Gatwick Bear and the Secret Plans (11 page)

But, Gatwick didn't tell the Inspector that Mother Brown was his Mama. Otherwise he might tell the shepherds on Emerald Mountain, and they would shoot her.

“So where's the suitcase now?” the Inspector asked.

“Little Sister's got it. And, I can't tell you where she is, so I can't tell you where the suitcase is. So, please don't ask me again”.

“I have news for you. We're going to look for your little sister and for that suitcase. You mark my words. We will get both, I promise you”.

The Inspector left. Gatwick started watching television again. There was another documentary about rooks. It was in a different part of the world, but the events were the same. Rooks killing rooks. Baby rooks were starving to death, and they were dying of illnesses because they didn't have medicines. Some of the poor baby rooks were crying and some had flies all over them. Gatwick wished there was something he could do to help.

After the documentary, he thought he'd just lie in bed and look out of the window. He fell asleep proud of himself for not telling on Little Sister.

*

Jet had got up early, too. He went looking for worms and found some very juicy ones, indeed. The Swiss ravens were already around as well. When a worm was found, they stood in a line and voted on who was going to eat the worm. This they did by each raven putting its wing up when it wanted to vote. The Swiss called it
‘
direct democracy', and they were always doing it. They voted on everything. Jet was English so he just ate his own worms. He'd eaten so many worms that he had to rest a little before he could fly off.

He finally felt fit to fly.
‘
The best place to go', thought Jet
‘
is on Emerald Mountain, the last place I saw Gatwick'. So, up, up, up, he flew.

Little Sister and Mama had left the cave and were making their way up to the secret lake. Mama had to hide during the day. She didn't care for herself so much, but she knew Little Sister would be devastated if her Mama was shot and she was left all on her own. On their way up, they kept looking around to see if Gatwick was anywhere to be found. They kept shouting: “Gatwick, Gatwick, where are you?”

The two bears had decided to hide Little Sister's suitcase and Gatwick's Edwardian case in the cave's secret extension that Bertie and Mama had carved out of the rock. They'd be safe there. But, they decided to take the fishing rod. They wanted to catch fish for lunch. Up the mountain they went, calling and crying for Gatwick.

Jet heard the shouts, then he saw the bears. Swooping down, he was soon in front of them.

“Hello, there. Little Sister, do you remember me? I'm Gatwick's best friend, Jet. We met at the Grand Hotel”.

“Oh, yes”, answered Little Sister. “We've lost Gatwick. We don't know where he's gone. He went out to play and never came back”.

“Really? Do you think he's lost on the mountains?”

“We don't know where he could be. We don't even know if he's alive because he only had a waistcoat on and no food or drink. Such a pain in my heart. I was the one who sent him out to play”, answered Mama.

Little Sister introduced Mama: “Jet, this is my mother and Gatwick's mother”.

“Pleased to meet you”, Jet said holding his wing out for her to shake.

She said: “Ciao”, to him.

“Please, both of you, don't worry I'll look for him. I'll look everywhere for him. I've got to find him” Jet said thinking of the punishment he'd get from the Eagles if he didn't take Gatwick to White Alp soon.

Little Sister and Mama Bear thanked him again and again. Jet flew off. The bears continued their climb up to their secret lake. When they got there, they took turns in fishing. In one hour, they caught ten fish. Far more than Gatwick had ever caught in one day!

Jet flew around over the mountains turning and twisting in flight, and spinning in the air. He could do all sorts of somersaults and make patterns high up in the sky. In the distance, he could see two helicopters coming his way. Who were the people in them, and where were they going? They kept circling round and round making such a terrible noise; disturbing the peace and the tourists. Jet saw some uniformed men in the helicopters, it looked as if they were members of the police force. Were they looking for Gatwick, too? Jet followed the helicopters. Maybe they would lead him to Gatwick. After circling the mountains a few more times, they turned around on themselves and started to fly away. Their destination was the police station. One of the police officers got out of the helicopter and went to speak to a man in plain clothes. Jet listened to their conversation:

“Sorry, sir, we weren't able to find her. We'll try again after lunch”.

