All of a sudden, the whole castle trembled. The ground shook, paint from the roof rained down on our heads, and a hellish noise came from the living room:
Crish crash bang blam-blata-ka-blooooommmm!
“Supisichi, an earthquake!” we all said at once: Mister Carozo and Granddad and I, grabbing each other’s hands, terrified.
However, I did think it strange that there should be an earthquake in Gulubú, since I hadn’t seen a single mountain anywhere, let alone a volcano.
The three of us squeezed our eyes shut and covered our ears, certain that Dailan Kifki must have destroyed some part of the castle while playing with that football.
“I’m sure it’s that elephant!” Mister Carozo roared like a lion cub.
“Let’s not jump to conclusions!” I said.
“That elephant should be locked up in a school for the rest of his life!” yelled Granddad.
“I’m sure it wasn’t him,” I said, trying to defend poor Dailan Kifki.
“Oh no?” replied the dwarf, green with rage. “I’ll bet my football it was him!”
“Supisichi,” added Mister Carozo. “If Dailan Kifki is innocent, you get to keep the football, with her bed and everything.”
“I will.”
I looked out the window and saw Dailan Kifki playing a nice, calm game of golf, pushing the ball with his trunk till she fell into an anthill.
“Look over here,” I said to Mister Carozo.
I picked him up so he could see.
“So what was all that commotion?” asked Mister Carozo, intrigued.
“I don’t know, but it’s quite clear that Dailan Kifki isn’t to blame. Which means I’ve won the football.”
“Just a moment,” said Mister Carozo, who was already regretting having bet his precious ball. “This needs to be investigated by a proper detective. You don’t get the ball till we’ve made quite sure it really wasn’t Dailan Kifki who was behind this catastrophe.”
“But Mister Carozo, first we need to know what this famous catastrophe actually was! We heard the crash but so far we haven’t moved from here to find out what in sampiolín happened,” I said nervously. (Some of the dwarf’s vocabulary was catching.)
“If we’re to find out what happened,” he replied, stubborn as ever, “we need a detective. A proper one with a magnifying glass and a pipe and everything.”
“But what do we need a detective for if we can see with our own eyes? That noise, the catastrophe—it happened somewhere very near here. Probably inside the house, Mister Carozo.”
But do you think the dwarf gave in?
He didn’t even bother going over to where the catastrophe had taken place. And he wouldn’t let me go, either. Instead he insisted, grumbled and stamped his feet, calling for a detective with a magnifying glass and a pipe and everything.
Then we heard an ironic little laugh behind us…
Can you guess who it was?
Just imagine!