A Penguin Problem Read online

  Contents

  Title Page

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Copyright

  ‘This is going to look so cool!’ Willow Thompson said with a grin, as she arranged a group of dolls around a miniature wooden table. She was kneeling in the window of her Auntie Suzy’s toy shop helping her aunt and brother, Freddie, set up a new doll’s house display there. The shop was closed and the blind had been pulled down so that nobody could see in from outside.

  ‘Glad you think so,’ Auntie Suzy replied, her eyes twinkling. ‘I’ve got some tiny dolls’ food here, Willow. Why don’t you put some on the table for them?’

  Willow took the miniature plates and buns her aunt was passing her and set them out in front of the dolls. There was a tiny blue teapot which she put in the middle, and matching cups and saucers. There! The sweetest tea party you could imagine.

  It was Sunday evening, and Willow knew that in all the shops nearby the shopkeepers would be hard at work creating their own imaginative displays. This was because every summer, for five days known as ‘Wacky Windows Week’, the shops along the Summertown seafront each prepared special window displays, one for every day from Monday to Friday. Willow was looking forward to seeing the other shop windows but she knew already that theirs would be hard to beat.

  Freddie, who was five, was carefully putting the smallest doll in a little pink crib, up in one of the top rooms. ‘Night night,’ he said, tucking a dainty pink blanket over her.

  ‘Talking of “night night”,’ Auntie Suzy said, ‘I think it’s about time you got in your PJs, Freddie. Come on.’ She lifted him out of the display and took him upstairs to brush his teeth.

  Willow was seven, and went to bed half an hour later than Freddie, so she began arranging some dolls in the living room, the last room that needed setting up.

  She put one doll on the sofa watching the miniature TV set. She sat another doll in a red armchair, reading a tiny book.

  ‘You could have one of them talking on the phone,’ suggested a low rumbly sort of voice from nearby.

  Willow jumped at the sound, and knocked over the tiny television. She’d been concentrating so hard, she’d almost forgotten Toby was there beside her. Toby was Willow’s Hoozle, a lovely cuddly blue bear with velvety bits on his paws. He’d always been Willow’s favourite toy – Auntie Suzy had made him for her. But it was only when she and Freddie had come to stay with Auntie Suzy for the summer that Willow had discovered just how special Toby was – he could talk and move, and was just as much alive as her!

  ‘Good thinking,’ Willow said to him, giving him a little squeeze before standing one of the dolls in the corner with the tiny white phone pressed into her hand. ‘There,’ she said, gazing proudly at the whole scene. ‘Finished – and doesn’t it look wonderful?’

  Toby wriggled happily in her arms as they both looked at the display. As well as the house full of busy dolls, there was also a beautiful piece of green velvet for a garden, complete with miniature plastic trees, and dolls leaning back in little deckchairs or playing hide and seek.

  Toby gave a throaty growl of pleasure. ‘Perfect,’ he said. ‘Just perfect!’

  Unfortunately, the next morning when Willow and Auntie Suzy came down to the shop, the display looked anything but perfect. Someone – or something – had knocked over half the dolls, and the furniture was all higgledy-piggledy.

  ‘How did this happen?’ Willow cried in dismay, kneeling down and trying to fix the spoiled garden.

  ‘I wonder if a cat got in?’ Auntie Suzy said thoughtfully. ‘Ahh – the back window is open a crack, look. Maybe an animal squeezed in there. How annoying!’ She sighed. ‘Ah well. Come on, let’s sort it out quickly before we open up.’

  Willow glanced at Toby as she and her aunt began fixing the display. She wasn’t so sure it was a cat who’d knocked over the display. In Willow’s mind, there was a far more likely culprit – Croc, the bad-tempered crocodile Hoozle, who seemed to delight in causing trouble. Toby gave a tiny nod, as if reading Willow’s mind. Croc didn’t live at Auntie Suzy’s shop and it was just the sort of mean thing he would think of!

  ‘At last,’ Auntie Suzy said, once they’d re-done the display. ‘That will have to do.’

  ‘It’s not as good as it was last night though,’ Willow said, feeling disappointed.

  ‘No, we’ve run out of time, I’m afraid,’ Auntie Suzy told her. ‘I need to open up. Never mind. We’ll make tomorrow’s display extra special instead.’ And with that, she pulled up the blinds, and turned the shop sign to ‘Open’.

