by Alex Milway
‘They’ll have Mr Sweet,’ said Suzi with a smile.
Mrs Toadly surveyed the ballroom with her enormous smile back on her face. ‘Just look around you,’ she said. ‘I would say this is a huge crowd to perform to!’
‘Good grief, you’re right!’ said Anna. ‘What say you-all? How about being the first act to play in the Hotel Flamingo ballroom?’
Suzi punched the air. ‘Dude, you’re on!’
19
The Ballroom Blitz
The band played all their greatest hits, watched by the whole of Animal Boulevard. All of Hotel Flamingo’s guests and staff were present. Mr and Mrs Kunkworth bopped and jived, Lemmy pogoed up and down, and even Mrs Turpington joined in – although her moves were a little more graceful than Lemmy’s. The ballroom was rocking and rolling, literally.
‘I wonder if this is breaking health and safety rules?’ asked T. Bear as the floor bounced up and down beneath him.
‘No one will forget this gig or our hotel,’ said Anna happily. ‘And that’s the most important thing. Something good will come out of this day!’
As the band finished, after three encores at Lemmy’s insistence, the party threatened to get going once more. The storm had finally passed, and as word got down to the ballroom that the outside was safe once more, Mac Macaw attempted to reboot the conga.
‘Miss,’ asked T. Bear, ‘I know this has been fun, but we really should ask everyone to leave now.’
‘I think you’re right,’ said Anna.
She walked over to the band and took the microphone from Suzi Suzi. ‘Thank you for coming!’ she said, her words echoing around the ballroom. ‘But now the storm’s over, if you’d please take your things and leave quietly so as not to disturb our guests …’
‘We are your guests!’ cheered the parrots, and they started dancing again, as did everyone else.
Anna tried speaking but her words were drowned out by the stomping. ‘Can we turn it up more?’Anna asked the band.
‘Sure, dude,’ said Suzi, turning up the speaker. ‘Let’s kick it up to the max!’
Anna raised the microphone to her mouth. ‘This concert is –’
A deafening POP blew out of the speaker and a wisp of smoke lifted into the air.
The revellers were stunned into silence. Then Anna noticed Mr and Mrs Kunkworth scurrying away up the staircase to the lobby. Anna had an inkling of what was about to happen. Despite her ears hurting, she smiled.
A foul stench filled the room and it emptied faster than the sea after a shark sighting.
‘That’s one way to do it, miss,’ said T. Bear, holding his nose.
•
Anna watched over the lobby that night as The Nocturnal Animals readied to leave. She was surprised to see Wilbur helping them gather their equipment.
‘Hello, Wilbur,’ she said happily.
‘Evening, miss,’ he said. ‘You’ll never guess what?’
‘What?’
‘I’ve got myself a job,’ said Wilbur. ‘Seems like I’m one of the band now.’
‘You are?’ said Anna. ‘That’s brilliant.’
‘It’s just like what I did in the army,’ he said. ‘I can carry their gear and get them to gigs and stuff. All thanks to you giving me a chance.’
‘That’s Hotel Flamingo for you,’ said Anna, smiling.
‘It is, miss,’ he said.
‘Dude, this is the coolest hotel in the world,’ said Suzi as she appeared alongside Lemmy with a marker pen in her hand.
Anna noticed that the band had autographed Lemmy’s long tail.
‘I’m never washing it off!’ he said, all starry-eyed.
Kool Bananas sloped into the lobby and drummed along the front desk before dinging the bell with a flourish. He twirled his sticks before landing them in T. Bear’s paws.
‘This place rocks,’ he said. ‘Keep the beat alive, bear.’
‘These are for me?’ said T. Bear as the bushbaby wandered off.
The drumsticks were too small for a bear’s paws, but they were the best present T. Bear had ever been given.
‘You bet,’ said Kool. ‘Never stop banging that drum.’
‘I won’t,’ said T. Bear.
Anji Wax ran to Anna and hugged her so tightly that she thought her head might pop.
‘Love this place,’ said Anji tearfully.
‘You do?’ said Anna with surprise.
‘Wombats are supposed to fear nothing,’ said Anji, ‘but Mr Sweet – I didn’t like him.’
The wombat’s grip was making it hard for Anna to breathe. ‘He wasn’t very nice,’ croaked Anna.
‘But seeing you stand up to him …’ said Anji, ‘it taught me a lot. I’ll never forget this place.’
Anji’s paws loosened round Anna. She squeezed Anna’s hand one last time and headed to the door.
Once the band and Wilbur had driven off into the night, Anna couldn’t believe how quiet it was, nor how tired she was.
‘Same again next year?’ said Lemmy.
Anna sat down in a chair and slumped backwards. ‘You bet,’ she said, smiling.
A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
Writing a story about an animal hotel is a dream come true for me. I love learning about animals (my favourites are lemurs!) and I love drawing them, but I particularly love customer service.
So, as much as I’d like to stay at Hotel Flamingo and eat Madame Le Pig’s amazing food, I would actually really like to work there. Yes, you heard right. Tidying the place up, planning and cooking meals, booking shows, making people happy … oh, that would be better than anything!
First published in Great Britain in 2019 by
PICCADILLY PRESS
80–81 Wimpole St, London W1G 9RE
www.piccadillypress.co.uk
Text and illustrations copyright © Alex Milway, 2019
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
The right of Alex Milway to be identified as author and illustrator of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978-1-84812-808-8
Piccadilly Press is an imprint of Bonnier Zaffre Ltd,
part of Bonnier Books UK
www.bonnierbooks.co.uk