The Dismal Daffodil Read online

  Chapter Five

  Alberta and Coco extricated themselves from the Lovely Lotus Temple and scurried out into the sunshine again. To Alberta’s amazement, Señor Jardinero was still fast asleep under the cherry blossom tree without a hair out of place.

  ‘He certainly knows how to relax,’ remarked Alberta.

  ‘Please, don’t wake him,’ begged Coco. ‘It’s much better this way – at least when he’s asleep he can’t be folding paper flowers.’

  Alberta raised her binoculars to her eyes and approached the cluster of daffodils.

  ‘Now, Coco, there was something about that flower I just wanted to check—’

  She stopped. Standing right next to the dismal daffodil were two young guinea pigs. One of them was on tiptoes, reaching inside the cup of the flower with his claw.

  ‘Got it!’ the little guinea pig called out happily, extracting something and waving it about.

  ‘Hurray!’

  The other little guinea pig clapped and jumped up and down in excitement. The drooping daffodil suddenly stood up straight and tall, just like the others.

  Coco stared at the daffodil. He stared at Alberta. He stared at the little tiptoeing guinea pig. His cheeks blew out and his whole body started to shake.

  ‘YOU!’ he bellowed. ‘YOU! I can’t believe it!’

  It was Ernesto! That annoying little guinea pig who had caused Coco many difficulties, headaches and sleepless nights!

  ‘Oh, hola Señor Policeman!’ chirped Ernesto, seeing Coco in his magnificent red sash, and skipping over.

  Coco took a deep breath and struggled to control himself. ‘What were you doing with that daffodil?’ he demanded. ‘Tell me at once!’

  Ernesto ran back and hid behind the other little guinea pig.

  ‘You sound so cross,’ he whimpered. ‘I wasn’t doing anything naughty.’

  ‘He’s a good boy,’ said the other little guinea pig.

  ‘And who are you?’ interposed Alberta. She turned to her cousin and whispered, ‘Calm down, Coco. Everyone’s looking.’

  (She was right – all the other guinea pigs in the Japanese garden were crowding around, wondering what the commotion was about.)

  ‘This is Federica,’ said Ernesto, proudly. ‘My best friend.’

  ‘How do you do, how do you do?’ said Federica, beaming. ‘How do you do do you do you do do you do?’

  ‘Yes, yes, all right!’ snapped Coco. He addressed Ernesto, speaking very slowly. ‘Tell me immediately what you were doing with that DAFFODIL?’

  Ernesto came out from behind Federica. He held on to her claw with his own.

  ‘Well, you see, it’s like this,’ he said in a small voice. ‘Last week it was Federica’s birthday party.’

  ‘And we all came to the Japanese garden,’ said Federica. ‘I like it. Do you like it? I like it. It’s my—’

  ‘Don’t interrupt,’ growled Coco.

  ‘And we played chasings,’ continued Ernesto, cowering a little, ‘and musical cushions, follow my leader, that’s right, then we played what’s the time, Mr Wolf?, pass the parcel, grandmother’s footsteps, that’s right, and then we played red light green light, wink, and then I think we played, yes, that’s right, duck duck goose—’

  ‘Could you get to the POINT?’ Coco couldn’t help himself.

  Tears began to form in Ernesto’s round eyes.

  ‘And then,’ put in Federica, coming to his rescue, ‘we played hunt the peanut and Ernesto was the hider.’

  Ernesto brightened at the memory.

  ‘Yes, and I was the hider. I had to hide the peanut and that is my FAVOURITE game so I hid it in a very special place and everyone had to go and hunt for it. But there was just one problem.’

  ‘What was that?’ asked Alberta.

  ‘I forgot where I hid it!’ wailed Ernesto. ‘And we looked and looked and we couldn’t find it and then it was dark and we had to go home. But then in the middle of the night I woke up and I remembered where I hid it, so my grandma brought us back today so I could find it again. And look, I did!’

  Ernesto proudly held up the peanut in his claw. He glanced hopefully at Federica.

  ‘So does that mean I get the prize now?’

  ‘That is RIDICULOUS!’ exploded Coco. ‘To think of all the anguish you have caused – with your – your peanut! That poor daffodil. Not to mention poor Señor Jardinero!’

