Figaro and Rumba and the Crocodile Cafe (2 page)

‘Nate's not a villain.'

‘Hmm,' said Rumba. ‘Anyway, Monday is cleaning the house.
Tuesday
is going out.'

‘The Very Fast Train takes you all the way to the beach!' cried Figaro. ‘Wouldn't you love to see something new?'

‘Oh, Figaro, hang up and meet me in the kitchen,' sighed Rumba. ‘And bring that new mop.'

Rumba had his sad voice on, Figaro could tell. When Rumba was sad, his whiskers drooped and his paws splayed out as if he was dead. He looked flat and empty like an old coat. This morning he'd probably had a sad dream.

On days like this, Rumba got to thinking about all the bad things that had ever happened to him. And there had been a lot. Once Figaro saw a list Rumba had made, starting from when Rumba was just a kitten, back in Cuba where there were wild drums and haunting songs. Rumba didn't sing very often, just hummed sometimes when he cleaned.

Figaro looked at his floor. Somewhere under his tennis racket, bowling shoes, pinball game, scary Halloween mask and Monopoly was that mop.

When he found the horrible thing he went scrambling out of the room.

And he ran smack into Rumba in the hallway.

‘Listen,' said Rumba. ‘What about this. We clean now and
then
go on the train. Even though it's Monday.'

Figaro's tail began to thump. ‘So, what time can we go? Nate said he got the lunch train. He had hamburgers.'

Rumba said all right then and wasn't it a great thing they had plenty of time to get a good mop in first! ‘Why don't we start with your room? Maybe we could even clean the window!'

Rumba got the bucket and filled it with warm soapy water. Figaro popped the sparkly bubbles with his nose.

Rumba found him a cleaning cloth and Figaro began to scrub the window. He made drippy patterns on the glass and drew ham bones and lamb cutlets with his paw. At last they stood back to admire their work.

‘There's the river and someone in a boat,' cried Figaro. ‘It's Rat! I can even see his fishing line. Look, he's hauling up a mullet – '

‘A perch, I think,' said Rumba, licking his lips.

‘I might just run down and say hello. It's a great day for fishing!'

‘What about the Fast Train?'

‘Oh, I forgot,' said Figaro. ‘We're going to rush through the air like a cloud. Did you know the Very Fast Train goes three hundred kilometres an hour?'

Rumba didn't know that, but he said he wouldn't mind being a very fast cloud with Figaro. He wouldn't mind it at all.

Chapter 2

The River

F
igaro's tail thumped against the door. ‘Come on, Rumba, we'll miss the train.'

‘I'm going as fast as I can, Figaro. But this bag won't pack itself. I've put in the spicy sausages and mango juice –' ‘I told you they'll have all that on the train,' said Figaro.

Just then there was a knock at the door. Rat huddled on the doorstep, dripping wet.

‘Hello, Rat,' said Figaro. ‘What's up?'

Rat wiped the water off his whiskers. ‘Oh, Figaro, something terrible has happened.' He sneezed loudly. ‘It's Nate, he's missing!'

‘Oh, is that all,' said Rumba. ‘Do you know what time it is?
Morning
. Nate never gets up till noon. No use knocking on
his
door.' Rumba looked at the puddle around Rat. ‘Would you mind drying off outside?'

‘No, you don't understand, I saw Nate only an hour ago,' said Rat. ‘He came down to the river to try out his new canoe.'

‘I've seen those canoes on the TV ads. They look great! They've got oars and everything,' said Figaro.

‘Yes. But you have to blow up the canoe yourself. It took Nate ages. He was all out of breath and shaky when he'd finished. Then he took off up the river.'

‘Well, he's just lazing about in the canoe then,' said Rumba. ‘Watching clouds. Look, Rat, it's nice you came to visit and all, but we're catching the Very Fast Train today.'

‘Yes, do you want to come?' asked Figaro.

‘No, you see Nate said he would be back soon because his cousin will be on that train and he has to meet her. You know the one. Nancy. Loves dancing. So, like I said, there I was, just fishing, and dreaming – ' ‘Was that a perch you caught?' asked Rumba.