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

it to me. I have to have it.”
    â€œWhat can we do? Viggo has it,” Parveen shrugged. He grabbed a bowl and made to join the food line. Hamish X grabbed his arm and Mimi’s, pulling them to one side out of earshot of the nearest guard.

    â€œI’ll tell you what I’m going to do,” he whispered. “I’m getting it back. Tonight. Then we’ll escape. Tonight.”
    Hamish X turned and joined the porridge line. Mimi and Parveen nervously followed.

Chapter 11
    Mimi must have dozed off because Hamish X’s face was directly over hers as he shook her.
    â€œWake up, Mimi,” he hissed.
    â€œI’m up,” she hissed back. His face disappeared. She heard the soft click of his boots as he padded away.
    She sat up and looked around her. The dorm room was in darkness. Soft snoring sounds emanated from the cots all around. As her eyes adjusted to the dark, she saw Hamish X standing in the doorway to the common room, his rucksack slung over his back. He raised a hand and beckoned to her. Behind him a faint light glowed.
    Mimi rolled out of bed as silent as a cat. She threaded her way through the cots of the sleeping children, their pale faces glowing in the darkness. When she reached the doorway, Hamish X ushered her through and closed it. Parveen was squatting on the floor. He had disassembled all the chairs and the table, laying them in a pile around him. In his hand, Hamish X’s pocketknife was open to a chisel tool. Parveen was drilling holes in a table leg, working by the light of a small flashlight taped to his head. When Mimi entered he paused and turned his head so that the light shone briefly into her eyes.
    â€œSo,” he said, “you’re finally up.”
    â€œWhy didn’t anyone wake me?” Mimi whispered angrily.
    â€œYou weren’t needed,” Hamish X said softly. “So we let you sleep. No need to be angry.”
    â€œI can’t believe ya kept all this a secret from me, Parv. What ya makin’, anyway?”

    Hamish X grinned. “Well, remember when we were up on the roof? His ingenious little kite bowls? I thought, what if we made some big enough to carry us out over the electric fence, or maybe even farther? That would be one way of escaping from this place.”
    Mimi thought for a moment.
    â€œBut then what?” she asked. “We’d be flung all the heck and gone over the tundra. We’d probly freeze to death before the wind saw fit to let us land anywheres.”
    â€œGreat minds think alike,” Hamish X smiled. “But Viggo might think we were desperate enough to escape that way. Help me with these.”
    He pointed to a stack of rags piled beside some old overalls. He took one of the overalls and started stuffing the rags into it. Mimi watched, her excitement growing.
    â€œDecoys,” she said.
    â€œI knew you were more than just a pretty face,” Hamish X said. She blushed and punched him in the arm. He winced theatrically and pointed at the next set of overalls. Mimi picked them up and started stuffing. Soon, all three were filled with rags.
    Parveen finished his preparations at roughly the same time. He had made the dismantled chairs into kite frames that folded up into a long narrow bundle. He wrapped the three folded frames in some bed sheets, then strapped the three rag dummies to the bundle of poles. When everything was ready he gestured to Mimi. The two of them hoisted the bundle on their shoulders and turned expectantly to Hamish X.
    He pressed his ear to the cafeteria door, then gently pushed it open a crack. He peered into the darkened room beyond.

    â€œStay close,” he whispered.
    He held the door open to allow Parveen and Mimi through. The cafeteria was dark, and for once the three children were glad of Viggo’s stinginess. They padded across the linoleum floor between the empty tables to the security door. There, Hamish X reached into his coat pocket, pulled out the