"I do wish old Fatty would buck up and come back from wherever he's staying," said Bets. "We've had almost a week of the holidays without him already - such a waste!"
"He's coming back today," said Pip, passing a postcard across the breakfast-table to his young sister.
"Here's a card from him. Three cheers!"Bets read the card out loud. "Back tomorrow by bus from Warling. Meet me at bus stop if you can. What about a nice juicy mystery? I feel just about ready for one. Fatty."
"A nice juicy what ?" said her mother, puzzled.
" Mystery ," said Bets, her eyes shining. "You know how something always seems to happen when Fatty's about, Mother - there was the mystery of the Pantomime Cat - and the mystery of the Vanished Prince - and...
"Her father groaned. "Look, Bets - I'm tired of all these adventures and strange happenings that seem to pop up whenever your friend Frederick is about. Just try and steer clear of any trouble these holidays. I was hoping that Frederick was staying away for a nice long time."
"I wish you wouldn't call him Frederick, Daddy," said Bets. "It does sound so silly."
"I should have thought that Frederick was a much better name for a boy in his teens, than the absurd name of Fatty," said her father. "I wonder Frederick allows people to call him by that old nickname now."
"Mother, where's the bus time-table?" she said. "I'd like to find out what time old Fatty's bus arrives."
"Well, seeing that there are only two in the morning, and the bus from Warling takes two hours to get here, I should think he'll be on the first bus," said Pip, "well we better be off soon or we won't be able to catch him". So after breakfast pip and bets wore their Macs and went out to larry's house.
"hey pip do you think fatty will be in one of his disguises, I hope so". As they reached the train they saw a familiar face red with eyes bulging out. "oi what are you doing here, Clear orf"
"I can't think WHY Fatty had to go off to Switzerland for a whole fortnight, and be away all Summer time,' complained Bets.
"Well, he had to go with his parents," said Daisy. "I expect he had a jolly good time in all that snow."
"Yes. And he wouldn't mind falling down a bit, he's so plump!" said Larry, with a laugh. "What's the time? Gosh, we're early! What shall we do?"
"It's cold on the platform. Let's go into the waiting-room," said Daisy.
whoooosh! the train sped in to the station as they went to see whether fatty was on the way the saw four children and a dog roughly the same age as them stepping on to the platform but their attention wavered as the saw a rather plump figure loom up to them. " well hello there" said a familiar voice
"Fatty!" exclaimed bets as she swung her hands around him.
" Hello young bets" said fatty with a familiar twinkle in his eyes " any nice juicy mysteries for us to sink our brains.."
"So sorry if I'm interrupting but i can't help but noticing you saying something about a mystery" said a blonde haired boy about the age of larry " we happen to be quite the sleuths ourselves. " "yeah we are" said a brunette haired boy about one year younger than the other boy.