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
Now the detective remembered that in his dream he’d hidden the cake tins He cleared his throat and looked at the floor I was wide awake said Buffy so I went out and chopped a bit of wood And I found the cake tins in the woodshed It was a nasty obnoxious scoundrel the detective said vehemently In the dream I mean He suddenly had a terrible thought imagine if the cake tins were empty It would be an awful shame to find he’d eaten all the cakes in his dream without actually enjoying them He’d have only empty tins left And an extra fat tummy He reached for one of the cake tins He chose the morning one There were three different tins the morning cake tin the afternoon cake tin and the evening cake tin 10
Since police work often continued into evenings and nights it was very important to be able to tell the time by taste What if the morning tin was empty But all the cakes were there He stacked one vanilla cake on top of another and ate them Wonderful Grumph grumph I’ve become a little greedy lately he thought Buffy rummaged in the dressing-up chest under the bed and put a gold crown on her head She danced to and fro across the floor She sang I investigate investi ga-ga-gate all the time watching herself in the mirror Do you know said Gordon it’s been quite hard work being a police officer But since you became Police Assistant last winter things have been a lot easier It’s much nicer now at the police station The mouse danced on her tiptoes across the floor and the detective clapped his hands I think I’ll have a vanilla cake to celebrate he said A double one Mm-mm grumph grumph Ah yes now I’m happy 11
