pens were liberally distributed amongst the audience. The Lady Illustrator started to sketch the long shape of a dragon, stretching from head to tail almost the length of the room. Everybody gathered round and began to join in, filling in the details for themselves. There was a great deal of interested chatter.

  “I’m drawing a man with a spear chasing the dragon from behind.”

  “My man’s shooting arrows.”

  “This is lots and lots of smoke coming out of his mouth . . .”

  “And burning flames . . .”

  “I’m doing his big pointed teeth.”

  “Lend us the red a minute, will you?”

  “Hang on, I want it for all the dripping blood.”

  The Lady Illustrator hovered encouragingly, helping the younger ones with a shape here and there. Trevor began to eye the door, shifting restlessly on his cushion. Ray couldn’t resist the temptation to pick up a green felt pen and, hoping that Trevor wasn’t looking, he carefully began to fill in some neat scales on the dragon’s tail.

  “We’ve got to get out of here,” muttered Trevor. “For Pete’s sake, Ray, stop messing about. We’ve probably lost Dix by now, and you’re acting like a mixed infant.”

  Ray reluctantly gave up his pen to the little girl next to him, and he and Trevor edged their way towards the door.

  Charlie and Dodger were patrolling about outside. Dodger caught sight of them as they slipped out of the door into the main hall. The crowds were denser than ever. Children of all ages, Mums, Dads, Grandpas and Aunties milled happily round the stands, browsing and choosing. Before Trevor and Ray could sight the figure of Mr Dix, there was a commotion over by the main entrance. People were gathering, craning over one another’s shoulders. A voice on the loud-speaker announced:

  “Your attention, please, everyone. Duggie Bubbles has just arrived! He’ll be signing your books at the big stand in the centre of the main hall. Don’t miss the Magic Show, which will follow shortly.”

  Charlie tugged at Dodger’s belt.

  “Come on, Dodger. Never mind about those two now. We’ve got to get out of this suit quickly. I want to get my book signed.”

  15 Smile, Please

  The drawing session was over. Willing helpers were clearing up. The Lady Illustrator was being revived with cups of tea. Linda hurried over to welcome Duggie Bubbles and to check for the hundredth time that everything was ready for him on the stand. He was already surrounded by a crowd of children, waving books and bits of paper, and he was signing busily, chatting to reporters from the local paper and flashing porcelain smiles about him, all at the same time.

  “Now don’t push, children. Just make a little space and wait your turn,” said Linda. Organizing a Book Bonanza was even harder work than she had imagined.

  Charlie, freed from his role as back legs, shot up to join the queue, clutching his copy of Magic for Boys and Girls. Dodger, determined not to be left out of anything, followed close behind. The press of people round Duggie Bubbles was growing all the time and, in spite of Linda’s words, there was a certain amount of excited jostling. Charlie found himself being pushed against someone, and nearly fell over for a fifth time with sheer astonishment when he saw who it was: Mr Dix! He turned his dark glasses towards Charlie for a moment, but if he recognized him he had certainly decided to ignore the fact.

  “What’s he doing here?” whispered Dodger from behind. “There seem to be some awfully funny people at this Bonanza.”

  “I don’t know. Perhaps he’s studying to be a magician, like I am,” Charlie whispered back. But he was too busy trying to keep his place in the queue to bother about Mr Dix. He badly wanted to get to Duggie Bubbles and ask him how he did that trick of being tied up in a box and getting out again. He wanted to try it sometime, but he had privately decided not to ask Dodger to be his assistant. Something was bound to go wrong if he did. Mr Dix had somehow managed to push ahead of them. Now he was already thrusting his copy of Magic for Boys and Girls into Duggie Bubbles’ hands. Charlie, not to be outdone, ducked under his outstretched arm.

  “Hold it a minute, Duggie,” said a news photographer. “Let’s have one of you holding up your books and some of the kids . . . you, with the cap, and you . . . would you mind stepping to one side a moment, sir?”

