Girl Wonder to the Rescue (2 page)

“Maxine . . . MAXINE! Let me out of here THIS SECOND!”

We stared at the barred living-room door.

“Mum . . . Mum, is that you?” I asked, surprised.

“OF COURSE IT’S ME. OPEN THE DOOR! NOW!” Mum didn’t sound too pleased at all.

We were in seriously, serious trouble. Possibly the most seriously serious trouble we’d ever been in. I unlocked the door.

Sparks flew from Mum’s eyes.

“What do you three think you’re playing at?” Mum asked furiously, her hands on her hips.

“I heard a noise, Mum,” I said. “We thought you were a burglar.”

“A burglar . . .” Mum spluttered. “If . . . if you thought you’d heard a burglar in this house you should have come to wake me up first, not tackled him by yourselves. And what do you mean by
trapping me in the living room?”

“We couldn’t let you escape, Mum,” Anthony said. “Not when we thought you were a burglar.”

Anthony edged past Mum to look in the living room. I think he still couldn’t believe there was no burglar.

“Right! No pocket money for a month for any of you,” Mum said. “In fact, no pocket money for a year!”

“But Mum . . .” I said, dismayed.

“Wait a minute, Mum. What’s the matter with your present?” Anthony asked.

“What? Er . . . nothing.” Mum tried to shoo Anthony out of the living room. I sneaked past her to take a look. The wrapping paper of Mum’s present was open at the top.

“I . . . I must have tripped over it in the dark and accidentally opened it,” Mum said quickly.

We looked at her. Mum had been doing a spot of burgling!

“Come on, Terrific Twins, let’s go back to bed,” I said.

“But Mum’s been opening . . .” Anthony began.

“But look! Mum’s present is . . .” started Edward.

“I think you two must have been
dreaming,” I said to the Terrific Twins. “Mum wouldn’t be so sneaky as to try and open her birthday present before her birthday. Isn’t that right, Mum?”

“Absolutely right, Maxine,” Mum agreed.

“I mean, Mum warned us against opening our Christmas presents before Christmas Day – remember? So she wouldn’t do the same thing herself,” I continued.

“Never mind Mum’s present! What about our pocket money?” Anthony wailed.

“Yeah, our pocket money!” said Edward, dismayed. “This is all your fault, Maxine. It was your flimsy-floppy-drippy-droopy idea to catch the burglar.”

I looked up at Mum.

“Mum, you said . . .” I got no further.

“I never said anything about your pocket money. You three are dreaming!
Now go back to bed!”

“Are you coming too?” I asked Mum.

“Yes, I am. I’ve had enough excitement for one night. I think we all have,” said Mum, shaking her head and yawning.

I stuck down the wrapping paper again on Mum’s present and we all went to bed.

The next morning when Mum finally opened her present and found her scarf, she liked it.

“We put it in a big box because it was only a little present,” I explained.

“Size has nothing to do with it. Big things aren’t the best things just because they’re big,” Mum said. “I love this scarf. It’s so pretty and just the thing for the spring chill.”

We all went for a walk to the park so that Mum could try it out. Hooray for spring! We all love the spring!

It means summer’s just round the corner.

“Ow! Ouch!” My tooth was killing me! My whole right cheek was puffed up like a balloon.

“That does it, Maxine,” said Mum. “If your tooth isn’t out by tomorrow, I’m taking you to the dentist.”

“Ouch! Ow!” My tooth hurt too much to even protest.

“Let me see it, Maxine,” said Edward.

I opened my mouth and wobbled my loose tooth very,
very
gently to show him.

“Where? I can’t see anything,” Edward said.

“I . . . ri . . . th . . .” I said, with my mouth still wide open.

Edward frowned. “I still don’t see anything.”

I took my finger out of my mouth. “It’s right there. It’s the tooth I’m wobbling about.” I frowned. “Can’t you see it?”

Edward moved closer until his nose was practically in my mouth.

“I still don’t see it,” he complained.

I frowned at him. “What’s the matter with your eyes?” I asked.

“Let me see,” said Anthony, barging Edward out of the way.

I showed Anthony. He spotted my wobbly tooth immediately.

“When it comes out, put it under your pillow and then you’ll get money from the tooth fairy,” said Anthony.

“Tooth fairy!” I scoffed. “There’s no such thing as a tooth fairy. It’s just Mum
who puts money under your pillow when you lose a tooth.”

“Is it?” Mum smiled. “You think so?”

“I
know
so,” I said. “I caught you the last time, Mum – remember?”

“Ah, but that’s why I got in touch with the Tooth Fairy Society and asked them to take over the job,” said Mum.

“The Tooth Fairy Society?” said Edward.

“Mum’s pulling your leg.” I laughed.

“No I’m not, Maxine.” Mum shook her head. “I won’t be putting money under your pillow any more. Your own personal tooth fairy will be doing it from now on.”

