Anna was lying in bed when a loud knocking broke her sleep.
‘Miss Anna,’ said Lemmy, ‘I’m so sorry, but I could do with some help.’
It wasn’t like Lemmy to bother her at night. Anna rubbed her eyes, threw on her dressing gown and opened the door. ‘What’s wrong?’ she asked.
‘It’s the band, miss,’ he said. ‘They’re rehearsing!’
‘What time is it?’
‘Three in the morning,’ said Lemmy. ‘They’ve woken up nearly four floors. I’ve got two sad llamas, three honking baby geese and Mrs Turpington is in tears!’
‘That’s the last thing we need!’ said Anna, steeling herself. ‘Right! Let’s go and have a word.’
Anna walked into the lobby and could hear the thumping of drums and the screeching of wild, distorted guitars coming from the upper floors.
‘I thought they wanted to keep their stay a secret?’ said Anna. ‘Everyone’s going to know about them after this.’
Eva was consoling Mrs Turpington with a nice dandelion tea.
The ageing tortoise shook her head. ‘Is this what they call music these days?’ she said to Anna. ‘You can’t dance to this!’
‘I’m sorry,’ said Anna. ‘It’ll be quiet soon. I’ll see to it.’
She took a deep breath and rode the lift to the fifth floor. Bleary-eyed guests poked their heads out of their doors as she passed. The music pounding out of the band’s room was loud, angry, yet quite incredible, and with her fist firmly clenched she banged on the door.
‘Can you turn it down, please?’ shouted Anna.
The music continued and she banged again. ‘Mr Sweet, will you open the door?’
A second or two passed before the music cut out. Anna’s heart started to race. The door opened, and Mr Sweet’s snarling face appeared before her.
‘What?’ he snapped.
‘You cannot play music at this time of night,’ said Anna. ‘You’ve woken all our guests up.’
‘We rehearse at night,’ snarled Mr Sweet. ‘That’s when we’re awake. Deal with it.’
He slammed the door. The music started again.
Anna stood silently for a moment, allowing her anger a chance to come off the boil. Nobody, not even a terrifying honey badger, could talk to her like that and get away with it.
She banged at the door once more. The music stopped and again Mr Sweet opened the door. ‘What is it this time?’ he snarled.
Faced with the terrifying creature her voice seemed to stop working. She coughed and forced out the words, ‘In my office, now!’
Mr Sweet laughed. ‘Are you threatening me, miss?’ He bared his sharp teeth.
‘In my office, now,’ repeated Anna, finding her strength. ‘I will not be spoken to like this in my hotel.’
And with that she turned and ventured back downstairs. Her heart was pounding, but she was feeling stronger for confronting Mr Sweet.
By the time Anna had reached the office, most of the staff were awake and placating upset guests. Even Jojo, who was better equipped to deal with swimmers than sad skunks, was doing her best to calm everyone down.
T. Bear was at the front desk, looking ready for action. ‘Want me to deal with Mr Sweet, miss?’ he asked, rubbing his paws together. ‘I don’t mind.’
‘I think I have things under control,’ said Anna, ‘but I’d love to have you as back-up!’
‘Always, miss,’ said T. Bear.
When Mr Sweet arrived Anna was sitting at her desk with T. Bear looming tall behind her.
‘How dare you talk to me like that!’ barked Mr Sweet, his claws pointing menacingly at Anna. ‘You do realise how powerful I am?’
‘Sir,’ said Anna, ‘you can act as strong and mean as you like, but this is my hotel. I deserve respect. As do all our other guests.’
‘I manage the biggest band in the world,’ he replied. ‘You manage this pokey hotel. I should take my stars elsewhere.’
‘You could try, but there will be no spare rooms available at the Glitz,’ said Anna. ‘Not in carnival week.’
Mr Sweet seemed taken aback. Anna wondered if he wasn’t used to having people question him. There was a knock on the office door. It opened and Suzi Suzi walked in, her guitar strapped over her back.
‘Hey, man,’ she said calmly to Mr Sweet. ‘What’s all this fuss?’
‘Stay out of this,’ said Mr Sweet. ‘I’ve got it under control. This little hotel thinks it can mess us about.’
‘No way, man,’ said Suzi. ‘That’s not the way I see it. That lemur dude, he’s just been telling me we woke the whole place up? Who wants that on their mind, man? We can practise somewhere else.’
Mr Sweet growled angrily. ‘That lemur spoke to you?’ he said.
‘Yeah, dude,’ said Suzi.
Mr Sweet turned to Anna. ‘I told you there was no speaking to my band!’
‘No wonder everyone’s treating us weird, man,’ said Suzi. ‘Dude, chill out.’
‘You know I could ruin you in a heartbeat!’ Mr Sweet barked in rage. He stomped out of the room, leaving Suzi with Anna and T. Bear.
‘That guy’s out of order,’ said Suzi. ‘Hey, I’m sorry.’
Anna smiled, happy that Suzi was actually a nice fox. And in that moment Anna had a brilliant idea.
‘I’ve got the perfect practice room, if that’s what you want?’ she said. ‘And it’s so far from the guests you won’t bother a soul.’
‘Yeah, man,’ she said, nodding in a leisurely way. ‘That would be awesome!’
‘Mr Sweet won’t mind?’ asked Anna.
‘He won’t have a choice,’ said Suzi. ‘I’ve had enough of his negative energy anyway.’
‘OK then,’ said Anna.
Anna asked T. Bear to help the band move all their equipment into the ballroom, and she walked out into the lobby to find Lemmy totally entranced. His cheeks were pink.
‘Sh-she spoke to me,’ he stuttered, staring off into space. ‘Suzi Suzi spoke to me …’
