Casper Candlewacks in the Claws of Crime!. Ivan Brett
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Название: Casper Candlewacks in the Claws of Crime!
Автор: Ivan Brett
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Детская проза
isbn: 9780007411580
isbn:
KABOOM! Another egg-splosion rocked the garage, exuding a cloud of stinking yellow smoke that insulted Casper’s nostrils and sent Mavis and Bessie squawking back into their coop and slamming the door.
“Hello,” a mystery voice said.
Casper shrieked and whisked round, but the egg smog was thick and he couldn’t see a thing. “Who’s that?”
“My name’s Daisy,” the voice said. “Pleased to meet you.”
As the fug settled, Casper began to make out the shape of a girl, about his height, standing at the entrance to the garage. She had brown curly hair, big green eyes and the most beautiful smile Casper had ever seen. She wore a flowery green frock with a ribbon in the middle.
Mavis and Bessie poked their beaks out of the coop and clucked jealously at the intruder.
“What on earth are you doing?” The girl called Daisy looked round at the eggy mess of a garage and then pulled a face at Casper.
“We… uh…”
Lamp’s mouth was hanging open. He wiped the egg from his eyes and blinked. Then he shook his head and wiped his eyes again, but that just spread the egg back on. “Casper,” he whispered, “is she real?”
Casper jabbed an elbow into Lamp’s side. “I’m Casper,” he said to the visitor, “and he’s Lamp.”
“Did we make her?” Lamp eyed the lie detector with a face of complete bemusement and twiddled a knob on the side. “It’s not s’posed to do that,” he mumbled.
Daisy chuckled. “We only moved in a couple of weeks ago. I live down the road.” She trotted into the garage and picked up a clipboard, upon which Lamp had drawn a diagram of an egg, with labels pointing to its brain, spleen and vocal cords. Then she spotted the lie detector. Inside a large steel saucepan sat the engine from a leaf-blower, grumbling busily, turning oily cogs and rusty axles, all set round a small china dish in the middle to hold the egg. A trigger had been welded to the handle, and an antenna with a green golf visor poked out above the pan, rotating and beeping mechanically. “What’s that?”
“Do you like it?” asked Lamp, blushing.
“Well, I…”
“You can have it if you want.” He picked it up and handed it to Daisy.
“I don’t really…”
“Come on, Lamp,” said Casper. “Put it down.”
Lamp sniffed and plonked the pan back on the table.
By now the hens had emerged and were pecking at Daisy’s ankles.
“It’s a lie detector,” said Casper. “Lamp’s an inventor.”
Lamp grinned at Daisy. “An inventor means you invent things.” He pointed at his watch, which was made of chocolate. (It tells you when it’s time to eat it.)
“Does it work?” asked Daisy, motioning to the lie detector.
“Sort of,” said Casper. He remembered that he was covered in egg and blushed.
A female voice floated in from outside. “Daisy, darling?”
“That’s my mum,” said Daisy. Then she called, “Mum, in here. I’ve made some friends.”
Round the corner swept a tall, glamorous woman with the same curly brown hair and bright green eyes, wearing a flowing blue dress and a floral brooch. She flashed a ravishing smile, the sort of smile that would melt the heart of even the frostiest snowman.
Lamp fell over.
“Hello,” she said. Her voice was cool and refreshing. “I’m Lavender. Lavender Blossom.” She reached out her hand, which Casper shook despite the egginess of his own. “You’ve met my daughter Daisy.”
“H-hello,” Casper stammered. They’d never allowed females in the garage, let alone beautiful ones, and this was exactly why. What were you supposed to do with them? He thought about offering his guests a seat or a cup of tea, but the garage didn’t have either. Lamp, crimson-cheeked and breathless, took one more look at the visitors and then scrabbled away on all fours to the back of the garage to tinker about with a driveshaft.
“Do you want some help?” asked Daisy. “I’m good at—”
“Now, now, Daisy,” Lavender interrupted. “We don’t want to interfere.” She placed her hand on Daisy’s shoulder and smiled gently at Casper.
“So… um… what brings you to Corne-on-the-Kobb?” said Casper, relieved to have thought of something to say.
“We own the flower shop,” Daisy chirped.
“Flower shop?” Casper laughed.
“Yeah.”
Lavender looked ruffled. “We opened two weeks ago.”
“Really? In Corne-on-the-Kobb?”
Lavender reached into her dress pocket, pulled out a little flowery business card and handed it to Casper. It read:
Blossom’s Bloomers
‘They’re Heaven-Scent.’
Visit us on the corner of the village square, next to the sweet shop.
Casper nodded and stuffed the business card into his pocket. “Sorry, I hadn’t heard of you. We spend a lot of time in this garage, don’t we, Lamp?”
Lamp squeaked.
“That’s OK,” said Lavender. “Drop in if you’re passing. We’ve got a summer sale on.”
“If you buy a full bunch, you’ll save a whole bunch!” sang Daisy.
“Sounds good. I’ll… um… definitely buy a full bunch then.”
“Will you? That’s brilliant!” Daisy skipped forward and planted a kiss on Casper’s cheek.
“Right then, darling, plenty more of those cards to hand out before tea time.” Lavender wrinkled her nose cheekily at the boys and sauntered out of the garage.
Daisy skipped into the sunshine in pursuit of her mother, stopping to chirp, “Nice to meet you,” before disappearing round the corner.
The garage was quiet again. Lamp shuffled towards Casper with a worried sort of face on. “Casper?”
“Yes?”
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