Paddington At Large

“I think I must have pulled the wrong lever by mistake, Mr Gruber,” said Paddington sadly.

“Good job for you your hat fell over the carburetter,” said one of the traders who knew Paddington by sight. “Otherwise there’s no knowing where you’d have ended up. It must have stopped the air getting in.”

“What!” exclaimed Paddington anxiously. “My hat’s fallen over the carburetter?” Paddington’s hat was an old and very rare one which had been given to him by his uncle shortly before he left Peru and he felt very relieved when he saw that apart from a few extra oil stains there was no sign of damage.

“If I were you,” said someone in the crowd, nodding in the direction of a group of people who had just entered the market, “I should make yourself scarce. The law’s on its way.”

With great presence of mind Mr Gruber pushed the motor mower on to the pavement by his shop. “Quick, Mr Brown,” he cried, pointing to the grass box. “Jump in here!”

Mr Gruber barely had time to cover Paddington with a sack and chalk ‘Today’s Bargain’ on the outside of the box before there was a commotion in the crowd and the policeman elbowed his way through.

“Well,” he demanded, as he withdrew a notebook from his tunic pocket and surveyed Mr Gruber. “Where is he?”

“Where is he?” repeated Mr Gruber innocently.

“The young bear that was seen driving a motor mower down the Queen’s Highway a moment ago,” said the policeman ponderously. “Out of control he was and heading this way.”

“A young bear?” said Mr Gruber, carefully placing himself between the policeman and Mr Brown’s mower. “Driving a motor mower. What sort of bear?”

“Dressed in a duffle coat that’s seen better days,” replied the policeman. “And wearing a funny kind of hat. I’ve seen him around before.”

Mr Gruber looked about him. “I can’t see anyone answering to that description,” he said gravely.

The policeman stared long and hard at Mr Gruber and then at the other traders, all of whom carefully avoided catching his eye.

“I’m going for a short walk,” he said at last, with the suspicion of a twinkle in his eye. “And when I get back, if I see a certain ‘bargain’ still outside a certain person’s shop I shall make it my duty to look into the matter a bit further.”

As the crowd parted to let the policeman through Mr Gruber mopped his brow. “That was a narrow squeak, Mr Brown,” he whispered. “I hope I did the right thing. Not knowing the facts I didn’t know quite what to say.”

“That’s all right, Mr Gruber,” said Paddington as he peered out from under the sacking. “I’m not very sure of them myself.”

Mr Gruber and the other traders listened carefully while Paddington went through the morning’s events for their benefit. It took him some time to relate all that had taken place and when he’d finished Mr Gruber rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

“First things first, Mr Brown,” he said briskly, as he locked the door to his shop. “It sounds as though you’ll need a hand getting Mr Curry’s lawnmower down from his tree before he gets home so I think I’d better push you back to Windsor Gardens as quickly as possible. Unless, of course, you’d rather walk?”

Paddington sat up in the grass box for a moment while he considered the matter. “I think if you don’t mind, Mr Gruber,” he announced gratefully, as he pulled the sack back over his head, “I’d much rather ride.”

Apart from not wishing to see Mr Curry or the policeman again that morning, Paddington had a nasty feeling Mrs Brown and Mrs Bird must be somewhere around and he didn’t want to delay matters any further by going all through his explanations once again before he’d had time to think them out properly.

In fact, all in all, Paddington was only too pleased to have the chance of a comfortable ride home in the dark and safety of a boxful of grass clippings, especially as he’d just discovered the remains of a marmalade sandwich which he’d fastened to the inside of his hat with a piece of sticky tape for just such an emergency.

Chapter Two MR GRUBER’S OUTING (#ulink_2c1aa71d-c3cf-5be5-b2eb-a767053133b6)

Most mornings when he wasn’t busy in the garden Paddington visited his friend Mr Gruber, and the day after his adventure with the motor mower he made his way in the direction of the Portobello Road even earlier than usual.

He was particularly anxious not to see Mr Curry for a few days and he agreed with Mrs Bird when she said at breakfast that it was better to let sleeping dogs lie.

Not that Mr Curry showed much sign of sleeping. From quite an early hour he’d been on the prowl, peering at the hole in his fence in the intervals between glaring across at the Browns’ house, and Paddington cast several anxious glances over his shoulder as he hurried down Windsor Gardens pushing his shopping basket on wheels. He heaved a sigh of relief when he at last found himself safely inside Mr Gruber’s shop among all the familiar antiques and copper pots and pans.

