Since the arrival of the ransom note, Mr. Cheung had spent much of the time getting all the money together. A million dollars is a lot of money!

His restaurant, like Granma T's removals had not closed. Business went ahead as normal. All the staff had carefully and discretely asked many questions of the numerous people that they had met during the course of their work.

No police had been involved as the original communiqué had demanded.

Yet, everynight a 'council of war' sat around the large office table at Granma T's. Mai Ling, Granma T, Little Ming and Little Fung would meet with Mr. Cheung and his maitre'd - Hop Sing. They would piece together all the information gained that day.

So far they had concluded that the plaque was not on the main island in the bay; it had not been melted down and none of the local criminals knew anything about its disappearance. All the files containing the names of previous workers with both Granma T and Mr. Cheung had been carefully scrutinised. A list of suspects had been narrowed down to two people who had worked for both firms.

Two people who were father and son!

A second note from the 'criminals' was delivered a fortnight later, by post, second delivery. It contained instructions on what to do:

The money was to be packed in foil containers, that were to be sealed with wax lids and placed in the usual 'take away' carrier bag. At the top of this was to be placed a white paper bag containing a double helping of prawn crackers.

That evening at 19.00 precisely Little Ming was to walk to the park in the local zoo.

"Go past the goat pen and place the bag in the green rubbish bin by the giraffe house."

That evening the zoo would be open despite the lateness of the hour!

The money was packed and the prawn crackers placed on top as ordered. Little Ming had donned raincoat and hat for it was raining and had set off.

In the meantime...........

..children you may like to:

1. complete the silhouettes of the goat and giraffe
2. begin a collection of different sets of things that only weigh 150 grams (like the prawn crackers ?). How many paper clips weigh 150 grams, how many felt pens? How many multi-link cubes?
3. investigate the different ways there are of seating 3 boys and 3 girls around a circular table.
4. find in the text above two french words that we now use in the English. What other words can you think of?

.. parents you may like to help children:

1. explore and talk about objects in the home that are of a similar weight but of differing sizes
2. look up and talk about the different words that have the same or similar meaning to 'communiqué'
3. talk about and appreciate the cost of keeping different types of pets
4. consider five very different animals and decide on three adjectives that best describe them - e.g. a small, singing, soaring skylark.

.. teachers you may like to help children:

1. distinguish between weight and mass, giving examples
2. explore the different methods of measuring an object's mass
3. explore the differing instruments that are used for measuring in all its aspects
4. suggest units by which they would measure humour, sorrow, happiness, appreciation of music or paintings, etc.