After being locked in Batter’s shed for what seemed like hours, the pair were marched to the zoo director’s office. It was an oak-panelled room, with oil paintings and busts of the previous zoo directors. The list of bad things Sid and Eric had done was long. As Sir Frederick Frown listed them one by one, all the boy could think about was that he really needed a pee.

“Bweaking into the zoo duwing the night. Bwinging a child into the zoo without authowisation. Attacking a member of staff. Letting a dangewous animal woam the zoo at night. And, last but not least, bweaking into the snack bar and stealing waisins!”

Eric couldn’t help but smirk at Frown’s posh way of pronouncing words.

“The impudence!” thundered Frown. “Boy, you deserve a good old-fashioned thwashing! And why do you smell of penguin?”

Eric’s clothes were still damp. “I fell in the penguin pool.”

“Fell in the penguin pool! What a widiculous thing to do! You could have dwowned! I despair. I weally do. Where, pway, are your mother and father in all this?”

The boy hung his head. Nothing seemed funny any more. “Both died in the war, sir.”

The man softened. “I am so vewy sowwy to hear that.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“But goodness gwacious. This is not good. Not good at all. Orphan or not, this is the second time you have been in twouble at my zoo in twenty-four hours!”

“Sorry, sir.”

“Mmm, but it’s not you I blame for all this. You have been led astway by this man here.”

He jabbed his finger in Sid’s direction. Now it was the old man’s turn to hang his head.

“Sorry, sir,” muttered Sid.

“Sowwy isn’t good enough. You have been a keeper here at the zoo for longer than anyone. Not once, but twice you have bwoken that bond of twust. You have no wight to be in the zoo duwing the night!”

“I was only trying to take care of all the animals during the bombing raid!”

“It is not your job to do that, Pwatt. Batter here is—”

“Corporal Batter, if you please, sir,” corrected the corporal, who was standing in the corner with a smug look on his face.

Frown rolled his eyes. “Corpowal Batter here has orders of how to deal with animals who escape duwing the night. And you pwevented him fwom doing that. Imagine if we had a gowilla wunning wiot thwough the stweets of London?”

Eric began imagining the scene.

The boy smiled to himself. A gowilla wunning wiot seemed like awfully good fun!

“It would be chaos!” concluded Frown. “That gowilla is a gwave danger to the public!”

“I know her better than any of you! Gertrude’s a big softie! She’s harmless!” protested the boy.

“That gorilla could rip your arms clean off!” bawled Batter.

“Then it would be Eric who’d be ’armless!” quipped Sid.

“Is that supposed to be funny?” demanded Frown.

“Just trying to lighten the mood, sir!”

“Well, don’t. This isn’t a laughing matter. That gowilla destwoyed its cage! It has no place in my zoo! And as for you, boy, you are a child – you don’t know the first thing about these cweatures!”

This stung Eric. He might not have been an animal expert with all the facts and figures, but he did have a special connection with them. Especially his dearest darling Gertrude.

“Batter, fetch the vet, the delightful Miss Gnarl. She can put down the gowilla!”

“Very good, sir!” replied Batter with a self-satisfied grin as he left Frown’s office.

“NOOOOOO!” screamed Eric.