“The Hidden Children”
Book One
Of
The Capricon
By Harry B Botha
Published by Harry B Botha at Smashwords
Copyright 2011 Harry B Botha
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Chapter One – Wattville
Logan could feel his friend breathing down his neck. Huck was only two steps behind him but it was not Huck that concerned him, it was the dog that was two steps behind Huck, a large black dog named Jaws. This was a fitting name because just a few seconds ago Huck had already become acquainted with Jaws’ nasty white meat grinders. The dog had torn a hole in his pants, a rather large hole that left the portly boy’s rear end open for the whole world to see.
“I can’t keep this up much longer” Huck yelled out of breath.
“That’s good,” Logan yelled a reply.
“Why?”
“Once you stop running I can make a clean getaway.”
“This is no time to joke, this thing’s got sharp teeth.” Huck patted his rear end just to make sure Jaws hadn’t taken another bite. “Why am I taking the bite, it was your shortcut!”
“Because I’m the fastest, but for some reason I can’t get away from you today” Logan teased.
“More jokes! This is not the time!”
Jaw’s teeth snapped dangerously close to Huck’s behind again.
“Really not the time” he repeated.
“We’re almost home, just two more blocks.”
“That’s two more blocks than I can do.”
“I’ve got an idea. Whatever happens, just keep on running.” Logan said with a smile.
“What are you going to do?”
“Do you want to talk or be doggy chow?”
“I’m running! I’m running!” Huck agreed nervously.
Logan jumped into the doorway of the Cust Off Laundry Service and watched Huck and Jaws dart past him. The dog didn’t pay any attention to the tall boy, he had his eyes locked on the scrumptious looking freckled behind in front of him, but that changed when Logan slapped the dog on its rump. Jaws spun round to see the curly haired boy running inside the laundry.
‘Today must be sheet day,’ Logan thought as he ran to where he hoped the back door was. Filthy sheets were going into machines and clean ones were coming out. Logan bobbed and weaved the best he could, ducking the ladies and their sheets. All he had to do was make it to the door, slam it in the dog’s face and he should be safe. That’s the way it worked in his head when he planned it, but he did not expect all the obstacles that were between him and the door. The women in the laundry stood in silent surprise, watching the tall twelve year old make his way through the laundry. Silent surprise changed to furious yelling when the big black dog ran through the store tearing everything to pieces. Jaws was now covered in sheets and resembled a running heap of laundry, his only visible features were his snout, eyes and very sharp teeth.
When Logan finally bolted out of the back door, Jaws was too close to slam the door in his face, so he made his way down the street hoping to still outrun the beast. He dared a glance to see how far he was ahead. Jaws was still a few steps behind him but the chase had gained a few extra members. All the women from the laundry were running behind Jaws waving their arms, yelling furiously. The yelling did nothing to upset the dogs stride, he had his eyes set on a goal and at this moment that goal was to eat the boy running in front of him, or at least that was what Logan thought the dog wanted to do. Logan looked over his shoulder again to see how far Jaws was behind him when he noticed that half the sheets the dog was wearing looked like Aunt Belle’s, and that for a second sent an even bigger chill than being eaten by Jaws down his back.
Aunt Belle was Huck’s godmother. She was a stout baker with a temper and a terrible habit of losing it for the smallest thing. A baker with a short temper is a scary image when you take into account that they always have a rolling pin handy to knock you against the head. Not that Aunt Belle had ever done such a thing to one of the boys but it did occur to Logan when he saw all her linen being ruined by Jaws, that she might. With every step the beast removed another sheet, tearing and destroying the material. When the sheets hit cobbles they instantly turned black, covered in a mixture of dust and coal dust that the locals referred to as cust (that’s where the Cust Off Laundry Service got its name). Logan and Huck often teased Aunt Belle, saying that one day she would blow the top off her head from losing her temper and today Logan was sure it was going to be that day.
With that thought Logan turned his attention back to the road in front of him, facing Aunt Belle’s wrath was still in the future, first he had to survive Jaws’ ferocious teeth. He had to go right down the next street and left into the one after that. If he was still alive by then, a quick left through a door would put him safely inside the bakery.
