Henry Haynes and the Great Escape Read online

  ‘What now?’ thought Henry looking all around. All he wanted was to get back to his bedroom and the proper story. ‘The lions are out,’ he said to himself. ‘Surely Brian will let me go back now?’

  At that moment a low humming noise started up beyond the gates to the lions’ den.

  Henry peered cautiously in and quickly spotted Brian draped across a rock with his tail dangling in the moat.

  ‘Fancy a ssswim?’ hissed Brian, slithering down across the rock and into the stream. ‘The water’sss really cool, man! And there’s ooohh ssso much ssspace compared with my sssilly glass tank!’

  With the lions out of the way Henry was feeling braver. He marched into the den and sat down on a rock. ‘Now look here, Brian,’ he said sharply, ‘I’ve done what you’ve asked. I’ve let out the lions now. So please, how do I get home?’

  ‘Patience! Patience!’ hissed Brian from the stream. He dived under the water then slithered back up onto the bank. ‘Our day’s work is not done yet, boy!’

  Henry’s stomach turned a slow somersault as his heart dropped towards his shoes.

  ‘Yesss, yesss!’ continued Brian merrily. ‘You sssee, the giraffesss and the zebrasss are in on our little plan. Oh, and, er, Gordon, of course...’

  The snake coughed politely, trying to avoid Henry’s piercing stare.

  ‘D..Did you say G..Gordon?’ stuttered Henry. His heart was now pounding.

  ‘Yes.. Gordon...you know, Gordon the..er..Gorilla.’ Brian pretended to busy himself rearranging his coils. ‘You may have noticed him earlier? We passed right by him on the way here.’

  All of a sudden the snake looked up, his eyes glowing with admiration.

  ‘Gordon is our hero – he masterminded the whole Revolution you know!’

  Henry shuddered. ‘No way! Not Gordon! I’ll do the others, but I’m not letting that gorilla out. He’s marked me for his lunch, I know he has! He thinks I’m that boy Jeremy in my library book who called him stink face!’

  Brian shook his head impatiently. ‘Tut-tut, my boy! Now, I know Gordon getsss people confused from time to time – you know, like when old George Sm–’ The snake paused and stared into the distance. ‘Well, perhaps I won’t trouble you with that story…. but, yes, really Gordon’s as nice as pie, Briany promissses!’

  Henry clutched his stomach and started shaking his head. ‘Anyway,’ he shouted, ‘if this is a revolution, where are the guns then, eh? EH?’

  ‘There aren’t any gunsssssilly! Thiss is a Re-housing Revolution!’ hissed Brian.

  ‘A what?!’ cried Henry in despair, trying hard to lower his voice, but failing. ‘I haven’t the foggiest idea what you’re talking about!’

  ‘Quessstionsss, only quesstionsss!’ snapped the snake. He thrust the tip of his tail in the direction of the mound. ‘Why don’t you go and ssstand up there and take a look out, boy! That’s where you’ll find your answer!’

  Henry shook his head and sighed. He walked over to the mound, climbed wearily up and stood on the highest point.

  As he looked out across the grounds of the zoo to the enormous park outside he could just make out the silhouettes of three lions lounging under a tree.

  The last of the walkers, picnickers and footballers, along with the people who had been queuing for the zoo, were fleeing over the horizon.

  Henry took in a deep breath and gave a puzzled frown – then all of a sudden raised his eyebrows. ‘This Revolution isn’t to do with fighting,’ he whispered to himself. ‘It’s about better homes for the animals!’

  7

  Deal, No Deal

  ‘Ssso, how do you like my new pad?’ hissed Brian as Henry returned back down the slope. ‘Heapsss better than that tiny tank!’

  Brian scratched his cheek with his tail and lifted his chin importantly. ‘We did a deal you sssee. Me and the other sssnakes in here. Lionsss, giraffesss and zebrasss out to the people’s park.’

  He paused. ‘Oh, er, and Gordon’sss opted for Bear Mountain – you know where the bears live…’

  ‘And the bears?’ asked Henry with a gulp.

  Brian tossed a weary glance towards the clouds. ‘Ohh, sssilly sissy bears! They want to ssstay where they are, don’t they? They’re just like all the other animals they are – too ssscared to join the Revolution!

  ‘Mind you,’ he hissed, peering cross-eyed down his nose, ‘I don’t sssuppose they’ll last long there, what with Gordon’sss…well, you know, …washing problem!’

  At the mention of Gordon, Henry started to panic again. He scrabbled madly in his head for ideas. Gordon thought he was Jeremy from his library book, of that he was sure. And it was Jeremy who’d called the gorilla ‘stink face’. If Gordon got anywhere near him he’d be pummelled to the ground and crunched to an agonising death!

