THE ENTWHISTLE MYSTERY STORIES
There are four books in this series and they all started from one paragraph. One morning I woke and the first paragraph of Glued was in my head. I jumped out of bed and ran to get a pen and paper so I could write it down before I forgot the words. I can still recite those words off by heart.
From that first paragraph I wrote four books although book one remains my favourite. I especially enjoyed writing about all the things Wheels could do with his chair and it was fun to think of the experimental food Horatio’s mother cooked. I’m sure you can think of much worse things than I have!
Here is the moment Wheels first meets Horatio:
“Wow,” Wheels said when he saw the inside of the shed. “This is cool. I wish I had a place like this.”
“You like science?” Ming Yi asked.
“You bet, but it’s electronics and technology that are my things. That’s how I set up the siren on my chair.”
“It’s great. What are all the other buttons?” Horatio wanted to know.
“This,” Wheels said, pressing another button, “activates my security screen.” A metal barrier emerged from behind the seat of his chair and covered him from view. “It’s great if someone decides to throw stones at you …or rotten tomatoes.”
“That happens often I suppose,” Ming laughed.
“Let’s just say I like to be prepared.”
“What about the others?”
“This one is my smokescreen. Here’s my oil-slick generator and this last one throws golf balls at anyone who tries to chase me.”
“Far out!!”
“And the pipes on your wheels?”
“I’m still working on that,” Wheels said, trying to look modest. “It’s my jet booster but right now it’s a bit powerful. It probably would have carried me up the stairs in your carport but the last time I tried it I was blown right out of my chair. I thought I had broken every bone in my body.”
“I suppose the propeller is connected to the booster?” Horatio said, pointing to the front of the chair.
Wheels laughed. “Actually”, he said, “that’s not a propeller – it’s a fan. It gets hot pushing my chair uphill, you know.”