How Kirsty Jenkins Stole the Elephant (11 page)

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Chapter 25

‘I thought we could go to the park?' Mum said after breakfast. ‘It's a bit chilly, but we can probably find the odd duck or three to feed.'

‘Is Dad coming?' Ben asked quietly.

Mum shook her head, ‘No. I don't think so, love.'

When Mum said that, Kirsty suddenly
knew
that what they were going to do was right. ‘How about the museum?' she said. ‘We haven't been there in ages.'

Dawn grinned wider than a Cheshire cat on its birthday. Ben seemed to shrink down further into his chair.

‘Sure. The museum. Fine,' Mum said. ‘If anyone needs the loo, go now. Everyone else, coats on.'

On a Saturday afternoon, with spring still hovering some way in the distance, the museum was full to bursting. Kirsty was amazed at the transformation. Two Mondays ago, when she had followed Mr Thomas, they had practically been the only people there. Today, it was as busy as an ants' nest, a big marble and cast-iron ants' nest. Kirsty looked up into the cavernous space of the ceiling. Today the air echoed with the shrieks of children, the chatter of adults, the tinny music coming from the headphones of the teenagers.

‘Cool,' she said to no one in particular. Then she turned back to the others who were dithering at the cloakroom window. ‘I'll fetch a map.'

Kirsty squeezed through the forest of bodies that had sprouted around the information desk. She ducked a handbag as it swung towards her head, then she swiped two leaflets from the desk. She stuffed one into the back pocket of her jeans, for use later. She twisted her way back out of the crowd and skipped towards the others. She unfolded the leaflet with a snap and then examined the map.

‘Egypt, Natural History or Science? I think Natural History,' Kirsty said.

Mum smiled with more warmth than Kirsty had seen in days. ‘Do you now? Don't the rest of us get any say?'

Kirsty smiled back. ‘Nope.'

‘Stuffed animals it is, then.'

Kirsty handed the map over to Mum, who led the way towards the archway at the end of the hall. Kirsty walked behind. Ben and Dawn came last. Ben held Dawn's elbow. ‘Perhaps this isn't a good idea?'

‘We're only looking at some dusty old animals.'

‘No, we're not. We're, we're . . .' Ben thought hard for the right words. ‘We're scoping the joint! That's what we're doing.'

‘I don't know how to scope a joint. I'm just looking for a way to steal their elephant. And so is Kirsty, and so are you. And please let go of my arm in public. One of my friends might see you and think that I know you.'

Kirsty stopped and turned; she had been listening. She grinned at Ben. ‘Don't worry. We're not going to steal it today, are we? Come on. I want to learn how to scope.'

The east wing of the museum building was devoted to stuffed animals, fossils, rocks, dried plants and old bones. In one case, shells and dried seaweed were strewn higgledy-piggledy, as though the glue keeping them in place had crumbled with age. In another case, rocks were lined up in neat rows, each marked with a label handwritten in a maze of spidery writing.

‘Look at this, kids.' Mum had stopped in front of a case. Inside, a stuffed owl glared at them with yellow eyes. Half a mouse hung from its beak, as though it had chosen exactly the wrong hole to bolt down.

‘Yuck,' Kirsty said, looking at the mouse's stringy tail draped over the owl's beak.

‘It's not “yuck”, it's amazing,' Mum said. She drifted to the next case, which was filled with small birds glued to twigs.

‘Oh, finches,' Mum said. ‘Actually, these ones are a bit yuck. Their feathers look like they've been through the tumble drier too many times. They look so much better when they're alive. Though that goldfinch is beautiful.'

Kirsty caught Dawn's eye, then jerked her head dramatically towards the end of the gallery. The African savannah.

‘Just going to look at the lions, Mum,' Kirsty called. Mum nodded without really listening. Kirsty led the way.

A group of animals stood on what was meant to be a typical savannah. Behind a low rope, a giraffe balanced on loose gravel, a lion lay in dried grass, a rhino guarded a plastic boulder and an elephant gazed out at a horizon of rocks and minerals in the next room.

