Max tugged again on the trapped ankle, and then grabbed the other one in his free hand. Pablo must have been terrified: imagine how you would feel if unseen hands suddenly latched on to your ankles and started to tug. He tried to stand up, but this only made matters worse, and he toppled forwards on to the floor of the bedroom, still shouting as loudly as his lungs would permit.
Max now let go, and scooping up his grandfather’s book, he scrambled out from under the bed, and flung himself through the door and down the stairs. There was no sign of Pablo coming after him – the other boy was winded and shocked by his fall, and was still trying to get his breath back. But there was every sign of Mr Grabber himself, who, having heard his son’s cries, was bounding up the staircase as fast as he could.
They met halfway down the stairs. Max was of course much smaller than Mr Grabber, but he had the advantage of being higher up the staircase. This was enough to make it possible for him to give Mr Grabber a push so powerful that it sent the bully tumbling down the stairs. He was not hurt, but, like his son, he was surprised and confused. This gave Max the time he needed to complete his descent of the staircase and find his way back into the kitchen.
“You’ve been a long time,” said his mother, from behind a growing pile of sandwiches.
“We have to leave,” panted Max. “We have to leave right now.”
“But we’ve still got hundreds of sandwiches to make,” protested his mother. “It’s out of the question.”
“But we have to,” insisted Max. “I’m being chased by Mr Grabber. If he finds me, we’ll both be in trouble.”
From behind him came the baker’s voice. “That man’s chasing you?” he said. “How dare he! He’s a brute, that fellow – I’ve never liked him one little bit.”
“He has a room full of stolen stuff,” said Max breathlessly. “A whole room.”
The baker looked interested. “That’s probably where my recipe books went,” he muttered. “They were stolen recently.”
Max nodded. “I saw some recipe books,” he said. “They might be yours.”
The baker growled. “I might have known it.” But then he paused. “You said you need to hide?”
“Yes,” said Max. “And quickly.”
The baker gestured towards a door at the back of the kitchen. “If you go through there,” he said, “you’ll find yourself in a courtyard. There are lots of storerooms and garages there, and you’ll find plenty of places to hide yourself away.”
Max did as the baker suggested. There were, as he had been told, plenty of likely looking places to hide, and his eye fell on a set of double doors on which the padlock had been left unlocked. Pushing one of the doors open, he found himself in a large garage, dimly lit by the light from a single high window. As his vision got used to the darkness, he saw that this garage was filled with cars, some of them new and shining, and some of them clearly much older. Many of them had the words TEAM GRABBER on their sides, but one simply had the number five on its side.
Max stopped in his tracks. The number five … And then, in a glorious moment of recognition, he realised that this was Grandfather Gus’s Arabella. So the car had been brought back from India after all – not by Grandfather Gus, of course, but by Mr Grabber. That amounted to theft, thought Max, but then the Grabbers were obviously capable of any amount of theft.
Max was still carrying his grandfather’s Ideas Book, and now he had an idea all of his own. He had noticed that the courtyard from which he had entered the garage was on a slope. Not only that, but there was an archway at the bottom end of it that opened on to a steep and winding road running all the way down to the bottom of Mr Grabber’s extensive grounds. If he could somehow give Arabella enough of a push to get her going, then he might be able to steer the car out into the courtyard and on to the road. After that, he could find somewhere to hide her, and run off and tell Grandfather Gus of his discovery.
Very gently, Max opened the door of the old car and slipped into the driving seat. Reaching for the handbrake, he pushed it down. The car moved very slightly on the uneven surface of the garage, and Max thought that perhaps it would not be too hard to get it going, if he really tried.
That was what he was thinking when the doors of the garage were suddenly flung open, and there, huffing and puffing and clearly extremely angry, stood Mr Grabber and his son, Pablo.
That was enough for Max. Half-opening the door, he slipped his legs out of the side, and pushed as hard as he could, while the rest of him remained in the driving seat. It was hard work, but as he pushed he felt Arabella begin to roll, slowly at first, and then with gathering speed. When they saw this, Mr Grabber and Pablo both yelled out and lurched towards the car. But Arabella was moving rather quickly now, and they had to jump out of the way to avoid being run over.
