Needless to say, Bob couldn’t wait for Friday to come. Not only was the zoo his favourite place to visit, but he also knew there was a surprise in store for the bullies who had made his life such a misery for so long.

As the headmistress Miss Veer led the schoolchildren into the zoo, Stubbs made sure he was right behind Bob.

“Blob! Ha! Ha! That’s your name! Blob!”

Bob said nothing, and smiled to himself. Stubbs and his two henchmen, Baz and Gaz, were baffled.

The schoolchildren were fascinated with all the unusual-looking animals who Bob had worked his magic on. These were the ones who were entertaining the crowds now, while the lion, the gorilla and the giraffe all looked on, sulking.

The children from Bob’s school gathered excitedly around the pangolin, who was showing off her scales.

“Come along now, children!” announced Miss Veer. “Don’t you want to see the tiger?”

“No, miss!” piped up one little girl. “The tiger is boring. She just lies there sunning herself. Look at this funny little chap!”

As the bullies flicked Bob’s ears with their fingers and sniggered, out of the corner of his eye the boy spotted a figure standing high up on top of the aviary, where the zoo’s birds were kept. At first Bob thought that the bullies might have put someone up there. It was the kind of thing they did. But then the boy realised it was Sir Basil Basildon. What was the zoo owner doing?

There he was standing with his legs akimbo, his suit trousers flapping in the wind. The man was looking through a pair of binoculars. After a moment, he made a signal with his arm to Winston, who had appeared right by the pangolin’s enclosure.

Winston winked at Bob.

Bob smiled at Winston.

The boy was bursting with excitement. He knew something big was coming, but what?

Then, to the schoolchildren’s horror, the zookeeper did something unexpected – he opened the enclosure gate. They all hurried back and huddled together. The headmistress pushed her way to the back, cowering behind her pupils.

“PLEASE DON’T EAT ME!” cried Miss Veer. “IT’S SPEECH DAY NEXT WEEK!”

“Don’t worry, Mrs Headmistress!” said Winston. “This little fellow isn’t going to eat you.”

“That’s a shame,” mumbled one boy at the back.

“My pangolin friend here likes to eat ants.”

The group all gazed intently as the zookeeper produced a jar of the little insects from out of his coat pocket. On seeing the delicious treats scuttling around behind the glass, the creature opened her mouth and her long, sticky tongue slithered out.

Poor Miss Veer looked alarmed.

“That is a very long tongue!” she murmured.

Next, Winston proceeded to pour the ants right on to the pangolin’s tongue. She ate them all up greedily before rolling up into a ball. Not just any ball. An armour-plated ball.

“Oh no!” said Miss Veer.

Silence descended upon the children.

What was going to happen next?

The pangolin rolled herself up a ramp in her enclosure.

Then, from atop the aviary, Sir Basil boomed, “PANGOLIN! GO!”

On hearing those words, the creature rolled herself back down the ramp at speed.

Winston shouted,

Just in time the boy jumped over the rolling pangolin, but the ball knocked over the three bullies standing behind him as if they were skittles. They were thrown into the air and one by one landed in the mud.

All the other children hooted with laughter at seeing these menaces being menaced.

“HA! HA! HA!”

The three bullies lay on the floor, dazed and confused, their bottoms all mucky.

Little did they know their ordeal was only just beginning.