Hide! The Tiger's Mouth is Open Wide! (9 page)

Sophie sighed. ‘Look, I know it’s been fun learning about teeth. But maybe we should find you another hobby.’

‘No way,’ said Tom. ‘It’s teeth all the way for me. So I can operate on tigers like Dr Sharp does. Or make casts and solve crimes like Violet.’

Sophie looked out the window and sighed. Mrs Nightingale had been chatting to the receptionist and was now walking back towards Tom and Sophie.

‘Hey, guess what?’ Mrs Nightingale said. ‘Laura the receptionist is going on holiday next week.’

Tom looked up blankly. ‘Lucky her.’

‘She keeps parrots,’ Mrs Nightingale continued. ‘She’s got an African grey parrot, a double yellow-headed Amazon and a green-winged macaw. She’s found someone for the first two while she’s on holiday, but she can’t find anyone to look after the macaw.’

Tom stared at his mother in disbelief. ‘Really?’

‘Really,’ said Mrs Nightingale. ‘If you like the idea, then it will be coming to live on our boat for a couple of weeks.’

Tom started to hop from one leg to another. ‘This is brilliant, this is brilliant,’ he chanted.

Sophie was smiling too. She looked at Tom and said, ‘Are you sure you want to look after a parrot?’

‘Yeah, course,’ said Tom. ‘Why wouldn’t I?’

‘Well, they haven’t got any teeth, have they?’ Sophie said.

Tom stopped hopping for a couple of seconds. Then he started again.

‘Yeah, but they can
talk
,’ said Tom. ‘There’s only one thing better than an animal with teeth and that’s an animal that can talk.’

He was skipping around the room now.

‘I’m going to teach it to say, “Tom is brilliant” and “Tom’s the best” and “There’s Smelly Sophie.”’

Sophie and Mrs Nightingale watched Tom as he kept hopping around and muttering about all the things that we was going to teach the macaw to say.

‘Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea,’ Mrs Nightingale said to Sophie.

‘At least he’s not going on about teeth any more,’ Sophie said.

Mrs Nightingale and Sophie grinned at each other. Tom looked across and grinned too.

‘It’s funny,’ said Mrs Nightingale, ‘animals use their teeth to bite, chew, carry, dig and a hundred different other things. But that’s not the best thing you can do with them. Not in my opinion.’

‘So what is the best thing you can do with your teeth?’ Tom asked, stopping for a moment.

‘Smile,’ said Mrs Nightingale, as her grin turned into a burst of laughter.

Zoological Society of London

ZSL London Zoo is a very famous part of the

Zoological Society of London (ZSL).

For almost two hundred years, we have been

working tirelessly to provide hope and a

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By buying this book, you have made an essential

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Chapter 1

Tom and Sophie Nightingale were on their way back from the cinema with their grandad. They had all been to see
AstroKid v The Man-Eating Martians
in 3D and were talking about the amazing special effects. They had just stepped on to the towpath that led down to the marina where they all lived, when every light in the area went out.

The lamp posts along the canal flickered and died, the houseboats in the marina were thrown into darkness and the houses along the edge of Regent’s Park were suddenly swallowed up by the night.

‘It’s the man-eating Martians!’ exclaimed Tom. ‘They must be here!’

‘Don’t be daft, Tom,’ replied his big sister, Sophie. ‘It’s just a power cut.’

‘So what do we do now?’ Tom wailed. ‘How are we going to fight the Martians when we can’t even see them?’

‘It’ll be OK, Tom,’ Grandad replied, clapping Tom on the back and making him jump. ‘We just have to use our other senses, that’s all.’

‘What do you mean, “our other senses”?’ Tom asked.

‘Our sense of hearing, our sense of touch,’ said Grandad. ‘Millions of creatures wake up at night. Bats, owls, hedgehogs, badgers . . . and they get around just fine.’

‘How’s hearing going to help?’ Tom asked. ‘I can’t hear anything.’

‘Course you can,’ said Grandad. ‘Just listen.’ He tapped on the path with his walking stick. ‘Hear that?’

‘It sounds like concrete,’ said Tom.

‘Exactly. So we know we’re on the path. You try.’

He reached for Tom’s arm in the darkness and placed his walking stick in his grandson’s hand.

Tom began to tap the path and move slowly forward.

After a few seconds, he exclaimed, ‘I can do it!’

At the same time, Sophie said, ‘My eyes are beginning to adjust. I think I can see our barge.’ She reached out with one arm. ‘Yes, I can feel the railings by our section of the towpath.’

‘That’s the idea,’ Grandad said. He took a deep breath. ‘And I can smell the ivy that grows along the bank.’

They all moved towards the side of the marina where the houseboats were moored.

Tom and Sophie lived with their parents on a barge called the
Jessica Rose
but generally known as
The Ark
. If it hadn’t been for the power cut, it would have been possible to see all the animals painted on the sides of the boat. The surrounding water had been worked into the design too, so there were hippos wallowing in it, penguins diving into it, elephants drinking from it and flamingos wading in it.

A few metres further along from
The Ark
, the next dark shape was Grandad’s houseboat, the
Molly Magee.

Tom gave Grandad his walking stick back and said, ‘I think I can do this last bit.’ Then he felt for the edge of
The Ark
with his foot and launched himself into the air.

‘Tom!’ Sophie exclaimed.

‘What?’ replied the voice of Tom in the darkness. ‘It’s fine. I’m totally used to the dark now. Come on – the door’s down here.’

At that moment, the edge of the houseboat door glowed and opened. Mrs Nightingale was standing there, holding a candle.

‘Hello, you three,’ she said.

Tom and Sophie walked carefully down the steps.

‘I’m going to check on my place,’ said Grandad. ‘See you in a bit.’

‘Bye, Grandad,’ said Tom.

‘Thanks for taking us to the cinema,’ added Sophie.

As Tom and Sophie entered the living room, Rex, the family terrier, ran up to greet them, sniffing and snuffling at Tom’s shoes and trousers.