The Wolf Cupboard (3 page)

When they got home, Leon took Danny up to his bedroom. There wasn't much time. He had to sort out this wolf problem before Mum got home.

“Right,” said Leon, flicking through the book again to find the page on “How To Avoid a Wolf Attack”.

Danny was not in a good mood. His lower lip stuck out like a fat pink slug. He was chanting, “I'm not going back to school. I'm not going back to school!”

“Will you stop saying that?” snapped Leon. “I'm trying to help you. I'm trying to make sure that, even if you
do
get chucked in the wolf cupboard, you won't get eaten. So there's no need to be scared. OK?”

“OK,” said Danny. But he didn't sound sure.

Leon found the right page and read it. “These are great tips,” he thought. But would they work for Danny?

“Imagine there's this great big angry wolf, with very sharp teeth,” said Leon. “And it wants to bite you!”

Leon showed his teeth, like an angry wolf. He gave a loud growl. “Grrrr!”

“You're scaring me!” cried Danny.

“But you don't need to be scared!” said Leon. “Because this book tells you what to do.”

“What do I do?” asked Danny.

“Well,” said Leon, “you do what another wolf would do. You stare at the wolf.”

“What, just stare at it?” said Danny, puzzled.

“Yes!” said Leon. “It's called a wolf stare. The wolf in the photo is doing it. Wolves stare fiercely at each other. And the one with the fiercest stare wins.”

“What, like this?” asked Danny making his eyes big and round.

“That's really good,” Leon said.

Danny kept staring, his eyes wide, not blinking.

“You can stop staring now,” said Leon. “It's creepy!”

Finally, Danny blinked. “But what if the other wolf has a fiercer stare than me?” he asked. “What if it wins? Will it bite me?”

Leon could hear Mum turning her key in the front door. He looked at the book for an answer.

“No, the wolf won't bite you,” said Leon. “You've just got to do
this
.”

Leon rolled onto his back, like a dog that wants to have its tummy tickled.

“What are you doing?” asked Danny.

Leon said, “The book tells you, if a wolf loses a staring contest, it rolls over onto its back, like this. It's like saying, ‘I give in.' And then the other wolf won't bite.”

“Oh, I get it!” said Danny. He rolled over onto his back too.

“And if you whimper as well,” Leon told him, “the other wolf knows for sure you've given in.”

“Like this?” said Danny, whimpering and pawing at the air with his hands.

“That's really great!” said Leon.

Mum looked round the bedroom door.

“What are you two up to?” she said.

“We're pretending to be wolves,” said Danny.

Leon went red. He felt really silly rolling around on the floor.

At least only Mum had seen him, and not his mates at school. They would have laughed their socks off.

Mum went back downstairs. Leon stopped pretending to be a wolf. He stood up.

“Now, remember, Danny,” he said. “If you get chucked in the wolf cupboard, you can use your wolf stare. And if that doesn't work…”

“I know,” said Danny. “I roll on my back and give in.”

“Right!” said Leon. “You've got it!”

“I'm not scared of that wolf now,” said Danny.

Leon thought, “My plan has worked like a dream!”

But you never knew with little brothers. Who could tell what went on in their heads?

Just then Mum came back into the bedroom. She asked Danny, “Did you like your first day at school?”

“Well, I didn't like school
at first
,” began Danny.

Mum frowned. Leon held his breath. He was thinking, “Please Danny, don't make trouble for me!”

Then Danny put a big smile on his face.

“But everything's all right now,” he told Mum. “So I'm going again tomorrow.”

Mum was smiling too. Leon thought, “Phew! I'm not going to get into trouble!”

But what would happen tomorrow? When Danny woke up, would he still not be scared of the wolf in the cupboard?

Next morning, Danny seemed quite happy when he got up.

He didn't say, “I'm not going to school!”

Leon thought, “My plan is working really well!”

There was just one tricky moment. When Mum gave Danny his cornflakes she asked him, “Why are you staring at me like that? It's creepy!”

“I'm practising my fierce wolf stare,” Danny told her, with wide unblinking eyes.

A bit later, when Leon walked Danny to school, they passed a gang of tough-looking teenagers, leaning against a wall.

“Why is that little kid staring at us like that?” one of them asked Leon. “Is he trying to be funny?”

“No, no,” Leon told them, dragging Danny away. “He's only four. He doesn't even know what he's doing.”