a Monster Surprise! Read online

  Ian Whybrow

  Illustrated by Pedro Penizzotto

  PUFFIN

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Ian Whybrow is a bestselling author of over a hundred books who is proud to have been listed as one of the top ten most-read writers in UK libraries. Among his most popular characters are the hugely successful Harry and the Bucketful of Dinosaurs, the barking mad Sniff and the much-loved Little Wolf. Ian lives in London and Herefordshire.

  www.harryandthedinosaurs.co.uk

  Look out for more adventures with

  Harry and the Dinosaurs:

  ROAR TO THE RESCUE!

  THE SNOW SMASHERS!

  THE FLYING SAVE!

  This book is especially for Ted who is, as he well knows, my absolutely favourite grandson. And with grateful thanks, as ever, to the Campbell family, my inspirational neighbours.

  Chapter 1

  Harry was up the top of the old fir tree in the garden, gasping for breath. His hair was full of pine needles and his heart was pounding.

  His sister, Sam, had gone back into the house but Harry had decided to wait for a bit before he came down. She was still mad and might try to chase after him again.

  While he was waiting to make sure the coast was clear, Harry thought about how he had ended up in the tree. It was like a scene from a soap opera!

  Our Mad House

  Episode nine zillion: ‘The Blazing Row’

  CAST (in order of speaking): SAM: My Harry’s horrible big sister. Pretty (I suppose). She thinks she is the BEST and that other people are stupid. Spoilt and wants her own way all the time. Knows how to say nasty things to you in a clever way so you cannot answer back fast enough. Likes Wedge but also likes it when other boys tell her she is pretty.

  WEDGE JENKINS: Sam’s boyfriend. Tall. Works on his dad’s farm so has big muscles. Handsome with interesting hairstyle. Funny and gets on with everybody. Likes machines, welding, cars, nature, going out, etc.

  ME HARRY: Nice, popular, intelligent, likes adventure. Red hair. Belongs to special gang called the GOGOs with his friends Charlie, Jack and Siri. Also commander of a bunch of top-secret Back-Up Dinosaurs called B.U.Ds. These are not the little dinosaurs he used to carry about in a bucket when he was small. These are proper, scary dinosaurs!

  SCENE: The kitchen. Harry is halfway through a big bowl of Choxie Pops.

  Enter Sam, in her nightie, yawning. Her mobile phone rings.

  SAM: (answering her phone) Hi, Wedge. What’s up?

  WEDGE: All right, Sam? Listen, you’ll never guess what I just bought at the car-boot sale. A couple of kayaks! Good as new. D’you fancy a paddle on the river tomorrow?

  SAM: Kayaking? You must be joking! We’re supposed to be going to a party tomorrow night, remember?

  WEDGE: Yeah, but that’s in the evening. There are some really good rare birds nesting in the marshes at the moment. Come on, it’ll be fun.

  SAM: I’m doing my hair in the morning.

  WEDGE: That won’t take long, will it?

  SAM: You can be so stupid sometimes, Wedge.

  ME HARRY: Kayak? Tell Wedge me and the GOGOs will come!

  SAM: (to me Harry) Will you be quiet, brat? (to Wedge) I’ll ruin my hair mucking about in a boat!

  WEDGE: Who are you telling to be quiet?

  SAM: I’m not talking to you.

  WEDGE: Oh right! Well, I’ll go on my own then!

  ME HARRY: (shouting) We’ll come, Wedge! Take me and Siri and Jack and Charlie!

  SAM: (shouting at me Harry) Go away!

  WEDGE: You can be really mean, you can!

  SAM: I’m not talking to you, stupid!

  WEDGE: Who are you calling stupid?

  SAM: Oh forget it!

  Sam hangs up on Wedge and goes into attack-mode.

  ME HARRY: (running for it) Mu-u-u-u-u-um!!!

  THE END

  After that, Harry spent quite a long time imagining the painful things Sam might do to him. It seemed wise to stay in the tree for a bit longer.

