Read Four Wheeled Hero Online

Authors: Malcolm Brown

Tags: #fantasy story, #magical powers, #childrens adventure story, #hero adventure, #magical abilities, #disabled child, #wheelchair hero, #childrens detective story, #funny childrens adventure, #magical weapons

Four Wheeled Hero (2 page)

BOOK: Four Wheeled Hero
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‘They are
holding your Dad prisoner’, she blurted between the tears. ‘They
want him to open the safe of his bank so they can steal the money’,
she went on to say just before the man dragged Tommy away from his
Mother.

 

‘Do as you’re
told and no one will get hurt’, he said again. ‘You’, he added
pointing to Tommy. ‘Go and put the kettle on and make us a nice cup
of tea’.

 

Tommy felt like
telling him to make his own tea, but his mother told him to do as
he was told, so he headed for the kitchen. He filled the kettle
with water and plugged it in before getting the mugs out of the
cupboard. To show his unwillingness to carry out his instructions
he crashed and banged everything down as he went about his
task.

 

Suddenly the
door opened and the man appeared. Looking past the man he could see
that his mother had been tied up with sticky tape and was lying on
the settee with a piece of tape over her mouth to stop her from
making any noise.

 

‘What are you
doing’, said the man in an angry voice.

 

‘What have you
done to my Mother’, Tommy screamed.

 

‘The same as
I’m going to do to you’, he said heading towards Tommy.

 

Tommy could not
think of what to do. If I was not in this chair, he thought, I
would hit you so hard. The thought had just passed through his mind
when suddenly a large boxing glove attached to a coiled spring shot
from Tommy’s wheelchair and hit the man full in the face sending
him flying across the room. He hit the wall with a thud and slid
down it. The boxing glove disappeared as quick as it had arrived
leaving Tommy sat with his mouth wide open in disbelief.

 

What the heck
was that, he thought not being able to gather and speak the
words.

 

The man still
looking dazed started to come around and pick himself off the
floor. The look of rage in his face said everything as he grunted
his hate towards Tommy.

 

Tommy realising
that his life was now in danger could not bring himself to move. I
should have hit him with a bat instead of a glove, he thought as
the man once again headed in his direction. Within seconds there
was a large baseball bat, all of six foot long, came shooting out
of his chair which hit the man hard in the stomach knocking all the
air out of him. He crumpled to the floor trying to regain his
breath.

 

Tommy sat
spellbound at what had taken place, still unable to come to terms
with what was happening. The man started to come around once again
but this time instead of making a move towards Tommy, he headed for
the back door and ran up the road as fast as his legs would carry
him.

 

Tommy was
suddenly brought down to Earth when he heard his Mother grunting in
the lounge concerned at the noise she had heard over the past few
minutes. Tommy rushed to her side and removed the tape that had
bound her hands and feet. He removed the tape which had gagged her
and she clutched him to her in a hold that he thought would break
his back.

 

‘He’s gone’,
Tommy said still holding tight onto his Mother.

 

‘What was that
noise, I was so worried about you’, she blurted with tears
streaming down her face. ‘What made him leave’, she asked.

 

‘Oh, said
Tommy. I..I..threw some hot tea at him and he panicked and ran’, he
added not even trying to explain what really did happen, because he
was finding it difficult to believe it himself.

 

As they sat
still holding one another the phone rang. Tommy’s Mother answered
it.

 

‘No you can’t,
no you can’t’, Tommy heard her say as she stood trembling by the
phone. She replaced the receiver and came back over to Tommy with
tears streaming once again down her face.

 

‘Those men are
still holding your Dad’, she said. ‘They are going to keep him
prisoner over the weekend until Monday morning when the automatic
alarm system turns itself off on the bank vault. You’re Dad had set
it just before leaving and this bunch of amateurs had not taken
that into consideration before they put their plan into
operation’.

 

‘What will we
do’, she said sobbing on Tommy’s shoulder.

 

‘We will have
to carry on as if nothing has happened’, said Tommy. ‘If we don’t
then Dad could be hurt’.

