The Wolf Cupboard (6 page)

Still Danny didn't speak.

“Danny?” said Leon, more gently, putting a hand on his little brother's shoulder. “You OK?”

Danny burst into tears. He pulled away from Leon and threw himself on the floor. He was crying as if his heart would break.

“I
wanted
there to be a wolf in the cupboard,” he wailed. “Where's my wolf?”

Leon didn't know what to do. All he could say was, “
Shhh!
Miss will hear you.”

“I've got nothing to take to Show and Tell!” roared Danny.

“What?” said Leon, puzzled.

Then he remembered. When he was in the baby class, kids would bring things in, show them to the other children and talk about them.

“It's Show and Tell this morning,” Danny sobbed, “and I was going to take my wolf into my class and tell them all about him.”

Suddenly, Leon had another brilliant plan.

“I can't believe it!” he said, pretending to be shocked. “You weren't going to take a wild wolf into the baby class, were you?”

“Why not?” asked Danny. “The book says they hardly ever attack kids.”

“I know that,” said Leon. “And you know that. But
other
kids don't know that, do they? They only know about the big, bad wolves in fairy tales. If you took a wolf in, they'd say, ‘It's going to gobble me all up!' They'd run all over the place, screaming!”

Danny nodded slowly. “I suppose they would be scared,” he said.

“Of course they would,” said Leon. “I mean, even you were scared at first. Until you learned what wolves are really like. So you've got to tell them the truth in Show and Tell.”

Danny wiped away his tears. There was a big smile on his face again.

“That's a good idea!” he said. “I will! I'll tell them the truth!”

Danny got as far as the classroom door. But then he turned round to look at Leon. He'd stopped smiling. His face was like a sad clown.

“But I've got nothing to show!” he wailed. “How can I do Show and Tell when I've got nothing to show!”

“Oh no!” thought Leon.

He'd thought everything was going so well. Now it was all going wrong again!

“Stay here!” he told Danny.

Leon raced back to his classroom and crashed through the door. He tugged
All About Wolves
out of his backpack.

“Back in a minute,” he gasped to his teacher then raced off again down the corridor.

He shoved the book into Danny's hand. “Show them this book,” he panted. “Show them the photos.”

“It's not as good as a real wolf…” Danny began to say.

“But you can't take a real wolf into the classroom!” yelled Leon. “I just told you!”

“Oh yeah,” said Danny. “I forgot.” And, grasping his book, he trotted back into the baby class.

Leon stood, staring after him. Then he stumbled back to his own classroom.

He felt worn out. He'd worked so hard, sorting out Danny's problems. He should get some kind of medal. But no-one but him would ever know about it.

He slumped back into his seat. At least now he might get some peace.

Minutes ticked by. Then someone in Leon's class said, “What's that noise?”

Everyone looked up. From the baby class down the corridor came a wild, spine-chilling howl. It made your blood run cold. You could hear it all around the school.

“What on earth was that?” asked Leon's teacher.

Only Leon knew the answer.

It was Danny, doing Show and Tell, teaching his class the truth about wolves.

First published 2012 by A & C Black
This electronic edition published September 2012

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
50 Bedford Square
London WC1B 3DP

Text copyright © 2012 Susan Gates

Illustrations copyright © 2012 Cherry Whytock

The rights of Susan Gates and Cherry Whytock to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work have been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

ISBN 978-1-4081-8076-1 (e-book)

A CIP catalogue for this book is available from the British Library.

All rights reserved
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