Free Hamish X and the Cheese Pirates by Sean Cullen Page A

be vigilant. If these criminals arrive at our doorstep they will be dealt with in the harshest manner.”
    Viggo paused for effect, looking at the little faces all around him.
    â€œHow does this affect you? Obviously, anything that threatens this facility threatens your continued health and welfare. Although I make all the profits from the cheese factory, you receive food and shelter, and so the continued well-being of the factory is essential to your continued well-being. On a very real level, I don’t care about you as children or human beings but I do care about the cheese your labour produces. Therefore, I have taken measures to ensure the safety of the facility. This would be an excellent time for grateful applause …”

    The children dutifully slapped their hands together. For sheer lethargy, the sound rivalled an exhausted golf crowd on the Sahara in August at noon. Viggo stood, head bowed, receiving his false praise. He raised a hand for silence.
    â€œI have undertaken to double the contingent of guards. New recruits will arrive within three days. A second electric fence is to be constructed around the one that already exists and a radar warning system installed. These changes will occur over the next few weeks.
    â€œAlso, to ensure your safety, all exercise in the yard shall be suspended indefinitely.”
    A little girl put up her hand. “There is no yard,” she said.
    â€œThen you won’t miss it, will you? Work details will be increased in duration by one hour per day. It’s easier to protect you while you are asleep or at work. Sadly, the money for these measures has to come from somewhere. I’m afraid I am forced to cut your food ration in half to raise the money for the increased security.”
    A groan went up from the children. The guards laughed cruelly. Mrs. Francis, who stood watching in her kitchen window, gasped in disbelief. Eventually, the children fell silent.
    â€œBelieve me, it breaks my heart,” Viggo sighed with feigned anguish. “I know you will do your best under these new circumstances because … you have no choice.
    â€œFinally, it has come to my attention that someone has been pilfering cheese from the vault.” He paused and glared right at Hamish X. The boy didn’t flinch. Viggo gestured to Pianoface. “I’m sure no one would own up to such a dastardly deed, so I have decided that random punishment would be the most cruel and the most satisfying.” Pianofacehanded Viggo a book. Hamish X’s eyes went wide. It was Great Plumbers.
    â€œI am confiscating this book until the perpetrator of the deed is willing to own up.”
    â€œThat’s my property!” Hamish X shouted. Mimi held his arm to prevent him from lunging through the crowd at Viggo.
    â€œTut! Tut!” Viggo tucked the large book under his arm. “I’m merely holding it for safekeeping until someone owns up to the crime. It will be safe in my office for the time being. Maybe if some people respected my authority and stopped cheering people up around here these measures wouldn’t be necessary. That is all. You may applaud now.”
    Viggo hopped down from his perch and strode across the room amid desultory clapping. Then, escorted by Pianoface and Tubaface, he swiped his keycard and left through the security door as the clapping turned into ominous grumbling. Pianoface and Tubaface stayed behind to disperse the children.
    â€œHalf rations,” Mimi spat. “We’re barely survivin’ as it is!”
    â€œHe stole my book.” Hamish X’s face was ghostly pale. The whites of his eyes were visible all around his golden irises. He looked as though he might faint. “I’ve got to have my book.”
    Mimi handed him a food bowl. “Are y’all right, Hamish X? It’s just a book, after all.”
    Hamish X spun and glared at her with desperate eyes. “I have to have that book. My mother gave