A Bump on the Head - Caroline Tailby (latest ebook reader .txt) 📗

of them all. My dizziness made me limp and floppy and the gang seemed glad that I finally allowed myself to be led through the largest of the doors.
It led to a very familiar room. The walls were familiar, the carpet pattern was familiar, the furniture was familiar, and the figure sitting in the velvet-padded chair some distance away from the door was VERY familiar.
The gang gave me a push and I fell onto the floor at the figure’s feet, eyes to the floor. A menacing voice sounded above me.
“Well, well, well. Look what we have here.” It said each of the “wells” separately, with a pause in between each one. “The little broad in trousers, right here at my feet.”
Even though I was pretty sure, I asked “Who are you? What’s going on?” A hand reached down from above, right in front of my face, and the fingertips gave my chin two taps. “Look up.”
I looked up. And for the first time I saw the face of the man who had been the centre point of my two dreams. The nastiest hoodlum in the city. The man I had feared I would meet since Bugsy first mentioned him.
It was Dandy Dan.


Entry 9

Dandy Dan

I stood up in total shock. “Oh my god,” I said. “You’re…I don’t believe it! You’re Dandy Dan!” Now I could see his face clearly, it was so obvious. Dandy Dan’s clothes were, like they are in the film, immaculate. His hair was immaculate. And his moustache, of course, was immaculate. It seemed to me like there wasn’t a mark on him.
“Surprised?” he asked, smiling a smile that looked even more sinister than his straight face. “That’s me.”
“And us five,” came a voice behind me, “are his gang.”
I swivelled my body upwards from my waist away from Dandy Dan and instantly recognised the gang. They were standing in a line now, and I knew them all from left to right: Shoulders, Laughing Boy, Benny Lee, Bronx Charlie and Yonkers. Shoulders was the one who had startled me, and the two that had grabbed my arms were Laughing Boy and Benny Lee. But somebody was missing.
“Five?” I enquired. “Wasn’t there another one?”
“If you’re talking about Doodle,” said Dan, and I turned back towards him. “he goofed. He dropped a splurge gun, and I don’t allow mistakes in this outfit.”
“Oh yeah,” I said, recognising the line from the film. “Because mistakes put you all in the caboose. Anyway,” My next words took a crescendo. “Could someone please tell me what the hell’s going on here?!”
“I need the answer to a question,” said Dan calmly. “And I think you, Liana Perry, might have it.”
That was a shock. I hardly ever have the answer to anyone’s questions (especially in maths!), let alone Dandy Dan’s. My response was a very loud “Huh?!”
“Tell him how he can take over a business, honey,” came Bronx Charlie’s voice from behind me. “Fat Sam’s to be exact.”
“And you’d better do it quick,” said Benny Lee. “Or I might just have to splurge you.” My tummy tightened as I sensed a gun being pointed at me.
Dandy Dan stood and held his hand up. “Hey, hold it,” he said. “We’re not gonna kill Liana, remember? We need her.”
“How on earth do you think I’m supposed to tell you that?” I said crossly as the tight feeling disappeared. Dan shifted his gaze from Benny Lee to me.
“Well,” he replied. “You know a lot about this place, considering the fact that you’re confused…”
“Not you too!” I interrupted. “Everyone thinks I’m confused.”
“Well, you must be. I mean, look at you,” Yonkers cut in. “Trousers, fainting in the middle of the street, and your hair

