Lulu and the Hamster in the Night Read Online Free PDF Page A

carefully, getting rather scratched. It was not high. Two steps and she had reached the top, the place where Ratty had disappeared. Lulu reached out a hand and felt.
    â€œThere’s a hole!” she whispered down to Mellie.
    â€œA hole in the roof?”
    â€œYes. Underneath. Just a little one. It must go into the attic.”
    â€œNan doesn’t have an attic.” “I mean the empty space in the roof over the bedroom ceilings. Dad showed me ours once. It’s all dusty and there’s a water tank and it’s dark and there’s cobwebs.”
    â€œSqueeze your hand through the hole and see if you can touch Ratty,” suggested Mellie.
    Lulu tried, but she couldn’t.
    â€œWe’ll have to think of another way of getting him back,” she said as she carefully climbed back down the trellis.
    â€œWhat does he like best?”
    â€œCarrots,” said Lulu. “He loves carrots. If you give him carrots he takes them to bed.”
    â€œDo you think if we put a carrot in the hole at the top of the trellis he might smell it and come and get it?”
    â€œHe might,” said Lulu. “Perhaps we could put a trail of carrot pieces leading down to his cage. Only I don’t have any carrots left. Ratty ate it all this afternoon. Maybe Nan has some.”
    â€œI’ll go and see,” said Mellie, and she ducked back into the bedroom again. Then she paused, looking up at the ceiling.
    â€œLulu! Lulu!”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œCome and listen! I can hear him!”
    â€œI’ll go and look for a carrot,” said Mellie and tiptoed out of the room. Lulu heard her feet on the stairs, the murmur of her voice as she spoke to the cats, the thud of the fridge, opening and closing, and then she was coming back up the stairs again. And then there was Nan’s voice, at her own bedroom door.
    â€œMellie!”
    â€œHello, Nan! I just wanted a carrot!”
    â€œA carrot!”
    â€œCarrots are healthy!” said Lulu, appearing suddenly beside Mellie.
    Nan had very sparkly eyes sometimes. They sparkled now at Lulu. She said, “So they are! Well. Eat up your carrot and go to sleep. It’s very late.”
    â€œHow late?” asked Lulu.
    â€œIt’s after half past ten.”
    â€œLess than an hour and a half to your birthday, then,” said Lulu. “Oh …”
    Patter, patter, patter, went the footsteps overhead.
    Lulu gazed at Mellie in alarm, and then, to everyone’s surprise, she began to sing. She sang much louder than she usually did, her eyes fixed on Nan.
    â€œ Happy-birthday-in-an-hour-and-a-half to you! (Join in, Mellie!)”
    â€œ Happy-birthday-in-an-hour-and-a-half to you! ” Mellie also sang very noisily, glancing up at the ceiling.
    â€œ Happy-birthday-in-an-hour-and-a-half, dear Na-an! ” they chorused anxiously.
    â€œHappy-birthday-in-an-hour-and-a-half to you!”
    Lulu and Mellie stopped. And listened. Nan, who had suddenly doubled up with laughter, hugged them.
    And then Lulu and Mellie scurried back to their room and they sat on their beds in the dark and they whispered.
    â€œI suddenly heard him!”
    â€œI guessed you did!”
    â€œGood thing I thought of ‘Happy birthday’!”
    â€œYes, but what now?”
    They listened and listened and listened.
    They heard the breeze in the wind chimes that hung from the orange and lemon tree.
    They heard tired Nan snoring her ladylike snores.
    They heard, just once and far away, the raindrop patter of Ratty’s feet on the plaster ceiling.
    They heard a sudden clawing.
    It might have been bears. It might have been tigers. It might have been lions or one of those T. rexes.
    â€œThe cats!” said Lulu.
    Down in the kitchen, the cats were scratching at a wall.
    Snore , went Nan again, as Lulu and Mellie tiptoed past her bedroom door.
    The cats hardly looked at Lulu and Mellie as they crept into the kitchen. They were up on