“OK, maybe she's hiding. Gatwick wouldn't tell us where she is. Such a stubborn bear. If he doesn't co-operate, he'll be in jail for the rest of his life”.

Jet had understood it all now. Gatwick had been arrested for the bank robbery, Jet himself had seen it all from the rooftop opposite the bank. That would explain all the money he'd been splashing around. Well, who's crying now? Anyway, Jet had to get to Gatwick then take him to Stud. The Eagles would have Jet's guts for garters, if he went back without Gatwick. Jet flew all around the prison looking into every cell, until he found the one with Gatwick in it. The raven started pecking at the window to see if he could wake Gatwick up. Gatwick thought he could hear the pitter patter of rain on his window.
‘
It's so cosy to be in bed when the rain is beating against your window pane', Gatwick thought. It went on and on: pitter patter pitter patter... Gatwick opened his eyes to look at the rain and to his great surprise, there, on the other side of the thick glass was Jet.

“Jet, Jet, my friend! Oh, Jet, you're always there for me”.

“I'm going to try and get into the prison and help you escape. Do you hear?”

“Oh, yes, I do. It will have to be through the door. I can't get out through these prison bars. I've already tried, I'm too fat”, said Gatwick.

“Don't worry! I'll find a way”.

Gatwick was so happy. At last, he would be able to see his Mama and Little Sister again.

When a guard went into the prison, to start his afternoon shift, Jet flew in through the door; swiftly and stealthily so nobody would notice him. Then he flew around to look for the right cell. “I think it's this one”, he said to himself. He picked at the lock with his beak. It wasn't easy-peasy. Not at all. He had to turn it so that it would unlock, but they used such heavy locks in prisons. He tried again, it moved a little way round. Gatwick was standing on the other side of the door anxiously with his wooden spoon in his paw. On the right track. Let's try again. This time, the lock moved further, one last wrench. Yes! It's done. The lock went round one full turn. Now, the door was unlocked, but Jet couldn't push it open. It was too heavy.

“Can you pull it from that side, Gatwick, it's unlocked?” Jet asked.

Gatwick tried to grip the door handle, but it was too high. The wooden spoon came to the rescue. Gatwick held it up as straight as he could, placed it on the inside of the handle and pulled and pulled until the door opened. There was Jet, on the floor exhausted. He panted while he said:

“You see, Gatwick, I told you I'd get you out!”

“Oh, Jet, Jet, my best friend. Thank you so much for freeing me. You are my saviour!”

“Well, I wouldn't put it quite like that”.

“Yes, you are, you are. How can I ever thank you?”

“Let's get out of the prison first, it's not going to be easy”, whispered Jet. “People don't usually take much notice of birds. If they see me, they'll just try and chase me out with a broom. But, bears, that's a different story. Especially, here in Switzerland. You know, they shoot them”.

“Yes, I know, but only when they're big”.

“That's true. By the way, I met your Mama up on Emerald Mountain. They'll be after her”.

“You met my Mama? And, did you see Little Sister, too?”

“Yes, I did. They were leaving their cave when I saw them this morning. Very worried about you, they were. I told them not to worry, that I would look for you”.

“Oh, Jet. I can't wait to see them again. It wasn't too bad in here, but they locked the door and I couldn't get out”.

“Course, they lock the doors, it's a prison not Disneyland”.

Gatwick didn't know what he meant. As long as he could see his family again, he didn't care about understanding, or not understanding, things.

“Gatwick, we need a disguise to get you out”.

Gatwick had left his sunglasses and fake sideburns in his Edwardian case, or were they in Little Sister's lime-green leather handbag? Whichever, they weren't here.

“There's nothing in this room that I can wear”. Gatwick poked his head around the door. He saw a bin, he could put that over his head.

“Wicked!”, exclaimed Jet. “You'll look like a lampshade. You won't see where you're going, but I will direct you and tell you to stop when someone's coming”.

After closing the door carefully, with the help of his wooden spoon, Gatwick ran to the bin, turned it upside down, crawled under it, and stood up.

