Scrambled Read Free Page A

Finished it! I phoned the police at four o’ clock and there’s been no sign of them.’
    When he wasn’t beside himself with anger, Mr Leighton had quite a placid nature. He didn’t really say much, but when he did, it often had very little connection with the current topic of conversation. Once, Davidde and Mrs Leighton had been talking about dogs, and Mr Leighton sat up and said, ‘China’s got to change.’ Another time, Davidde had been a bit sad and Mrs Leighton was doing a great job of raising his spirits. From out of nowhere, Mr Leighton looked into the distance and shouted, ‘Don’t play the banjo, play the violin!’ and left the room. It made going next door interesting at least.
     
    When Davidde got back to the house his father was back from work. He was at the kitchen table reading the paper, smoking and drinking cider. He didn’t look up as Davidde came in.
    ‘Where you been? Next door with Miseryguts, is it?’
    ‘Aye.’
    ‘What was he moaning about today then?’
    ‘The boys on scramblers down the Rec. He says they’re a nuisance.’
    His dad shook his head.
    ‘He’s moaning cos there’s boys on scramblers. What does he expect? Next thing he’ll be moaning that water is wet, or that wood burns. Boys and bikes go together like fish and chips. When I was your age…’
    Davidde had heard this before. When Ralph Nippers had been Davidde’s age, he’d been the best scrambler in the valley. He’d take on all-comers, and he wouldn’t just beat people, he would send them for fags. (Davidde never really understood what sending people for fags actually meant, but the way his father said it, it sounded quite impressive.)
    Davidde was also aware that he was a bit of a disappointment to his father. He’d never taken up scrambling or sport the way his father had, and this meant that they didn’t have much to talk about. This hadn’t been a problem when Mam was alive,because she wanted him to do well at school, but then she got cancer and died, and Davidde and his father had to get by on their own. Most of the time things were fine, but occasionally Davidde felt he should get in trouble at school just to keep his father happy. His father was famous in the area for being expelled from school on his last day because he used a water pistol to squirt pee over the headmaster. The thing was, Davidde didn’t like getting into trouble and he liked doing the work. It was something his father could never get his head around. He considered telling his dad about the new headmaster and how he’d spoken to Davidde earlier that day, but even thinking about it made his cheeks feel hot and his eyes watery. He’d just leave it. Anyway, the last thing he wanted was to give his father a chance to go down to the school and start ranting and raving. That would be awful.
    The rest of the evening passed quietly. They had egg and chips for tea and then his father went out to the Club. This left Davidde alone. When it went dark he set up his binoculars to look at the stars. He had a tripod and had managed to fix his binoculars onto it to give himself a steadierview. He had saved up for a proper telescope and Mr Leighton was helping him choose one. Mr Leighton was an expert when it came to surveillance.
    Davidde focused on the Andromeda Galaxy. It was incredible to him to be able to see something that wasn’t just outside the Solar System, but was outside the galaxy. Now this was the sort of thing that sent his head for fags.
    He was asleep before his dad got back. He dreamed he was down the Rec, watching Lyndon and Dwayne and the boys messing around on their bikes. They were doing wheelies and their own special scrambler jousting, where they would race at each other and try to spit on the rider racing towards them. They were having a whale of a time, and they didn’t notice Davidde gazing down on them. It was then he saw the Black Rider for the first time.
    Riding a gleaming silver scrambler with the shiniest chrome