How Kirsty Jenkins Stole the Elephant by Elen Caldecott Read Free Book Online Page A

again, as though she were growing prickles. ‘Cos I am,’ Kirsty said. ‘And I miss Dad too. And I’m worried that we’ll never get him back.’
    Dawn’s prickles disappeared. Her eyes looked strangely watery. ‘Yes,’ she sniffed. ‘Me too.’
    â€˜Totally Oprah,’ Ben muttered.
    â€˜Shove off,’ Kirsty said.
    Dawn laughed properly. Ben scowled for a second, then started chuckling himself.
    â€˜Will you help us, then?’ Kirsty asked quietly.
    â€˜Oh, I suppose so. As long as none of my friends find out. If anyone sees me, I’ll have to pretend I don’t know you. What do you want me to do?’
    â€˜Come to the allotment tomorrow. It’s too late to go now – Mum’ll be wondering where I am. But come tomorrow, after school, and we’ll all decide on what we’re going to do next.’

Thursday

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    Chapter 13
    At the allotment, Kirsty sat on an old sack in front of the shed and told Dawn the whole problem. Ben listened too. ‘Grandad asked me to look after the allotment for him, so I promised I would. But then I came here and Mr Thomas from the council said I couldn’t. I was too young and I wasn’t on the waiting list. Mum agrees with him. I don’t know what Dad thinks, cos he hasn’t been around to ask. Mr Thomas said on Monday that it takes two weeks to find new owners. That means we’ve only got a week left to change everyone’s minds.’
    â€˜What have you done so far?’ Dawn asked.
    â€˜I spoke to Mr Thomas, but it didn’t go very well. I followed him into the museum, see, and I don’t think he liked that. So that didn’t work. And then we did a demonstration, but the fire brigade came.’
    â€˜What?’ Dawn yelped.
    â€˜It’s OK. The police haven’t come after us,’ Kirsty said.
    â€˜What!’
    â€˜Nothing,’ Ben said quickly. ‘Then there was Mum’s media campaign that you got us out of.’
    Dawn shook her head. ‘So you whined at the man from the council, you bothered the emergency services and then you didn’t get in the paper. Not much of a campaign, is it?’
    Kirsty shuffled uncomfortably on the sack. Why was Dawn always so irritating? ‘Well, what would you have done?’
    â€˜Oh, I don’t know. You’ve started right, I guess. You just have to think a bit bigger now.’
    â€˜That’s just what Mum said about the media campaign,’ Ben mumbled.
    â€˜I’m not talking bigger like that. I meant more sophisticated, more devious.’
    â€˜What kind of devious?’ Kirsty grinned; it sounded like Dawn had an idea!
    â€˜It’s time to start getting creative.’ Dawn said firmly. ‘This allotment is going to the next person on the waiting list, isn’t it? Well then, it’s easy. All we have to do is make you the next person on the list.’
    â€˜But how can we do that?’ Ben asked.
    â€˜What am I, Cunning Plans R Us? I said I’d help, not do everything. You two need to think here too.’
    They sat in silence for a while. The cold was beginning to spread through Kirsty, even though she was wrapped up from head to toe. Her nose felt wet, like a Labrador’s; any minute it would start to drip into her lap. She rubbed her nose on her sleeve and thought about what Dawn had said.
    â€˜The waiting list would be in Mr Thomas’s office, wouldn’t it? On his computer?’ Kirsty asked.
    â€˜Yes,’ Ben said. ‘He wouldn’t take any work home with him, I don’t think. He likes to forget about his job as soon as he leaves his office.’
    â€˜So,’ Kirsty grinned. ‘All we need to do is get into his office and change the name at the top of the list.’
    â€˜How can we get in without him seeing us?’
    â€˜Don’t worry about that,’ Dawn smiled. ‘There’s always a way.’
    â€˜Wait