‘I bet they wouldn't be so happy together in real life,' Ben said glumly.

‘They don't look very happy now,' Kirsty said.

It was true. The lion's mane looked grey with dust; the seam where the giraffe's neck had been sewn up was gaping gently. A small boy had slipped his arm under the rope and was throwing stones into the rhino's open mouth. He wasn't the first one to do this; the rhino's mouth was full of small stones, as though it had been grazing on the gravel.

Kirsty led the way round the group of animals until they were standing in front of the elephant. It was so noisy in the gallery, with shouts and gasps and crying babies, that they were able to talk without anyone overhearing.

‘So, Ben. How do we scope a joint?' Kirsty asked.

Ben sighed. ‘Well, in theory – and this is just In Theory, remember – you need to start with entrances and exits. How to gain access. Then security. Are there guards? Cameras? How can you get this out of here without anyone noticing? Then, of course, there's the big one. How are you planning on even moving the thing? In case you haven't noticed, it's massive.'

Kirsty gazed up into the tiny brown eyes of the elephant. They held such a deep, wise expression, that they reminded her a little bit of Grandad. Between his eyes, his trunk swept down to the ground. His ears hung like ragged grey bags at the sides of his face.

‘He doesn't have tusks,' Kirsty said. ‘Do you think that hunters took them?'

Ben looked up from the sign he had been reading. ‘No. It never had tusks. It's not a
he
,
it's a
she
.
From Asia.
They don't grow tusks.'

‘Why's she in the African savannah?'

‘She packed her trunk and went on holiday!' Dawn said with a huge grin.

Kirsty groaned and rolled her eyes. She stepped right up to the rope, as near as she could get to the animal without attracting attention from any security staff. She peered closer. ‘She's hairy!'

‘Is she?' said Ben. He leaned in to see the wiry sprouts of hair on her grey hide. ‘You don't think of elephants as hairy, do you?'

Dawn sniffed contemptuously. ‘All mammals have hair. Everyone knows that.'

‘Even whales?' Ben asked.

‘Er, yes, of course. Probably,' Dawn said, not sounding too sure.

Kirsty giggled. Dawn look huffy and stalked away.

Kirsty looked at the elephant. ‘She
is
big, isn't she?' Kirsty said to Ben quietly.

Finally, Ben seemed to relax a little. ‘Yes. Huge. Ginormous. It can't possibly be done.'

‘But they got her in here in the first place, didn't they? So it must be possible to get her out.' Kirsty grinned.

Ben's shoulders stiffened again.

‘So, entrances and exits,' Kirsty said. She took the second leaflet from her back pocket and unfolded it to look at the map. ‘There's the way we came in. She would fit under the archway but not out of the front doors, I don't think.'

Ben leaned in to take a closer look. ‘Nope. It definitely won't go through the front doors. Oh well, we tried. Let's go now.'

‘What about this?' Kirsty pointed to a grey rectangle drawn on one of the side walls of the building. ‘
“Goods lift – not for public use”
,' she read. ‘Is that a real lift? It looks huge on this map.'

Ben sighed, then nodded. ‘Yes, it will be a big lift.'

‘On the map it looks like it goes down to street level. We should check it out. Dawn, look at this.'

Dawn was gazing up at the walls of the gallery. She came back and looked at the map. ‘All right,' she said. ‘Where's your mum?'

‘Still over there by the dead little birds. Don't worry. Mum'll be happy for hours,' Kirsty said.

‘Great. Let's go.'

There was a large alcove past the African savannah, about the size of a normal living room. The lift was set into the back wall. The whole area was crowded, but not with usual museum visitors. Men and women in black-and-white waiters' uniforms scurried around, unloading a lift so big that it looked like the inside of a lorry. They were bringing out some strange objects, mostly big metal boxes, but there were also huge, solid wooden wheels, taller than most of the people.

Kirsty, Ben and Dawn stared. Then Kirsty noticed a woman in uniform standing apart from the others. She was bent double with her hands on her knees, as though she had just come last in a really long race.

Kirsty went up to her and smiled. ‘Excuse me, what's going on?'

