else at school, and that was to beat Brooks at boxing. It was the impossible dream, but it was my dream. Other people might have fantasies about flying, or travelling the world, or climbing mount Everest, or exploring Antarctica, or going to the moon, or swimming the English Channel, or canoeing around America, but for me, the ultimate glory would be to out-box Brooks.

As I looked at the hoop in my bony, weak, soft-skinned little page-turning hands , I worked out a way of doing just that. I grabbed a pen and some paper and started to write a letter.

"Dear Brooks,

I Cosmo the Hooded One, champion bantamweight boxer of the world, challenge you to a private boxing match, to be held in the garage at 44 Stucko Drive on Saturday, 5 pm Normal boxing rules to be observed except that we will have unlimited rounds. I will reveal my identity to you after I have beaten you. Do you dare to be destroyed by me, or will you chicken out? Yours,

C. the H.O."

I folded the letter and put it into an envelope, then I went to the kitchen and got a stamp off the top of the fridge.

"What are you doing?" Mum asked.

"Just posting a letter," I said.

"Now?"

"No time like the present!" I said, bounding out the door. I ran to the Post Office box just down the road and was back in less than five minutes. I did pretty well considering my legs were like twigs and my lungs hardly ever had air that deep in them. Mum gave me a curious look as I went back through the kitchen.

That night, I hardly slept a wink. My head was full of the possibilities, and, unfortunately, some of the problems. Would my plan work? Would I be able to get the magic hoop (which I had returned to its case) on Saturday? What if Mysto found out? What if he knew already?

But Mysto said nothing to me about the hoop all the next day, or the next, so by the time Saturday arrived, I was feeling quite positive.

Of course, during the evenings I had pinched the hoop for a while, to see what else it could do, but that had made things very tricky. I made dozens of copies of my pocket-money, and filled a pillow-case with coins, but I couldn't use any of them. For a start, it was dishonest.