Not far from where I live there is a queer old empty wooden house standing all by itself on the side of the road. I long to explore inside it but the door is all always locked, and when I peer through a window all I can see is darkness and dust.
Billy is a human boy and it is the building which sparks his interest and imagination that will become the centerpiece of the tale. This seems like the beginning of a definitive Dahl story for kids and expectation naturally builds that what will finally take place inside that abandoned building will be more than a little offbeat, perhaps the slightest bit crazy and tinged with a pinch of the macabre or bizarre. What is notable for many readers and singled out by many critics is that what does finally take place in there is more goofy than offbeat, only a little crazy, and, most strangely, lacking in the traditionally dark shadows and undertones that make a Dahl story instantly recognizable as a Dahl story. Instead, the reader is offered maybe the closest they will ever come to a Roald Dahl children’s book that could have been written by more than a few other children’s authors.
“Billy, we need your help and we need it fast. We must have some windows to clean. We’ve spent every penny we had on buying this house and we’ve got to earn some more money quickly.”
While Billy entertains dreams of some sort of establishment which sells sweets, it turns out that what kind of operation is really being run from the formerly empty wooden house is something quite different: The Ladderless Window-Cleaning Company. And it is owned operated by a giraffe, a pelican and a monkey. And, as is manifest from the above quote, Billy finds himself drawn into becoming an active participant in the company. A giraffe, pelican, monkey and little boy comprising the entirety of a business with the purpose of cleanliness. What could possibly go wrong?
“Your grace, there is a man in one of the bedrooms on the third floor. He is opening all the drawers and taking things out. He’s got a pistol!”
Actually, things are going substantially well. The long neck of the giraffe is terrifically handy for reaching high windows. The pelican’s mouth is perfect for holding tremendous volumes of water. And who better to balance on the head of a giraffe while washing down windows than a monkey? Things are going so well, in fact, that the team receives a commission from the Duke of Hampshire himself to clean all 677 windows at his mansion. And then the burglar targeting the jewels of the Duchess enters the picture. He makes the heist okay but blow the scramez-vous, thanks to the intervention of the window cleaners.
“There is an old wooden house near where I live. It’s called The Grubber and long ago it used to be a sweet-shop. I have wished and wished that once day somebody might come along and make it into a marvelous new sweet-shop all over again.”
The story ends up back where it began. The Duke rewards the giraffe, pelican and monkey for foiling the attempted robbery by offering them a special reserve on his property. When he asks Billy want he would like, he returns to his dream that the empty building might become a place to sell sweets.
