Colin and the Little Prince

By Merv Lambert

Read how Mr. Jellysox got his strange name, how Billy gets into a lot of trouble at school but how M, his invisible emu, helps him to get out of a tricky situation involving a large beaker of water and some unpleasant Sixth Formers. Also see how M spooks the culprits. Moreover, who is the Sixth Musketeer? Olivia takes on the role as Olivier, and as Colin’s trainee musketeer defeats the second best swordsman in the whole of France. Finally on a speeding express train Olivia and Colin prevent Princess Katrina and her brother Peter from being kidnapped, whilst Colin and M divert the train elsewhere. As expected, in every story in which he appears M never misses a chance to produce his own brand of comical antics.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AUK Kids
• Release date: Mar 15, 2012
• ISBN: 9781781661666

Book preview

1988.

Colin and the Little Prince

Colin and Olivia, Billy and Jilly were all exhausted after playing tennis with M in the park. They had had to wait until it was nearly dark, and book the last half-hour that the only court was open. It would be quite difficult for anyone else to see what was really happening. M always played invisibly, but his racquet, held firmly in his strong beak, was there for all to see. It would look as if the racquet was playing all by itself and of its own accord. Their little dog Sammy loved to watch the balls whizzing to and fro, and sometimes he would run to fetch one back, when it went out of play off the court.

Billy and Jilly set off for home on the far side of the park, whereas Colin and Olivia lived nearer to it on the Liverpool Road. When they arrived home, Sammy settled in his basket, and M went out for a game of hide-and-seek with next door’s little cat Millie. Olivia was already in bed by the time Colin had had a quick shower and was just locking up the house. He noticed his special book lying open on the end of the bed. He would just move it onto the armchair.

No, Colin! shouted Olivia, but she was too late. She only had time to think ‘Colin’s got to be at work in the morning’. Then they were all whipped away again on another adventure. The magic phoenix bookmark was glowing merrily. Didn’t it realise that she, Olivia, needed some sleep sometimes?

To make matters worse, when she opened her eyes, she was not with Colin. She could see her own reflection in the mirror of the compartment of the old-fashioned railway carriage in which she was sitting. She was wearing a long white dress that came down to her ankles and a small but neat navy blue hat. She glanced down at her feet. She was wearing smart court shoes that matched the colour of her hat and the small handbag she was clutching. There was no one else there except Sammy. It was a very clean, very elegant carriage, probably first class, and she could tell by the scenery flashing past that the train she was in was travelling at a considerably fast speed.

In the corridor a uniformed ticket-inspector appeared. He tapped on the window of the door, and slid it open.

Tickets please, madam, he said.

Olivia looked down at her left hand, and was not entirely surprised to find two tickets, one for herself and one for Sammy. Was that usual? Was she allowed to have a pet in here travelling with her? Apparently so. The ticket-inspector smiled at Sammy, as he clipped the tickets.

When do we get in? asked Olivia.

Edinburgh? 8 p.m., madam. Thank you.

The man stepped into the corridor, and slid the door shut.

Olivia sat wondering. Where was Colin?

In fact he was on the train, but in just about the last place Olivia would have expected him to be. He was in the driver’s cab of the locomotive!

It’s often been said that it was every small boy’s dream to drive a steam train. Colin would have added that it was also many a small man’s too, but he wasn’t actually driving the train. Yes, he was on the footplate, but he was assisting the driver. He glanced down at his fireman’s overalls for the first time. Yes, he would be working very hard, very hard indeed.

The train-driver, a small man with a large mop of silvery hair, glared at Colin, and snapped, Get on with it then! More coal! More coal!

With the bookmark glowing warmly in his pocket Colin swung open the heavy door of the engine’s furnace to be met by a blast of heat from within. Setting his feet firmly apart, he filled his big shovel with coal and emptied it easily onto the flames. He repeated this several times before shutting the furnace door.

The engine-driver was now looking at him with some approval.

Ain’t seen you before, he said. I thought this was your first time up.

Yes, it is, answered Colin, but people say I’m a quick learner.

What’s your name again? asked the driver.

Colin. What’s yours? I was in such a hurry to get on board I missed it.