 

‘Your right’,
said Tommy’s Mother drying her tears. ‘I think I will ask Granny to
come over, she will know what to do for the best’.

 

Just then the
front door bell rang again which made both of them jump.

 

‘I’ll answer
it’, said his Mother wondering whether they had returned.

 

She slowly
opened the door to find the grinning face of Smithy looking up at
her.

 

‘Can Tommy come
and stay for the weekend’, he enquired trying to look as pleading
as possible.

 

‘You had better
come in’, she said.

 

Smithy bounced
into the room in his usual bouncy manner

 

‘Old misery
guts is not coming so Mum asked whether you would like to stay the
weekend’, Smithy asked.

 

Tommy looked at
his mother and she nodded her approval.

 

‘It will do you
good’, she said. ‘It will keep you mind off other things’, she
added.

 

Reluctantly
Tommy agreed knowing that he would other wise spend the weekend
with two tearful women.

 

‘I’ll get my
things together’, he said as he headed into the kitchen.

 

The kitchen
door closed behind him and as it did so Tommy noticed something on
the kitchen floor. He leaned forward to pick up a small card that
lay near the kitchen wall.

 

Goodnight
Mattresses

Kingfisher
Road

Broadacre

The card had
printed on it. This must have fallen from the crooks pocket when he
crashed against the wall, Tommy thought. He placed it firmly in his
pocket and gathered the rest of his things for the weekend. His
Mother gave him an extra hug and kiss before he and Smithy made
their way up the road with Smithy walking along all of the walls
between his and Tommy’s house.

 

 

Chapter 2

 

A Fishing We
Will Go

 

Smithy asked
Tommy if everything was all right.

 

‘Why shouldn’t
it be’, Tommy replied.

 

‘It’s just that
you don’t seem your normal self’, Smithy answered.

 

For a couple of
minutes nothing was said until Smithy jumped down from the wall
blocking the path of his friend.

 

‘There is
something’, he said looking quite worried.

 

‘No there
isn’t’, answered Tommy with tears starting to well in his eyes.

 

‘You’ll have to
tell me’, Smithy said. ‘Or I will stand here all night’, he
added.

 

‘OK, OK’, Tommy
replied. ‘But it’s for your ears only’, he added.

 

‘Right’, said
Smithy, looking even more worried to see his best friend so upset.
‘We’ll go out to the shed as soon as we get to my house and you can
explain what’s going on’.

 

They arrived at
Smithy’s house, and informed his Mum that they were going to the
shed to play with his train set.

 

‘Your tea will
be ready soon’, she said in a laid back fashion.

 

Both of
Smithy’s parents were like that. Nothing seemed to be too much
trouble and they liked the fact that Smithy was independent.

 

‘I tell you
what’, she said. ‘There’s no need to interrupt your play, I’ll
bring it out to you’.

 

They both
smiled in approval and headed up the long garden path to the shed.
The door creaked as they entered their secret world of make believe
where they would loose themselves in play for hour after hour. The
shed was five metres long and three metres wide. On one side there
was a large layout of a steam railway complete with town and
villages, goods yards and tunnel running through hilly
countryside.

 

‘Well’ let’s
have it’, said Smithy.

 

Tommy a little
worried at first started to tell Smithy what had happened. On his
part Smithy stood spell bound grunting the odd ‘Cor’ and ‘Wow’ at
various intervals. It took Tommy nearly half an hour to tell his
story which was interrupted by Smithy’s Mum with their tea’s. When
he finally finished Smithy stood there silent for a moment before
bursting out into laughter.

 

‘That’s the
funniest story you’ve ever told’, he said to Tommy who again had
started to get a little upset.

 

Smithy noticed
Tommy’s face and said ‘Your not trying to tell me all this is true
are you’.

 

Tommy turned to
face the far end of the shed. Suddenly the boxing glove on the
coiled spring shot out from Tommy’s chair, just missing the
background scenery that Smithy’s Dad had been painting.

 

‘Blimey’,
Smithy said his mouth now wide open in wonderment.

