When Sid and Eric walked through the door of the old man’s little terraced house, it wasn’t clear who was more pleased to see them.

The animals or Bessie!

Sid’s number-one fan had been waiting up in her pink frilly nightdress all night for their return.

“MY SIDNEY!” she exclaimed, powering down the corridor, heading straight for him.

The lady bustled past the animals and launched herself at her love. His eyes were opened wide in shock as she wrapped herself round him. “THANK THE GOOD LORD YOU ARE SAFE!”

“I was,” he said, struggling to breathe as she was holding him so tight. Such was the force of her jump that Sid’s tin legs couldn’t take it.

CRANKLE!

They rocked backwards and the pair tumbled to the floor.

DOOF!

Bessie ended up sitting on top of Sidney, who was spread out on the floorboards.

“OOH, SIDNEY! YOU OLD DEVIL!”

Eric chuckled to himself. “Ha! Ha!”

“Can someone please help me up?” demanded Sid.

“Let’s not be too hasty!” hooted Bessie.

“No, let’s be very hasty! Chop! Chop!”

Eric helped Bessie to her feet first.

“I enjoyed that!” she sighed.

Then they both helped the old man to his tin feet.

“I didn’t! I could hardly breathe!” spluttered Sid.

Next, he greeted his animal children. They were all so pleased to see him. It is quite something being pawed at, nuzzled and licked by a parrot, a baby elephant, a seal, a flamingo, a crocodile, an enormously bottomed baboon and, bringing up the rear, a giant tortoise, all at once.

“I’ve missed you, my beauties!” said Sid.

“And I know who this is!” cooed Bessie on seeing the gorilla. “Ooh, she’s glorious!”

“The newest member of our family!” announced the boy. “Meet Gertrude!”

The gorilla began greeting all the other animals as if they were old friends. Some she might have remembered from the zoo, others she was meeting for the first time. No matter, she showered them all with love, with cuddles, strokes and kisses galore.

“Who would ever want to hurt this magnificent lady?” exclaimed Bessie. “Now, what does Gertrude like to eat? I could cook her up a nice welcoming treat!”

“Bananas are her favourite!”

“No bananas, I’m afraid! There is a war on!”

“Raisins?”

“I just baked a fruit-and-nut cake! That has a ton of raisins in it!”

“Yummy! I’m sure she’d love that!” exclaimed the boy.

Eagerly, Gertrude nodded her head and licked her lips.

“SLURP!”

“And I would too!” said Sid. “Oh, and a nice cup of cocoa!”

“Oh well, if you are doing cocoa and cake, I would love some too, please! I’m starving!” added the boy.

“Let me get cracking!” said Bessie as she bustled out of the back door.

The boy slumped down on a chair in the kitchen and yawned.

“I’ll have my cocoa and cake, and go straight to bed,” said Eric.

The old man’s eyes flashed with fear.

“What?” asked the boy.

“We can’t stay here!” said Sid.

“Why not?”

“They’ll be on to us.”

“Who?”

“Everyone! Frown, Batter, Gnarl! They might have already called the coppers. And then there’s the air-raid warden out there! She’ll wake up soon and she knows exactly where I live.”

“How come?”

“I pointed at the house.”

“Oh yes. That wasn’t too clever!”

“Wasn’t too clever!” repeated Parker the one-winged parrot, who was perched on Eric’s shoulder.

“Shush, you!” said Sid.

“Shush, you!” the parrot repeated.

“Cheeky little so-and-so, isn’t she?” chuckled Sid.

“Where can we go?” asked the boy.

“We need to get out of London! A fully grown gorilla is far too big for this little house anyway. No offence, Gertrude!”

The gorilla, who was busy pulling fleas out of Botty the baboon’s fur and eating them, looked back at him and shrugged.

“We need somewhere with open spaces so she can lollop around to her heart’s content!”

Eric had never been out of the city in his short life. Some of the other children at his school bragged about day trips to the seaside, and Eric had always wanted to go. It was something his mum and dad had often talked about, but, alas, it was not to be.

“How about we take Gertrude to the seaside?” suggested Eric.

“In December?” spluttered the old man. “It’ll be blowing a gale!”

“Oh no. You’re right. It’s a stupid idea!” he replied, downcast.

Suddenly Sid’s face brightened. “It’s not a stupid idea! It’s a brilliant idea! No one else will be visiting the seaside at this time of year. We’ll have the place to ourselves! There’s an old guesthouse I used to stay at way back when I was a boy. In the last century it was! Oh, I loved it. It was just outside Bognor Regis, up on a hill, and from there I could see all the British warships going to and from Portsmouth Harbour. I went back there just before war broke out to take a trip down memory lane, but it was all boarded up. It would be the perfect place for us to hide out!”

“Brilliant! What’s it called?” asked the boy.

“Seaview Towers!” said Sid.

“Seaview Towers!” repeated Parker the parrot.

“Seaview Towers!

Seaview Towers!”