‘The Funnybread & Goodpie Bakery’ was where Logan and Huck lived with their godparents, Herbert Funnybread and Belle Goodpie. Logan shared a room with Uncle Herbert and Huck shared an apartment with Aunt Belle. Funnybread suited Uncle Herbert well and if you saw his bread you’d know why. The loaves were always lopsided, a little burnt and sometimes they looked like something resembling a rock, but they were always delicious. Uncle Herbert had a secret ingredient, which was so secret, sometimes people wondered if even he knew what it was. But that ingredient, made his bread irresistible.
Aunt Belle Goodpie’s pies were a whole different story. Even though her pasties looked good and smelled good they never really tasted good. She made Cornish pies, half moon shapes filled with meat and vegetables, with a thick crust around the side. The only people who ever bought her pies were the coal carters, and the only reason they bought them was because they could hold a pie by the crust, and eat it without getting it full of cust. Most coal carters will eat anything just to get the taste of coal out of their mouths.
Logan rounded the corner and was surprised to see a panting Huck standing down the street. Why was he standing at the corner? He should have been home by now.
“Run!” he screamed with Jaws snapping at his heels.
Logan saw his portly friend turn to start running when everything went terribly wrong. He slipped and fell on a pile of wet cust (or cudd as the locals called it, mud made out of cust). Before he could get up, Jaws grabbed him by the sleeve, ferociously shaking his head ripping the shirt. The torn sleeve revealed a large red birthmark on Logan’s right forearm. The mark was shaped like a pair of wings, but people seldom saw it because Logan always wore long sleeved shirts to cover it up.
When he finally got back onto his feet again he was surprised to see Huck standing next to him. He had the expression of someone desperately trying to work out a solution to a math problem in his head. Unlike a math problem he couldn’t solve this had more dire consequences. Logan saw the puzzled look on Huck face change to clarity. Well at least he has an idea, Logan thought relieved but that soon changed when he saw what Huck’s plan was.
Huck jumped on top of Jaws’ back, riding him like a rodeo bull.
The redheaded boy had his hands over the dog’s eyes but Jaws did not let go of Logan’s sleeve.
“Nice doggy,” he yelled, then he looked up to Logan “Do something!”
“I don’t think nice doggy is going to work” Logan said sarcastically.
“Take off your shirt, let the dog eat it, and run!”
“Then how are you going to get away?”
Huck hadn’t thought of that - Logan could see he suddenly realised the flaw in his plan, even if Logan could free himself, he was still going to be stuck on the dog’s back.
Suddenly, a loud voice erupted next to the boys.
”Sit!” it ordered.
Jaws immediately dropped his rear end down on the street.
The loud voice belonged to Uncle Herbert. He was a big man by all standards, tall and round. He had a short beard, friendly eyes and was wearing his ever-present baking apron.
“Now get off the dog, Huck” he said with a devious smile.
Huck let go of Jaws’ neck and slid down the dog’s back until he felt the cold cobble street on his open rear end.
“Good boy” Uncle Herbert said to the dog and patted him on the head.
The boys’ jaws dropped in disbelief - this ferocious animal had changed into the friendliest dog on earth, watching Uncle Herbert with loving eyes. Jaws opened his mouth in what looked like a smile, happily wagging his tail. Unfortunately for Huck every tail wag ended up slapping him in the face.
“You’ve done good boy, now go on home”
The dog stood up, gave a quick growl at each of the boys, then turned and left, merrily jogging down the street towards the power plant.
Huck stood up and tried to wipe the cust from his behind. “How could you call him a good dog? Did you see what he did to our clothes?”
Uncle Herbert couldn’t help but laugh when he saw Huck’s naked rear. “You better cover that up. We don’t want people being blinded by your bright white behind.”
Huck quickly lifted the flap of his pants, humiliation written on his face.
“The dog was only doing what he was supposed to. I think you two took a shortcut through Mister Whittles back yard again.”
The boys looked as guilty as a cat with a milk moustache in a dairy. Uncle Herbert knew them too well, and there was no use in spinning him a story. Uncle Herbert had a quick look at Huck’s behind again.
“That bite doesn’t look too deep.”
“It might not look it, but it sure feels it” Huck rubbed the sore spot.
“Why’d he listen to you?” Logan was trying to cover the mark on his arm with what was left of his sleeve.
“Who?”
“Jaws, why did he listen to you?
“I don’t know, maybe he was tired of chasing you two scallywags, maybe he thought you’d make a terrible meal, he already had a taste of Huck, you know. Maybe he has a girlfriend to get back to. I don’t know.”