…”
“Yonkers, button that lip. Don’t make Liana feel bad,” said Dandy Dan. He smiled at me. “Treat her as our guest.”
You’re probably wondering how being snatched off the street made me a guest. I don’t know.
“Although,” Dan continued. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody quite like you before, Liana. Nobody I know has this.” He lifted a lock of my hair and twirled it in his fingers. I batted his hand away. Getting the message, he retreated back to the main subject. “But anyway, I suspect you can tell me exactly what I need to do. To take over the business, I mean.” He sat back in his chair. “So go on. Spit it out.”
Can you imagine how angry I was now? I couldn’t tell him how to take over Fat Sam’s business. What the hell was he thinking? My thoughts were expressed in my response. “You idiot! I can’t tell you how to grab a business off another gangster! I don’t have a clue how this all works. What do you think I am?” I don’t know where these next words came from; they just seemed to fly out of my mouth. “Some kind of fortune-teller?!”
“OK, OK,” Dan got up again and placed his hand on my shoulder. “Take it easy, will ya?”
“No, I’m not going to take it easy, no matter how calm you and your minions are, I am not going to take it easy!” On the word “minions” I glowered at the gang. They didn’t respond.
“All right, look.” Dan took his hand off my shoulder and began to encircle me. “Liana. I understand completely that you’re frightened. I understand you’re puzzled, and I know you’re probably desperate to get out of here. But,” His tone changed to stern. “listen to what I’m telling ya, and listen good. There’s only room for one Mr Big in this town, and that’s me. Dandy Dan. And I’m not about to let anyone, not that dumb bum Fat Sam, not even Bugsy Malone,” I shuddered at hearing him mention Bugsy’s name. “and especially not some confused kid who annoys me until I can’t take it anymore,” I don’t know why I let him address me like that. “stand in my way.”
“Yeah?” I said. “Well, listen to what I am telling you.” I glared at him. “You’re nuts if you think I’d be much use.”
He sat down again with a frightful smile and smoothed his moustache with his fingertip. “That isn’t the only thing I wanted you for,” he said. “Oh, no. You can still be very useful, even if it ain’t for the first thing on my list. Now, this might scare you a little,” I was already scared. Didn’t need scaring anymore. “but I think you’ll make perfect bait.”
“Bait?!” I echoed with shock.
“That’s what I said.” He crossed his legs and put his hand on his knee. “Bait to catch one certain guy by the name of Bugsy Malone.”
“Bugsy?!” I cried. “But he’s my friend!”
“Exactly,” Dan said with a nod. “So if he sees you in trouble he’ll be there in a blink.” He shifted his eyes to the gang. “Won’t he, boys?”
“Sure will, boss,” agreed the gang in unison. That was the first time I’d seen them do that.
“What in the world do you want with him?” I asked. I’d already been captured; I wasn’t about to let Dandy Dan catch Bugsy as well.
“Hasn’t he told you?” Dan frowned at me and stood up, then began a speech, his eyes like fire with rage. “He’s the one who destroyed all my hopes of getting on top. He stole nearly every single splurge gun from Dock 17 and used them to foil all my plans that day at the speakeasy and nearly splurged me! And you’d better know I do not take kindly to being splurged. They’re my own inventions and he used them against me! And it was all because Fat Sam paid him four hundred dollars. Believe yous me, Liana, I vowed then I would kill him if it was the last thing I ever did. And that,” He sat down and smiled again. “is where you come in. If Bugsy sees you in trouble he’s not going to stand for it, is he? We can shoot him the minute he walks into our trap. You see?”
I saw. And I wasn’t happy.
“Now wait just a minute!” I yelled. “You’re not using me as bait to catch your enemy!”
“Yes I am. And there’s nothin’ you can do about it.”
“You can’t do this!”
“Oh, I think you’ll find I can. Now,” He stood up and gestured to the gang. “We’re gonna go get some sleep.” He turned back to me. “Don’t even think about running off.” Him and the gang walked out of the lounge door. As they were leaving, I called after them.
“You creeps! You’re not going to get away with this!”
“If I were you I’d shut up,” said Bronx Charlie, turning back to me as he walked through the door. “And by the way…you remind me of somebody I know. I just can’t think who.” And with that, he closed the door.
“DARN IT!” I yelled. “Darn it, darn it, darn it, darn it, darn it!” I punched an expensive-looking vase on the mantelpiece. It fell to the floor and shattered into pieces. What did I care? If I was in the mood I’d have trashed the whole room. I was in a bad mood as it was.
I slumped on the floor and raised my knees up, rested my elbows on them and put my head in my hands. This was just great. Dandy Dan had kidnapped me and was planning to kill Bugsy and I had no means of escape whatsoever. They’d probably locked the door (I checked just in case and wasn’t surprised to find they had) and there were no other exits. I had no idea what to do. I’d never been held hostage before and escape routes weren’t my speciality.
I suddenly realised, for the first time in the whole adventure, how much I wanted to go home. It hadn’t really crossed my mind before, because I’d been so curious about this place, about my new friends, about the speakeasy, and now I was here frightened silly it hit me like the ladder that had knocked me on the head. Hard. I wanted to be back in my own room, with Twilight and all my other toys and my soft nightie and my schoolbag in the corner, packed ready for the next day. I wasn’t there. I was in a power-crazed gangster’s lounge, all alone, and nobody but him and the gang knew I was there. Quietly, filled with loneliness, I started to cry.


Entry 10

The call

I sat for a while, the only noise heard being my sobbing. I had decided now that I was well and truly trapped.
I tried to picture what the others were doing now. Blousey might be talking to Bugsy on the phone.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Bugsy. It’s Blousey. I just called to check Liana had got back OK.”
Bugsy would get puzzled. “I thought she was still with you,” he might say.
“She isn’t.”
“What?! When did she leave?!”
I looked at my watch. I’d been in here about twenty minutes, plus the journey to Dandy Dan’s mansion.
“Half an hour ago.” Blousey would say. Now Bugsy would get worried.
“It doesn’t take half an hour to walk from your place to mine!”
Now Blousey would be worried. “Oh, no! Do you think she’s lost?!”
“I hope not! She insisted she knew the way back!” I did.
“This is terrible! What we gonna do, Bugsy?”
“I’ll call Fat Sam. You and Tallulah get over to my place quick!” They’d both put the phone down. Bugsy would start dialling Sam’s number and Blousey would turn to Tallulah, who might be on the table redoing her nails.
“Tallulah, we’ve gotta go.”
Tallulah might look up. “Why?”
“Liana’s missing! I left