HA P TE R C ON E Important cake tins stolen Detective Gordon woke up in a sweat He’d had a terrible dream He was still partly asleep though and could hardly open his eyes Huff uff uff he sighed as he propped himself up From outside the police station came cheerful singing and a steady chop chop chop Police Assistant Buffy was chopping wood Gordon felt sure that if he ate just one morning cake he would wake all the way up
He stood up carefully and went out to the big police room Half awake he fumbled along the shelf But the three important cake tins weren’t there The shelf was empty He rubbed his eyes The shelf was still empty He searched the whole room Nothing He searched the bedroom and the prison Nothing Then he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror He had once been such a distinguished young toad These days he didn’t much like looking at himself he resembled a big lump of soft clay His belly had spread in all directions and hung over his pajama bottoms His legs were spindly his flat feet were large and squelchy His wide mouth hung down at the corners One day I’m going to turn that mirror around A toad shouldn’t have to look at himself he grumbled But then he remembered that the little mouse Buffy loved the mirror She could stand there for ages making funny faces at herself Sometimes she put on the police hat and tried to look appropriately stern Well anyhow one of these days I’ll turn it around Suddenly he remembered his dream 6
