And secondly, people would get suspicious if I suddenly turned up with lots of money.

So I made several copies of all my sports equipment. For a few hours at least, I had twenty five cricket bats, a few hundred cricket balls, a pile of hats, heaps of gloves, a floor covered in soccer balls, and numerous other things. It was quite fun, watching everything disappear when its time was up, like soap bubbles popping, and more or less in the reverse order to the sequence I had made them appear. And Mysto never knew what fun I was getting up to while he was away!

When Saturday arrived I was ready. I had made a sort of costume for myself, out of some old clothes and one of Mum's scarves. I sewed everything by hand. It looked a bit rough, but I was pleased with it. I made another me to help with the stitching up, which took ages. I would have liked to use Mum's sewing machine, but I didn't want her asking awkward questions.

At 4.45 pm Brooks arrived on his bike. He stopped outside the gate and looked the house over. He probably knew I lived somewhere in this block of houses, but he wasn't sure. His face showed he was puzzled. I opened the garage door and waved to him. He blinked, unbelievingly at me. It was like a meeting between a bear and a skeleton!

"What do you want, weed?" asked Brooks.

"I am Cosmo, the Hooded One. I have challenged you to a fight!" I said, trying to sound big and strong – and failing completely.

"You need to have your head examined!" said Brook, starting to ride away.

"Scared of me are you?"

Brooks stopped.

"I don't fight stick insects!" he said.

"You don't know how strong I am!" I replied, flexing my skinny, white arms.

"I can see how puny you are!" scoffed Brooks, "Don't waste my time!"

"If you ride away," I said, "You'll never know if I could have beaten you or not!"

Reluctantly, and with a long sigh. Brooks turned his bike and rode up to the garage. I went in and waited. He got off his bike and looked in. I had made a makeshift boxing ring, using some tow-rope and four drums. He laughed at the crudeness of my efforts.