“I don’t believe a word of it,” I said.

Mum shrugged. “Suit yourself. But when your tooth falls out and you put it under your pillow,
I
won’t be the one swapping it for money.”

“Do we have our own personal tooth fairies too?” asked Anthony, his eyes wide.

“Of course.” Mum smiled.

“It’s not true. It’s just Mum who does it,” I protested.

But from the look on Anthony’s and Edward’s faces, it was clear that they believed Mum rather than me.

In a huff, I marched downstairs.

All afternoon as I sat watching telly, I wibbled and wobbled my tooth around.
I turned it to the left and I turned it to the right and I wobbled it back and forth, back and forth. Until at last with a TWORP! it came out of my gum.

By now Mum, Edward and Anthony had come downstairs. Mum gave me some warm, salty water in a glass. “Go upstairs to the bathroom and rinse your mouth out with that,” said Mum. “It will kill infections but don’t swallow any or it’ll make you sick.”

I went upstairs to gargle with the salty water. Now my tooth was out, my mouth didn’t hurt at all.

That’s more like it, I thought to myself.

Then I had an idea. If Anthony and
Edward didn’t believe that Mum was the tooth fairy in our house, then I would prove it to them.

“This is a job for Girl Wonder by herself!” I said to my reflection in the mirror. And I sloshed the last of the salty water around and around my mouth before spitting it out. I ran to my bedroom and put the tooth under my pillow before going back downstairs again.

“How are you feeling?” Mum asked.

“Fine!” I grinned. “What time will you be swapping my tooth for money, Mum?”

“I’ve already told you, Maxine, I don’t do that any more,” Mum said, smiling.

“Well, I’m going to wait up all night,” I told her. “And if my tooth is still under my pillow by tomorrow morning then that will prove that tooth fairies don’t exist.”

“You’ll never stay up all night.” Mum
laughed. “You, Maxine, are a girl who likes her sleep!”

And with that, off Mum went to get a glass of orange juice. Now was my chance.

“Terrific Twins, I need your help,” I said to my brothers.

“You do?” said Anthony, surprised.

“Why?” said Edward.

“For what?” asked Anthony.

“I want you two to help me look out for this so-called tooth fairy tonight,” I whispered to them. “I’m going to prove that Mum and the tooth fairy are one and the same person.”

“But why do you need us?” Edward asked.

“Because Mum’s right! If I try to keep watch by myself, I’m only going to fall asleep,” I replied. “But with your help, at least one of us will always be awake. There’s no way Mum can sneak past all three of us.”

“I’m not sure about this, Maxine,” said Anthony. “I like my sleep too!”

“So do I!” Edward agreed.

“Oh, come on. Do you want to catch Mum in the act or don’t you?” I asked, crossly.

“OK, then,” my brothers agreed reluctantly, and we all spun around, bumping and bouncing and bashing into each other.

“Right then. Edward, you can hide behind the wardrobe and Anthony, you can hide behind the curtains,” I explained.

“And where will you be?” asked Anthony.

“Yeah! Exactly where will you be?” Edward said.

“I’ll be in bed, of course,” I said. “Where else would I be? We don’t want Mum to get suspicious, do we?”

Anthony and Edward frowned at each other.

“How come we get the hardest bit?” asked Anthony.

“Yeah! How come?”

“Because it’s my plan,” I replied.

Just then Mum came into the room.

“What are you three up to now?” she said, her eyes narrowing.

“You’ll see, Mum.” I smiled. “You’ll see.”

Later that night, Anthony stood behind the curtains and Edward stood by the wardrobe, hidden from the door. I sat up in bed, waving my torch about in the darkness.

“How long have we got to stand here?” asked Anthony.

“Yeah! How long?” asked Edward.

“Until we catch Mum or the tooth fairy or both.” I yawned.

“My legs are getting tired,” said Anthony.

“My eyelids are getting sleepy,” said
Edward. “I can hardly keep them open.”

“Well, you must,” I insisted with another yawn. “I’m just going to lie down here and
pretend
to be asleep so that when Mum comes in, she’ll not suspect anything.”

I snuggled down under my duvet whilst Edward and Anthony grumbled and moaned about how they always had to do all the hard bits. I struggled to keep my eyes open, I really did, but my pillow was soft and my bed was warm and my whole body was tired. So I thought, I’ll just close my eyes – just for a couple of seconds.

The next thing I knew – it was morning! And Edward and Anthony were nowhere in sight. I lifted up my pillow – and there it was. A bright, shiny one pound coin. Rats! Mum must have sneaked in after I’d fallen asleep and Edward and Anthony had gone back to their own bedroom.

I had a shower and went downstairs. Mum was already down there cooking breakfast.

“Morning, Maxine,” she said, grinning.