“Well he sure didn’t listen to us,” Huck claimed.
“I don’t know many dogs that really respond to ‘nice doggy’” Uncle Herbert teased.
Logan glanced at his torn shirt and Huck’s torn pants, then he shot a concerned glimpse at Uncle Herbert, worrying about Aunt Belle’s reaction. Their torn clothes were sure to make her blow her top. He shifted his gaze to Uncle Herbert who immediately realised what the boy was worrying about.
“So, what now?” Logan asked.
“I need you to deliver Mister Dingle’s bread” Uncle Herbert answered.
“We can’t go home like this, Aunt Belle will blow her top if she sees what happened to our clothes.” Clearly Uncle Herbert did not know what he was worrying about.
“Lucky for you she’s not home right now. Put the clothes in my room, and I’ll see what I can do before she notices.” Uncle Herbert redeemed himself.
“Where is she?” Logan asked.
“She went to fetch the laundry”
“Then I don’t think she’s going to be in a good mood when she gets back.”
“And why is that?” Uncle Herbert asked.
“The dog might have ruined her washing.”
“Change your clothes, and go deliver the bread, it’s on the counter. I’ll deal with Aunt Belle but it would be better if you’re not there when she gets home.” He gave the boys a sly wink.
“Thanks Uncle Herbert” the boys said simultaneously while making their way down the road towards the bakery.
He watched the two boys leave and he couldn’t help but smile. He had grown up with their fathers and the three of them had landed themselves in much more trouble than these two boys when they were their age. They reminded him so much of his dear friends. His smile changed and there was a hint of sadness in his eyes. He knew things about the boys’ future, soon their carefree days would be over. Things were about to change. In a few days everything would be different. There were difficult, life threatening obstacles in the boys’ future. The hopes of so many rested on the shoulders of these boys and it broke his heart when he thought that his two free spirited little scallywags had to start growing up very quickly to survive their destiny.
Chapter Two – The Naikers
The post office was once a bright red building but years of sitting next to the train station had changed it to a black, muddy red. Dark lines ran down its sides, like tears. There were two windows with a door in the middle and it gave the post office a face-like quality, a sad face with black teary eyes. But, there was a warm light inside. Just because the building was sad, didn’t mean the people inside were too. Mister Dingle, or Old Man Dingle as everybody called him, had a gigantic grey beard, which stretched from his face over his belly down to his belt. If you didn’t hear him talk you wouldn’t have thought he had a mouth. The beard covered it completely. Even though you couldn’t see his mouth you always knew when he smiled, he had “smile lines” as he called them, in the corners of his eyes, and when you saw those wrinkles move you knew he was smiling underneath that mass of hair he called his beard.
Those smile lines lit up when the two boys enter his post office. He’d been waiting patiently for his Funnybread, and his stomach was rumbling. As usual Old Man Dingle was sitting behind the counter, in the chair he never seemed to leave. It was well known fact that the last time Old Man Dingle was out of that chair was when he had wheels installed so he could wheel around the post office. There was a wheel under each of the four legs of the chair, and they could move in every direction. At night, if you looked through the post office window, you would see him wheeling from side to side packing and sorting the mail.
Parcels and letters that came through the Wattville Post Office always looked like someone had rubbed them with charcoal. Being next to a train station that received more coal than any other in the country, everything looked as if it had been rubbed with charcoal. The problem with this was that it made it very hard to read the addresses and they seldom went to the right place. So, whenever you expected something from Wattville and a filthy charcoal-covered letter reached you, you could count yourself lucky you received it at all.
The boys were desperately trying to shake the rain off their umbrellas. The sudden shower had just stopped but the stubborn water drops took a shake or two to remove. The boys were dressed in matching uniforms, the only clean clothes they had after the fiasco with Jaws were their Sunday bests. Crisp clean white shirt, blue pullover and dark grey slacks.
“Hello Mister Dingle,” Logan said, entering the door.
“Well if it isn’t the town’s hope for gold medals, the Funnybread and Goodpie boys.” he greeted, smile lines gleaming.
Every year, during the second school holiday, the Wattville Primary School participated in a large athletic tournament. The tournament was held out of town, meaning that it was a tour and that meant you had an opportunity to get away from Wattville for a while. So anybody that had a drop of talent tried their best to go. The trials were always held on the last day of school to determine who these lucky students would be.
