the Snow-Smashers! Read online

  As he moved his hand, the beast seemed to grin with his parrot-beak. ‘Something tells me you’ll be calling me up again very soon! You know where to find me,’ it rumbled. Then he raised his three horns in a salute, closed his eyes and was gone. Plasticated. Harry patted the key-ring in his pocket.

  A few people came out of their houses to see who the new arrivals were.

  ‘Have you come to sort out the electricity?’ asked one old lady with a walking stick, who was being helped along the icy footpath. ‘I’ve got my wood-stove, see? But there’s other folks up here who depend on the electricity for everything – cooking and heating and everything!’ She was talking eagerly to Wedge, since he seemed to be in charge.

  ‘I’m afraid we can’t help you with that,’ said Wedge. ‘Has the whole village lost power, then?’

  ‘It’s been on and off all the time since last night,’ replied one of the men. ‘Everybody’s afraid it could be cut off altogether any minute.’

  ‘Hmm,’ pondered Siri. ‘You say that the electricity is “on and off”. It is my guess that ice has formed on the pylons, causing a short-circuit. Or maybe the weight of snow is causing the wires to touch now and then.’ He waved his hand down the valley, towards the line of steel poles that seemed to march away like giants through the snow.

  ‘Cor, you’re a bit of a brain-box, young man!’ said the old lady, impressed.

  ‘If we have much more ice or snow,’ continued Siri, ‘the weight could do terrible damage.’

  As they were talking, Harry put his hands in his pockets to keep warm. Through his gloves he could feel something warm on his key-ring again. Is Triceratops getting in touch again so soon? he wondered, pulling out the plastic B.U.Ds. Swinging by its tail and glowing next to his keys was a little flat apatosaurus. Aha! Let’s see what you can do! Harry thought.

  While everyone else was busy talking, and Jack and Charlie were sharing biscuits around, Harry gave the plasticated dinosaur a quick rub, nose-to-tail. At once, the little crowd in the street were dwarfed by a full-size prehistoric monster!

  Apatosaurus was longer than four buses parked end-to-end and, judging by its fat tummy, at least twice as heavy. Harry’s gaze went from the tip of its enormous drooping tail to its head that was … well, just a bit bigger than Harry! It looked odd, stuck on the end of that enormously long neck.

  The dinosaur’s neck snaked round and down to bring its head level with Harry’s pale face. It was a lot bigger than it looked from a distance! The beast’s jaws opened wide to show great spoon-shaped teeth. Vegetarian or not, this dinosaur was scary. A hot wind hit Harry like a hurricane, and at the same time there came a terrible stink, like rotting compost.

  Harry was knocked flat on his back!

  Chapter 11

  Harry opened his eyes to see Jack, Siri and Charlie looking down at him anxiously.

  ‘Are you all right, Harry?’ asked Charlie. ‘You must have fainted or something!’

  ‘Whoops!’ thundered a voice from the strange, bug-eyed dinosaur face that hovered above his friends’ heads. ‘Forgive me, Harry. Indigestion. It happens when I move too fast. It’s the gizzard stones in my belly. They bounce about and grind together.’

  ‘Do me a favour!’ said Harry to Apatosaurus, covering his nose.

  The GOGOs were delighted to see signs of life in their friend. They thought he was talking to them, so they squatted down to get closer. It was lucky that they had no idea that the head of one of the biggest dinosaurs ever seen on earth was hovering close by.

  ‘A favour? What do you need, Harry?’ asked Charlie.

  ‘Clear the snow and ice off those pylons,’ Harry ordered Apatosaurus, pointing down the valley.

  ‘Are you kidding?’ said Jack.

  ‘He must have banged his head,’ guessed Siri.

  ‘He needs air!’ said Charlie.

  ‘Consider it done, Harry!’ rumbled Apatosaurus. The dinosaur was a slow mover, but he seemed to enjoy plunging down the snowy slope towards the nearest pylon. He floated on his belly like a funny-looking giant swan. Harry pushed himself up on to his elbow to try to get a better look.

