Mindspaces Read Free Page B

great idea to use later in the tournament.

    Art woke up with a start. There was a click. Then a whirring sound.
    â€˜Why are you calling me?’ boomed a voice.
    Art sat up. He looked into the dark. There was no-one in the room. Then something moved, near the desk.
    â€˜Miaow.’
    The cat couldn’t talk. Where was the voice coming from? Art looked at his watch.
    3.35 am. Was it a burglar? Or a ghost? Or was it someone playing a joke?Art pushed back his sleeping bag. He put his feet on the carpet. Spooky. But he had to have a look. Spies always investigated. He padded across the carpet. Mrs. Taker’s spare room was crowded with bookshelves. Under the window was a desk. He could just see the outline. The voice seemed to be coming from the window. He moved closer. The voice boomed again.
    â€˜Why are you calling me?’
    Art stopped. The sound came from the desk.
    â€˜I’m not,’ said Art. ‘Who are you?’
    â€˜I’m…
    â€˜Are you a ghost?’
    There was an electronic laugh. Then whirring. The cat jumped down and Art could make out the shape of a phone on the desk.
    â€˜Dumb cat!’
    Art laughed aloud. He laughed so loudly Mrs.Tasker came in, wearing a red dressing gown, with spots like bird droppings.
    â€˜What’s wrong, Art? Are you having nightmares?’
    â€˜No. Just night cats.’
    When they worked out what had happened, Mrs. Tasker laughed too. The Taskers had a combined phone-fax-answer machine. Puss had been sleeping on top of it. Somehow, the cat had managed to press three buttons in the right order.
    â€˜This is the speaker. This is the dial button. And here is the pre-programmed number of a client,’ explained Mrs. Tasker. She called her husband. Yawning Mr. Tasker came into the room. ‘It could have been worse,’ he yawned. ‘I’ve got lots of pre-coded international numbers for Italy on there. I’m a Lion you see.’
    Art didn’t. He just looked like a man.
    â€˜Lions are a service organization. They help people. Our silly cat rang another Lion whose number I pre-coded.’
    â€˜Could have been expensive ,’ said Mrs. Tasker. ‘But since he’s a Lion he should understand.’
    She turned to Art. “Lions are big cats. Get it?’
    Art smiled, a bit later. But the cat call gave him an idea. Perhaps the ringmaster could ring up about a lost ring? Perhaps they could set their performance at a call centre? People could ring in? Or maybe a TV telethon when people ring up? Perhaps they could use that? Art was getting excited, sort of.
    In the six weeks leading up to Tournament Day, the two teams worked hard. Even Art was swept up in the fun because India blackmailed him .She said she’d never look up another fact for him, unless he stayed in their team.
    Art had lots of ideas about rings. So did India and the rest of the team. They practiced in the General Purpose Room together until Mario complained,’ What are you doing? It’s so noisy. Those fake phones ring all the time!’
    So then Mario’s team practiced on Tuesdays and Fridays. India’s team practiced on Mondays and Wednesdays. Luckily, Mrs. Tasker was the coach of Art’s team. Mario’s team had Mr. Smith.
    At first, Mario sent a spy to listen. Then Mrs. Tasker talked about sharing and competitions.’ You’re really competing against yourself, not the other team. TOM is about thinking in different ways.’ So Art thought about ‘rings’ and ‘detectives’ all the time. In the schoolyard, he photographed ring-barked trees, jumped every time a bike bell rang and saved rings from drink cans in case India could use them, at no cost. She was writing a script, but Art remembered his bit by heart.
    â€˜You were asking me about rings…?’ Mum flipped over the pancake.
    â€˜Yes,’ said Art.
    â€˜I heard a real story about a lost ring at work, yesterday.’
    â€˜What