  ‘Okay, here’s my side of the deal,’ said Henry desperately, trickles of sweat tickling his brow. ‘I’ll let out the giraffes and zebras. I’ll even throw in the elephants if they change their minds and want to join in, and fetch your other snake friends for you. But I’m not doing Gordon!’

  ‘No deal!’ snapped Brian.

  His cool leathery nose was suddenly pressed hard against Henry’s, his yellow eyes glaring like fog lamps once more.

  ‘Gordon the gorilla masterminded thisss plan and he’ll be none too pleasssed if he don’t get to benefit! Now you had better help get ’im out of his cage, matey, cos you’re not leaving this ssstory til you do!’

  Henry sat down on a log beside the stream and put his head between his knees. This story was way out of control, and he had to find a way out. How could he release Gordon without putting his own life in danger? He stared miserably at his grubby kneecaps and prayed for a miracle.

  8

  Henry’s Escape Plan

  After about ten minutes of thinking Henry jumped up. ‘I’ve got it!’ he shouted triumphantly.

  Brian, who was dozing in the sun on the rocks, jerked so suddenly he almost shed his skin.

  When Henry told him his secret plan the snake grinned widely. ‘Besst of luck, Little Geniuss!’ he hissed merrily. ‘Now, come along, boy, the Revolution has ssstarted! Let’sss put your little plan to work….! And once they’re all out I’ll sshow you how to get home.’

  Henry and Brian immediately headed off towards the zebra pen. When they had got only about 20 metres down the path a zookeeper appeared around the corner. Brian quickly slithered behind a bush, whisking Henry in with the end of his tail.

  ‘Brian! Brian! Here Brian, boy! It’s Percy Wercy! Your favourite Keep Weeper! Come to daddy, Brian, boy!’ sang the zookeeper.

  ‘Ssstupid oaf! Thinksss I’m his pet dog!’ scoffed Brian. Luckily Percy passed by without spotting them.

  Henry and Brian snuck out again. As they approached the zebra pen, the animals’ eyes filled with glee. A dozen zebras scuffed the ground impatiently with their front hooves as they crowded at the gate chanting, ‘Masai Mara here we come!’

  ‘Come on, little fella!’ one snorted, its striped ears pricking hard forward as he eyed the keys eagerly. ‘Attaboy!’

  Henry chose the key marked ‘Z’ and placed it in the lock. The moment the gates flung open the whole herd of zebras thundered out, almost flattening Henry and Brian as they passed.

  Brian peered after them through the clouds of dust. ‘There’sss gratitude for you,’ he hissed angrily. The zebras galloped towards the exit.

  Thanks to their tall necks, the giraffes were already eyeing up their corner of the park when Brian and Henry arrived.

  ‘So keynd,’ they murmured politely as Henry struggled to reach the lock. The tallest of them, seeing that Henry was having trouble opening the gate, lowered her great neck and nudged her nose against the bars.

  ‘Meynd your heads!’ she said regally as the tall gate swung open. The herd of giraffes delicately picked a path past Henry and Brian and went sedately on their way.

  ‘Okay,’ said Henry. He pulled his stopwatch from his pocket as they turned to head
for the gorilla’s cage. ‘Now for your half of the deal before we put my plan into action… Exactly how do I get home once I’ve set up Gordon to escape?’

  ‘Well, er, it’sss quite sssimple, really!’ hissed Brian with a coy grin. ‘You just, er, ssstand where you first landed, look straight up – and, er, jump!’

  ‘Is that it?’ said Henry in disbelief. It was so simple he suddenly felt rather foolish.

  ‘That’sss it!’ hissed Brian smugly as he gazed up at the clouds. But then he glanced sideways at Henry, narrowing his eyes. ‘Oh, but don’t go gettin’ any funny ideas, matey. Cos if you try to essscape before releasing Gordon, Briany promissses the trick won’t work!’

  9

  Gorilla Charge!

  Gordon looked meaner than ever as they approached the cage. Henry, who could feel trickles of cold sweat running down his spine, had placed his blue jumper on the grass in exactly the spot he had landed earlier when he fell through the book. Using his stopwatch he had worked out that it would take him exactly fifteen seconds to get to it from the gorilla’s gate. Now, as he fumbled with the keys, he glanced back over his shoulder to check the direction he’d need to run in to escape.

  A terrible stench filled the air as they drew close to Gordon’s cage.

  ‘Afternoon, Gordon,’ spluttered Brian, waving the tip of his tail in front of his nose.

  Henry thought he might be sick again, but managed to swallow hard instead. Gordon, meanwhile, licked his lips and stared at Henry as he grasped the iron bars with his two hairy hands.

  ‘The Revolution isss well underway,’ hissed Brian between coughs, ‘and I am pleasssed to tell you that thisss young man is about to sssecure your releassse!’

  Gordon’s black beady eyes were glued to Henry who, with trembling hands, was fumbling with the key marked ‘G’. ‘G’ for Gorilla. ‘G’ for Gordon. ‘G’ for ‘Get you for laughing’.

