WRITING 4

MARCEL AND THE SHAKESPEARE LETTERS

Character:
Marcel: A detective mouse
Henry: The friend of Marcel, mouse too.
Professor J. T. Barton:
The tall woman:

Marcel is a French mouse. He’s a detective and he lives in Paris, but Marcel doesn’t live in
Paris all year. In November, he visits London. He has got an old friend, Henry, he has got a
small flat.
Marcel loves London, his wonderful building, his street, his museum and big black taxis. This
story is about one of Marcel's November holidays. This story starts at three o’clock on a
Thursday afternoon, Marcel brings a big heavy bag, he’s walking from Knightbridge station
to Henry’s flat. He looks at the numbers, finally he finds Henry's address. Then, Marcel goes
down to his apartment, and suddenly, he sees a sign; Professor J.T. Burton and he says:
“this’s new!. Henry opens the door and smiles, Marcel goes into the apartment for him.
Henry asks Marcel: How are you? and Marcel answers Henry: I’m fine, thank you!. Just then,
Henry brings one tea cup to him and they start to talk, they are sitting in two big chairs.
Marcel asks about the sign outside in the street, near the door, and Henry answers: the
professor Burton, he’s very clever. They’re sitting under the floor of an old woman’s house in
Oxford. Henry tells Marcel; She has some letters from Shakespeare and she wants to give
them to the British Museum in London. She says to Professor Burton, If he can take them for
her and Professor Burton says to her: oh, yes!. But the letters are in the professor’s flat, he’s
going to give them to the museum in London tomorrow morning at ten o’clock, a lot of
journalists and TV people are going to be there. Suddenly, they hear a big noise, they go to
the window and look out, the noises are fireworks, it’s the 5th of November, Henry
remembers and says to Marcel; It’s Guy Fawkes day. Then, a man walks down the steps
from 42 old Wilton Street, that is professor Burton, he always goes to the cinema on tuesday
evenings. A few minutes later, Marcel says to Henry; I want to look at Shakespeare's letters.
So after tea, the two mice go to the professor's flat. There’s a small hole in front of the door,
Henry and Marcel stop in front of it and then through it. They are walking on the floor, looking
at the old chairs and the books. The professor’s flat is very big and older and there are a lot
of nice pictures too, then they start to climb a very tall bookcase, go up and go up for a long
time, then Marcel sits on Charles Dickens’s book and can hear a lot of fireworks in the street.
minutes later, they see a white button between the books, Henry smiles at Marcel and
presses it. So, they start to move and Marcel understands, but Henry says to him; that's a
safe !. They want to open it. A few minutes later, Henry looks for the papers and finds the
code. So, Marcel says the numbers to him while Henry moves the dial on the right and on
the left. Suddenly, it opened but there was nothing inside, so Henry says; that’s wrong !. The
Shakespear letters aren’t here. Marcel climbs down the bookcase and looks at them, his
friend is right, the letters aren’t in the safe, but there is a big hole back in the safe and a lot of
smoke, too. They climb into the safe and see through the hole. They see a tall woman in a
red dress, she is sitting at a table and talking on the telephone. The two mice are sitting and
listening. Suddenly, she writes on a notepad, she is going to New York in the evening, then
Marcel sees her but the letters are on the table, a few minutes later, the woman puts down
the phone, gets up, takes the letters and puts them in the bag, then she walks up to the door
and outside. Marcel looks into the dark flat, but doesn't see anybody, so they run across the
floor and climb up the leg at the table. They see a notepad and a note on the page while
they look at it under a yellow light. Suddenly, Henry says to Marcel; that’s it !. Marcel looks at
it, and smiles. So, they climb down the leg and run through the flat. The woman leaves the
apartment to Heathrow station and the two mice go behind her. Some hours Later, they
arrive at the station, but there's a lot of people and they can’t see the woman with her bag.
Henry runs through the legs of the people and under the big bag, Marcel is following behind
him. Suddenly, the two mice hear a noise, the train is coming into the station, so they run up
to it and climb up, quickly.
There are fifteen stations before Heathrow, the train stops every time, then the door closes
and the train starts again. In the Heathrow station, the two mice are standing in front of the
door, Henry looks to his left, to his right and gets down, Marcel is behind him. Then, they
start to run again, they run across the floor at the airport, they find a sign, a Concorde sign.
Suddenly, the two mice see a blue sign, it says; CONCORDE, but the door is closed. Then,
two men walk near the door, and open it, quickly the two mice run there and get inside. They
start to walk and find the tall woman and have a look at the room. Suddenly, Marcel sees
her, she is sitting on a chair, listening to her walkman and reading a newspaper, too. So,
they go up to her, slowly. They look for the big bag. A few minutes later, Marcel sees it. He
has got a small knife in his coat and takes it. So, Marcel starts to walk across the room,
Henry walks behind his friend, suddenly the woman takes off the walkman and starts to put it
in her bag, so Marcel runs quickly and stops in front of the big woman’s bag. He climbs up
the bag and starts to make a hole in it with his knife, soon he tries to go in, but the hole is
dark. so he tries again. He looks for the letters in the bag but he doesn’t find them. Henry
says to him; can you see the letters? and Marcel says to Henry; yes, I can now !, but the
woman sees them, and shouts them. She tries to give them, but Marcel takes the letters and
jumps down. So, they go away with the letters quickly but the woman runs and follows
behind them. Suddenly, the door opens and the two mice run through it and run under the
leg of one man, he gets into the train when the woman tries to go outside, but the door
closes quickly.
In the evening, Henry and Marcel arrive at the professor's apartment, they are very happy.
Marcel is sitting and reading the letters on the table, Henry stands by the window, he
watches the fireworks, suddenly a man in a brown coat is near the door, he walks up to it.
They don’t know who he is, so the man gets in the apartment, the two mice are behind the
chair when Henry says to Marcel; it is professor Burton !. Suddenly, professor Burton looks
at the safe and looks in it, but there wasn't anything. He turns his head and looks at the
letters on the table, he doesn't understand what happened. The next day, in the morning,
Marcel and Henry go to the British Museum, there are a lot of journalists and TV people,
they are waiting for Professor Burton, he arrives at 10 o’clock, A few minutes later, the
professor Burton arrives at the Museum, he gives the letters to a man, the two mice were
looking at everyone, smiling.

THE END