  ‘Talking of whom …’ murmured Alberta, because Señor Jardinero had finally woken up and was heading their way, yawning and rubbing his eyes.

  ‘‘My midday sleep

  Disturbed by the singing

  Of rice-planting songs,’

  he announced, rather reproachfully.

  ‘Well, not exactly rice-planting songs,’ Alberta pointed out.

  But Señor Jardinero had caught sight of the daffodil, no longer dismally drooping but bright and cheerfully upright. He was so overcome by joy that he threw his arms around Alberta, and Ernesto and Federica as well, and even Ernesto’s grandmother, who had been resting inside the Lovely Lotus Temple with a little headache.

  ‘The plum tree blooms

  It is spring

  I am in ecstasy!’

  Señor Jardinero would have thrown his arms around Coco as well but Coco stood apart from the happy scene, fuming by a nearby bonsai.

  Outrageous! That irritating little guinea pig, at the bottom of the problem AGAIN! When he thought of all the time he had wasted, all those paper flowers strewn around his office, why—

  He stopped his train of thought. There were those voices again, this time coming from behind the bonsai.

  ‘Kciuq! S’ereht eno revo ereht!’

  In a trice Coco had removed his red sash, and was whirling it above his head like a lasso.

  ‘No you don’t!’ he hollered. ‘I arrest you both, in the name of the city of Buenos Aires!’

  And down fell the loop of the sash over the two wicked umbrella-grabbers caught in the act!

  Chapter Six

  So Coco was the Tostada of the Town! There were headlines and banners all over the city. Everyone was talking about him, and his amazing lassoing of the umbrella-grabbers.

  He was invited to the Casa Rosada for a banquet in his honour, and Alberta came with him. Señor Jardinero was invited as well, and they all wore paper flowers behind their ears and looked very glamorous.

  First Coco was presented with his medal for bravery by the President herself. Alberta cheered loudly and Señor Jardinero made an unusual remark. Then they sat down for a seventeen-course dinner with all the distinguished guests.

  ‘You know, what I don’t understand,’ said Alberta, ‘is why all the flowers in the Japanese garden were not blown away in that terrible wind.’

  ‘Apparently it’s vitamins,’ said Coco. ‘Señor Jardinero is very keen on vitamins. Isn’t that right, Señor?’

  But Señor Jardinero did not hear. He was staring suspiciously at the delicate entrée that had just been placed in front of him.

  ‘Neither good nor bad

  Just simply

  sea slugs’,

  he muttered.

  ‘Do show me your medal, Primo,’ said Alberta, who had never really warmed to Señor Jardinero. ‘You are getting quite a collection of them.’

  ‘Yes. I hope perhaps with all this practice, one day they will manage to get the spelling of my name right,’ said Coco, presenting it to her.

  ‘Oh well, at least you know who it is,’ said Alberta, because spelling was not her strong point. She stood up. ‘I have to go now, Coco.’

  ‘Oh Prima,’ said Coco, glumly. ‘Must you?’

  ‘Yes, I must,’ replied Alberta. ‘I have to finish my morning exercises. I never like being away from home for too long, sabés. But you know where to find me, next time you need me!’

  And in a wink she had left Coco and Señor Jardinero to enjoy the rest of the evening without her.

  Coco sighed. He hummed to himself:

  Distant lands se
e you pass

  Other moons follow your paw prints

  Your only destiny is always to fly …

  It was so sad to see Alberta go. But she would come again, he knew, and in the meantime, he thought with a smile, he was very fond of tea with pastries …

  CAN YOU CORRECT THE SPELLING

  OF COCO'S NAME?

  CLUES FOR PUZZLES

  STRANGE DIRECTIONS PUZZLE

  This is a maths problem with a lot of words inside it. Did you fold the paper as Coco suggested?

  Now, if you can see through the words to find the numbers, Coco’s instructions would look like this:

  16×2×100-234= ?

  When you find the answer, you will realise that the roads of Buenos Aires can be very long!

  SEÑOR JARDINERO’S BUSINESS CARD PUZZLE

  The clue here is to look at the first letter of each word of the mysterious message on the card. Aha!

  Haiku is a special kind of Japanese poetry. When we write a poem in English often we make the words rhyme, but in haiku the poem is made by counting out the numbers of sounds in the words. Usually a haiku is described as being a poem of seventeen syllables divided into three lines.