  Wedge stepped forward. ‘Up you come, mate!’ he said. He put a strong arm round Harry’s shoulders and hoisted him up on to his feet. Now Harry had the perfect view down the hill.

  Nobody else could see anything unusual – but what they heard made them all jump. While everyone was fussing over Harry, dusting him down and rubbing the back of his head, there was a sudden explosion.

  FSSSSSSHHH-BONGGGG!

  Harry watched as Apatosaurus gave the nearest pylon a hefty swipe with his great long tail. The effect was like an earthquake.

  ‘What was that?’ Charlie yelled as everyone turned to look.

  The pylon rippled like an Eiffel Tower made out of jelly. Snow and ice sprayed all about it in a glistening cloud.

  ‘Did you see that?’ Wedge shouted.

  The old lady took off her glasses and rubbed them clean. ‘I must be seeing things,’ she mumbled.

  But she wasn’t. Soon the next pylon, then the next and the next began to shake themselves like wet dogs just out of the sea.

  FSSSSSSHHH-BONGGGG! FSSSSSSHHH-BONGGGG!

  The electric cables strung between the pylons danced and twirled like giant skipping ropes as Apatosaurus slid past, whacking each tower in its path. All the snow and ice was shaken free. And as the thin, white mist of snow and ice fell gently towards the ground, the sun broke out.

  Before long, most of the villagers were gathered in the village hall with Wedge and the GOGOs. They were all discussing the shudders that had shaken the ice from the pylons.

  ‘We don’t get earthquakes here,’ said the old lady who’d seen it, shaking her head. ‘But I just can’t imagine what else it could be.’

  ‘Who cares?’ said one of the other villagers. ‘The power is back on!’

  Everyone nodded and raised their cups of hot tea and coffee. The treats that the children had brought with them went down very well, especially the biscuits and the homemade Sri Lankan baking.

  ‘Deee-licious! What does your mum do? Is she a chef?’ lots of admiring ladies asked Siri.

  ‘No. She is a professor of mathematics, same as my dad,’ Siri replied proudly, munching on some crisps.

  ‘Ooh, fancy!’

  Someone gave a speech about kids today being much nicer and more thoughtful than they said on the telly. The GOGOs pressed Harry to stand up and make a speech in reply. He did his best, but he was suddenly overcome with shyness and could only think of, ‘Thank you very much. You’re welcome … It was nothing, really …’ before he sat down again.

  Charlie looked at her mobile. ‘Wow!’ she exclaimed. ‘I’ve got a signal. There’s a text from my mum. She says do I know where Siri is? His parents are worried because they can’t get through to him and they’re thinking of calling the police.’

  ‘I wish they wouldn’t worry so much!’ complained Siri.

  ‘Bad luck, Siri,’ said Charlie. ‘Wait. Looks like they haven’t called the police after all. My mum says she’s phoned Harry’s mum. And Harry’s mum has sent a car out looking for us.’

  ‘Oh, no! My mum’s at work,’ groaned Harry. ‘She must have sent Boris and Sam to collect us. That is really embarrassing! Can you text Sam? Tell her we’re OK and that she and Boris can pick us up at the bottom of Huntingdon Lane in half an hour.’

  That was pretty much the end of the celebrations. They stayed for a little while longer, but all the excitement had gone out of the GOGOs.

  From heroes to zeroes in one minute flat.

  Chapter 12

  The kids got a nice warm send-off from the villagers as they piled into the cab of Wedge’s truck. Wedge had set the plough down a notch so that he could shave off a bit more snow on the way down. ‘Then they can get a gritter-lorry up here,’ he called out of his window to Len, the old man in the black coat. He got a thumbs-up in reply.

  ‘Tell you what,’ said Harry. ‘I fan
cy a go on Charlie’s homemade snowboard. If it’s OK with Charlie, let me go ahead down the lane – and you can pick me up if I have any problems.’

  ‘Go on, then,’ said Charlie, who thought it might be funny to watch. ‘See how you get on.’

  To the cheers of the villagers, Harry managed to go five metres before he fell off. Then he slid a few more metres. Off again.