  Harry reached into his pocket for his key-ring. He ran his fingers across the little plastic cards that dangled from it. They looked innocent enough – little flat dinosaur shapes, nothing more. But there was a reason why they were a closely guarded secret. They were his means of calling up a tribe of life-sized Back-Up Dinosaurs. If he was in serious trouble then one of the dinosaur-shaped cards would start to feel warm to the touch, meaning that a B.U.D. was offering its help. He only had to rub his thumb across the card in a certain way and several tonnes of dinosaur would be at his side and at his service! And the best thing was that they were invisible to everyone except Harry.

  Right now there was nothing. Not a spinosaurus, not a triceratops, not a raptor. Nothing. The cards felt cold and blank with no sign that anything interesting was about to turn up.

  Finally Harry got so hungry he just had to climb down. It was not a smart move, but the thought of his half-eaten bowl of Choxie Pops was too much for him.

  Unfortunately Sam knew it would be, too. She was waiting for him by the kitchen door like a cat at a mouse hole.

  ‘Mu-u-u-u-u-u-m!!!’

  Chapter 2

  Later that day, when Harry had finally escaped from his sister, he headed to the secret meeting place of his gang, who had called themselves the Grand Order of the Great Oak. The other GOGOs – Charlie, Siri and Jack – sat scrunched up in the hollow inside the trunk of the Great Oak, their secret hideout in the woods. They were all deeply annoyed by Harry’s story of his sister and the kayaks. The weather was sunny but the mood inside was dark and gloomy. Nobody had a single cheerful thing to say.

  Charlie was fiddling with the ends of her curly hair. Harry rubbed his thigh where Sam had given him a dead-leg earlier.

  Jack was fiddling with little bits of paper. He nibbled them into wet lumps and flicked them at people.

  ‘Stop it, Jack!’ grumbled Charlie. ‘That’s disgusting.’

  ‘What?’ Jack replied angrily.

  ‘Order, order!’ said Siri, who liked everyone to get on. ‘If we can’t go kayaking then we’ll have to think of something else to do. Maybe we could ride our bikes over to Huntingdon?’

  ‘Bo-ring!’ said Jack.

  ‘Harry, can’t you speak to Sam and tell her to make up with Wedge?’ asked Charlie.

  ‘No way,’ said Harry. ‘I’m not begging her for anything. Anyway, she doesn’t deserve him.’

  Charlie crossed her arms in a sulk. Siri decided to change the subject. ‘By the way,’ he said cheerfully, ‘did I tell you about my oldest cousin, Ravindra? He’s got himself a job at last! He’s a reporter for Heartlands TV.’

  ‘TV! Wow!’ exclaimed the rest of the GOGOs.

  ‘It’s good, isn’t it? My aunty is so happy. Everyone always says he hasn’t got the top brains of the rest of the family. But I like him. He phoned the house this morning to say that he’s on the lookout for good local stories. Any suggestions?’

  ‘You must be joking,’ said Charlie. ‘Nothing ever happens round here!’

  ‘What about the rustling?’ suggested Jack. ‘The sheep and pigs going missing and all that.’

  ‘It’s not exactly big news, though, is it?’ said Harry.

  But Siri thought there might be something in it. ‘You never know. It could be really exciting! Animals stolen for big money … criminal gangs from Europe, maybe … If we could track
down these people, it could make an international story for Rav!’

  Just then, Jack sprang up without warning and shot out through the overhead exit of the oak tree. He didn’t say a word.

  ‘Hey! Don’t be like that,’ called Charlie. She thought he was still annoyed about her getting angry with him earlier.

  But Jack wasn’t thinking about that. His smiling face looked down at them. He had hooked his legs over a branch and was hanging down like a little monkey. ‘Come on, you lot,’ he said. ‘Hurry up!’

  Everyone scrambled up and out. Jack never said much, but it looked as if he might have a good idea.

  Chapter 3

  THUNK. THUNK. KER-CHINGGG!

  Wedge was flat on his back in the yard down at Jenkins Farm. Lying underneath his pick-up truck and hitting some hard lump of metal with a big hammer always made him feel better.

