4 Emergency Meeting

4. EMERGENCY MEETING Harvey Carrot, mayor of Dull-on-Sea, had called an emergency meeting. All the councilors were there and the Town Hall was packed with townsfolk. Norbert Grimes, senior rat catcher for the town's pest-control department, had spent all morning trying to rid the building of rats. He

had a large wriggling sack slung over his shoulder and was prowling the perimeter of the hall with a net, peering into corners and under benches. Jim Lad had tagged along with Matilda and was sitting near the back of the hall with her parents. He had promised to report back to the rest of the Jolley- Rogers. Matilda could see her neighbors, Mrs. Bevan from eighty-seven and Mr. Shaw from thirty-four, along with plenty of school friends sitting alongside their parents. She smiled and waved to Ruby, the girl she sat next to in class. "People of Dull-on-Sea," the mayor began, "thank you for attending this

emergency meeting. You may have noticed that we have a bit of a problem with rats." "They chewed holes in my washing!" shouted Sheila Wobley. "The vermin stole my sandwiches!" added Mr. Shaw, who had taken his wife for a disastrous rat-infested picnic the previous day. "They've nibbled the corners of all our bottom-shelf books!" wailed Bunty Bookish, the librarian. "Yes, yes, we know the rats are causing no end of problems," grumbled the mayor. "Our very reliable pest- control expert, Mr. Grimes,

has been working flat out, but he has never seen an infestation like this. For every rat he catches, another two appear!" At the back of the hall, bent double and swinging his net beneath a bench, Norbert Grimes scowled. He came from a long line of rat catchers. The Grimes family had been proud rat catchers for centuries. He had never been defeated by rats before. "I pay my taxes!" shouted Mrs. Bevan, who liked to regularly write letters of complaint to the council. "I expect Dull- on-Sea to be pest free!" "Me too!" shouted Mrs. Bumble. "Fix this!" grumbled Mr. Shaw. "ORDER! ORDER!" hollered the mayor, ruffled by the unrest in the hall.

"I know you are all very, very unhappy, but what should we do?" As the townsfolk sat in silence, scratching their heads, Matilda heard the click-clack of footsteps approaching. They stopped outside the doors and there was a pause. TAP TAP TAP Everyone stopped scratching their heads and turned to look. "Erm, please enter," said the mayor. The doors swung open and revealed a raggedy figure wearing a tattered tailcoat,

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