It was Miss Yorktown, head keeper of Wallington Zoo and project manager of the animal repatriation programme.
Emily grinned from ear to ear! Blushing slightly, she waved to her old friend. Emily and Miss Yorktown had met before when there had been a major incident at the zoo; Emily had helped Miss Yorktown on that occasion and they had been great friends ever since. Emily thought that one day, when she grew up, she would work at the zoo with Miss Yorktown - but right now, the best she could do was to try to help raise funds for the zoo’s repatriation programme.
‘Sorry I’m late Emily!’ called Miss Yorktown, ‘I’ve only just finished cleaning out the elephant house, pwhoo! What a mess!’
The audience around Miss Yorktown shifted a few seats, holding their noses.
Larry Cheeseman flashed a smile at the camera and declared, ‘ON WITH THE SHOW!’ The audience broke into a sea of clapping and cheering as the show moved on to round one.
- Nobbled! -
Emily sat at the podium waiting for the first question. The studio lights blazed down, blocking out the audience in front. To her left she could just make out the snooty boy through the corner of her eye, sitting cat-like, ready to spring at the green buzzer in front. To her right she could hear the big boy wheezing and rubbing his hands together.
Emily concentrated, focusing on Larry’s voice and the green buzzer on the podium in front of her.
Larry Cheeseman read out the first question, ‘What is the capital city of Portugal?’
Emily thought she knew the answer; her hand flew to the buzzer but… too late! The snooty boy got there first. ‘Lisbon,’ said the boy. ‘Everyone knows that!’ he scoffed.
The next question came quickly, ‘Which planet has a great red spot on it?’
Jupiter! This time Emily knew the answer for sure. She lunged at the buzzer, but… too slow again; the snooty boy threw her a sneer as he answered the question correctly.
The quiz was proving tougher than Emily had imagined. She tried to refocus and concentrate on the next question.
Larry read the third question, ‘Which team won the FA Cup in 1998?’
Football! Of all the questions they could have asked, it had to be about football. Emily sighed as Ned, the boy with orange hair, nearly knocked over his podium in his eagerness to hit the buzzer.
‘It was the Arsenal weren’t it – two-nil against Newcastle United,’ wheezed Ned.
Mr and Mrs Pilcher clasped hands, ‘Come on Emily!’ shouted Mum. Emily concentrated - she had to answer a question.
‘In which country would you find the “Valley of the Kings?”’ asked Larry.
Emily hit the buzzer so hard it nearly cracked!
‘Egypt!’ she cried with relief – at last, she had scored a point!
On it went; at the end of the round the snooty boy led with four points; Emily was in second place with three and Ned trailed behind with two points.
Just before the next round got under way, Mr and Mrs Pilcher noticed a scuffle at the side of the stage. The huge man, with orange hair and the very scrunched up face, had the game show’s producer up against a wall by his collar and was waving his fist and making furious demands in the poor producer’s ear!
As round two got under way, it became clear that the bullying had had a result…
Larry Cheeseman read out the first question of round two, ‘In what year did Brazil win the world cup for the third time?’
Without a moment’s hesitation Ned, the boy with orange hair, threw his arm out to the buzzer. ‘1983!’ he answered.
‘Correct!’ confirmed Larry, ‘Which team won the European cup in 1989?’ Again the boy hit the buzzer. ‘Liverpool F.C,’ he said, answering correctly.
The snooty boy looked a bit uncomfortable as Emily concentrated hard, hoping the next question would be about anything but football!
The questions came, thick and fast, all of them about football! On it went until Larry Cheeseman began to read out the twelfth and final question of the round. Emily and the snooty boy had not answered a single question. Ned had eleven questions correct out of the twelve so far and was looking very smug.
Larry Cheeseman read out the last question. ‘Which football player used his hand to score the winning goal for Argentina, during the semi-finals of the World Cup in 1984, notoriously describing it as “The hand of God”?’
‘CHEAT!’
‘I need his name please,’ said Larry looking up. However, Ned and the other contestants were staring towards the edge of the studio.
Miss Yorktown clambered up on to the stage, waving her arms wildly. ‘Cheat! Fix!’ she screamed. ‘I have never, in all my life seen such a despicable show of rigged questions and answers!’
