THE TALE OF THE BIRTHDAY BEAR - PART 5

“We can't let this Party happen!” was the first thing Shy had said to Luke - at some god-awful hour of the morning, on the day Basher had predicted could see the end of the world. “I know my cat’s a bit of a drama queen but we have to take this seriously! I’m not taking any chances! Even if he doesn’t mean the end of everyone’s world – maybe just Ant’s or yours or mine – then we need to be prepared! If one of them is about to die, surely that’s enough in itself?” Luke sighed exhaustedly. “I know you’re tired fella – but we’ve got to go over to Ant’s now! Whilst they’re still sleeping off the effects of Popstarz!”

“Can’t I even have a snooze on the way there?” he begged. “I mean even you had a bit of a kip…”

Shy nodded reluctantly. “Yes ok - but 40 winks is all you’ll have time for. We have big trouble in store Luke - and you know it! You saw what things were like out here and Dan's still got that device!!”

Luke nodded. He had seen. Once Time had returned to normal, he’d made very sure to keep close to Ant and Dan, to be certain that nothing worse happened. “You can’t just run about using dangerous Time Altering Devices and where on earth did you get that thing?! It wasn’t ARGOS, now was it?!”

“Lucky dip at the fair...” Dan had laughed glibly and Ant had sort of joined in with the joke, although he looked a tad unsure. “It was VERY lucky it was me who found it, I admit! But I have my contacts!”

Outside the club, the fire had died away quickly and the man who'd been trapped between the two realities had merely collapsed into the arms of his friend. They were all drunk and - thankfully - he didn't seem badly hurt. Even some of the vehicles had managed to drive away once Time had resumed and nobody seemed clear as to what had happened. The Night Bus seemed to have taken the brunt of the invisible barrier, but there was no-one to give a clear statement as to what had occurred and the driver had been taken away on a stretcher, with a minor head wound. Shy wondered what the official report would say. Especially when the bus appeared to have hit thin air, whilst the damage to the bonnet told a rather different story. Shy had expected them to evacuate the SCALA – but they hadn’t and he’d waited across the road with Basher. By the time the club closed the damage looked no worse than that of a mild traffic accident. In fact it was unlikely that most clubbers noticed anything wrong.

Before Luke had caught up with them, Shy and Basher had scouted around the wall that the little cat had grafittied and found a line of dead pigeons. They’d been perched on the ledge above the entrance to the SCALA and had not survived the full effect of the Time event. “Don't eat them, will you, Basher?” Shy warned - but the cat gave him such a look that he felt ashamed for even suggesting it.

They'd sat and waited by the wall, for a while - but then Shy had fallen asleep and by the time Luke had found him, the venue was dark and Dan and Ant were heading home in a taxi towards Brixton. Shy still felt worse for wear from the Tequila and stiff from sleeping outside – so after stopping for a quick strong black coffee at the nearest All Night Café the two friends had then headed for Brixton.

Shy had explained to Luke all that had gone on outside and although Luke assured him that Dan had promised to return the Time Pause Device to it’s owner, Shy was still very concerned. “Maybe he will take it back – but where did it come from in the first place!?!” exclaimed Shy, “What’s more, who the hell does it belong to and what stops Dan from getting his paws on even more dangerous devices?”

“Are you sure they'll be asleep?” Luke muttered a tad grouchily, once they reached their destination.

They sat in the Park across from a store where they’d bought, and were now eating, slightly dodgy looking tuna sandwiches. Ant’s flat was one floor above the shop and for now looked very much like it’s residents were sleeping. This Park, was at most times of the day an attractive venue for drug dealers and yobs of all ages and flavour. But on this day, with the time at around 5.45 a.m. on a Saturday morning, drug dealers, yobs and hopefully, Speccy Ant’s, were busy sleeping, so that Cubs and Yeti’s got to wait in peace until they plucked up courage enough to carry out their devious plans!

“I’m expecting it just to be Ant there at the moment…” Shy explained. “Dan will have gone home to the wife for now, I’d have thought… Firstly, we need to get into the flat and check out the bathroom! Hopefully we can stop worrying about that blasted Time Device and Dan will have put it back where it belongs! Now Luke, I’ll need you to keep lookout once we’re in. The mornings are very light, he may even be awake already or at least easily disturbed - but we can't check until we've actually broken in!”

“He did drink quite a bit!” Luke added, but looked pale. “When you say "break in" do you mean illegally?” Shy held out a chain of keys, his old spares. “Oh!” Luke brightened. “Well, that's ok...”

“Well - it's still breaking in, effectively! I've no real right to still have these - but I kept hold of them incase Ant wanted me to water his plants or dust his volumes or some such - but it never came about!”

“Alright!” Luke jumped up, running a paw over the blond stubble on his chin with the concerned look of a man who wished he wasn't still wearing drag in a place like Brixton. “Let’s do it, man! Let’s go!”

“Might you want to be taking off those massive heels first!?” enquired Shy slightly worriedly.

“Might not be such a bad idea...” Luke agreed. “Although I think the Mini skirt rather suits me…”

It took a while to free the Cub from his boots – but within half an hour the two adventurers left the Park and crossed Brixton Hill to meet Bakery Road to where Ant lived at Trent House, Flat 3. With no need for the intercom, Shy took the once shiny keys from his pocket and let them both inside. The inner door closed very quietly behind, as up the twisty stairs they creaked to the door of No. 3. This time Shy was even quieter, so as not to disturb Ant’s sleep - careful to make no sound. Door 3 clicked open easily - protesting only slightly when closed and just to be careful they left it on the latch…

“Does Anthony snore?” Luke whispered. Shy shook his head – it was he who was the snorer. Ant was quite a quiet sleeper, but tonight he was breathing heavily and this could be heard from the corridor, “Shall I scout around the front room and the kitchen, whilst you’re getting the bathroom door open?”