Huck didn’t have to do trials, since the day he accidentally threw a large stone all the way across the football field, through the music class window, landing on Miss Dopler’s foot during choir practice. Some say it was the highest note she had ever hit.
Huck only threw the rock because Billy Naiker made a bet to see who could throw the farthest. Luckily for Huck, that accident led to his automatic inclusion into the athletics team as a shot-put expert.
“I’m not in the team yet sir.” Logan said walking to the counter.
“When will you know then?”
“Trials are tomorrow.” Logan placed the bread on the counter.
“Ah, do you think you’ll have some competition then?”
“Only Gilly Naiker. He’s ….”
“Gilly Naiker, here we go again” Huck interrupted. “Are you nuts, he doesn’t stand a chance” Huck turned to Old Man Dingle “This afternoon Logan was running like a rocket, you should have seen him Mister Dingle. Like a rocket I tell you.” He was referring to athletics practice, not the incident with Jaws. Old Man Dingle didn’t have to know about what happened earlier, for all they knew his laundry might have been in the bundle Jaws had destroyed.
“I believe you, young Harold Huckleby,” Old Man Dingle used Huck’s real name. “But be wary of those Naiker boys. You never know what they might have up their sleeves. I’ve seen what they are capable of,” he warned.
The Naikers were the sons of the train station master, Mister Waterford Naiker. First there was William who was sixteen and was called Willy. Then there was William no.2, he was fourteen and called Billy. Then there was Gilliam, he was twelve and called Gilly, he was also Logan’s biggest rival on the athletics field. Finally there was Sillian, he was nine and called Silly. Under normal circumstances Silly would not have been a proper name to call a boy but it suited him perfectly.
Old Man Dingle knew the Naikers well. Living next door to them had made him an easy target for the brunt of many of their jokes. One night the Naikers sneaked into the post office while he was sleeping and glued all four of his chair’s wheels in the same direction. When Old Man Dingle woke up the next morning he wanted to wheel towards the bathroom, but ended up going out the front door, landing on the back of Deaf Dilbert’s coal truck.
There was a good reason Deaf Dilbert was called Deaf Dilbert. All the years of carting coal had filled Dilbert’s ears with cust making him hard of hearing, but calling him ‘Hard of Hearing Dilbert’ was ridiculous, so he was named Deaf Dilbert by the town. He didn’t hear Old Man Dingle’s screams until he finally stopped at the power plant. By then the whole town thought there was something seriously wrong with his truck, because all they could hear were frantic curses as he drove past them. They waved their arms, trying to stop him, but he only thought people were particularly friendly that day, because usually nobody waved a ‘hello’ to him this early in the morning. Of course Dilbert was a little more than surprised to find a fuming ball of hair strapped to a chair in the back of his truck when he finally stopped to off-load his freight.
Old Man Dingle was just one of their victims. The Naikers were seldom caught, but when they were, Mister Naiker would always bail them out (being the second wealthiest man in Wattville). If Mister Naiker wanted, he could refuse anyone coal and they would be out of a job. This made most of the town very wary of the Naiker boys.
Old Man Dingle unwrapped the package revealing a burnt lopsided loaf of bread.
“Your Uncle sure knows how to make bread the way I like it.”
The boys gave each other a quick glance, if Old Man Dingle liked burnt bread, they were not going to say a thing.
“There’s nothing better than eating a fresh slice of Funnybread,” he continued.
The old man looked at the burnt lopsided loaf with wonder, while the boys were wondering how he was going to eat it through that thick beard. They had delivered several loaves to him, but had never seen him eat one. Old Man Dingle wheeled to the fridge, removed a block of butter and a jar of jam. He wheeled back to the counter, picking up a plate and a knife along the way. He cut himself a thick slice of bread, smeared it with a generous layer of butter, then jam. The boys looked at each other still wondering how he was going to get it in his mouth. To their surprise Old Man Dingle removed two hairpins from underneath the counter. He took the first hairpin and pinned the right half of his moustache to the right cheek of his beard. For the first time in their lives the boys saw that Old Man Dingle had a mouth. It was only half a mouth at the moment, but the rest would follow. The old man repeated the hairpin action with the left side, and there he was, looking like an old grey, large whiskered, Burmese cat. He smiled at the boys, and they could see his pearly teeth. He took a bite of burnt jam sandwich, chewed and smiled again.