 

The glove had
long disappeared but Smithy insisted in trying to find where it
came from on Tommy’s wheelchair. Scratching his head he looked at
Tommy with an almost disbelieving look on his face at what he had
just witnessed.

 

‘Do it again’,
he said. ‘But this time make the bat appear while I stand in front
to see where it comes from’.

 

Smithy watched
with eagle eyes before suddenly remembering what was about to
happen. He moved quickly to the right as the bat flew past his left
hand side to hit his Dad’s scenery painting a deadly blow.

 

The only words
that Smithy could get out was ‘No’ as he saw the bat punch a great
big hole in the middle of his Dad’s masterpiece. It fell to the
ground with a crash with bits flying off it in all directions.

 

‘Sorry’, Tommy
said in a panicky voice seeing the trouble they were now both
in.

 

Smithy surveyed
the damage and said, ‘We’ll blame it on the cat. It’s always in
here knocking things over’.

 

Smithy’s
attention was back on the chair.

 

‘How do you do
that’, he asked.

 

‘I don’t really
know’, Tommy answered. ‘Whatever thought I have at the time seems
to have an effect on the chair’.

 

‘Can it do
other things’, Smithy asked.

 

‘I don’t know’,
replied Tommy.

 

‘Do you think
that I could have a go’, Smithy asked.

 

‘OK’, replied
Tommy as he moved over to a chair in the corner of the shed where
he could lift himself onto it. Safely seated Tommy told Smithy to
sit in his chair. Now think of something he said.

 

Smithy sat
there concentrating for all he was worth until he was red in the
face.

 

‘It’s no good’,
he said. ‘It must only work for you’.

 

He got out of
the chair and helped Tommy back in. In all the excitement they had
forgotten all about the events that had taken place. It wasn’t
until

 

Tommy’s Mum
popped in to see that he was all right did it all come thundering
back to upset Tommy once again.

 

During the
early evening Smithy and Tommy went over the event once again.
Smithy came up with the idea of rescuing Tommy’s Dad themselves,
after all Tommy had just beaten one of the gang on his own. Tommy
was a little reluctant at first unsure of what they could do, but
finally agreed to give it a go, after all it was better than
sitting around miserable waiting for Monday to arrive.

 

‘Right’, said
Smithy. ‘What clues have we got. I’ll get a pad and pen to write
them down’. Smithy came back with his pad and pen and seated
himself on the chair beside Tommy’s wheelchair.

 

‘Let’s get this
blokes description down first like the police would while it’s
still fresh in your mind’, he said.

 

Tommy’s
description was clear leaving nothing out. ‘Just a minute’, Tommy
said fishing for something in his pocket. ‘I found this on the
kitchen floor just after the man escaped out of the back door’.

 

Tommy placed
the card on Smithy’s lap. ‘This may give us a clue’, he said.

 

GOODNIGHT
MATTRESSES

KINGFISHER
ROAD

BROADACRE

 

Smithy’s mouth
dropped open again and his face turned a little pale.

 

‘That’s my
Granddad’s company, he said. Blimey, I hope my Granddad’s not
kidnapped your dad. He did pinch my last sweet the other week, but
he made up for that by buying me a packet of crisps. He always
pinches chips off my Grandmothers plate when she’s not looking, but
he only does it for a laugh. He just doesn’t seem the type, and my
Grandmother wouldn’t let him do it anyway. Do you think they are
both in it together’?

 

‘Hold on a
minute’, Tommy said stopping Smithy from babbling on. ‘Just because
we have found one of your Granddad’s company cards, it doesn’t mean
he has something to do with my dad’s kidnapping’.

 

‘But, But!’

 

Tommy stopped
Smithy. ‘Look it may mean that this man either works for your
Granddad or he has just brought something from his company. What we
need to do is to find out’.

 

‘I suppose we
could ask my horrible Uncle Frank if he works there’, Smithy
said.

 

‘What a good
idea’, Tommy replied. ‘Where does he live?’

 

‘On an old farm
two miles outside of Broadacre, on the Windom road’, replied
Smithy.

BOOK: Four Wheeled Hero
2.81Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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