Lizard's Leap: Chapter Twenty Seven: Monobo

Some time later, Lidlia took pity on them and brought out afternoon tea from the castle kitchens. Chef had cooked a ham especially in honour of the new guests.

They regularly leaped back home to keep the grandparents off their backs and to buy themselves more time, though only half an hour of real time had passed at home while they were in the castle. But Nana always said that grandparents have an ear for quiet children. They know that when a house goes quiet there is usually mischief brewing. So they took it in turns to go back, in twos, to change the music and make a noise.

After what seemed like an age, the cleaning ladies trooped back into the hall and repeated their vacuuming ritual.

They watched distractedly but then Kerry sat straight and stared at them. Her eyes were alert and her brow furrowed, as it did when she was on the point of making an important breakthrough on one of her science problems. Vicki knew that look; Kerry was coming up with something. They all felt a stirring of excitement.

The ladies shuffled out again.

‘Got it!’ yelled Kerry. ‘Come on, you lot, help me, please.’

They dragged the vacuum cleaner from the wall and over to the bearskin. Then they carefully took a broadsword from the wall. It was sharp and Lidlia helped them to position it firmly on top of the vacuum cylinder.

They fastened the vacuum hose along the length of the sword so that the opening of the hose stopped just at the top of the sword. Then they put the bearskin on top of the sword and positioned the hose so that the end of the pipe just showed from the bear's mouth. The teeth were helpful in securing the pipe in place.

They set the bugle into the end of the hose, resting the end of it on a Queen Anne chair so that it was supported in the bear’s mouth.

Finally, they turned on the vacuum and stood back.

For a few seconds nothing happened and even Lidlia’s face fell. But then deep resonant sounds blew out loud and clear from the end of the bugle. The bear had come to life, and while he might not have been playing the morning salute, he was certainly making a noise.

They clapped and cheered and everybody hugged everybody else. Even Lidlia was caught up in the excitement.

Lidlia led them proudly through to the library. These were her protégés; nobody had ever got farther than the Great Hall before. This was a first. Rumours were flying round the castle about them and people were staring. Some said the four visitors had a rare madness that would spread through the castle and kill them all. Others said that they were great visionaries from another time who knew everything there was to know. Some people were saying that these four children had come to solve the final puzzle.

At the far end of the library, away from all the gas lamps, some people were sitting huddled in the corner reading. ‘Here we go again,’ Emma said. ‘Loony tunes time.’

‘Oh,’ said Lidlia. ‘I see you’ve noticed our Caleptic lighting. We’re very proud of it, and it’s a great Castle honour to be given a turn to read by its magic light.’ Four men were sitting in thick coats with books on their knees. They shivered continually.

‘Unfortunately,’ continued Lidlia, ‘the Caleptic lighting has a very strange magic. We don’t understand why it gets so cold when you open the door to turn it on. Still, it’s only a minor problem. Simian, our wizard, is working on a spell that will give us the Caleptic lighting without the cold. We think the Caleptic lighting box has been cursed by a wicked witch. Simian is a powerful wizard and will find a counter-spell.’

They giggled as they walked away from the people huddled round the fridge trying to read by the tiny light.

Nothing surprised them anymore. A medieval castle with electricity? Talking gargoyles? Reading apes? This was bizarre.

‘Oh,’ said Vicki as they turned round and saw the ape-like creature sitting at one of the tables with a book in his hand.

The monkey-type thing was startled and hid behind his book making little whimpering noises.
‘That’s Monobo,’ Lidlia said. ‘He’s very shy. You see, when he was at the laboratory people used to poke him and tell him that he’s ugly.

He was used for experiments, you know. They injected him with psychotropic drugs and sometimes he has flashbacks and starts dancing for no reason. Anyway,’ she said, bored with the monkey, ‘The upshot is that he believes that he's ugly. He thinks he’s the ugliest creature on earth. It’s sad really.I mean, he’s not that bad.’ she reflected, looking at Monobo over the rim of her glasses.

‘Oh no,’ Vicki exclaimed. ‘He’s beautiful. Please put the book down, Monobo, so that we can come and talk to you.’

Slowly, slowly, the ape lowered the book and a pair of intelligent, brown eyes peered over the top at them. He had a big face with a nose that looked as soft as velvet and lots of long silvery-black hair. But his eyes were sad.

‘I hate those people for what they did to you,’ Vicki said angrily. ‘If I got hold of them I’d stick electrodes on their heads and fry them up into brain toast. You are beautiful, Monobo, and we love you.’ Vicki was known for getting passionate about animals.

‘What are you reading?’ Mark asked, as though it was the most natural thing in the world to ask a monkey what was his preferred taste in literature.

Monobo relaxed while Lidlia went on to explain that reading was his passion; he loved books and spent many happy hours in the castle library reading up on everything he could find.

He couldn’t speak, Lidlia said that would just be silly, who ever heard of a talking monkey? But Monobo turned the book over and pointed to the title to show Mark that he understood his question and that he was happy to respond.

‘A Tale Of Two Cities,’ Kerry said. ‘Wow, Monobo That’s pretty hard reading.’

‘Actually,’ said Lidlia. ‘The next puzzle concerns Monobo.