“Delicious” he said to the boys. “I reckon you two would enjoy some candy?”
The boys could only nod their heads, there was no way words would find a to their mouths, while watching this strange spectacle.
Old Man Dingle grasped a large jar of gobstoppers from underneath the counter. For a brief second Logan wondered what else he was hiding there. He’d seen plates, knives, hairpins and jars appear in only a few seconds.
“You can have two each, as long as Logan runs circles around Gilly tomorrow,” he said placing the jar on the counter next to his bread.
“I’ll do my best sir” Logan said as he removed two gobstoppers from the jar.
“I’ll be doing the cheering, so maybe I should have an extra one to soothe my throat” Huck said removing three gobstoppers from the jar.
“Indeed Mister Huckleby. But I’d better hear you cheering all the way to here for that extra one”
“They’ll be hearing me all the way to Glickenswitch , thank you Mister Dingle” Huck boasted stuffing a gobstopper into his cheek.
The boys were about to leave when Old Man Dingle called them back.
“I almost forgot, there’s a package here for the two of you.”
“A package?” Logan was surprised.
“For us?” Huck was just as surprised.
“Who would send us a package?” Logan asked.
“I dunno, it came in this morning.” the whisker-faced man said, retrieving a small box wrapped in brown paper. The boys’ names and the Funnybread & Goodpie address were written on the box. The strange thing about the box was that it was clean. No charcoal or cust in sight. Logan took the box from Old Man Dingle.
“It’s clean” he said, looking at the perfectly wrapped box.
“Imagine that.” The old man said with a how-should-I-know expression behind his whiskers.
Logan was tempted to shake the box in an attempt to hear what was inside, as it was quite heavy but before he could shake it he felt it heating up in his hand.
“It’s getting warm,” he said shocked.
“Interesting.” Mister Dingle chewed his bread. He was clearly not listening to what the boy was saying, engrossed in his delicious funnybread.
Logan held onto the box as the heat increased.
“It’s still getting warmer.”
“Well, take it outside before you set the place on fire” Old Man Dingle said, shooing the boys out of the office.
Huck could barely contain his curiosity, and when they were outside he also touched the box in Logan’s hands.
“What do you think it is?” he asked.
“I don’t know but it’s still getting hotter” Logan answered.
“Open it so we can see.”
Logan was afraid that the box was about to burst into flames, but nevertheless he slowly started tearing it open. A bright green light shined from the corner he had torn. Huck jumped back and Logan almost dropped the box.
“Cust me! What’s that?” Huck yelped.
“What’s what?” a voice said behind the boys.
Logan pressed the corner back down and hid the box behind his back, while turning round to face the origin of the voice. Standing in front of them were the four Naiker brothers.
The Naikers were all dressed in running shorts and vests. They had clearly been practising for the next day’s trials. Willy was the fastest sprinter in his age group, the same went for Billy. Like Logan, it was Gilly’s first year to compete. That put a lot of pressure on the boy, he came from a family of sprinters and they had always been the best and fastest athletes, since his great grandfather competed in the school’s first year, so long ago. He had to be the best sprinter of his age but now this tall curly haired boy stood in his way.
“What’s what? I said?” Gilly asked again.
“Nothing” Huck said quickly - much too quickly.
“What do you have behind your back?” Billy added to his younger brother’s question.
“It doesn’t concern you,” Logan said. While Huck moved in behind him, he passed him the box and Huck hid it under his pullover. It wasn’t the best hiding place, the square box was quite visible against his round belly.
“Do you think we didn’t see that?” Willy said.
“Yeah, we saw that. We did, didn’t we? What did we see again?” the confused Silly stated and asked in the same breath.
Logan noticed that Gilly was wearing a brand new pair of running shoes and quickly tried to distract the boy.
“Are those new running shoes?”
“You still haven’t answered our question?” Willy said shrugging off the distraction tactics.
Huck tucked his pullover into his pants, securing the warm box firmly against his body. For a second he wondered if it was a good idea putting something that might go up in flames against his body but his concern didn’t last long, the box was his and Logan’s and the Naikers were not going to have it. Especially if he didn’t even know what was in it yet. No, it was time to take a stand, and he’d live with the consequences. So he did something he had never done before. He started rolling up his sleeves like they do in the movies, when the cowboys are getting ready for a saloon fight, he even tilted his head slightly, just like he’d seen so many sheriffs do on the big screen.