  A small crowd had gathered outside the toy shop and Auntie Suzy went to talk to them. Willow seized the chance to go over to the Hoozle Council, a group of three other Hoozles who lived in the shop. ‘Hi, guys,’ she said in a low voice. ‘Did you see anything suspicious last night?’

  ‘Aaatchoozle!’ spluttered Grouchy, the fat penguin Hoozle, his beak trembling as he sneezed. ‘Oh, this cold! It’s driving me nuts!’

  Wizard, who was an owl-shaped Hoozle, and the leader of the Hoozle Council, put a kindly wing around Grouchy. ‘Did we see anything suspicious? No,’ he replied, peering down at Willow. ‘I slept very deeply. Didn’t hear a thing.’

  ‘Nor me,’ said Lovely, tossing her mane out of her eyes. She was a horse Hoozle who’d once belonged to Willow’s mum. She grinned mischievously. ‘Maybe it was the force of Grouchy’s sneezes that blew over the display.’

  Willow smiled. ‘Poor Grouchy, it’s horrid having a cold in the summer.’ But before she could say any more, Auntie Suzy was back in the shop, with a group of customers. She wandered away, thinking hard. If Croc had messed up the display, why had he done such a horrible thing? And would he be back again that night?

  That afternoon, Auntie Suzy left her assistant Ricky in charge of the shop and took Willow and Freddie along the seafront to look at the other windows. It was such fun – they all looked so different. Willow’s favourite was the cake shop which had a huge cake in the middle, made to look just like a teddy bear. She held Toby up to the window to show him. ‘Look, it’s nearly as cute as you,’ she said, dropping a kiss on his head.

  Once they’d had tea and the toy shop was closed, it was time to begin the next window display. This time, they set up an elaborate model railway, with lots of bridges, points and passengers to pick up from the stations. Freddie loved trains, so he particularly enjoyed arranging it. ‘This is just like playing,’ he said happily, as he clipped pieces of tunnel together.

  ‘Ready for the grand switch-on?’ Auntie Suzy asked when they’d finished. ‘Three, two, one … go!’ She pressed a button, and the small electric engines whirred into life, trundling along the tracks with their carriages bumping behind them.

  ‘Yay!’ cheered Willow and Freddie.

  ‘It looks brilliant,’ Willow added, smiling up at her aunt.

  ‘Thanks to you two,’ Auntie Suzy replied. ‘And I’ll make sure all the windows are shut tight tonight. We don’t want any stray moggies clambering in again, do we?’

  ‘No way,’ said Freddie.

  Willow glanced up at the Hoozle Council on their high shelf and gave them a meaningful look. We don’t want naughty Croc spoiling our display, you mean! she thought to herself.

  The next morning, Willow woke up early and the first thing that popped into her head was the model railway. ‘Come on,’ she said to Toby, pulling on her dressing gown. ‘Let’s go and make sure it’s all right.’

  With Toby in her arms, she padded downstairs and into the shop. ‘Oh no!’ she groaned as soon as she saw the display. The model railway had
been ruined, with parts of the track scattered all over the place and one of the engines missing.

  The Hoozles woke at her cry, blinking and stretching on their shelf. Grouchy gave a huge aaahchoozle! and rubbed his pink-rimmed eyes.

  ‘Oh dear,’ Lovely said, trotting from shelf to shelf until she reached Willow. ‘I can’t believe it’s happened again. And I slept right through the whole thing!’

  Wizard peered down at the mess. ‘Who could have done this? I know Suzy locked up very carefully last night – I watched her to make sure.’

  He and Grouchy made their way down to Willow and they all worked quickly to put the model railway back as it had been. Grouchy found the missing engine behind one of the shelves and Wizard pecked the pieces of track back into place.

  ‘I’m sure it’s Croc,’ Willow fumed. ‘But how is he getting in? And why is he so determined to wreck our lovely window displays?’

  Lovely sighed. ‘He’s a nasty piece of work,’ she said, wrinkling her nose. ‘He should be ashamed of himself – but he probably isn’t.’

  ‘Well, if he tries it again tonight, I’m going to stop him,’ Willow vowed. ‘I’ll stay up all night if I have to, and I’ll catch him in the act!’