  He pushed Charlie and Dodger into a group with Duggie Bubbles in the centre, holding up two copies of Magic for Boys and Girls, one in either hand.

  “Let’s have a big smile, now!” said the photographer.

  The camera flashed. Mr Dix skulked in the background, his jaw set angrily.

  “Hey, Charlie, we’re going to be in the newspaper!” said Dodger, all agog.

  “About that trick, the one where you get shut in the box,” Charlie began. “Please can you tell me . . .”

  But Duggie Bubbles didn’t seem to be listening. He was still smiling and signing, but his face was half turned towards Mr Dix. They exchanged a few quick words over Charlie’s head. Then the crowd pressed forward impatiently and Charlie’s chance was lost.

  “There were lots of things that I wanted to ask him about, and now I’ll never find out,” Charlie grumbled to Dodger when he found himself pushed out to the edge of the crowd again, with his book under his arm.

  “Typical!” commented a voice from behind them. It was Ariadne of course. She was still wearing her robot suit, but she had propped her banner up against a pillar and was watching events from the side of the hall. “There are some fishy things going on at this Bonanza, Charlie, if you ask me. I’ve been following Mr Dix around for ages but I still can’t make out what he’s doing here. He certainly doesn’t seem much interested in the books.”

  “And we’ve been trying to track two very fishy characters who keep pushing me over,” said Charlie. “Only we’ve lost them now,” he added.

  “Pathetic!” said Ariadne. “Oh, dear. I can’t think what we ought to do now. It’s awfully bad for my brain being inside this robot suit. If only Norman was here.”

  “He is,” said Dodger. “Look, over there.”

  “Thank goodness,” said Ariadne with relief. They all hurried over to where Norman was examining a pop-up book with great interest.

  “Got off early from work,” he told them. “Thought I’d come along and see what’s happening. Where’s Linda?”

  All three children started to talk at once, each telling him something different. But their voices were drowned by another announcement on the loud-speaker:

  “The Duggie Bubbles Magic Show will begin in five minutes on the stage at the end of the main hall. Take your places, please.”

  “Come on, let’s try and get near the stage,” said Charlie, dragging Norman’s arm. “We’ll tell you everything later. I want to watch all the tricks from really close up so I can see how he does it.”

  There was a rush for seats. There weren’t enough for everyone. Charlie nimbly threaded his way through the crowd and just managed to bag a place in the second row. Dodger immediately plumped himself down in the row behind him, but Norman and Ariadne were somehow left behind.

  “Where are they?” said Charlie, craning his neck. “I hope they don’t get left in the standing-room-only.”

  There was a buzz of excitement all about them. Some helpers were setting up the stage for Duggie Bubbles’ act. There was a small table with
a fringed cloth, some screens and a trolley with all sorts of strange objects on it. On either side of the stage there were displays with huge posters of Duggie Bubbles’ larger-than-life-size smiling face and many copies of Magic for Boys and Girls.

  “Let’s see where he’s written his name in your book,” said Dodger, leaning over the back of Charlie’s seat. Charlie opened his copy at the front page.

  “I’ve been fiddled!” he cried furiously. “This isn’t my book! Look, it’s got Duggie’s signature in it all right, but it hasn’t got mine. I wrote it in specially, ‘This Book Belongs to Chas. L. G. Moon’. I’ve got the wrong book!”

  “Well, it looks much better than your old one, anyway,” said Dodger. “Yours had all that marmalade and tomato ketchup spilt on it. Hey, when’s this show going to begin?” He stood up in his seat, trying to catch a glimpse of Duggie Bubbles in the wings.

  “But I don’t want this one,” muttered Charlie indignantly, flicking through the pages. “I liked my old one. What’s this, then?”

  He had come across a loose leaf of paper, concealed between two of the pages. It was just smaller than the size of the book, quite thin, and overlaid with a sheet of tissue paper. Charlie folded it back. A face looked up at him that he knew well, a very pretty face, framed with long curly hair: The Stunner.

