Doctor Who: Target - Novelisations [111] - The Celestial Toymaker by Gerry Davis & Alison Bingeman

Author:Gerry Davis & Alison Bingeman
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Science-Fiction - Doctor Who
ISBN: 9780426202516
Publisher: Target Books
Published: 1986-12-14T23:00:00+00:00

6

The Last Deadly Sister

The King and Queen were standing by chairs five and six with the Joker. Behind them, Cyril was squatting on the ground eating another banana.

The King turned to the Joker. ‘Now, my good fellow,’ he said, ‘we would be very glad of your honest opinion. Which of these two is the better throne for me.’

The Joker gazed from the King to the Queen a little suspiciously. He hadn’t forgotten the remark about his being a poor fellow. Then he looked over at the chairs.

‘Well,’ he said, ‘That one isn’t too bad.’ He pointed to number six.

The King looked over at it and inspected it through his monocle. ‘Number six, eh? Good, good, but there’s only one way to really test a chair, isn’t there? You can’t tell much by just looking.’

The Joker looked suspiciously over at the pieces of broken doll on chair number one. ‘Poor fellow,’ he muttered to himself. ‘What did he mean?’

‘Come on, Fool,’ said the Queen impatiently. ‘We haven’t got all day.’

The Joker tried to manage a smile and waved his jester’s wand. ‘Wouldn’t you rather have a riddle?’ he said. ‘When is a door not a door?’

‘Eh?’ said the King and then laughed. ‘He’s got us there, m’dear.’

‘Everyone knows that!’ chimed in Cyril, his mouth full of banana. ‘When it’s ajar.’

‘Faugh! That’s not even funny,’ said the Queen. ‘Are you going to sit in the chair or not?’ She was becoming more and more impatient with the Joker.

‘Oh, all right,’ agreed the Joker. He shuffled unwillingly over to the chair and began to lower himself. Just then, Cyril gave a stifled giggle.

The Joker raised himself again and looked over suspiciously. ‘What’s he laughing at?’ he said.

The Queen turned warningly to Cyril. ‘You’re not laughing, are you?’

Cyril, still coping with a mouthful of banana, shook his head and then spluttered, unable to contain his guffaw.

The joker wearily raised his eyes. ‘And they call me a fool,’ he said.

‘Come now,’ said the King. ‘Sit down, my dear fellow.’

But the Joker had had enough and moved away. ‘Not on your life, sire,’ he said. He backed away to the passage. ‘A joke is a joke, but this is too much. I’m giving notice, you’ll have to try out your own chairs.’ He raised his jester’s wand in a final slightly rude gesture, and left.

After he had gone, the King and Queen looked after him astonished. Then the King turned around to Cyril and raised his hand. Cyril scrambled to his feet. ‘After him,’ said the King. Cyril scurried out the door and the King turned back to the Queen: ‘Your son, m’dear.’

‘More yours,’ said the Queen. ‘Anyway, what do we do now?’

‘Nothing else for it,’ said the King. ‘You’ll have to try, m’dear.’

The Queen drew herself up to her full height and looked at him majestically. ‘I?’ she said.

‘Oh,’ said the King a little hastily, ‘one of us, I mean. We’ll have to draw matches.’ He brought out a box of matches and opened it up.

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