17 A Little-Bit of Help

17 A Little-Bit of Help Leanne, I'm home!' shouted Peanut. ' At last!' called a voice from the kitchen. 'Where have you been? It's nearly six o'clock. I was getting worried. Detention, obviously,' she replied. 'I've been doing litter duty for the last two hours.' Peanut flung her coat over the banister, kicked off her shoes and headed straight into the kitchen looking for snacks. There she found the Joneses' childminder creating some kind of sculptural masterpiece Vla the medium of Little- Bit's hair. 'You must be starving, sweetie. There's some lasagne in the oven. Help yourself.

Leighann followed Peanut's gaze to the plait she was weaving. 'It's called a waterfall braid,' she said. Sure enough, her little sister's honey-coloured locks were cascading down to her shoulders from a neat plait that circled the rear of her head. It looked just like a waterfall. It's amazing,' said Peanut. ' Thanks, sweetie. Now, don't forget, your mum's going out for dinner with her boss tonight, so Leo's in charge. She came home early from work to get ready,' said Leighann. 'Ugh. How could I forget?' groaned Peanut, before grabbing a cereal bar and a satsuma and heading up to her bedroom, rucksack on her back. 'I'll come down for dinner after she's gone,' she called over her shoulder. When Peanut opened the door to her room, the first thing she saw was the picture of the broken vase lying on her bed. She raced over, picked it up and carefully put it on her desk. She took the pencil, still swaddled in Rockwell's handkerchief, from her blazer pocket, unwrapped it and placed it next to the drawing. Then she picked up one of her many sketchbooks, found a blank page and wrote 'LORE' in big block letters (with a rather fetching three-dimensional bevel effect).

She stared at the sketchbook. What could it mean? Is it an anagram? She started scribbling more words: ROLE ROLE ORLE LERO ERLO She scratched her head. She wasn't getting anywhere. Then, suddenly, the door crashed open. 'PEEEEEEEAAAAANNNNNUUUUUUUTTTTTT!' Peanut spun around as Little-Bit came hurtling into the room, hair waterfall flying through the air behind her, just in time to catch her in a big hug. 'Hi, LB!' 'Whatchya doing?' Little-Bit asked. She was looking at the open sketchbook on the desk behind Peanut. Oh. Just trying to work something out. Are you trying to work out which letters are missing on your new pencil?' said Little-Bit, picking it up from next to the sketchbook. 'Be careful with that,' said Peanut. Anyway, what do you mean, missing"?' 'Oh, it's just that it looks a bit like one of those missing letter games, the ones in my Junior Puzzler Compendium. 'Missing letters? But there are letters there. L, O, R and E.' 'Yes, but I've immediately noticed two things about those.

First, they are only just visible. The R, for example, has almost disappeared. Like it's been rubbed off. And second, the spacing between the letters is very uneven. That, to me, is suspicious. If the R can be rubbed off, then so can other letters that might once have been in those spaces. I think that's what's happened here. We have a missing letters puzzle.' Sometimes, having a younger sister who is clearly smarter than you are could be really annoying. This was not one of those times. 'Little-Bit, you're a genius!' shouted Peanut, and she gave her sister a big kiss on the cheek. Downstairs, the doorbell rang. 'I'll get it!' shouted Mum, and the girls heard her clumping down the stairs in her high heels. Good evening, Tracey darling. Long time no see. Ha ha.' The sound of Mr Stone's voice smarming up to her mum made Peanut feel ill. ' Bye, kids. Bye, Leighann. Don't go to bed too late, guys. shouted Mum. The door slammed shut. 'Little-Bit! Get your PJs on!' yelled Leighann up the stairs. I have to head home soon. 'You'd better go,' said Peanut. 'I don't want you getting in trouble too! I'll let you know if I solve the puzzle in the morning. ' Promise?' said Little-Bit. Promise,' said Peanut.