to the roof was a ladder. Pete went up it in a flash, but it slowed the rats down a bit, since they could only climb it in single file.
Pete reached the roof and ran to a water tank that stood at the far end. It was as high as his shoulders. He scrambled onto its wet surface and fell down, gasping for air. His chest was on fire, and his muscles ached.
When he sat up at last, the whole roof was covered with rats. Wisps of fog floated across the roof like spirits from the grave, curling and twisting in little eddies around the edges of the water tank.
Squeak crawled from Pete’s shirt. He stared at the rodent mob for a moment. Then he jumped onto the tank and walked to the edge.
Pete grabbed him just as he was about to leap into the midst of the horde below. “Are you mad?” he shouted. “They’ll kill you in a second!”
“It’s me they want. If they get me they’ll let you go.” The mouse’s voice was small and shrill.
Pete dropped him as if he had suddenly realised that he was holding a snake. He stared at the mouse, gaping. “You can speak?”
Squeak got on his hind legs. “Of course, you moron!”
“But why didn’t you say so?”
“You never asked …”
Pete looked over the edge of the water tank. The rats were starting to form a ladder by climbing on each other’s backs. It was only a matter of seconds before they would get at them.
5
The Garbage Man
Suddenly something came crashing down from the sky, scattering the rats. It was an old, battered dustbin. It started rolling in all directions, chasing the rats over the edge of the roof, crushing the ones who didn’t get away fast enough. When the last rat had disappeared from the roof, the dustbin shot through the air and landed with a bang on the water tank next to Pete and Squeak. Its lid fell off and what seemed to be a load of garbage spilled over the edge and dropped onto the surface of the tank. The garbage walked around the bin, and then gave it a kick.
“Piece of junk!” it exclaimed.
Pete was flabbergasted. First he finds out that his mouse can speak and then he meets a talking heap of garbage.
“Excuse me,” said Squeak.
“Yes, excuse us,” echoed Pete.
The pile of garbage walked over to them. Pete could see now that it looked like a man. Well, almost. A garbage man, that is, as high as Pete’s waist.
His nose was an old carrot, and his hair was an assortment of cool drink straws, toffee wrappers and various other pieces of junk. He wore a jacket and pants made from newspapers, magazine covers and bits of old rags, and his shoes were two sardine tins.
“Howzit, bro!” The garbage man raised a hand covered in an old lady’s glove. “I’m Ben Babbage, but most people call me Garbage for short. Not that I could ever figure out why,” he said to Squeak, ignoring Pete.
“I’m Squeak,” said Squeak. “And this is Pete Smith.”
“Haven’t seen a talking beast in a long while. In fact, ever. Nice meeting you,” said Garbage. He inspected Pete from head to toe, slowly circling him. “Does he have the sight?” he asked, waving his hand in front of Pete’s eyes.
Pete wanted to say something, but Squeak said, “He sees you.”
“What are you?” Pete could no longer contain his curiosity.
“Don’t be rude,” Garbage said to Pete, and then to Squeak, “Now ’scuse me while I sort out my transportation. And then we have to get out of here before those rats come back with some real nasty pals.”
With that he turned and disappeared into his dustbin.
A terrible noise came from inside: clanging, banging and a lot of hammering. A spark plug flew out and almost hit Pete on the head. A fan belt, an air filter and a lot of nuts and bolts followed. Pete had to duck and dive to avoid being hit. Something inside the belly of the bin exploded with a cloud of black smoke and a spray of dirty oil. Garbage’s head appeared above the rim when the smoke cleared.
“Now it’s really bust,” he said, trying to spit the dirt from his mouth. He took a rag and wiped his face. “I HATE being dirty.”
“What’s wrong with this thing?” asked Pete.
“Didn’t you see how pathetically it flew? It had no POWER!”
Pete walked over and peered into the bin. The inside was as dark as one of Freddy’s black holes. “How does it work?” he asked.
“Is this guy stupid or what?” Garbage asked Squeak. “By magic, of course! Do I look like I’d waste my time with the laws of physics?”
“Oh,” said Pete, and thought for a second. “If it works by magic, then why does it have an engine?”
“Because …” The garbage man jumped out of the dustbin. “Because …” He held his hands behind his back and wandered around his malfunctioning vehicle.
“I’m sure it …” He pressed his right thumb and forefinger against his eyes.
“Dang! You’ve got me on that one.”
“Well, you said you weren’t bound by the laws of physics,” reasoned Squeak, “so why don’t you just throw the engine out?”
It was as if Garbage suddenly had a mystical experience. His face lit up and he slammed his right fist into his left hand.
“Of course! Throw out the engine! Hey, Mouse, my man, you’re an absolute genius!”
“Well, actually it wasn’t my idea; it was the boy’s,” said Squeak.
Garbage grabbed Pete’s hand and shook it.
“Pete, bro, I’m sure you’re almost as clever as your mouse friend here! We’ll soon see if your plan’s any good.”
He jumped back into the dustbin, and this time the noise was much worse. While they waited for him to finish, Pete asked Squeak, “Why did you say the rats were after you?”
“I was an eyewitness to Mr Humperdinck’s murder.”
Pete’s heart jumped to his throat. “You saw who did it?”
“No. It was too dark, and we mice don’t see as well as people think we do. We rely more on our sense of smell. But I’m sure that it wasn’t your father. The murderer was much shorter than him, and I couldn’t smell any liquor.”
“But why do they want to kill you if you don’t know?”
“They don’t know that I don’t know, and they can’t take any chances.” Squeak was silent for a while, and then he said, “I suppose now that I’m with you, they’ll assume that I told you. So you’re in danger too.”
