Tangled Yarns: Hidden Talents

"What I want you to do," said the Fairy, "Is stack the dynamite round the safe and light the fuses. OK?"

"Isn't this a bit like stealing?" I asked.

"A wee bit," admitted the Fairy, "But don't worry about it. You'll probably spend most of the money on sweets, so that's good for the local economy. Its not like you're going to dig a hole and bury it all, is it?"

"I wouldn't do that," I agreed.

I stacked the dynamite and lit the fuses.

"I was just thinking," I said, "This is going to make a very big bang, isn't it?"

"Yes, very."

"And it will probably do quite a bit of damage to the insides of this room, won't it?"

"Lots and lots and lots of damage!"

"So its quite likely that if I stand this close, I might be severely damaged too?"

"Oh yes, you're right!" said the Fairy, whisking me away a few seconds before the explosion. It was a good thing he did whisk me away too, because after the terrific bang there was nothing left of the bank. Well, not exactly completely nothing, because there was one little thing left of it. It was a rather important little bit, really.

The safe.

Everywhere I looked the building was flat, and right in the middle was the safe. It was still shut, and it hardly looked as if it was even slightly bothered by the ka-boom ker-blam which had just happened beside it.

The Burglar Fairy was disappointed.

"Tut tut," he said, "Looks like we'll have to try something else."

"Good idea!" I said. Flash. We were on a street, somewhere in the world, and the Fairy had magicked a disguise onto me. It was not a very good disguise, but it was enough to do the job for the time being. Sunglasses, hanky across mouth, bag, and a plastic gun.

"What am I supposed to do?" I asked.

"Just go in there and point the gun at the teller. When she sees you, she'll be really scared. That's when you