Edsel Grizzler Read Free

think.’
    â€˜Thanks.’
    â€˜Shh!’
    Leaving Mrs Grabbit to her horses, Edsel went through the warehouse, between the dusty furniture and the piles of nicks and the crates of nacks, and out to the yard behind the shop.
    Pete had his head under the hood of his old ute. This wasn’t an unusual situation for Edsel to find his friend in – that truck seemed to spend more time broken down than it did actually running.
    â€˜Pete,’ Edsel called.
    Pete looked up. ‘Hey, Edsel.’
    â€˜Ute broken down again?’
    Pete rolled his eyes. ‘I’m getting too old for this.’ He stood up and stretched his back. ‘Time for a new truck, I think. Oh, hey,’ he said, brightening suddenly, ‘we got some new stuff in today, and there was something that you might like the look of.’
    â€˜Yeah? What is it?’
    â€˜That’s just the thing – I’m not exactly sure. In fact, I’m not even slightly sure. Do you want to take a peek?’
    â€˜Yeah, all right.’
    He followed Pete inside. ‘Cool! New stuff!’ he said, spotting the fresh pile of junk by the door. There was a velvet-covered bedhead, an old pair of brown hi-fi speakers, a zip-lock plastic bag of Monopoly houses and hotels, and a few other bits and pieces. But what really caught Edsel’s attention was … a something.
    This something was roughly the size of a large wheelbarrow, and shaped like half an egg. Standing high on three spindly chrome legs, it appeared to be made of the same kind of material as bathtubs and vanity basins. Recessed into its outside, just below the rim, was a chrome handle, like you might find on the door of an old car, and beside the handle, embossed into the surface, was a small, simple logo: a curly V with a slightly distorted oval around it.
    Edsel stretched up to look into this mysterious something. He was a little intrigued when he saw what could only be called a cockpit. It wasn’t much of a cockpit, but it did have a seat, and a joystick, and a large green button, right in the middle of the dashboard. And beneath the green button was a small opening, bigger than a keyhole but smaller than the drawer in a DVD player.
    â€˜Is that what you were talking about?’ he asked Pete.
    â€˜Yup.’
    â€˜What is it?’
    Pete shrugged. ‘Not sure. I thought you might know.’
    â€˜Is it one of those coin-operated ride things, like you see at the supermarket?’ Edsel suggested.
    â€˜There’s no slot for the money. Or a power cord.’
    â€˜You know what it looks like? I reckon it looks like an inside-out bath.’
    Pete grinned. ‘Yeah, it’s weird, huh?’
    â€˜What’s this mean?’ Edsel leaned closer to the side of the strange object, examining the logo. ‘Have you seen this? What brand is that?’
    Pete shrugged, and grunted. ‘Never seen it before in my life.’
    â€˜How much do you want for it?’ asked Edsel, who’d just had a terrific idea, but was trying not to get too excited. It was sure to be more than he could afford.
    â€˜I don’t know. I haven’t talked to my mum about it. Haven’t had a chance, with the races on.’
    â€˜Yeah, she wasn’t very talkative when I came in.’
    Pete leaned closer, and lowered his voice. ‘You know what, Edsel? You can have it, if you like I’ll even take it home for you, so long as I can get this stupid ute going. But we’ll have to wait till the next race,’ Pete added. ‘We’ll do it then, when Mum’s not paying attention.’
    As soon as the next horse race was underway, Pete and Edsel shifted the egg-shaped thing out of the shed. It was a lot lighter than Edsel had expected it would be, and in a very short time it was sitting proudly on the back of Pete’s ute, held in place with a couple of frayed occy straps.
    Twenty minutes and a couple of minor breakdowns later, the