Mr. Mischief's New Year is a story from the 1987 Annual and the 1992 Annual.
Plot[]
It's New Year's Eve in Misterland and Mr. Mischief was working on his list of New Year's resolutions. A list of naughty things he planned to do in the upcoming year. At the stroke of midnight, Mr. Mischief decided to start the year off with his naughtiest trick yet. Mr. Mischief got up, went into a cupboard, and took out a small box. He took the small box all the way to Town Hall and made sure no one was looking. Mr. Mischief went to a little door at the side of the Town Hall, opened it, went inside, climbed up a staircase, and reached the clock at the top of Town Hall. That particular clock was one everyone in town depended on. They relied on the clock going "tick-tock."
Mr. Mischief then opened the small box and, somehow, stole the clock's tick-tock! This, in turn, stopped the clock! Messing up everyone's sense of time? That really is a naughty way to kick off the new year!
Just then, Mr. Mischief saw Mr. Happy coming home from a New Year's party. Mr. Happy saw the box and wondered what Mr. Mischief was up to after seeing him hiding it behind his back and stating that "it's just a little New Year's Eve surprise."
The next morning, on New Year's Day, there was chaos throughout the town! Everyone was late because Mr. Mischief had stopped the clock! The milkman was late delivering Mr. Happy's milk, the policeman was late for traffic duty and caused all the drivers to get stuck in traffic jams, the news reader on the radio read the seven o'clock news at half-past ten, and Mr. Greedy's favourite restaurant was late opening and served the wrong meals at the wrong time!
Everyone was crossed and turned to Mr. Clever to have a look at the clock. But Mr. Clever couldn't figure out why the clock had stopped. Mr. Happy, remembering what Mr. Mischief told him the night before, came to the conclusion of who was responsible for the clock stopping.
Later that day, Mr. Happy took Little Miss Magic over to Banana Skin Cottage to see Mr. Mischief. As soon as Mr. Mischief opened the door, Little Miss Magic saw the box and commanded it to open. With her magic, the box opened and the tick-tock starting sounding. She ordered it to increase in volume until Mr. Mischief begged her to stop the tick-tocking. She agreed but only if Mr. Mischief stopped his naughty tricks. Reluctantly, Mr. Mischief agreed and Little Miss Magic commanded the ticking to stop and closed the box.
Then, Little Miss Magic took the box to Town Hall and put it back into the clock! Time does fly when you're stopping someone like Mr. Mischief!