“Walk straight on, five more paces then turn left, go on, straight ahead, now go down ten steps”. Jet could see a prison officer coming. “Stop!” Gatwick stopped in his tracks. As he passed Gatwick, the prison officer thought it was strange to have a lamp right there at the bottom of the stairs, and one with furry legs, too! Very strange. This young man had only been working at the prison for two days, perhaps he'd never noticed the lamp before, maybe it was new. He tried to think what the reason was for furry legs holding up a lampshade. He couldn't think of anything.

When the prison officer climbed to the top of the stairs and turned the corner, Jet instructed Gatwick to start walking again. Straight on again, then stop again, they'd reached the prison entrance. The door was locked and bolted. Difficult.

“I know what to do”, whispered Gatwick. “Fly around the place and flap your wings as hard as you can. When they notice you, they'll get a broom, and try to hit you out. They've got to open the door to do that”.

“Great idea!” said Jet.

So Jet starting flying around the prison, flapping his wings hard and making a loud whirring noise. The prison warden soon noticed Jet, he'd never seen such a big black raven before.
‘
What's a raven doing in here?', he thought.
‘
How did it get in?' He went to get an enormous broom and, right enough, he opened the heavy steel door of the prison entrance, waved the broom about, and hit Jet out. Gatwick went from standing dead still just inside the prison doors, to standing dead still just outside the prison doors.
‘
Another lamp with furry legs', the prison warden thought to himself,
‘
are these all the go nowadays?' He didn't follow fashion much.

As soon as the door was closed shut, Gatwick threw the bin off himself and started running as fast as his furry legs would take him. Jet swooped down and said:

“Steady, Gatwick, first we've got to pay a visit to a friend of mine. He wants to talk to you. Really, don't worry about it because he can be very nice, when he wants to”.

“Jet, any friend of yours is a friend of mine. But I do so want to see my Mama and Little Sister”.

“No, we've got to go and see my friend first. Look, if it wasn't for me you'd still be in prison. Please just do me this favour and then you can go back to your family”.

Gatwick thought he had better keep Jet happy. After all, he was such a great friend.

“Oh, come on, then; let's go to your friend”.

Jet took the scruff of Gatwick's waistcoat in his beak and flew him to White Alp and Stud. It started raining hard, Gatwick and Jet got soaking wet. The White Alp cave was soon in sight. But, there was such a horrible stink. Can you imagine Gatwick being flown through the air in Jet's beak with a wooden spoon in one paw and holding his nose with the other?

“I thought mountain air was supposed to be pure and clean”, Gatwick shouted up to Jet.

“Yes, well there was a delivery of cow dung, and it ended up at the entrance of the Eagles' cave. First, it melted in the sun and now, I suppose it's getting mixed up with rain water. At least it will be washed away”.

Gatwick just squeezed his nose as much as possible, the smell got worse and worse. He knew they had reached the cave because the smell was unbearable. Jet flew Gatwick in and handed him over to Sam.

“Hi man. Did ya have a good flight?”, without waiting for Gatwick to answer, he pushed him into a cell saying: “Ya stay in here till ya called for”, and then locked the door. Gatwick didn't like locked doors. He wanted to be able to walk in and out of a room as he pleased. There was just a chair and a television in the cell

no bunk bed – maybe he wasn't staying the night. He thought that he might as well watch television to pass the time away. They were talking about other birds now: sparrows. They showed pictures of them dying in droves, whole areas were flooded and they were drowning. Some sparrows were selling little female sparrows as slaves to bigger birds and even to men. Gatwick really couldn't understand the world of birds, nor that of people either.

It seemed to Gatwick that the answer to the world's problems was in one word: love. There didn't seem to be much of that around. If only they were all like bears and felt what Gatwick felt for his Little Sister, Mama and his friend Jet. What a silly lot birds and people were.

In the meantime, Stud was reading two emails from Miss Acid. The first email was about Little Sister. Miss Acid had enquired with the airline. Her findings were that Gatwick had an accomplice on the flight; a female who could be described as all white with red ears, a cherry-red, heart-shaped nose, red soles on her paws, and a red dickie-bow round her neck. A member of the crew had given Miss Acid a plan Gatwick had drawn of the plane. There was a drawing of the bear in the seat the little white bear had sat in. This surely was proof. It was clear that Gatwick's accomplice had flown on the same flight.