Four Wheeled Hero Read Free Page B

does he live?’
     
    ‘On an old farm
two miles outside of Broadacre, on the Windom road’, replied
Smithy.
     
    ‘Do you think
your Mum and Dad will let us go to see him, it’s almost 30 miles
away’, Tommy asked.
     
    ‘Well, No’,
came his reply. ‘They dislike him so much they would never agree
for us to go there, even if they were coming with us’.
     
    ‘Then how do we
manage it then’, Tommy asked.
     
    ‘We could say
that we are going fishing for the day’, Smithy replied as he jumped
up from his chair and walked over to a shelf to remove a rusty old
tin from behind a stack of old magazines.
     
    He came back to
his seat and fumbled with the lid. ‘This is my secret saving’,
Smithy mumbled as he finally forced open the lid tipping the
contents into his lap. There were six pound coins, a fifty pence
piece and a twenty pence piece with chewing gum stuck around
it.
     
    ‘There you
are’, he said, looking quite triumphant in his achievement. ‘£6.70
that should help us on our way’, he added in a pleasing tone. ‘Have
you any money on you’, he asked Tommy.
     
    Tommy searched
through his pockets and came up with £1.25 and two old toffees.
     
    ‘I’m afraid
that’s all I have’, Tommy said. ‘Maybe it will be enough to get us
there and back’.
     
    Just then the
door opened and in walked Smithy’s Dad. ‘Are you all right boys’,
he asked with a smile on his face just before noticing his pride
and joy laid on the floor in tatters. His face changed quickly to
one of annoyance. ‘What has happened here’, he asked.
     
    ‘I don’t know’,
Smithy replied. ‘We found it like that when we arrived. Maybe the
cat knocked it down’, he added with his fingers crossed tightly
behind his back.
     
    ‘I’ll cat him’,
his Dad said as he stormed out of the shed with his backdrop in his
arms. ‘That’s the last time I let that cat in my shed, do you
hear’, he said as he headed towards the house. He suddenly stopped
and headed back to the shed. ‘Hey you two, its time for bed, it’s
just gone nine thirty’.
     
    They locked the
shed and followed Smithy’s Dad back to the house where his Mum had
a hot cup of drinking chocolate ready for them. There was a sudden
squeal as Smithy’s cat shot passed them from the living room
heading for the cat flap and safety, followed by his Dad who now
had a satisfied look on his face.
     
    ‘What’s up with
the cat’, asked Smithy’s Mum.
     
    ‘Oh, I just
caught him with my foot’, answered Smithy’s Dad as he turned and
headed back into the living room.
     
    ‘By the way
Mum, Tommy and me are going fishing tomorrow by the canal if that’s
all right with you’, Smithy asked. ‘We will be out all day and
probably won’t get back until tea time’, he added.
     
    ‘That’s fine’,
she replied. ‘Just as long as you take the mobile phone with you
and ring me every two hours so that I know your OK’.
     
    Smithy picked
up his and Tommy’s cups and put them in the sink. ‘We’re off to bed
now’, he told his Mum as he opened the door to allow Tommy to pass
through.
     
    Smithy and
Tommy shared the downstairs bedroom that Smithy’s Dad had modified
to allow Tommy to stay over. It was part of an old Granny Flat that
the previous owners had constructed which included its own bathroom
large enough to take Tommy’s wheelchair. Smithy’s Dad had papered
the walls with Smithy’s favourite super hero ‘Dynamo Man’ and he
peered down on you from every angle. There were posters all over
the walls and shelves with stacks of ‘Dynamo Man’ comics on them
along with plastic toys of equipment used by his super hero.
     
    They changed
into their pyjamas and clambered their way into bed. Smithy’s Mum
popped her head round the door to remind them not to stay awake all
night talking before wishing them ‘God Bless’ instead of the normal
sloppy kiss she would give Smithy before he went to sleep. He was
so relieved that she had not decided