New to Thieves? Start at Chapter One
After their afternoon tea with the Aussies, the Kiwis were all full of biscuits and feeling pretty sleepy.
'Have a kip, cousins,’ said the Chief Aussie. ‘Mi casa es su casa.’
‘I don’t know,’ said the Chief Kiwi. ‘We should be heading back. It’s work tomorrow.’
But already some of her littlest Kiwis were snoring soundly on Bondi Beach.
‘Let’s not disturb them. Take a nap, we really don’t mind. You don’t want to drive the South Island home if you’re sleepy.’
The Chief Kiwi nodded reluctantly. She was tired, and soon she was snuggling down too.
Soon the whole of Australia was full of the gentle purring sound of Kiwis fast asleep.
When he was sure that every Kiwi was sleeping, the Chief Aussie gave an evil laugh.
‘Righto, boys, let’s get ‘em – you know the drill!’ The Aussies quickly rushed around tying all the Kiwis’ shoelaces together. Once that was done, they hopped onto the South Island, revved the engine, and sped off, driving wildly.
It was hours before the Kiwis awoke. One at a time they would open their eyes, yawn, stand up, and fall flat on their faces:
BLINK. YAWN. THUMP!
BLINK. YAWN. THUMP!
Four million times.
The last to wake up was the Chief Kiwi. She saw that her shoelaces were tied and got them loose before she jumped to her feet.
‘Curses!’ she said. ‘How could I have been so stupid? Everyone knows, you never trust an Aussie!’
Just then, the South Island roared past, swerving from side to side on the wrong side of the ocean. Angry fish had to jump out of the way. They waved their fists at the naughty Aussies.
The Australians didn’t care. They stuck their tongues out at the Kiwis.
‘You lowdown Aussie cheats! Wait ‘til we get our hands on you!’ shouted the Kiwis.
‘Wait a minute…’ One of the Kiwis shaded her eyes with one hand and peered at the island in the distance.
‘Are they…mooning us?’ she asked.