  ‘Go on, Harry! You can do it!’ yelled Jack, encouragingly. ‘Lean out more!’ Jack was easily the best of the GOGOs at sports, so Harry paid special attention to what he said.

  It worked! Gradually, Harry got the hang of the thing and soon he had shot down the side of the lane, round the corner and out of sight.

  ‘Apatosaurus!’ he called out. ‘Where are you?’ Because the beast had trudged off down the hill to clear the ice, Harry hadn’t been able to rub it tail-to-nose and make him plasticated again. Apatosaurus was still out there in the snow and could be up to anything by now!

  He heard a shuffling noise behind him as the huge dinosaur came towards him.

  ‘Here I am, Harry,’ he said. ‘What can I do for you now?’

  ‘I’m all right, thanks,’ replied Harry. ‘But well done for saving the village. If the people could thank you, they would. But then they’d have to see you, and that might cause all sorts of problems!’ he smiled.

  ‘Happy to be of service,’ said Apatosaurus. ‘You know you can call on any dinosaur you need, any time.’

  Harry looked down the lane. ‘I have to get down there and meet my sister,’ he said, rolling his eyes.

  The dinosaur made a gentle sound, almost like a laugh. ‘Hop aboard,’ he said, lowering his head.

  Harry didn’t need to be asked twice. In a flash he was astride Apatosaurus’s neck and gripping with his knees like a champion jockey. Up he rose, the dinosaur’s long neck hoisting Harry way up over the trees like a fireman’s ladder. What a feeling! Then the dinosaur pushed himself off on to his belly and they slid down the hill, gathering speed.

  ‘Wheeee!’ screamed Harry, clinging on for dear life. ‘This is better than a bob-sleigh!’

  They were hurtling down the lane! The rushing wind took Harry’s breath away. He was thinking that they had probably broken the land-speed record.

  They turned the corner towards the bottom of the road, with Harry sailing up high on the dinosaur’s long neck. And that was how Harry got a bird’s-eye view of Boris and Sam preparing another ambush. They had parked Boris’s sports car and were both by the side of the road, digging away in the drifts to make a huge pile of snowballs. Harry could hear them cackling with excitement as they got their ambush ready.

  ‘Uh-oh!’ said Harry. ‘Put your brakes on, Apatosaurus.’ The great beast straightened his front legs, dug in and leaned back. By the time they had slithered to a halt, they were close enough to Harry’s sister and her boyfriend to get splattered with snowballs.

  Not this time, you don’t! Harry thought to himself. ‘Apatosaurus, quick, put me up high in that chestnut tree, the one that Sam and Boris are hiding under!’

  Apatosaurus obeyed. It tilted its neck and lowered him on to a strong branch with great care. Not a snowflake fell to give him away. Then Harry whispered into the bristle-coated earhole that hovered near his mouth, ‘When I say the word, give the trunk of this tree a whack with your tail.’ Then he placed Charlie’s snowboard in the dinosaur’s mouth, and Apatosaurus lowered it gently to the ground.

  ‘Oh, hell-o-oo!’ sang Harry. Boris and Sam froze and then started looking all around in panic.

  ‘I’m up here,’ said Harry. ‘Nice try, but you won’t get us this time. And, by the way, Boris … I never miss.’ Lowering his voice a little, he added, ‘Ready when you are, B.U.D.!’

  With a stinging slap, Apatosaurus whipped the tree trunk hard. Harry felt like a sailor clinging to the mast of a ship in a storm. For a second he found himself hanging upside down, but somehow he managed to scramble upright.

  The sports car had disappeared completely under an avalanche of snow. As for Boris and Sam, they got buried right up to their chests.

  ‘I think I’m going to give you a new name,’ Harry confided to Apatosaurus as the dinosaur lowered him to the ground while Boris and Sam cleared snow from their faces. He paused to wave at Wedge and the rest of the GOGOs, who had just arrived in the truck. ‘I think A-WHACK-osaurus would suit you very nicely!’

  Chapter 13

  ‘My beautiful car!’ Boris was wailing.

