AN UNWELCOME PHONE CALL

Once we were back home, relaxing after the excitement of the Steam Fair, Wilson and Byron sat chatting quietly in the garden.

Wilson was explaining, in excruciating detail, the manifold advantages of his new invention, ‘Vermilingua’s Totally Unpuncturable Tyres for Cars and Bicycles’ while Byron made valiant efforts to feign interest and not yawn.

Things were complicated by Uncle Zoltan’s constant interruptions claiming that the Pneumatic Tyre had been invented by one of his forefathers, Maksymilian Dunlop Zoltan, but both boys were doing their best to ignore him.

Just as W was outlining the concept of filling conventional tyres with rubber instead of air, his phone rang – it was a call from Andrea, his Big Sister at the zoo, saying that both the boys were required at home.

She assured him that everything was okay and his Mum, Mrs Vermilingua, was perfectly well, but requested both boys to return home, if possible by the weekend…