CHAPTER TWO
The next morning, Dennis's parents had a visitor. The front door burst through and it was Granny on the motorbike.
"Kids!" she called out to Mum and Dad.
They came running into the lounge. Dad was disgusted. But then is he never?
"Granny! The door!" he cried in disgust.
"I'm going to prove that my grandson and those other kiddies are innocent!" boasted Granny.
"Granny! Dennis and those other children are guilty," said Dad.
"Your son may be a menace, but a criminal mastermind, he is not!" announced Granny.
"Gnasher! Gnipper! Rasher!"
The three pets all ran into the lounge.
"Do you boys want to prove that your best friend is innocent?" Granny asked the pets.
"Ganesh!" said Gnasher and Gnipper.
"Oink!" said Rasher.
"To the scene of the crime!" cried Granny.
The three pets jumped on to the side-car that was attached to the motorbike and Granny drove out of the house and hit the road.
The lounge was covered in tyre tracks, doggy foot prints and hoof prints. Dad groaned.
"And after I just cleaned here," said Mum looking a tad disappointed.
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Granny and company arrived at the scene of the crime. The building had yellow tape at the front of it saying "Do not cross."
"Alright my trusty bloodhounds, sniff for clues," said Granny.
Gnasher, Gnipper and Rasher jumped out of the side car and began sniffing for clues. After a minute, Rasher found something. The others walked over to him. Rasher had found a thorn from a cactus. Granny picked it up and looked at it.
"Good work, Rasher," she said. "This looks like it's from a cactus. Can you boys smell this to find out where this is from?"
The three pets sniffed the thorn, but couldn't figure where it came from. They looked at Granny and shook their heads.
"Gnope," said Gnasher.
"Gnip," said Gnipper.
"Oink," said Rasher.
"Looks like we'll have to go to the Wild West to find more evidence," said Granny.
So Granny, Gnasher, Gnipper and Rasher all got back on the motorbike and headed for the Wild West.
The Wild West district in Beanotown.
Not that they had to go to America.
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Granny drove the motorbike into the desert and looked for anyone who could help her and Dennis' pets. She then spotted Hank's store and thought the owner would give her advice.
When she parked the bike, she got off and went to the store. She then spotted 3 animals that were hiding behind it. She went behind the store and saw it was none other than The 3 Bears.
The 3 Bears looked at Granny and shushed her.
"We're gonna rob Hank's store," said Pa.
"We gotta be extra quiet," said Ma.
Granny had an idea.
"Tell you what, I'll make you a bargain. I'll distract Hank if you can tell me where this thorn is from. Bears have a very strong sense of smell."
"It's a deal," said Pa. "Ted, will you do the honours?"
Granny held up the thorn to Ted's nose and he gave it a right, big sniff.
"Smells like it's from Dandy Town," he said.
"We go to the Dandy Town Wild West District all the time to steal some good grub," said Ma.
"But don't be tellin' the Beano Town folk," said Pa.
"I knew my grandson and those other kiddies were innocent," said Granny with a smile. "Thank you so much, 3 Bears. Now, for my part of the bargain."
Granny went inside the store and talked to Hank who was behind the counter. She talked to Hank about things like today's celebrity gossip, the news and the kids of Beanotown being put in a home.
While she spoke to him, The 3 Bears snuck in from the window behind Hank and secretly stole all the food while he spoke to Granny. He didn't suspect a thing.
After the 3 Bears did the dirty theft and disappeared, Granny said bye bye to Hank, walked outside to her motorbike and drove off. Hank then turned around and saw that his store was empty. He stood there puzzled.
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Back at the Home, Roger's plan was into action.
It was morning and the kids were outside in the playground forced to play football with deflated ball. Cruncher stood there with his arms folded as he kept watch.
"Mr Cruncher, sir!" cried Spotty as he ran up to him.
"What do you want you pimple faced squirt?" barked Cruncher.
"There's a strange animal in the store room!" cried Spotty in fright.
"Alright, I'll see what it is," said Cruncher as he let Spotty lead him inside the Home.
In the store room cupboard, Cruncher looked around.
"I don't see anything," he said.
Just then, Cruncher saw a frightening sight. It was a tall muddy like monster and another short one beside him holding an axe. They both roared at Cruncher.
"ARGH! IT'S THE CREATURES OF THE DEEP, DEEP, DEEP MUD!"
'Creatures Of The Deep, Deep, Deep Mud' was the latest horror film that out at the moment.