  Sam wasn’t worried about that. She was furious. ‘You think you’re so clever!’ she raged. ‘I told you it was stupid to park under the trees. All my brother had to do was climb up on to a branch and set off an avalanche!’

  ‘If only,’ muttered Harry to himself and the B.U.D. ‘Thanks for the help,’ he whispered to Apatosaurus, then he ran his hands along the dinosaur’s flanks tail-to-nose. It disappeared without a trace, back to his key-ring, waiting to be called on again.

  With the B.U.D. safely plasticated, he turned his attention to helping Wedge and the GOGOs with a spot of digging. First they concentrated on freeing the spluttering Boris and Sam. Getting a tow-rope on the sports car took longer. Once the rope was secure, Wedge revved the engine of his mighty truck and slowly heaved the car out.

  ‘Nice little motor,’ said Wedge. ‘No sign of any damage at all. Still, you’ve got a fair bit of snow packed in the vents. Probably best if I tow her along to your place, eh? Just to be on the safe side.’

  Boris spluttered and growled, and looked as if he wished the snow would swallow him up again.

  Later that week, Wedge’s photo was in the local paper, alongside the story of his heroic rescue of a whole village.

  Sam was on the phone to him for hours. ‘Oh, you soppy great lump,’ she cooed. ‘Fancy risking your life like that!’

  ‘What about me and Charlie and Jack and Siri?’ said Harry, getting annoyed. ‘We were in the photo, too, you know. And it was our idea to clear Huntingdon Lane.’

  Sam made a face at him. ‘What’s that?’ she asked Wedge as she went out of the door. ‘Oh, Boris? Well, you know how much I hate golf …’ She headed somewhere private to continue their conversation.

  Harry punched the air. She’s seen sense at last, he thought. Finally the sofa was free, the telly was available and there wasn’t a golfing DVD in sight.

  His phone pinged. Charlie had sent a text.

  Shame! Tom Powell won best snow skulpchure. :-(

  The spelling was terrible, but the message was clear – and it was a shame.

  Just then, Harry caught sight of old Tom Powell himself wandering past the side window. He was heading down the drive towards the back of Harry’s house.

  Before he had time to ding on the bell, Harry opened the back door. ‘Congratulations on the sculpture contest, Tom,’ he said, trying to hide his disappointment.

  ‘Thanks, Harry,’ he puffed. ‘But I just popped round to let you know I reckons that polar bear what your mate done was miles better than my old pirate ship,’ he said quietly. ‘And that igloo was pretty good, too.’

  ‘That’s really kind of you,’ Harry said, smiling as best as he could.

  ‘And another thing,’ said Tom. He paused for a bit of a cough. ‘My sister called from up Huntingdon. Disabled now, she is, and she’s been very low. But when she spoke to me on the phone, I can honestly say she was bright as a button. Said you youngsters cheered the villagers up for days. She told me you and your mates deserve medals for what you done!’

  ‘Oh … w-well … th-that’s very …’ stammered Harry, blushing.

  ‘Look, I know you kids wouldn’t be able to do much with a medal. So I was just wondering if you couldn’t make more use of … this.’ He ducked round the corner of the house and reappeared pulling a fabulous-looking toboggan.

  ‘It’s a good un,’ Tom assured Harry. ‘Look here. The runners are steel-lined for extra speed. But it’s no good to me. I want you and your mates to have it, son.’

  Harry co
uld hardly speak. ‘Thanks, Tom!’ he managed to say in the end. ‘The GOGOs are never going to believe this!’

  Of course, they were as surprised and thrilled as he had been. On their first run down through the village past the church, Harry took the driving position.

  ‘Hey! You seem to know what you’re doing,’ said Jack, with admiration. ‘We haven’t crashed once yet!’

  ‘You haven’t been practising tobogganing with some expert we don’t know about, have you?’ laughed Charlie.

  Harry smiled, remembering Apatosaurus speeding down the hill on his belly. Now that would be telling! he thought to himself.

  But what he said to Charlie, Jack and Siri was …

  ‘WAH-HOOOOO!’