‘Banquet. Stuff. Tonight,' the woman wheezed. ‘Asthma,' she added.

Kirsty nodded. Now she understood. She reached out towards one of the big wheels that rested against the nearest wall. ‘Tables?' she asked.

The woman nodded but didn't speak; her lips were turning blue.

Kirsty's face crumpled in concern. ‘Ben? This woman's lips are blue.'

‘Wait,' Ben said. He looked around for someone who might be in charge. A man in a different uniform was standing to one side of the lift. He was wearing a grey jacket with black piping along the creases, with a radio clipped to his waist. He held a key which he had jammed into a panel by the lift. Ben walked over.

‘Scuse me,' Ben said politely.

‘Yes?' the security guard said.

‘There's a woman over there with asthma. And blue lips. She's not well at all.'

The security guard looked across to the woman who was leaning heavily on Kirsty's shoulder.

‘Blimey,' the man said and rushed over, grabbing for his radio as he went. Everyone was looking at the woman who had started wheezing noisily and clawing at the air. Ben's hand flashed up, pulled the key from its slot on the control panel and slipped it into his pocket without a soul noticing.

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Chapter 26

‘I can't believe I did it. I can't believe it,' Ben said, staring at the key in his palm as though it were a radioactive bomb. Kirsty grinned. He hadn't stopped talking like this since they had got home from the museum. He lifted the key nearer to his face and stared at its jagged teeth. ‘I didn't even mean to. I don't even think this is a good idea. I think it's stupid. But my hand just did it, all by itself. Perhaps I was possessed?'

‘Perhaps you just saw a good opportunity and took it. There's no need to get your knickers in a twist,' Dawn said. She stretched out on the top bunk, kicking her trainers on to the floor with a heavy thunk.

Kirsty reached over and snatched the key from his palm.

‘Hey!' he said.

‘What? You didn't want it anyway! I'm only having a look.' Kirsty twisted the key around, peering at it from every angle. ‘This is brilliant. Now we've got the key we can go in the middle of the night and take the lift up from the street. This is going to be easy.'

‘Yes, dead easy. You've forgotten that they'll have alarms. And security guards. And then we have to move an
elephant
. Couldn't be easier. Couldn't be saner,' Ben muttered.

Kirsty chuckled. ‘OK, I didn't mean easy. I meant not impossible. You're right about security. We got out of there so fast once you'd nicked the key, there wasn't time to check it out. We need to go back.'

Dawn started whistling. It was a drawled, aimless tune that was clearly meant to be irritating.

‘What?' Ben asked grimly.

Dawn whistled louder.

‘What?' Kirsty demanded.

‘Well. While you two were staring like loons at the elephant, I was looking for cameras. I was working. In that gallery there was one CCTV camera on the balcony. It's pointing mostly at the giraffe, but it can probably see the elephant's back legs. There was also one of those boxes, like Mum has installed in the salon.'

‘A sunbed?' Ben asked.

‘No, you idiot. One of those little white boxes stuck to the walls. An intruder alarm.'

Ben frowned. ‘Do you reckon they have those laser beam things, like on films? You know, where you have to do gymnastics to cross the room without breaking a beam. Cos I can't do backflips.'

‘No. Did you see their displays? They can't even afford glue to keep blue tits on their perch. I don't think we need to worry about lasers.'

Kirsty stood up, her eyes twinkling with anticipation. They were on the brink of a daring, cunning, extravagant plot. They just had to work out the finer details. ‘Right,' she said. ‘We haven't got much time. On Monday, Mum will contact a phone engineer. It will be fixed on Tuesday. That means that by Wednesday she'll have called the council; they'll all find out that Katy Jennings doesn't exist. And we'll all be grounded for life. So we need to act fast. Monday or Tuesday night at the latest. That gives us the rest of tonight and tomorrow to work out how to get past the security alarm, the camera and how to move an elephant. I think that Dawn should think about the alarm. Ben, you think about the camera, and I'll work on transport. Agreed?'

Dawn nodded her head vigorously, Ben nodded slowly. Kirsty clapped her hands – a signal for them all to get to work.