Figaro and Rumba and the Crocodile Cafe by Anna Fienberg

Chapter 1
    The Plan

    F igaro woke up on Monday morning and looked out the window. He picked up his phone.
    â€˜Hello, Rumba,’ he said.
    â€˜Figaro?’ said Rumba. ‘Don’t tell me you’re ringing from the next room?’
    â€˜Okay,’ said Figaro. ‘I won’t. But have you looked outside? It’s a fabulous day.’

    â€˜How can you see through that window of yours?’ asked Rumba. ‘It hasn’t been cleaned for five years. Now if I had that room, we’d be able to see down to the river and across to the other side. Anyway, it’s going to rain.’
    Figaro pushed up the window. ‘No, it’s just the wind moving the clouds all about. It’s a fast, rushy sort of day. I can smell Mrs Foozy and her lamb cutlets coming back from the butcher.’
    â€˜Figaro?’
    â€˜What?’
    â€˜I’m going back to sleep.’
    â€˜No, listen, Rumba, I have a great plan. Have you heard about the Very Fast Train? I want to go on it. Nate said it was the best thing. Like flying, he said.’
    â€˜I know for a fact that thieves and villains ride that train.’

    â€˜Nate’s not a villain.’
    â€˜Hmm,’ said Rumba. ‘Anyway, Monday is cleaning the house. Tuesday is going out.’
    â€˜The Very Fast Train takes you all the way to the beach!’ cried Figaro. ‘Wouldn’t you love to see something new?’
    â€˜Oh, Figaro, hang up and meet me in the kitchen,’ sighed Rumba. ‘And bring that new mop.’
    Rumba had his sad voice on, Figaro could tell. When Rumba was sad, his whiskers drooped and his paws splayed out as if he was dead. He looked flat and empty like an old coat. This morning he’d probably had a sad dream.

    On days like this, Rumba got to thinking about all the bad things that had ever happened to him. And there had been a lot. Once Figaro saw a list Rumba had made, starting from when Rumba was just a kitten, back in Cuba where there were wild drums and haunting songs. Rumba didn’t sing very often, just hummed sometimes when he cleaned.
    Figaro looked at his floor. Somewhere under his tennis racket, bowling shoes, pinball game, scary Halloween mask and Monopoly was that mop.
    When he found the horrible thing he went scrambling out of the room.
    And he ran smack into Rumba in the hallway.
    â€˜Listen,’ said Rumba. ‘What about this. We clean now and then go on the train. Even though it’s Monday.’
    Figaro’s tail began to thump. ‘So, what time can we go? Nate said he got the lunch train. He had hamburgers.’
    Rumba said all right then and wasn’t it a great thing they had plenty of time to get a good mop in first! ‘Why don’t we start with your room? Maybe we could even clean the window!’
    Rumba got the bucket and filled it with warm soapy water. Figaro popped the sparkly bubbles with his nose.

    Rumba found him a cleaning cloth and Figaro began to scrub the window. He made drippy patterns on the glass and drew ham bones and lamb cutlets with his paw. At last they stood back to admire their work.

    â€˜There’s the river and someone in a boat,’ cried Figaro. ‘It’s Rat! I can even see his fishing line. Look, he’s hauling up a mullet – ’
    â€˜A perch, I think,’ said Rumba, licking his lips.
    â€˜I might just run down and say hello. It’s a great day for fishing!’
    â€˜What about the Fast Train?’
    â€˜Oh, I forgot,’ said Figaro. ‘We’re going to rush through the air like a cloud. Did you know the Very Fast Train goes three hundred kilometres an hour?’
    Rumba didn’t know that, but he said he wouldn’t mind being a very fast cloud with Figaro. He wouldn’t mind it at all.

Chapter 2
    The River

    F igaro’s tail thumped against the door. ‘Come on, Rumba, we’ll miss the train.’
    â€˜I’m going as fast as I can, Figaro. But