Nelson knew they had escaped from the vault, but it wasn’t until his monsters clambered off him that he could lift his head and see where they were. Though the sun had yet to rise, there was enough light in the sky to reveal rows and rows of leafy trees stretching out before them. Where the rows of trees ended, a dense and dark jungle spread beneath a smoking volcano.
‘Where are we, Nosh?’ said Nelson.
Nosh spat out the Bang Stone and gazed up at the leafy canopy of the tree they were all lying beneath. ‘Mmmm . . .’ He hummed. ‘Mangoes.’
‘What do you mean, mangoes? Nosh, where have you brought us?’ said Nelson as he sat up, his head turning left and right, still half expecting to see security guards running towards him.
‘Ooooo, diss was ma dream, Nelly-son. Remember? It was on da list. To come eat da mangoes from da mango trees. Me love da mangoes so muchly.’
Stan slapped Nosh’s belly. ‘You were supposed to take us back home! And this ain’t home, is it?!’ Stan picked up a broken wooden fruit crate with a picture of a mango and sunshine on the side. ‘It’s a flipping mango farm!’ Stan threw the fruit crate on the ground and smashed it to bits.
The other monsters groaned and grumbled. After a scare like they’d had in the vaults, everyone wanted to be safely back at home and not on the other side of the world, no matter how good the fruit was.
‘I must say, I find the sight of that volcano gives me the heebie-jeebies. Remember what happened to Buzzard and his monster? How they perished in the lava? Yikes.’ Hoot shifted uneasily from foot to foot.
‘Hooonk,’ said Crush sadly as he remembered the adorable cuddly rhino leaping into the volcano.
Nelson pulled off his Mexican wrestler mask. The tropical heat was already making him drip with sweat. ‘Nosh.’ He sighed. ‘We were going to do your wish another night. This was Miser’s night, not yours.’
‘And what’s more, my dear Nosh, I’m afraid I don’t see a single mango up here,’ said Hoot, who had flown up on to a low branch.
‘What?!’ barked Nosh. ‘Where all da mangoes gone!?’
Spike picked up what looked like a melted brown shoe but was actually a rotten mango. ‘I think we’ve missed the harvest.’
Stan began to chuckle.
‘Nah, nah, nah, dere’s gotta be da mangoes here! Me dream about comin’ to diss place!’ Poor Nosh looked around and realized that Spike was right. The trees had been harvested of all their fruit.
‘Should have been here a month ago, it would’ve been ideal,’ said Spike. ‘Well, for you at least. Not for me. I don’t really like mangoes. I prefer a banana, though I don’t like it when they have brown squashy bits, or if they’re too green, and I don’t like the stringy bits you have to peel off. Come to think of it, I don’t really like bananas.’
‘Oh, will you stop moaning about bananas and let’s just go home.’ Stan punched the tree and the branches shook.
Nelson could see Nosh was fed up. ‘Nosh, don’t worry. We can do something else for you. But tonight is not the night. Let’s just go back home, please.’
Nosh nodded reluctantly and picked up the Bang Stone that fizzed in the grass beside him.
‘Everybody hold on,’ said Nelson. There were no protests as they had all had enough adventures for one night and home was exactly where they wanted to be.
Nosh popped the stone into his mouth and closed his eyes.
BANG!
They were gone.