Shy nodded and Luke let himself gingerly into the front room. There was no sign of Dan nor any other partiers, as Shy had hoped would be the case. With all Ant’s books and working materials there was precious little room for friends to stop over. The kitchen also seemed quiet – most of the food for the meal were set out ready and nobody was hiding inside the fridge. Luke managed to keep his paws off the trifle - though it wasn't easy and he did snaffle just one small chocolate gateau. Surely, no-one would notice!? There was also a lot of alcohol there for the occasion - but again, Luke was polite - only slurping about half of the punch from the bowl. At least he didn't fall in. Not too far, anyway.

“I feel a little dizzy!!” he thought, as he found a particularly cosy pile of books to rest his head upon.

Back in the corridor, Shy wasn’t having a great deal of luck breaking through the padlock. Whatever had been sploshing around behind closed doors the other day, was today being quiet and not making a sound. What on earth had Ant been hiding in there? Some surprise present for Dan? Fresh lobster? Ice for keeping beer cool? He wasn't convinced by any of these possibilities, to be completely honest...

It was about then that Shy heard a voice that he recognised immediately as Anthony’s. He was talking in his sleep, “Please Dan – NO! This is insane – you mustn’t use that recipe - especially not with those ingredients... That's not one of my cookery books... Please, this isn't what we agreed...” Silence again.

Leaving the door for a second, Shy hurried to see how Ant was, but paused before actually entering the bedroom. It was better not to risk waking him, so instead, Shy pressed his forehead to the door and allowed their minds to merge. This wasn't quite as complicated as it sounded, with his quarry so close, although he did hope to tempt a few answers out of him. “Can you hear me, Speccy? It’s Shy...”

Silence. Then suddenly Ant replied. “Yes Shy, what is it? Not more stories about the world ending?”
Shy frowned. “No, I was just teasing!” he lied, pressing closer to the door, Anthony was hearing his thoughts as if Shy was actually speaking aloud. “So, what was Dan up to in the kitchen earlier, then?”

A pause, then; “He used the wrong recipe - said we should try something new! I shouldn't tell you…”

“Dan won't mind, fella... We were speaking about it earlier... Why have you let him use your flat like this? I thought this was supposed to be a surprise! Tell Alan to keep him away whilst you’re busy!”

“It’s not like that - Dan said no-one must know! But I’m involved now – a collaborator! He says I'm as guilty as him, now! Says I'd get into just as much trouble – that I have to keep the whole thing quiet!"

Shy was concerned, he’d never heard Ant so upset or afraid. “Ok then! But what about the party?”

“Things have moved on... There'll be no party now... We're going to have to cancel it... Dan's plans are advancing too soon! He says by tonight, we'll know if the experiment has finally worked properly...”

“…And that device? The one Dan used at Popstarz! Has that got anything to do with it? ANTHONY?”

“NO! I CAN’T TELL YOU THAT SHY! I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT HE’S PLANNING!!”

Silence. “Anthony? Ant? Are you ok?” Anthony's breathing had returned to that of a deep sleep and Shy caught himself calling his name aloud just as he was surprised by a noise somewhere behind him.

At first he thought it was Luke, before realising it came from down the corridor, outside the bathroom. The padlock lay loose on the floor. It had been the sound of it falling to the floor, that had made the noise. Gingerly, Shy approached it, unravelling the chains as he wondered what he’d find behind the bathroom door. Turning the handle he pushed the door open and stepped into something less like a bathroom and more like a sauna. Things had changed. Something was busily bubbling away in the bath – something that looked like a more toxic version of the casserole that Ant had been making the other day. All kinds of weird and bizarre ingredients lined the bathtub and the liquid within was kept warm by some giant bunsen burner strapped to the base. The floor was strewn with the unused debris; carrots, potato peelings, the stems of hot chillis and the packaging of sausages, of chicken and chops.

“You've seen quite enough now, Shy!” said a voice. “I think it’s time you took a sample - time you took a bath...” Shy spun around to find Dan, hanging from the back of the bathroom door in one of Ant's old dressing gowns. “You woke me... I was on guard - I expected you to turn up at some point...”

“What’s going on?” Shy demanded, trying hard to look brave and use his Yeti powers – but this time, despite all his efforts they had no effect. “What bizarre culinary experiment are you conducting here?”

“No time to discuss it now, old son... I’m not one of those types who likes to talk about my motives before I do the dirty deed… I’ve got work to do, old pal! Casserole needs a few more ingredients and now you've arrived - you might as well do the honours...” Shy could see that Dan was in no mood for a joke, half drunk from the night out, half bewildered and bewitched by his plans and the intoxicating steam from his peculiar feast. Dan dropped to floor level, forcing Shy to back onto the bath – pushing something into his face that, at first Shy mistook for the Time Device. But this one was different. This item looked more at home in the kitchen, but once again it had been doctored. “Get into the bath, Shy! Don't worry about your costume - it'll soon dissolve! Just step inside... I don't want to have to use this whisk - but believe me, I will – and believe me also, when I tell you - it's a very DEADLY whisk too!”

Shy could hear the casserole still bubbling in the bath - it seemed to be getting closer - pulling itself up around him as if it had a life of it's own. Behind him, some kind of carnivorous superheated life form. Before him, one of his oldest pals, Danbear - with a mad, mad look in his eyes and a killer whisk.

One way or another - things looked bad for the Yeti.

Shy crossed his paws tightly – then he closed his eyes one last time…

What will happen next? Will Shy become Casserole? Can Speccy be saved? Will Dan see the error of his ways? Find out next time in the final installment of SHY YETI AND THE TALE OF THE BIRTHDAY BEAR!!!