  That afternoon, Willow and Freddie went out with Auntie Suzy again to see the other shop windows. ‘Oh, look at the grocer’s display!’ Willow called in delight, as she noticed that all the fruit and vegetables had been arranged in the shape of flowers. ‘Isn’t it pretty?’

  Auntie Suzy chuckled. ‘I love that one,’ she said, pointing to a flower that had a cabbage middle and courgettes as petals. ‘Oh, and look how all those grapes have been arranged in the shape of leaves! Almost too good to eat!’

  ‘Hi, Willow. Hi, Freddie. Hi, Suzy,’ came a voice just then.

  Willow turned away from the window to see Jack, a boy who’d come to the shop just the week before to buy an elephant Hoozle, Bouncer.

  ‘Hi, Jack!’ Willow said, smiling and making Toby’s arm wave to Bouncer. ‘How are you?’

  Jack made Bouncer wave back to Toby. ‘We’re good,’ Jack said, and started talking about the special den he’d made for Bouncer in his bedroom.

  Willow couldn’t concentrate though, because Toby was pressing the side of her arm. Why was he doing that? she wondered in surprise. If anyone saw him moving, their secret would be out!

  Then she realised what Toby had just seen and gasped. A fluffy orange tail was disappearing into the alley down the side of the grocer’s shop. Croc!

  Willow thought fast. ‘Um … I’ll see you soon, Jack,’ she blurted out. ‘I just remembered I need to be someplace else …’ And she darted into the alley without another word, her heart thumping. She felt a bit rude, rushing away from Jack so abruptly, but this was important. Where was Croc?

  Unfortunately the orange crocodile Hoozle had vanished from sight. Willow looked around a couple of wooden crates and peered under some cardboard boxes, but there was no sign of him.

  ‘He’s crafty,’ Toby said crossly. ‘Probably watching us from a hiding place somewhere.’

  Willow glanced over her shoulder. She could hear Auntie Suzy calling her. ‘Well, if you dare come into the shop tonight, Croc, I’ll be waiting for you,’ she said in a low voice. ‘I won’t let you get away with it again!’

  That evening, Willow helped her aunt and brother set up the next window display. This time it was a medieval scene, with a princess, a knight, and a big red dragon outside a castle. Auntie Suzy had even managed to rig up a moat with water flowing around the castle!

  ‘This is my favourite one,’ Freddie said, beaming as he fixed a tiny silver sword into the knight’s hand. ‘Even better than the trains.’

  ‘It’s brilliant,’ Willow agreed. And I’ll make sure it still looks as good by tomorrow! she thought to herself. That mean Croc will be sorry if I catch him!

  That night, she forced herself to stay awake until she’d heard Auntie Suzy go to bed, then she got up with Toby and hid on the stairs. She planned to stay there the whole night, listening out for anyone breaking into the shop. ‘I’m definitely going to catch the window-wrecker tonight,’ Willow said to Toby, smothering a little yawn.

  ‘Absolutely,’ Toby replied, from where he was cuddled up in her lap. ‘We’ll put a stop to them, won’t we, Willow? Willow?’

  Willow had curled into a more comfortable position, and was resting her head on her arms. ‘I’m just shutting my eyes for a minute,’ she said drowsily. ‘I’ll still be listening out though, don’t worry …’

  * * *

  ‘Willow! Willow! Wake up!’

  ‘What’s happening? Who’s that?’ Willow blinked blearily, still half-asleep as Toby shook her with his soft paws. Then she sat up and stared around. She was back in her bed, under the duvet … and sunlight was pouring through the window. ‘How did I get in here?’ she asked, confused. Just a minute ago, she’d been on the stairs with Toby, listening out for the intruder.

  Toby gave a sigh. ‘Willow, you dozed off on the stairs. I heard a voice and tried to wake you up but you were just so fast asleep, I couldn’t do it. Your aunt found you on the stairs a bit later and carried you back to bed.’

  Willow rubbed her eyes, trying to take all of this in. ‘You heard a voice?’ she asked him. ‘A voice in the shop?’

  ‘Two voices,’ Toby said, ‘but they were very whispery. I heard one of them say, “They will never suspect you”, but everything else was too quiet for me to make out. I tried to open the shop door but it was so heavy I couldn’t do it.’ His furry shoulders drooped. ‘Sorry, Willow. I let you down.’

