‘Oh, whatever, YES!’ said Enrico. ‘You and your stupid friends win! Satisfied?’

‘Very,’ said Nicola and Topaz together.

42

It was a party like no other. The people of Shobble had been waiting years for this moment and they were determined to celebrate.

Dusty guitars, saxophones, trumpets, cellos, flutes and violins that had been hidden in attics since the introduction of the Quiet-Please decree reappeared. People sang at the top of their voices while flinging themselves about a makeshift dance floor.

Hundreds of hairities handed around a pair of scissors and gave themselves the ‘Katie Hobbs haircut’.

Long tables with white tablecloths were set up in the snow and laid with exquisite and not-so-exquisite food. There were chocolate cakes, chocolate mousse, chocolate biscuits and chocolate pastries. There were also strange bubbling broths, odd-looking stews and evil-smelling pies.

Nicola and the Space Brigade were treated like royalty. People brought them food and drinks, and offered to rub their feet.

‘You saved our planet!’ they said. ‘How can we ever repay you?’

‘Oh, we don’t need anything,’ said Nicola, and then she caught sight of Silent Fred watching the band playing. His face looked desperately sad and she remembered Joy telling them about his band, The Fleas.

‘Can anyone help give Silent Fred his voice back?’ she asked.

The call went out through the crowd and minutes later Barbie Banks came running, the siren around her forehead wailing. She pulled out a large bottle labelled TONGUE BURN TONIC.

‘You’ll need the whole bottle,’ she said. Silent Fred drank it, while Joy looked on anxiously. He smacked his lips and handed the bottle back to Barbie.

Everyone waited to see if it would work.

Silent Fred opened his mouth. No sound came out.

He tried again.

‘Thank you,’ he whispered.

He cleared his throat.

‘Thank you!’ he squeaked.

He coughed.

‘THANK YOU!’ It was a lovely, rich, deep voice. Everyone applauded.

Silent Fred threw his top hat in the air and shouted, ‘I LOVE my wife! I’ve been wanting to say that out loud for so long!’

Joy joyfully wiped away tears.

‘Now where are the fellas?’ said Silent Fred. ‘It’s time we got the band back together!’

Next thing he had disappeared with a group of grey-haired men and soon they were belting out the words to their old hit, ‘Rock Around the Choc’, while Joy was left with instructions to bring them plenty of hot chocolate in between songs. ‘Mmmm,’ said Joy thoughtfully. Then she caught sight of Tyler and said, ‘Oh! When I was cleaning Enrico’s room, I found this under his bed.’

‘YES!’ said Tyler excitedly, as Joy handed over a silver briefcase. ‘I thought I might never see it again.’