  16 Black Magic

  Ariadne had been separated from Norman in the rush for seats. She was trying to make her way among those people who were standing at the side of the hall, to get nearer to the stage, when a burst of applause greeted the appearance of Duggie Bubbles himself. He launched at once into a flow of jokes and patter, at the same time doing some astonishing things with playing-cards, shuffling them with the greatest skill, picking aces out of his ears, his hair, and what seemed like empty air. He followed with a rapid succession of tricks with coloured balls (which appeared from some equally extraordinary places), and tossed a silk cloth over a transistor, which was blaring out military marches at full blast, and threw the whole thing into the air, making the set disappear abruptly and the music with it. Before the audience had finished applauding, he was pouring out all kinds of coloured liquid into glasses and making those disappear too. And never once did he stop smiling and cracking jokes.

  Then came the familiar empty top hat from which he began to pull yards and yards of multi-coloured silk handkerchiefs, paper flowers, strings of sausages, miles of streamers, and, finally, two snow-white live doves. One of them strutted, cooing, across the stage. The other fluttered up to the rail of one of the old theatre boxes and perched there, calmly preening its feathers.

  The audience were all intent on Duggie Bubbles as he started yet another trick. He was keeping them all laughing. But Ariadne was looking up. Behind the curtains of the box she had caught sight of something. A man’s figure was standing there, half hidden in the shadows. When he moved slightly, the glasses gleamed. Mr Dix, like a Demon King waiting in the wings, was staring down at the stage.

  Ariadne tried to attract Norman’s attention. She could see him over the tops of people’s heads, standing next to Linda, but she couldn’t get near them. Every time she tried to wave, her suit made a noise like a binful of old tin cans.

  “I’ve just got to get out of this thing,” said Ariadne to herself. She edged her way over to the exit and set off down the corridor to the small untidy helpers’ room behind the stage.

  Ariadne was not the only person who had seen Mr Dix up there. Trevor and Ray, in a dark corner beside the display of posters, were still hot on his trail.

  “There he is!” whispered Trevor.

  “Where?” said Ray, gazing about him.

  “Shhhh, shhhh!” said all the people round about.

  Trevor was already pushing his way through them towards a side exit.

  “I can’t think why we’re bothering,” said Ray, lowering his voice to a piercing whisper as he struggled behind. “He’s probably flogged that drawing by now.”

  “Would you mind being quiet?” said a lady threateningly.

  Up on the stage Duggie Bubbles was saying, “Now, I’m going to ask a member of the audience to step up here. Don’t be shy, now—any boy or girl—what about you, young man? Would you come up and give me a hand?”

  “He means you,” said Dodger, giving Charlie a shove from behind.

  “What?” said Charlie, startled.

  “That’s right,” said Duggie. “The young man in the red cap. We’ve met before this afternoon, haven’t we? Bring your book with you.”

  Bewildered, and clutching the copy of Magic for Boys and Girls with The Stunner still between the pages, Charlie found himself being helped up the steps and on to the stage. Beaming, Duggie Bubbles was pumping him by the hand.

  “Now, what’s your name? Charlie? This is Charlie, everyone! Give him a big hand now!”

  Charlie smiled foolishly as everybody clapped, but the clapping soon turned to laughter as, when Duggie released his hand, he found himself holding an egg. It seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. He was even more surprised when Duggie pulled another one out of his left ear. And before he could wonder how it got there Duggie said,

  “Would you mind lending me your handkerchief? I’ve got a shocking cold,” and he began to pull one coloured silk handkerchief after another out of Charlie’s back pocket.

  Charlie stood there with the book under his arm, blinking with amazement. Things were happening too quickly. The events of the last few minutes seemed unreal, as though he had truly been bewitched. Only Dodger’s face, open-mouthed, in the audience below, seemed to make sense.