  ‘Th.. This is your k-key,’ Henry stammered.

  Gordon let go of the bars and glared at the key.

  ‘B..But you mustn’t put it in th..the lock until I have c..counted to twenty. The lock’s on a sp..special t-timer.’

  He lifted his stopwatch to make sure Gordon had understood. ‘If you o..open it t..t.too soon, the zoo alarm will s..sound.’

  Gordon frowned, scratched his head, then grunted and nodded.

  Henry, with his arm shaking violently, tossed the keys through the bars as far away from the gate lock as he could manage – whereupon Gordon (who was nobody’s fool) immediately dived backwards, grabbed them and hurled himself at the gate.

  Henry, who was already counting, turned and fled in the direction of his jumper on the lawn.

  ‘One, two, three, ….’ the key was rattling in the lock.

  ‘Four, five,’ the lock was turning.

  ‘Six, seven, eight...’ a gate was creaking.

  ‘Nine, ten …’ a chest was beating.

  ‘Eleven, twelve, thirteen….’(unlucky for some) Gordon was charging! ‘Fourteen’…Henry looked up…only sky…

  He looked down… ‘Fifteen!’ The jumper! But, oh no! A gorilla’s breath on his neck!

  Henry looked up and jumped, just managing to grab his jumper as he went. A whirl of letters and Henry Haynes shooting up through the air, his blue jumper covered in grass cuttings trailing in his hand – and somewhere in the distance above what looked like his bedroom light.

  Down below Gordon the gorilla charged on past, not a thought in the world for Henry Haynes. No indeed. Gordon the gorilla’s thoughts and dreams were – and always had been – fixed firmly on the distant peaks of his new home on Bear Mountain.

  10

  The End

  Squidge. Henry landed back on his bed, face down in his pillow, his heart thumping. Slowly he lifted his head. His library book lay open at the last page beside him, not a sign of a hole anywhere.

  Henry thought for a moment and looked all around. Then he felt the sharp stab of his stopwatch against his chest. He wrenched it from under his sweaty body. The timer had stopped at 15 seconds.

  Henry half smiled. Then, feeling more than a little wary about falling inside his book again, grabbed the bed head with his right hand and the book with his left – then through squinted eyes read the last page.

  ‘Jeremy James stood outside his house while the reporters for the national newspapers took hundreds of photographs. He had been the hero of the day. He had beaten off the snake, saved the woman and, quite remarkably, ushered everyone out of the zoo to safety. It certainly had been a day to remember!

  The newspapers were full of the animals’ escape the next day. ‘All Change At London Zoo,’ ‘Mystery Boy Masterminds Zoo Plot’ ‘Zoo Animals Take Park By Force’ ‘Zoo Keepers Control Park Lions with Sirloin Steak!’

  As for the mystery boy who had helped the animals escape, he was never seen again.’

  The End

  ‘Henry! What’s all that grass doing on your bed?’ Henry’s mother stood in the doorway, hands on hips. She sniffed deeply. ‘And what on earth is that disgusting smell? Have you had a dead animal in here?’ Henry cleared his throat and jumped off his bed.

  ‘Gorilla socks!’ he blurted out with a crimson grin, then darted past her into the hall.

  ‘Gorilla socks?’

  The following morning, when Henry passed the book back over the counter to Mrs Glyn, she gave him the widest of smiles for a little old lady.

  ‘Nothing like a good book to take you into another world,’ she murmured, her small eyes twinkling. Then she twirled on her seat and danced her fingers across the keyboards. Click, click, click. Click, click, click.

  ‘I’ll see you again very soon, dear,’ she said in a strange, smiley sort of voice without looking up.

  And as Henry turned to leave she started, very gently, to hum.

  THE (REAL) END

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  Also by Karen Inglis

  In print and as eBooks

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  A fun, fast-paced graphic novel about a soccer-mad alien who runs away to Earth for the World Cup

  * Ferdinand Fox’s Big Sleep (3-5 yrs)

  A rhyming colour picture book based on the true story of a fox that fell asleep in the author’s garden

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  * Walter Brown and the Magician’s Hat (7-9 yrs)

  When Walter Brown inherits a magician’s hat from his Great Grandpa Horace on his 10th birthday he discovers that it has special powers - and that his cat Sixpence is no ordinary cat!

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  About the Author

  Karen Inglis lives in London, England. She has two sons who inspired her to write when they were younger. She also writes for business, but has much more fun making up stories! She has a lovely cat called Misty who you’ll find on her website below:-)

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  Acknowledgments

  With huge thanks to my wonderful illustrator, Damir Kundalic

  For Martha, who read this first

  Copyright © 2014 by Karen Inglis

  Published in print by Well Said Press in 2014

  Published for Kindle September 2015

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

 

 

  Karen Inglis, Henry Haynes and the Great Escape

 

 

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