Free Nanny Piggins and the Pursuit of Justice by R. A. Spratt

flying machine soaring through the sky. Well, as much sky as there was inside the room. Luckily for Nanny Piggins it was a huge room so she could comfortably do loops around and around.
    ‘Stop that pig!’ screamed the curator as he ran into the pavilion.
    ‘How?’ asked the befuddled security guard.
    ‘Do I have to do everything myself?’ complained the curator, and with that he leapt into a World War I British bi-plane, turned on the engine and took off after Nanny Piggins.
    Goodness knows what he thought he could doto get Nanny Piggins to come down. They might have left petrol in the engines but the restoration team did have the sense to remove the bullets from the machine guns. So all the curator could do was chase Nanny Piggins around and around, which she rather enjoyed. She did loop-the-loops and barrel rolls and weaved in between all the planes hanging from the ceiling to confuse him. Then Nanny Piggins flew towards the sun so the curator would lose sight of her, before reappearing behind him, blowing raspberries.
    Down on the ground all the school children cheered. The most boring school excursion had turned into the world’s most exciting school excursion in just a few short moments.
    Nanny Piggins eventually landed voluntarily when the plane ran out of petrol and started to sputter. She glided to a perfect landing, yanking on the handbrake and rolling the tri-plane to a halt in exactly the same position she had found it.
    Unfortunately the curator was not such an adept pilot. When he tried to land he came in too fast, skidded all the way along the floor (making a mess of the patina) and slamming into the refrigerated cake stand out the front of the cafeteria, totally ruining the New York cheesecake Nanny Piggins had hereye on for afternoon tea, which so horrified Nanny Piggins that she actually started to cry. Fortunately, licking bits of New York cheesecake off the sides of the smashed refrigerated cake stand soon cheered her up.

    Many hours later, when Nanny Piggins and the children were finally allowed home, they were not in the highest of spirits. True, Nanny Piggins had not been taken away to jail, which was a good thing. (The museum had decided not to press charges because they did not want an inquiry into why two of their aeroplanes on public display had petrol in their engines.) But they had insisted that she pay for the damages, which seemed bitterly unfair given that she had not caused any herself. It was the curator who had smashed the expensive refrigerated cake stand. But Nanny Piggins did feel bad about ruining a contraption whose sole purpose was displaying cake in ideal conditions, so she agreed to these terms.
    ‘Where are we going to get twenty-thousand dollars?’ asked Derrick.
    ‘We could ask father to lend it to us,’ suggestedSamantha, and they all burst out laughing at such a ridiculous suggestion.
    ‘But seriously, children,’ said Nanny Piggins. ‘We do need a money-making scheme.’
    ‘We could get jobs,’ suggested Michael.
    ‘Dear child,’ said Nanny Piggins. ‘Things are bad, but they’re not that bad.’
    ‘We could sell something,’ suggested Derrick.
    ‘Probably not wise,’ said Nanny Piggins. ‘I think your father is beginning to be suspicious. I sold his antique four-poster bed last week. And he has been muttering about his room not looking quite the way it did. No, what we need is a money-making scheme.’
    The children scratched their heads and thought hard, but they did not know much about money-making schemes. Derrick had a vague idea that they had something to do with asking people to lend you money, then taking all that money and running away on holiday. (Which just goes to show Derrick actually knew everything you need to know about running a hedge fund.)
    ‘Aha! I’ve got it!’ declared Nanny Piggins, leaping up from the sofa. ‘I am going to become a fortune teller.’
    The children were not entirely convinced thatbecoming a fortune teller was