The Ho Ho Ho Mystery. Bob Burke

chance I had of hanging on while Basili dangled from my legs had disappeared when Mrs Claus added her ample frame to the equation. Now, I could feel the rope sliding through my trotters as my arms finally gave up, shouted surrender and lay down their weapons. I didn’t know how long the rope was, but from the speed I slid down along it I didn’t think there was much more left to hold on to. This was it; this was the end.

       6 The Soft Shoe Slingshot

      Or was it?

      I didn’t plummet down through the inky blackness and end up an unpleasant mess on the ground below (as I’d not unreasonably expected) but landed instead on something hard and metallic. Behind me I could hear Basili crying, ‘Thank the gods’, and, behind him again, Mrs Claus was just crying. I didn’t even bother trying to work out what had happened; I just lay where I was and breathed a heavy sigh of relief. From the speed of the wind across my face it seemed like we were on something that was moving fast – but what? When the surface underneath me lurched sharply and I saw us move towards the sleigh we’d just fallen from, I knew exactly where we were.

      Were we safe? Hell, no!

      Were we in a better position than before? Marginally – in the sense that we weren’t hanging off each other and facing certain death.

      Where exactly were we? We’d fallen on to the roof of the sleigh that had been attacking us!

      Was that better? Only if it flew in a straight line.

      I turned to my companions and broke the good news to them. From what I could see of their expressions they were less than gruntled too. Clearly they shared my opinion of our predicament.