“I suppose we had better go up to the cloud,” said the Plastic Snowman. “I’m obliged to report all this to the Official Very Important Plastic Snowman.”
Peter wanted to ask if they could jump too, but he knew that Plastic Snowmen were not allowed to do this except when taking the children home. His Plastic Snowman had problems with this before, particularly with the Most Important Plastic Snowman. This snowman had tried to get him into trouble before the boss, the head, or whatever you wanted to call him, or as Peter knew him, the Official Very Important Plastic Snowman. The correct way to travel was a far less exciting method: this involved clicking the fingers and suddenly re-appearing in another place.
“Hold my hand, Peter.”
The Plastic Snowman duly clicked his fingers, and the next thing Peter knew was suddenly falling several meters into what seemed like a great big fluffy white bath sponge which also acted like a trampoline, and he suddenly found himself going up again after landing. After landing and bouncing up and down two more times, he finally got to his feet. He knew where he was – the cloud was a fun place.
He looked around. To his surprise, there was no sign of the giant funfair, other children or other plastic snowmen of various shapes and sizes.
Even the Plastic Snowman seemed surprised. ‘Somehow it looks like we’ve ended up on the wrong side of the cloud.’
Then Peter shouted, “Look over there!”
A black, bowler-hatted snowman was approaching them. It looked very similar to Peter’s snowman, except that it was taller and had slightly longer legs. It was also wearing a large, black tie, and the eyes, nose and mouth were made up of several lumps of very black coal. Peter recognized it as the very official Most Important Plastic Snowman he met two nights ago, particularly as it was holding the very same black clipboard. Its expression was one of seriousness: not too different to the expression it had back then. It wasn’t Peter’s favorite snowman by a long way.
The Plastic Snowman spoke first. “Why have we appeared on this part of the cloud?” he asked politely, “and where’s the Official Very Important Plastic Snowman?”
“Hello Petal,” said the Most Important Plastic Snowman to Peter.
“My name’s Peter, not Petal,” said Peter sternly.
“My apologies. Anyway, you are going to the playground.”
“With my Plastic Snowman?”
“No Petrol. Your Plastic Snowman has to appear before a disciplinary commission to ascertain –“
“What do you mean?” interrupted Peter. “You’re using a lot of big words! I’m only a little boy! And I’m Peter!” Peter felt the Most Important Plastic Snowman was saying his name wrong deliberately.
The Plastic Snowman then spoke quietly to Peter. “It means that I am going to have to stand in front of a group of other snowmen. They’re known as the Council of Cloudland Snowmen, and I have to explain why I did a certain thing, and if they decide that it is a very bad thing I’ve done, I’ll get a punishment for it.”
He then turned to the Most Important Plastic Snowman: “Who has told you to do this?” he said loudly and firmly. “Why hasn’t the Official Very Important Plastic Snowman come to see me? Where’s the official notice?”
“Here, attached to my clipboard,” said the Most Important Plastic Snowman sniffily. He unclipped it and handed it to the Plastic Snowman.
He looked hard at it. “Well, it certainly looks like his signature.”
“But you haven’t done anything!” shouted Peter, “all you did was –“
“Peter, at this time please don’t say anything that might be used against me while I try to argue about whatever it is. Anyway, the Official Very Important Plastic Snowman is a good snowman, so it must be serious if he has decided this. I’m sure he’ll ask you about the things that happened and you can tell them him what happened. Assuming it is about something you saw. By the way, what have I supposed to have done?”
“Not for me to say,” said the Most Important Plastic Snowman.
If Peter was scared, he wasn’t showing it now. “Mr. Most Important Plastic Snowman,” he said firmly. “If my Plastic Snowman is going to stand in front of this group of Very High - thingy Plastic Snowmen, I want to be with him. I was there, I know what he did!”
‘Only on the night you were with me,’ said the Plastic Snowman quietly. “We still don’t know for sure.”
Suddenly two more snowmen appeared from nothing to stand on either side of the Most Important Plastic Snowman. This time, these Plastic Snowmen were very broad with small heads, and had no feet. Their arms were very fat. They then started hopping to the Plastic Snowman to stand either side of him. Peter recognized them as the same snowmen that had stood either side of the Most Important Plastic Snowman when they first met. They looked to him like the snowman equivalent of bodyguards or security men.
“Petter, you will now go and join the other children. We will give you another Plastic Snowman to be with,” said the Most Important Plastic Snowman, his voice showing no sign of feeling any sympathy or pity for the little boy.
“I don’t want to be with another Plastic Snowman, and you know my name’s not Petter, IT’S PETER!” shouted Peter angrily. “Have you got that?”
“It is not up to you,” said the Most Important Plastic Snowman drily.
He suddenly clicked his fingers, and disappeared, along with the Plastic Snowman and his two snowman escorts.
All Peter could now see was the cloud he was standing on, going into the distance either side of where his feet were. He suddenly felt very alone as he looked around.
“Plastic Snowman?” he whimpered in hope.
“Yes?”
The voice came from just a few meters away. But it was not the familiar reassuring deep voice. It was a voice that was high-pitched and lacked authority.
A Plastic Snowman who, like the others, had simply just appeared, came bouncing up to Peter. It was half the size of his snowman, had two small branches for arms, a face made up of small stones and a celeriac – the root vegetable of a celery stick – for a nose. And being a big round vegetable, the nose was massively out of proportion to the rest of its facial features.
“Shall we go and play?” it said simply. “Hold my branchy hand and I’ll take you to the playground.”
“No,” said Peter firmly. “I want to go to my Plastic Snowman.”
“But I am now your Plastic Snowman,” said the fat-nosed Plastic Snowman sadly. “Please, let me be your friend. It’s my turn up here and I’ve been waiting for a friend to play with and take to the playground.”
Peter suddenly felt a little sorry for this sad-looking snowman. “Who built you?” he asked sympathetically.
“I was built two days ago,” it said sadly, “and I only just made it to the cloud. I wasn’t allowed to take my friend Narinder back to India because I was told I was just too small and weak to do the jump back. They didn’t have much snow in that part of India but she lovingly built me from what snow she had.”
Then Peter had an idea. “Plastic Snowman… India. That’s a nice name. Can I call you India? Yes, you can be my friend India. Listen. I want you to take me to where my Plastic Snowman is now.”
“But you can’t have more than one snowman friend,” said India fearfully.
Peter thought quickly. “So… if you are my friend, then… he is not my friend anymore,” he said. “But… he was my friend and I still like him very much. India, I want to see him. Please. Can you help me?”
India stared at Peter. He was just a simply-made snowman, and he didn’t really have any thoughts in the ways of views and opinions. But now this boy told him that he was his friend, and not that other snowman who is now going to a place where they decide what to do with naughty snowmen, so was he breaking any rules?
“OK,” he said meekly. “Now, listen to me carefully. I want you to –“
“Hold your hand?”
“Oooh. How did you know that?”
“I… did it before two days ago.”
“Oh… right, Okay. So, hold my hand, Patter.”
“It’s Peter. Please don’t be like that other stupid snowman.”
“Ah, well, the Most Important Plastic Snowman told me –”
“Yes, that stupid snowman. Can we go?”
The small pebbles that made up India’s mouth arranged themselves into a smile. He then put up the branch that made up his right arm. Peter held it and shut his eyes.
Next moment, they reappeared outside what looked like an extremely large, marquee-sized igloo.