She strode over menacingly towards Larry, who had lost his cheesy grin and backed away urgently!
The studio producer ran on to the stage holding his hands up apologetically, only just managing to get between Miss Yorktown and the cowering Larry Cheeseman in time.
‘Madam, I am the show’s producer and I can assure you that all of the questions that we use are selected quite randomly to test a broad range of general knowledge in the contestants. Sometimes, quite by chance, we do get a run of questions on similar topics - but I must stress that they are quite by chance!’
The producer was shaking visibly and glanced meekly at Ned’s father sitting in the front row.
‘Chance? How dare you insult me!’ screamed Miss Yorktown, who towered over the quivering producer. ‘Twelve questions, one after the other, all about football! There’s only one person answering these questions, one person only!’
Miss Yorktown shot Ned a menacing glare. Ned quivered and slunk behind his podium.
‘This show’s been nobbled!’ screamed Miss Yorktown.
The audience gasped - Ned’s father jumped up on to the stage entering the melee. A great argument broke out with pushing, shoving and accusations flying left and right. Larry Cheeseman fled the stage and locked himself in his dressing room. It was left to the fearful producer to try to keep order.
Fearing the raging Miss Yorktown much more than the big bully, the studio producer disqualified Ned and had security eject both him and his father from the studio.
At last the show could continue. With only two contestants remaining, it was to be a head-to-head between the snooty boy, who had been cowering behind his podium during the fracas, and Emily, who had watched open-mouthed as Miss Yorktown had challenged the show’s producer.
Miss Yorktown shot Emily a wink as she took the departed bully’s seat alongside an open-mouthed Mr and Mrs Pilcher. ‘Well that’s got that sorted out!’ she said, as she sat down.
The producer disappeared out of sight, nerves shot, as Larry Cheeseman began the final round.
- Head to Head! -
There would be no buzzer this time. Each contestant would be asked five questions and the one who got the most correct answers would win the grand prize.
The audience hushed as Larry Cheeseman began the round by asking Emily the first question…
‘Emily, what is the largest country in South America?’
Emily thought carefully before answering. She vaguely remembered reading this one on a slip of paper from inside a Christmas cracker. ‘Is it Brazil?’ she said, nervously.
‘That is correct!’ said Larry. Emily breathed a sigh of relief.
Larry read out the next question to the snooty boy.
‘Oliver, what name is given to the small hammer used by an auctioneer?’
The boy paused and thought deeply. Finally, after a while, he answered: ‘A gavel.’
‘Correct!’ said Larry.
The score was 1: 1 with three questions left for each contestant.
Emily got her next question right as did the boy and before long the scores stood at four each and Emily faced her final question.
The tension was unbearable, not helped by the fact that the boy tried to put Emily off by whispering nasty things like, ‘You’ve got
no chance,’ and ‘that prize money is mine!’
Emily tried not to listen to the horrible boy and concentrated on her question. She had to get this one right.
‘Emily, which is larger; the Black Sea, or the Red Sea?’ asked Larry.
This was tough, Emily did not know the answer - it would have to be a guess…
‘Is it the Red Sea?’ she answered.
‘Sorry Emily, that’s the wrong answer,’ said Larry. ‘it is in fact the Black Sea.’
Emily’s heart sank as the snooty boy laughed out loud. She so desperately wanted to win; for the sake of the animals cooped up in the zoo. ‘Wouldn’t it be so much better if they were released back into the wild, back to their natural habitat?’ she thought.
Larry faced the laughing boy and read out the last question of the round. Emily knew that if he got this one right, it would be all over.
‘Oliver,’ said Larry. ‘What is “acrophobia” a fear of?’
The boy answered straight away.
‘A fear of open spaces or going outdoors,’ he said with a huge grin on his face. ‘That’s what she’s going to have after this embarrassment!’ said the boy with venomous glee, thumbing towards Emily.
Tears welled in Emily’s eyes; she had tried her best, but…
‘Wrong!’ cried
Emily Pilcher and the Golden Eye (The Adventures of Emily Pilcher Book 2) Page 2