  The first thing he saw of the GOGOs was the bottom of six bicycle wheels, four pairs of trainers and a skateboard. He couldn’t see the dragon on the skateboard, but he knew by the colour it was Charlie’s.

  ‘What’re you lot after?’ he asked, not moving from under the truck. His old collie dog, Robot, came out and leaned on Harry, panting.

  Here they were then. Jack’s plan was simple. Pop over to Wedge’s place, see if he needed cheering up. Maybe drop a few hints.

  ‘We know you’re not going to the river now …’ said Charlie cautiously.

  ‘And we understand why …’ Siri said.

  ‘But we just thought …’ added Jack.

  ‘You might like to show us the kayaks anyway?’ Harry suggested.

  ‘I bought life jackets and everything,’ mumbled Wedge. ‘And when I bought one kayak, the bloke threw the other one in free. Family-size, they are! Me and my dad used to have one when I was a kid. I’ve done safety courses and everything.’

  ‘We have, too,’ said Harry. ‘At school.’

  ‘Are they in the barn?’ asked Charlie, peering around.

  ‘Nope. They’re in the back of the truck. Still folded, though. They need blowing up.’

  ‘Ah, they’re inflatables! Excellent!’ Siri said enthusiastically.

  ‘Yeah! They should be great actually!’ said Wedge, catching Siri’s good mood. He pulled himself out from under the truck, and grinned at the GOGOs. In a flash he was heaving the heavy green bundles out from the pick-up as Robot dashed around the barn barking with excitement.

  Wedge set up the electric air pump. All it took was five minutes and there was the first kayak, blown-up and ready to go – bingo!

  ‘What d’you reckon?’ Wedge asked, grinning from ear to ear. ‘Luxury or what?’

  ‘Brilliant!’ chorused the GOGOs.

  ‘You could easily get three people in that!’ said Jack. He and Charlie were busy trying on safety-helmets while Siri had a go with a life jacket.

  ‘Even my nervous mother would have to admit that this offers total protection for a beginner like me!’ he said eagerly.

  ‘You’d be very safe!’ Wedge agreed with a grin.

  ‘Pity not to give them a go on the water,’ said Jack casually.

  ‘I was hoping Sam …’ began Wedge, blushing a bit. He looked at Harry hopefully. ‘Did she … say anything about changing her mind?’

  Harry shook his head. ‘Sorry, Wedge.’

  ‘And did she say … Is she still going to the party tomorrow?’

  Harry gave a shrug.

  ‘Well, then,’ Wedge sighed, giving his big hands a wipe-down on his overalls, ‘we’ll just have to launch these without her!’

  Chapter 4

  If Friday was a bright spring day, Saturday was fabulous. There was still no wind to speak of and not a cloud in the sky. Wedge and the GOGOs had an exciting ride to the River Midway.

  Wedge had a really cool sound-system in his truck. Siri flicked through the radio channels and picked up the end of something on the news.

  ‘… including special infra-red underwater cameras,’ came an announcer’s voice. ‘While most experts agree that it’s a waste of time and money trying to trace the Loch Ness Monster, Captain Simons and his team are determined to search the Scottish deep waters one more time.’

  ‘Have you seen the photos in the papers?’ asked Wedge. ‘They’re obviously fakes!’

  ‘Mind you,’ said Charlie. ‘Imagine if this captain did manage to prove there was a monster!’

  ‘What a sensation!’ said Siri. ‘I wonder, is there a monster in the River Midway? Ravindra would love to report on that for Heartlands TV. It would make him famous, I bet.’

  ‘Probably make millions, too,’ murmured Jack. ‘But there’s no monster in the Midway.’

  ‘I told my mum to let him know about the sheep rustlers, though,’ Siri said. ‘Would it be OK for Rav to go to the farm and have a word with your dad?’ he asked Wedge.

  ‘What, get on TV?’ said Wedge. ‘My dad would love that!’

  ‘I’m going to call him now, then.’ Siri pulled out his mobile and called his cousin. ‘Don’t forget to mention Wedge’s name,’ he said as he finished talking to Rav.

  ‘Ask him if he wants to come over and film us looking for rare birds!’ said Charlie.