  Mr Dix had shrunk back into the shadows of the box. Quietly he opened the door at the back and slipped out. He paused at the top of the flight of stairs which led down to the corridor below, listening. There seemed to be nobody about. Everyone was watching the show. Gales of laughter came from the hall as Duggie Bubbles pulled more and more extraordinary things out of Charlie’s pockets. Suddenly Mr Dix heard footsteps running along the corridor and up the stairs towards him. As they drew nearer he heard a voice saying,

  “I think I ought to go home, Trevor. Sitting on that floor hasn’t done my back any good, you know—”

  Trevor and Ray came round the turn in the stairs and they all met face to face. Mr Dix recognized them both instantly. He towered above them, dark with rage.

  “You! Following me about, are you? Spying on me, eh? Tried to break into my barge last night, didn’t you? Well, I’m going to settle you two, once and for all!”

  But Trevor and Ray had already turned in their tracks like lightning and were scrambling back down the stairs the way they had come. With Mr Dix after them, they swerved into the corridor and tore off towards the helpers’ room at the other end. Ariadne was just coming out. They cannoned into each other head on.

  “Quick, Ray!” gasped Trevor, pushing her roughly out of the way. He wrenched open a small door on his right and both men tumbled down the dark flight of steps which led into the space under the stage. Ariadne flattened herself against the wall as Mr Dix rushed past in hot pursuit. He disappeared after them like an angry ferret down a rabbit-hole.

  Ariadne tip-toed to the door and peered after them into the darkness below. The sounds of a struggle had broken out. She could hear them scuffling and blundering about.

  “Typical!” she commented under her breath.

  Meanwhile, on the stage above, Duggie Bubbles had taken the book from under Charlie’s arm and was holding it up to the audience.

  “Here it is, folks: Magic for Boys and Girls! All the secrets of wizardry and illusion! Let me show you . . .”

  Before Charlie could stop him, he began to turn the pages. As he did so clouds of confetti flew out and drifted like snow across the stage.

  “There’s plenty of good card tricks in here,” said Duggie, as, from another opening, he drew out four aces, “but you have to be very careful about taking this magic book up to bed with you at night, you know, Charlie, very, very careful indeed.”<
br />
  Out of the book came a folded piece of paper. Duggie shook it open. It was not, as Charlie had expected, The Stunner, but a huge concertina of black tissue paper on which was painted a grinning skeleton with gangling arms and legs.

  The thumps and bumps that were going on under the stage were drowned in applause as Duggie handed the book back to Charlie, and he made his way back to his seat.

  “How on earth did he do it?” said Dodger, awestruck. “I was watching him all the time and I never saw him put all those things in between the pages.”

  But Charlie didn’t answer. He was searching through the book, page by page. Suddenly he leapt to his feet with a wild shout, as though he’d been scalded. The Stunner had disappeared!

  “Sit down! We can’t see!” chorused the children in the row behind.

  But Charlie wouldn’t sit down. This was all just too much. He felt as though he was going to burst. Scarlet in the face, he stormed back up the steps and on to the stage, stopping Duggie Bubbles dead in mid-patter.

  “The drawing! Where’s that drawing?” shouted Charlie. He was so furious he felt like a giant. The very boards seemed to be trembling under his feet. The audience, thinking that this was all part of the show, clapped him good-humouredly.

  The commotion under the stage was getting louder. The boards were trembling all right, as Trevor and Ray crashed about in the dark beneath, grappling grimly with Mr Dix. Just then Ray struck out with a wild swinging blow, missed, and fell flat on his face, bringing Mr Dix down with him. Trevor staggered against them, clutching at a wooden lever for support. It gave way. There was a strange clanking noise and a groaning of old boards. A trap-door in the stage above swung open, and Duggie Bubbles disappeared abruptly from view. Charlie found himself alone on the stage, staring down at a heap of wildly waving arms and legs in the pit which had opened at his feet.

  17 A Game of Grandmother’s Footsteps

  The audience loved it. They clapped loudly. It seemed like the perfect ending to a Magic Show for the Magician himself to disappear. This was even better than television.