Sebastian by Alan Field Read Free Book Online Page B

tell him to bring his make-up.”
    Sandro came back, weeping at the news. “Don’t worry, Sebastino. I won’t let him touch you,” he said, but he didn’t convince me.
    Between them they took off my nose and wooden teeth, and left me just as I was except for the black powder and some extra grease-paint.
    â€œThink as though you’re a real Yeti,” urged Luigi. “We’re all with you!”
    Amanda used to say that the worst thing of all was going to the dentist’s, but being torn to shreds was different. Through the gap in the tent I could see the mayor with his gold chain. There was a roll from the drum and Luigi stepped out, all dressed up with a shining top hat.
    â€œTonight the Spaghetti brothers welcome their guests of honour - Monsieur Roger Poltron, the mayor of Trucville!” There was a burst of applause. “And his companion, the world-famous Russian explorer, Alexander Gregorovitch Topolovsky.”
    I nearly fainted away again with terror. Standing by the mayor was a giant of a man with a great fur hat, and a ginger beard cut off square at the end. He raised a large hand - nearly as big as me - to salute the crowd. The clapping died away.
    â€œI am pleased to be the guest of your mayor,” he said in a voice like thunder. “And I am most interested to see your baby Yeti - most interested.” He nodded in my direction as though he could actually see me.
    The circus started with the horses, of course, and followed with the trapeze act. Then Sandro went on in his joke motor car which gradually fell to pieces and finally exploded, and had everyone helpless with laughter - except the giant Alexander Gregorovitch Topolovsky. After that Vittorio tried to get Ludo to do some tricks but he kept snoozing and falling off his stool. The crowd jeered and he had to be wheeled off with Vittorio looking very cross.
    Then it was my turn. I tried to be brave, of course, but with my squeaker all tied up in knots and the stuffing going round and round in my head, it was difficult. Aldo played the longest drum-roll I’d ever heard, and Luigi and Sandro pulled me into the centre of the ring in the menagerie wagon.
    â€œLadies and gentlemen,” shouted Luigi. “Here is the most fantastic creature in the whole world. The only specimen to be seen by mortal eyes. The dreaded Yeti!” More a dreading Yeti at the moment, I thought. “This savage animal roams the frozen and desolate places of Northern India, and,” he added, with a sidelong glance at the Russian explorer, “the vast plains of Siberia. Few people have ever seen a Yeti and lived to tell the tale afterwards. Our honoured guest Alexander Gregorovitch Topolovsky is an exception, of course.” He bowed in the direction of the fur hat and ginger beard. “This specimen was caught by my brother, Vittorio Spaghetti, while he was crossing the Himalayas last year. Even though it was only a Yeti cub it was so ferocious that my brother had to shoot it. So look closely, ladies and gentlemen, at this priceless stuffed animal, the like of which you will never see again.”
    Just like a speech on television, I thought. Only it was going to be the last one I would ever listen to. I could see the giant getting to his feet already, rubbing his big hands together and looking straight at me as though he could read my thoughts.
    The crowd went very quiet and all I could hear was Sandro’s teeth chattering.
    â€œYeti, eh. You say he’s a Yeti?”
    â€œB-baby Yeti,” corrected Sandro.
    Alexander Gregorovitch Topolovsky would have made a very good Yeti, I thought. Just a few more ginger whiskers and you wouldn’t have known who lived up there under that fur hat.
    â€œI am the greatest living authority on the Yeti,” said the explorer. “And I wish to examine your specimen.”
    He knelt down by the cage and took a pair of steel-rimmed spectacles from his pocket, and