veranda She heard a cheerful song Bomba bomba on a walk In kindergarten we sing and talk Bomba bomba BOMBA It was all the forest children from the kindergarten on an expedition BuQy saluted the teacher mouse at the front of the line The children all wore Sowery tops and backpacks They walked in a long line and jabbered She couldn’t help hearing what they said A baby toad I’m going to slide in the mud I’m going to A baby mole Teacher I’ve lost my backpack Teacher I’ve got it A baby rabbit Then we can build a house to A baby squirrel We can be farmers and grow live in nuts Baby rabbit Nuts yuck Carrots are better And we should plant cakes 8
waited And waited Eventually she had to go back to work at the police station She thought Why would anyone scrabble at the police station windows late at night And then just disappear How they chattered BuQy leaned back and And where was Gordon 9
Gordon sat Rshing beside the stream His Soat bounced on the water Under the surface he could see small Rsh nibbling at the piece of bread Hi little Rshes said Gordon Gordon was taking a break A long break Hmm he was maybe even retired He had been a police chief all his life Towards the end he had been feeling very tired and worn out All he’d wanted to do was to eat cakes and sleep But now 10
he was starting to feel brighter In recent weeks he had thought a lot about his life A life of constant police service with a beautiful police hat and magniRcent stamp to kla-dunk when he made important decisions He hadn’t had time for anything else Now he was sitting here with his Rshing rod working out what to do With no Rsh of course The sun began to set He pulled up the bait Hey there small Rshes he said Might see you in the morning He went home humming a small song Two young mice came towards him on the track They said hello politely and he saluted out of habit No he mustn’t he wasn’t a police oTcer now Police Chief Gordon was no longer chief He was simply Gordon 11