“Stop, thief!” shouted Pablo Grabber, waving an indignant fist.
“You’re the thieves,” muttered Max, as he steered the car out of the garage and into the courtyard. Once there, it was easy. The courtyard sloped sharply, as did the road beyond it, and soon Max was struggling to steer the old car as she shot down the hill. Looking in the mirror, he saw that the Grabbers were now following him in a large red car. That, he thought, was the Grabber Guzzler, and it made him rather worried. He had only gravity to propel him along, whereas the Grabbers had the powerful engine of the Guzzler. It was an unequal race that they were bound to win, just as they seemed to win everything else.
But there was one thing that the Grabbers did not have on their side, and that was fairness. They had cheated all their lives, but sometimes cheating is not enough to win. And this was one of those times. As the two cars raced down the hill, Max discovered that he had an advantage. The twisting nature of the road made it necessary to brake, but he now discovered that Arabella’s brakes no longer worked. That meant that he could not slow down.
The Grabbers, however, did brake, but even then they could not slow down quite enough: as they reached a particularly bad bend, the great, heavy Grabber Guzzler skidded and left the road, plunging into an ornamental lake that Mr Grabber had built further down the hill. There it came to a stop, with Mr Grabber and Pablo stuck out in the middle of the water, in the Guzzler that had now become a large boat. They were powerless to do anything about it, and simply sat on top of the car, fuming and shaking their fists in the direction of the disappearing Arabella.
Max was worried about what would happen at the bottom of the hill. Without brakes, he could not bring the car to a halt, and he was worried that he would hit a wall or something else solid. At that speed, it would be a very serious accident.
It did not happen. Down at the bottom of the hill, there was a large collection of bushes, and it was into these that Arabella shot like a cannonball. The branches slowed the car down, and when the car eventually stopped altogether, Max realised that he – and Arabella – were largely undamaged.
Unknown to Max, his mother had watched the whole thing from the kitchen window. She had lost no time in calling Grandfather Gus on the phone, telling him to come as quickly as possible to the Grabber estate. So by the time that Max had pulled himself out of Arabella and found a way through the bushes, Grandfather Gus was already pulling up in his tow truck.
When Grandfather Gus saw Arabella, he gave a cry of joy. “Arabella!” he shouted. “My darling, lovely car!”
It did not take them long to attach a tow rope to Arabella and drag her out of the bushes. Then it was a simple journey back to the garage, where Arabella was safely installed under lock and key, to prevent the Grabbers from stealing her again.
When Molly came back later that day, she and Grandfather Gus heard the full story from Max. Grandfather Gus was very interested to hear about the conversation Max had overheard between Mr Grabber and his son. “I might just enter that competition myself,” he mused. “Now that I have my Ideas Book back, I can take another look at some of those plans.”
Max offered to help, and over the next few weeks he and Grandfather Gus were kept b
usy, making the parts that would be installed in Arabella for the competition. At the end, when they had put in the last few nuts and bolts, the old car was completely transformed and ready for the competition.
Did Arabella win? Of course she did. And that made the Grabbers furious, but there was nothing they could do. They had learned that cheating never pays, in the end.
Now that Arabella was back on the road, many people saw her and asked Grandfather Gus to make them cars just like her.
He was happy to do this, as he’d spent the money he received as his competition prize on some very efficient new machinery. That kept him busy, of course, but not too busy to take Max and his mother for regular rides in Arabella. He also promised Max that before long he would enter Arabella in another rally – not to India this time, but still an exciting one – and Max could come along as navigator.
“And who knows,” said Grandfather Gus, “in a few years’ time, when you’re older, you might become a rally driver yourself.”
Max smiled. Anything, he thought, was possible.
Max, Molly and Grandfather Gus were all very happy with the way things had worked out. As for the Grabbers, they learned their lesson. As the popularity of Grandfather Gus’s cars grew, there were very few people who wanted to buy a Grabber Guzzler. This meant that the Grabbers soon found they had very little money. They had to sell their mansion, which was turned into a sports centre for people in the neighbourhood, and they went to live in a small house on the edge of town. They discovered that it was far better to live modestly and honestly than to be dishonest and live in a great big mansion.