  Willow hugged him tightly. ‘You didn’t,’ she told him. ‘It was my stupid fault, falling asleep like that. Come on,’ she said, swinging her legs out of bed. ‘Let’s go downstairs now and see what’s happened to the window. Maybe it was the Hoozles you heard talking in the night, and the display will be fine.’

  She hurried down to the shop with Toby and saw to her disappointment that, once more, the window display had been ruined. The castle had been knocked over, with the characters and dragon scattered across the floor. ‘Oh no!’ Willow groaned. ‘Not again!’

  Wizard hopped down from his shelf, followed by Lovely and Grouchy. ‘We’ll help,’ Wizard offered. ‘It’s the least we can do for sleeping through the break-in for the third night on the trot.’ He frowned. ‘I can’t understand how we haven’t been woken up by the noise. Whoever is getting in here manages to do it very quietly.’

  Willow heard footsteps overhead, and set to work rebuilding the castle wall as quickly as she could manage. ‘We’ll have to hurry,’ she said. ‘I think that was Auntie Suzy I just heard upstairs. She’ll be down to open the shop soon, and we can’t let her see this mess.’

  ‘Here’s the princess’s tiara – but it’s bent out of shape,’ Lovely said sadly, pulling it out from under the table.

  ‘Here’s the knight’s helmet,’ Wizard said, his sharp eyes spotting it in a corner.

  Willow flew around, trying to remember where everything had been the night before. She had just stuck the last flag back on the castle tower when she heard Auntie Suzy and Freddie coming downstairs. ‘Quick, back to your shelf!’ she hissed to Lovely and Wizard, who hurried away at once. ‘Where’s Grouchy?’

  ‘He’s down here,’ Toby said, pulling at the little penguin, who’d fallen asleep under the display table. ‘Grouchy! Wake up. Suzy alert!’

  Grouchy blinked and shook out his wings. ‘Sorry,’ he murmured, waddling quickly away towards the Hoozle shelf. ‘So tired. Just so tired.’

  ‘Phew,’ Willow sighed, picking up Toby and giving him a hug. ‘That’s better.’

  Auntie Suzy came in at that moment and raised her eyebrows at the sight of Willow, still in her pyjamas, standing in the shop. ‘Everything all right?’ she asked.

  Willow blushed, hoping her aunt wouldn’t ask why she’d been sleeping on the stairs the night before. ‘Fine,’ she said, avoiding her aunt’s gaze. ‘Just going t
o have some breakfast.’

  She ducked out of the shop before Auntie Suzy could say anything else and went upstairs. As she did so, she remembered what Toby had said he’d heard. Two voices … could it mean that Croc had found somebody to help with his naughty plans? If so … who was it?

  ‘Oh, cool – look, it’s Rapunzel and Peter Pan!’ Willow said, as she peered into the book-shop window on the high street. She, Freddie and Auntie Suzy had come out to see the other shop displays that morning, and this was her favourite so far. The shop owner’s eldest two children, Beth and Leo, were in there dressed up as story-book characters and waving at passers-by.

  ‘Lovely,’ Auntie Suzy said, waving back at them. ‘Oh, and that must be Sleeping Beauty, bless her,’ she said, pointing at their younger sister Lily, who was only two, curled up fast asleep on a big cushion.

  ‘Don’t they look great?’ a friendly woman said, who had a little girl with her. ‘And we’re looking forward to seeing your toy shop window on Friday, Suzy – we always love to see the Hoozles in their very own display!’

  ‘Oh yes,’ said the girl eagerly. ‘I love that cute penguin Hoozle – he’s so adorable, isn’t he?’

  Willow smiled. ‘He’s really sweet,’ she agreed, thinking that she should remember to tell Grouchy that later on. He needed something to cheer him up, after suffering with his cold all week.

  That night, Willow, Suzy and Freddie set to work on Thursday’s shop window – a whole town made of interlocking building blocks. Willow had been thinking all day about how she could catch the window-wrecker and had come up with a plan. She would set a booby-trap so that if anyone tried to spoil the display, they’d get caught. Now … what would a window-wrecker be sure to go for in this particular arrangement?