Flat Stanley's Worldwide Adventures #11 (5 page)

Etoile and Stanley browsed the bookstalls on the Left Bank of the river Seine. In honor of his travels, Etoile bought Stanley an English copy of
Around the World in Eighty Days
by Jules Verne, one of France's greatest writers.

Then they visited the grand cathedral Notre Dame, which Stanley had seen in the distance when he'd first exited the Louvre. It had gargoyles peering down from two huge towers and a colorful, round stained-glass window that stretched thirty feet across. The cathedral was nearly eight hundred years old!

Finally Etoile took him to the Eiffel Tower. They rode an elevator to the top and looked out over the city.

Stanley had never been anyplace that was so full of art and beauty. “How do you say ‘beautiful' in French?” he whispered.

Etoile looked at him with her big blue eyes.
“Belle
,” she whispered.

“Belle
,” Stanley repeated softly.

Suddenly Stanley was startled by a shout.
“Arrête!
” a familiar voice called. “Stop right there!”

From the elevator behind them leaped Agent Lunette. “I've been all over the city looking for you!” He put a firm hand on Stanley's shoulder. “You are late for dinner!” he said in Stanley's ear. “Let's go.”

Stanley's heart lurched. He was about to protest, but Agent Lunette stopped him with a stern look.

Stanley forced himself to say,
“Au revoir
, Etoile.”

“B-but Stanley—” Etoile sputtered.

“Please don't tell anyone you saw me,” he said sadly. “I'm sorry.”

Etoile's blue eyes stared back helplessly as Agent Lunette dragged him away.

Minutes later Agent Lunette and Stanley arrived at Aunt Simone's apartment. She shrieked when she opened the door.

“Stanley!” she cried, wrapping her arms around him. She examined his face. “Did they hurt you?”

“Who?” Stanley wondered.

“The thieves who kidnapped you!” Aunt Simone said.

Agent Lunette grimaced and cleared his throat. “Monsieur Lambchop was not kidnapped, Mademoiselle.”

“I went for a walk,” Stanley said. “I made a friend.”

“A friend!” Agent Lunette huffed. “Monsieur Lambchop, nobody was supposed to know you are here. You have put the mission in danger! We found you only because we alerted the entire police force, and an officer at la Tour Eiffel recognized you!”

“You're right, Agent Lunette,” Stanley said. “I made a mistake. And I'm sorry I worried you, Aunt Simone.”

Agent Lunette straightened his glasses. “Is there anyone else in Paris who knows you have come, Monsieur Lambchop?”

Stanley shook his head. “No. And I don't think Etoile will tell anyone.”

“Let us hope not,” Agent Lunette said. “Because tomorrow you must guard the
Mona Lisa
once more.”

False Appearances

The next morning, after he dressed and his aunt reapplied his beard and makeup, Stanley hung alone in his painting. The
Mona Lisa
looked over at him with her sly smile, as if she knew all about yesterday.

Stanley still felt terrible. He had disappointed Agent Lunette and scared his aunt. And when he thought of Etoile, his stomach ached. She had looked so confused and hurt when he had been taken away. She had been friendly and generous, and now he'd probably never see her again.

Museumgoers came and went, remarking on Stanley and his painting. The
Mona Lisa
smiled her smile.

Suddenly there was a loud clattering, and all the visitors in the gallery turned to look. Even Stanley shifted his eyes.

But it was just someone whose camera had dropped by accident.

The murmur of the crowd resumed, and Stanley brought his gaze back to the
Mona Lisa.
But it took all his control not to furrow his brow. Something wasn't quite right. He'd never noticed the tree beside her head. And had she always turned her body at him that way? She looked back at Stanley with her—

Wait a minute, thought Stanley. She's not smiling!

The
Mona Lisa
had been switched with a frowning fake!

Stanley scanned the crowd for anyone suspicious but saw nothing out of the ordinary. Then he looked up.

There was a masked person, dressed all in black, sticking to the ceiling of the gallery. The person had suction cups on both hands and legs . . . and over their back was slung the
Mona Lisa
! The burglar was creeping ever so slowly toward the door.

“Stop!” Stanley yelled, reaching out of his painting to point to the ceiling. “Thief!”

The thief began scrambling more quickly. Agent Lunette burst into the gallery, shouting to the guards. A woman fainted when she saw Stanley pull himself from his painting, and a man rushed forward and doused some water on her face.

“S'il vous plaît?
” Stanley asked the man, pointing to the water.

“This is no time for a water break!” Agent Lunette shouted.

Without answering, Stanley splashed some water on his face and hands. Then he took three giant steps back, got a running start, and leaped onto the smooth gallery wall. His damp skin stuck like plastic decals on a window, just like when he had climbed the Washington Monument in Washington, DC.

By peeling his hands off and re-sticking them a few inches ahead of him, he was able to creep up the wall and onto the ceiling. The thief stuck and unstuck the suction cups speedily to flee.

Stanley inch-wormed across the ceiling as the crowd watched below. When he had almost caught up, the thief looked back, unstuck their right leg, and brought their knee down hard on Stanley's hand.

“Argh!” Stanley cried out in pain. The thief lifted their leg again, and Stanley grabbed the suction cup and hung on to it with one hand as he dangled over the crowd. Everyone gasped.

The thief jerked around, trying to shake Stanley loose. But Stanley wouldn't let go. Instead he grabbed the thief's leg with his other hand and started swinging back and forth, stretching the thief's leg farther and farther. The thief groaned. With a pop, the suction cup on the other leg came unstuck from the ceiling.

The thief was now attached to the ceiling by nothing more than the suction cups on their hands, with Stanley swinging from the thief's legs like an acrobat.