Pablo Grabber stopped cheating and even became a friend to Max, who let him help clean cars on Saturday mornings.
The two boys sometimes went to the cinema together after they had finished at the garage, and Max always shared his popcorn with Pablo, who thanked him and never took more than his fair share.
As for Max’s mother, Molly, her life took a turn for the better when Grandfather Gus invented a sandwich-making machine for her. This worked very well and made her job a whole lot easier.
“We’re very lucky to have you,” said Molly to Grandfather Gus, as she tried out the new machine.
“Yes,” said Max. “We’re very lucky.”
“And I’m lucky to have you,” said Grandfather Gus, with a smile.
RUN AWAY TO THE CIRCUS!
Read on for a sneak peek at Freddie’s lion-sized adventure
AVAILABLE NOW!
His heart beating hard within him, Freddie poked his head round the flap of canvas at the main entrance to the big tent. It was dark inside, apart from a pool of light around the ring.
“Freddie!” called out a voice from the darkness. He recognised it as Lisa’s.
And then another voice came from some where up above. “Lisa will help you up.” That was Godfrey.
Freddie advanced slowly towards the ring. As he did so, Lisa emerged from the shadows. She was wearing the spark ling costume he had seen at the show.
“Here,” she said, handing Freddie an outfit made of the same spangled material. “This should fit you. You can change in the ticket booth.”
Freddie did as he was told, donning the unfamiliar costume. It felt very strange to be wearing some thing like that when he had no idea at all of how to use a trapeze. But, once changed, he went back to the ring and stood, shivering ever so slightly, at Lisa’s side.
“Don’t be nervous,” she said. “It looks very dangerous but it’s really completely safe. The net, you see, will catch you if you fall. You’ll just bounce.”
Freddie cast his eyes upwards. “Are you sure?”
Lisa laughed. “Of course I’m sure.” She took him by the hand and led him to a rope ladder. “Look, let me show you. We’ll climb to that plat form up there – where the trapeze is – and then I’ll let go and fall. You’ll see how the safety net works. Then you can do the same.”
Freddie gasped. “Fall?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said. “It’s very simple. Just let go of the trapeze and see what happens. You’ll fall, of course, but you’ll land in the net and bounce up. It’s great fun, you know.”
For a few moments Freddie toyed with the idea of running away. If he turned on his heels and ran, then he could just carry on running until he came to the main road. He could catch a bus there and be home in no time at all. But if he did that, then it would be the end of his job at the circus, and he was so looking forward to his wages . . .
Then he thought of his mother, working so hard for such long hours on those distant ships. She had to do things that she did not want to do – she would far rather be at home, he thought – and yet she never complained. If she could do that for the good of the family, then the least he could do was to try to earn a little bit of money. And if that meant that he had to swing on a trapeze, then that was what he would do.
He turned to Lisa. “I’m ready,” he said.
She smiled encouragingly. “Good,” she said. “Then let’s start climbing.”
It did not take long to reach the plat form up at the top. Godfrey was waiting for them there, holding on to a trapeze with one hand while he used the other to help them onto the plat form.
“Freddie is going to have a bit of practice with the net,” said Lisa. “I’ll go first.”
“Righty-ho,” said Godfrey, passing the trapeze to her. “Here you are.”
Lisa placed both her hands on the trapeze. “I’m just going to swing a few times,” she explained to Freddie. “Then I’ll let go and fall. Watch me hit the net down below and bounce back. It’s quite simple, you know – nothing to it!”
Turning around, she bent her knees and launched herself off the edge of the plat form.
“There she goes,” said Godfrey. “Swinging nicely, just like . . .” He suddenly stopped, and Freddie knew immediately that some thing was wrong.
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First published in Great Britain in April 2018 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Text copyright © Alexander McCall Smith, 2018
Illustrations copyright © Kate Hindley, 2018
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Alexander McCall Smith, Max Champion and the Great Race Car Robbery
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