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
In the dream someone was trying to take all the cake tins What if that had actually happened Imagine if the police station was the scene of a crime Buffy Gordon called Come in here Important cake tins have been stolen The chopping stopped at once So did the singing Small quick feet came tripping in And there stood Buffy giving a salute Last winter he himself had appointed this small and clever assistant an energetic smart kind and very young police officer who was a world champion at climbing trees and creeping into small holes All those things the detective couldn’t manage Good morning Detective This is serious said Gordon Some scoundrel has stolen the cake tins Buffy seemed to give him an artful smile She hurried out while Gordon stood there in the middle of the floor After a minute she opened the door again Sunshine flooded in with the scent of flowers as Buffy made her entrance to the trilling of birds She sang a small happy tra la la and took a few cheery dance steps Balanced in her arms were the three large cake tins 8
You’ve solved it my dear police assistant said the detective and at last he felt wide awake and full of beans But who was the thief Suddenly Detective Gordon remembered that in his dream he’d been eating cakes about twenty of them A black and white figure the detective didn’t recognize had been watching him He’d laughed at Gordon’s fat tummy and teased him for the way he gobbled up the cakes In the dream that figure had tried to steal the cake tins But the detective had been cunning So who stole them Gordon wondered aloud It was you Chief said Buffy happily When I woke early this morning you were already up Maybe you were sleepwalking You took the cake tins and disappeared outside And then you came in without them and went back to sleep 9