Cruncher back away in fear. What he didn't know was that above him was a shelf and standing on the shelf was Ivy with a huge sack.
"NOW!" cried Spotty as Ivy jumped down and covered the sack on top of Cruncher. Spotty, Ivy and the two monsters then tied a huge rope around Cruncher. He was trapped. The four ran out of the store room as Minnie came up from the corridor. They shut the door and Minnie took out one of her hairpins and locked used them to lock it. They could hear Cruncher crashing about in there.
Minnie looked at the two monsters and said "Good work, boys."
The monsters wiped the mud off their faces to reveal they were none other than Plug and Wilfred.
"That was my best performance," said Plug. "I've seen that film 12 times. I know all the lines."
They all ran back to the playground. Using the axe, Wilfred chopped the chain from Billy Whizz's shackles. He could run again. And handy too, because the guards were coming. All the kids waited for the guards to arrive. There were about 10 of them. They all stood in front of the kids.
"Oh, you brats are goin' to get it now," said one of the guards.
But Billy Whizz started to run around them in a big circle. Around and around and around and around and around at the speed of light. The guards watched as he sped around them over and over and over. They were getting dizzy.
Whilst Billy was doing this, the kids had ran back inside the home and burst into the store room cupboards. They took out long coils of rope from each of the rooms and ran back to the playground.
Billy was still zooming around the guards who were getting dizzier and dizzier and dizzier. The kids threw the ends of their coils of rope at Billy and he caught them. As he continued running around the guards as he wrapped the ropes all around them tying them up. When Billy had finished, he stopped running and the tied up guards all sat on the ground dazed. Billy tied the end of the ropes into a knot. The kids had taken over the Home.
They managed to get all their clothes and belongings back. They were happy to be back in their old battle armour again.
Then Dennis, Minnie, Ivy, Billy, James, Roger and The Bash Street Kids all ran out of the building and into the bus. They were going to drive out of there. But there was just one question.
Who could drive?
"I can," said Smiffy.
"You?" asked the others in disbelief.
"My uncle owns an army tank, I drive it all the time," said Smiffy.
"Okay," said the others enthusiastically.
But wouldn't they know it, Smiffy was actually a very good driver. They couldn't believe it. Minnie directed him to Dandy Town.
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As the bus drove on, the others all congratulated themselves on a job well done.
"That was amazing when you did the….."
"Not as cool as you did the…." and so on.
Back in Beanotown, word had got out that the kids escaped the home and the police were all ordered to chase after the kids who were heading towards Dandy Town.
The kids' bus had only only 2 miles to Dandy Town. They were going to make it. But unfortunately, they noticed that a huge army of police cars were hot on their tail. And even worse, the bus were running out of petrol.
"I told you we should've stopped at that petrol station," Dennis said to Minnie.
"Well Erbert saw the sign and he said that they didn't had petrol, they had diesel," said Minnie.
The bus was slowing down and the cops were getting closer and closer.
Billy had an idea. He opened up the emergency door at the back of the bus and started to climb out. He then made his way to the bottom of the vehicle and placed his feet on the ground. He started to run as he pushed the bus to make go faster.
"It's working!" cried Danny.
But the bus was too heavy for Billy to push. They weren't going to make it!
"We need to lose weight, this bus is too heavy for Billy to push," cried Minnie.
Everyone all looked at Fatty.
"What?" he asked.
"James, what are you doing?" cried Sidney.
Calamity James had smashed opened the back window. He was going to jump out and sacrifice himself.
"You guys go on, I'll distract them," he said. "Besides, I'm nothing but bad luck. If you did make to Dandy Town with me, I'll just end up messing it all up for you guys."
"But we escaped the Home with you and it was a success," said Toots.
James looked at her and sighed.
"I'm sorry," he said. "Good luck everyone."
And with that he jumped out of the window and landed on the road right in the front of the police cars.
The cars all skidded to a halt as they saw the injured James.
Don't worry folks, James survived. He's been through worse.
The bus drove off towards Dandy Town. They have made it. But they were all sorry for James.
They all hung their heads down with despair.
"Poor James," said Plug.
"If only he believed in himself," said Minnie. "He has to understand he's not bad luck. It's just in his head."
All the kids sat there depressed.
"We're here," said Dennis.
The bus had arrived in Dandytown. The kids all shivered with fear. This was an unwelcome place for them.
Smiffy parked the bus and everyone got out.
"Let's go to my pen pal's house," said Minnie.