  When haiku is translated from Japanese, it doesn’t always work out like that, but the translator will try the best they can. All of the haiku that Señor Jardinero recites in this story are based on translations from a wonderful Japanese poet named Kobayashi Issa, who lived over 200 years ago.

  BACKWORDS PUZZLE

  To understand this code, you have to have a back-to-front sort of mind.

  What happens if you read each word backwards to how it is written?

  ORIGAMI GUINEA PIGS!

  The Japanese people make beautiful gardens, like the one in Buenos Aires, beautiful poems, like haiku, and also beautiful folded paper shapes called origami, like all the flowers in Coco’s office.

  In origami you use a square sheet of paper and you fold it into different shapes, without cutting or gluing it. There are some amazing things that people can make just by folding a square sheet of paper (yes, including lobsters and helicopters!).

  Here is a simple origami guinea pig you can make yourself. Once you have made it, draw on the eyes and the teeth and the whiskers and whatever else you like. Maybe you could make one for Coco and one for Alberta.

  Glossary

  abrazo (ah-brah-so) hug

  Buenos Aires (bwen-oss eye-rez) the capital of Argentina

  che! (chay!) hey!

  entendés? (en-ten-dez) do you understand?

  hola (oh-la) hello

  interesante (in-tair-ess-un-tay) interesting

  jardín Japonés (har-deen hap-on-ays) Japanese garden

  jardinero (har-deen-air-oh) gardener

  pobre (pob-ray) poor

  prima (pree-mah) girl cousin

  primo (pree-moh) boy cousin

  Obelisco (ob-ell-isc-oh) the Obelisk

  qué raro! (kay rah-roh) how strange!

  qué suerte! (kay swair-tay) what luck!

  querido (cair-ee-doh) dear, darling (if you are talking to a male guinea pig)

  querida (cair-ee-dah) dear, darling (if you are talking to a female guinea pig)

  sabés (sa-bez) you know

  señor (sen-yor) Mr or Sir

  señora (sen-yor-a) Mrs or Madam

  siesta (see-eh-stah) nap

  tío (tee-oh) uncle

  tía (tee-ah) aunt

  tostada (toss-tah-dah) toast

  vamos! (ba-moss) let’s go!

  COMING SOON

  On the eve of her comeback performance, opera singer La Bella Cucharita receives threatening messages. Can Coco and Alberta expose who is sending the diva quivering quavers?

  The tomb of tango singer Anibal Manzana is mysteriously talking. Could it be haunted? Luckily Coco and Alberta are on hand to investigate this ghostly puzzle.

  HELP COCO (AND ALBERTA)

  CRACK MORE CASES

  It was the middle of the night, and Alberta was just starting a jigsaw puzzle when a letter arrived with a bang at her door.

  ‘Great carrots!’ said Alberta out loud. This was what she said when she was surprised, which, being a guinea pig, was most of the time. ‘I bet that’s from my cousin Coco.’

  Alberta’s cousin Coco Carlomagno was Chief of Police in Buenos Aires, a big city in Argentina, South America. Alberta had a lot of relatives in South America. Millions, in fact. But Coco was her favourite.

  She scurried out to get the letter. It was from Coco. Whatever could he want at this time of night? She tore open the envelope. This is what it said:

  ‘Hmm,’ said Alberta.

  Coco had an unusual way of writing, but she was pretty sure she understood what he meant. It was true, she reflected, she had a gigantic brain. It was the biggest in her family. When she was born, her father peered inside her tiny pink ear, caught sight of her brain, and fainted on the spot.

  ‘Now, what could be this strange thing that’s upsetting Coco?’ wondered Alberta.

  Even though he was Chief of Police, Coco panicked easily. Alberta remembered the time he begged her to come over because of a sinister dripping sound in the apartment upstairs. That had turned out to be nothing more than a leaky lemonade bottle.

  ‘The jigsaw puzzle will have to wait,’ she decided at last. ‘I’d better go and see Coco straight away and find out what’s up.’

  She packed up the puzzle, put some lettuce leaves and a pack of cards in a brown-paper bag, and added her favourite red turban, just in case. Then she left a note for her neighbours, locked the door and headed off for South America.

  Find out what happens next in

  The Perplexing Pineapple!