  Siri spoke to Rav some more, and then hung up. ‘He said he’s going over to the farm with a camera crew now, Wedge. And sends us good luck for the birdwatching but he’s got to follow this story first.’

  The gang was disappointed not to get a chance to be on TV but then a good song came on the radio and cheered them up. Even Wedge, who was still upset about Sam and the party.

  ‘I’ve thought about how to solve your problem with Sam, too,’ said Harry. ‘Just be a bit bossier with her!’

  Charlie rolled her eyes and shook her head. ‘Sometimes you just don’t understand girls, Harry,’ she said.

  Wedge squirmed in his seat. ‘It’s my fault really. I should’ve realized she just wants to look extra-nice for the party and everything. Me, I’m just a scruff-bag …’ He fizzled out, looking miserable again.

  ‘You’ll be all right!’ said Charlie. ‘She’ll get over it.’ She gave Harry an elbow in the ribs for reminding Wedge in the first place.

  Luckily that was just a little blip in what was otherwise a fun ride. There were cold drinks in the icebox and a jumbo packet of chocolates in the glove compartment.

  ‘This is going to be so much fun!’ said Jack.

  Everybody felt happy and nobody even thought of asking if they were nearly there yet.

  Chapter 5

  When they arrived, Wedge drove up a dusty track that led to a slipway down into the river.

  ‘Which way’s the sea?’ asked Harry, and Wedge pointed to their right.

  The only other vehicle in sight was a van with an extendable ladder on the roof-rack. They pulled up in a cloud of dust next to it, and a skinny middle-aged man in camouflage clothing gave them a nasty look. He was disconnecting a trailer from the back of his van. On the trailer was an orange inflatable powerboat with a big motor.

  ‘Hi there,’ said Wedge cheerily. ‘You off looking for birds, too?’

  ‘Fishing,’ grunted the man, scowling and making a big thing about fanning the dusty air away from his miserable face.

  ‘Sorry about the dust,’ said Wedge. ‘I didn’t realize the track was that dry! Can we give you a hand getting your boat in the water?’

  The scowl on the man’s face turned to something nastier as he made it clear he didn’t want any help. He seemed determined to struggle with the boat on his own, even though it was loaded with lots of gear. Wedge shrugged his shoulders and got on with getting the kayaks down from his truck.

  When the powerboat was in the water, Wedge made another attempt at a friendly question. ‘Don’t suppose you’ve seen any good birds since you got here, have you? I heard tell not long ago they’ve had peregrine falcons here. There was even a whisper about a pair of marsh harriers. You haven’t …’

  ‘Not interested, son,’ said the man. ‘Fishing is my thing
.’ He pointed in the opposite direction from the one he was taking. ‘If you want birds – try over in that direction. Way over in that direction.’

  Everyone turned to look inland and saw mudflats criss-crossed with shallow, oozing channels. They didn’t look at all inviting. The only living thing to be seen was a man in a rowing boat. Jack raised his binoculars to get a better look.

  ‘That doesn’t look like a place where birds would live,’ said Siri.

  Harry laughed. ‘But a monster might – the River Midway Monster!’

  His voice was drowned out as the powerboat’s engine started with a roar. Then the man headed off in the direction of the sea. His boat quickly got up speed, leaving two waves in its wake that bashed against the shore and made everything sway and bob. Water smashed up against the ramp and surprised everyone, soaking their socks and trainers.

  ‘Eeek!’ shrieked Charlie. ‘I bet he did that on purpose!’

  Chapter 6

  With Wedge to instruct them, the GOGOs were soon on the water and paddling the kayaks. Wedge had Siri and Charlie in with him and Harry and Jack took the other boat. Jack might look slight and skinny, but he was strong and, like Harry, he had been kayaking before. The two boys made a good team, working together and calling out to each other to change direction or slow down.

  There was a lot to learn but Siri and Charlie were clever and soon got the hang of it. After about half an hour of practice near to the riverbank, Wedge declared that everybody was safe to push on downstream and explore.

  ‘Let’s go, maties, har-har!’ called Wedge in his pirate voice and off they went.