Apart from a few grass cuttings stuck to his fur Paddington was none the worse for his adventure, and while Mr Gruber made the cocoa for their elevenses he sat on the horsehair sofa at the back of the shop and sorted through the morning supply of buns.

Mr Gruber chuckled as they went over the previous day’s happenings together while they sipped their cocoa. “Hearing about other people’s adventures always makes me restless, Mr Brown,” he said, as he looked out of his window at the bright morning sun. “Particularly when it’s a nice day. I’ve a good mind to shut up shop after lunch and take the afternoon off.”

Mr Gruber coughed. “I wonder if you would care to accompany me, Mr Brown,” he said. “We could go for a stroll in the park and look at some of the sights.”

“Ooh, yes, please, Mr Gruber,” exclaimed Paddington. “I should like that very much.” Paddington enjoyed going out with Mr Gruber for he knew a great deal about London and he always made things seem interesting.

“We could take Jonathan and Judy,” said Mr Gruber, “and make a picnic of it.”

Mr Gruber became more and more enthusiastic as he thought the matter over. “All work and no play never did anyone any good, Mr Brown,” he said. “And it’s a long time since I had an outing.”

With that he began to bustle round his shop tidying things up and he even announced that he wouldn’t be putting his ‘knick-knacks’ table outside that day, which was most unusual, for Mr Gruber always had a table on the pavement outside his shop laden with curios and knick-knacks of all kinds at bargain prices.

While Mr Gruber busied himself at the back of the shop Paddington spent the time drawing out a special notice in red ink to hang on the shop door while they were away.

It said:

IMMPORTANT AN – OUNCEMENT

THIS SHOP WILL BE CLOSED FOR THE ANNULE

STAFF OUTING THIS AFTERNOON!!!!

After underlining the words with the remains of the cocoa lumps Paddington carefully wiped his paws and then waved goodbye to Mr Gruber before hurrying off to finish the morning shopping.

When she heard the news of the forthcoming outing Mrs Bird quickly entered into the spirit of things and she made a great pile of sandwiches – ham and two kinds of jam for Mr Gruber, Jonathan, and Judy, and some special marmalade ones for Paddington.

These, together with a tin of freshly made fairy cakes and some bottles of lemonade soon filled Jonathan’s rucksack to the brim.

“Sooner Mr Gruber than me,” said Mrs Bird after lunch as she watched the heavily laden party set off up the road led by Mr Gruber carrying a large guidebook and Paddington with his suitcase, opera glasses, and a pile of maps.

“Paddington did say they’re going to the park, didn’t he?” asked Mrs Brown. “It looks rather as if they’re off to the North Pole.”

“Knowing Paddington,” said Mrs Bird darkly, “perhaps it’s as well they’re prepared for any emergency!”

In Mrs Bird’s experience an outing with Paddington was more likely than not to end up in some kind of disaster and she wasn’t sorry to be out of the way for a change.

All the same Mrs Bird would have been hard put to find fault with the orderly procession which neared the park some while later, and even the policeman on point duty nodded approvingly when Mr Gruber signalled that they wanted to cross the road. He at once held up the traffic with one hand and touched his helmet with the other when Paddington raised his hat as they went by.

It had taken them quite a long time to reach the park for there had been a great many shop windows to look in on the way, and Mr Gruber had stopped several times in order to point out some interesting sights he didn’t want them to miss.

Although Paddington had been in a number of parks before, it was the first time in his life he had ever seen a really big one and as Mr Gruber led the way through the big iron gates he decided he was going to enjoy himself. Apart from the grass and trees there were fountains, swings, deck chairs, and in the distance he could even see a lake shimmering in the afternoon sun. In fact there was so much to see he had to blink several times in order to make sure he was still in London.

Mr Gruber beamed with pleasure at the look on Paddington’s face. “It might be an idea to go and sit by the lake first of all, Mr Brown,” he said. “Then you can dip your paws in the water to cool off while we have our sandwiches.”

“Thank you very much, Mr Gruber,” said Paddington gratefully. The hot pavements always made his feet tired and the thought of being able to cool them and have a marmalade sandwich at the same time seemed a very good idea.

For the next few minutes Mr Gruber’s party was very quiet indeed and the only sound apart from the distant roar of the traffic was an occasional splash as Paddington dipped his paws in the water and the clink of a marmalade jar as he made some extra sandwiches to be on the safe side.