“If you want to see what it is, you’ll have to fight us for it.” He had some difficulty speaking as the gobstopper was still stuffed in his cheek but it only added to the effect. The sheriff looked like he was chewing some tobacco. He spat to make his point, just like in the movies.
Logan looked at his friend like he had lost his mind. The four Naiker brothers against the two boys of Funnybread & Goodpie just didn’t seem like good odds. Had their tussle with Jaws finally loosened the nuts holding Huck’s mind together. He wanted to start rolling up his sleeves as well, but was too embarrassed about the birthmark on his arm. So he did the second best thing, he moved in next to his friend and stood shoulder to shoulder with him.
There was a long pause from the Naikers. They had no idea what to say. Nobody had ever confronted them like this.
“You know we can’t fight you today. We might injure ourselves before the trials.” Willy saved the Naiker brothers’ pride.
There was a long and uncomfortable silence as everybody measured each other up. Willy might have said that they didn’t want to fight but you were never too sure when the Naikers were involved.
“Yes, they are new.” Gilly said out of nowhere.
Logan and Huck relaxed their stance when they realised that Gilly had swung the conversation away from the fight, back to his shoes.
“Not that I need new shoes to beat you” he boasted while jogging on the spot like it was a demonstration of his speed.
“You think?” Huck almost laughed at the idiotic behaviour.
“We know.” Willy frowned, nobody laughed at him or his brothers.
“Yeah we know. We know. What do we know again?” Silly stated and asked in the same breath again.
“That Gilly doesn’t need new shoes to beat Mushroom Head” Willy snapped at his little brother.
The Mushroom Head insult was one Logan had heard many times, he had tried new hairstyles and different cuts but nothing ever lasted. After a few months his curly hair would always be back and his head would look like the cloud an atomic bomb leaves behind. He had heard the insult so many times it barely bothered him anymore, he was just about to rebuke when Willy continued his statement.
“I’m so sure of it, I’m willing to bet you two that Gilly will beat Mushroom Head in a race right here, right now.”
“We don’t have anything to bet,” Logan replied to the wager.
“How about the gobstoppers you got from Old Man Dingle?” Billy said
“What gobstoppers?” Logan lied.
“Chubby still has one in his mouth”
Huck was smiling, with what would have been a sheepish expression on his face, but the gobstopper stuffed in his cheek made him look like someone who had just had a painful visit to the dentist. Logan realised the news was out, they had gobstoppers, so he started removing his shoes for the big race, his loafers weren’t ideal running shoes, and he preferred running barefoot anyway.
“Then it’s a bet.” Logan said
“Wait” Huck interrupted “What do we get?”
Gilly removed a bag full of gobstoppers from his pocket, showing them to Huck.
“Okay that’ll do,” Huck said. Food was one of his weaknesses and to Huck a gobstopper was the pinnacle of the food pyramid. He removed the two gobstoppers from his pocket and put them into the bag that Gilly was holding. Logan did the same.
The street between Station and Main Roads was called Black Street, mainly because it was where all the coal carters picked up their coal for the journey to the power plant, permanently covering it in a layer of thick cust. The distance the boys planned on running was almost a hundred meters. Willy and Billy were supervising the start and at the finish line were Silly and Huck. Silly was holding the bag of candy and Huck was holding Logan’s shoes and their umbrellas. Logan could see the box underneath Huck’s pullover from where he stood, and wondered if it was still heating up, hoping his friend wouldn’t burst into flames.
Huck on the other hand was eyeballing the bag of candy and had completely forgotten about the box against his belly. It was not getting any warmer, so it was an easy thing to forget about when looking at so much candy.
Logan and Gilly lined up, ready to start. Willy was standing beside the boys and Billy behind them. Willy raised his hand like a starter.
“Ready,”
“Steady,” he looked at Billy and nodded.
Billy nodded back to his big brother, one of those nods of understanding something that had to happen, one of those very sly nods.
“Go!” Willy yelled.
At the exact instant Gilly took off, Billy leaned forward and tripped Logan causing the curly-haired boy to fall flat on his stomach. Billy’s foot got tangled up between Logan’s feet as he got up. Logan gave a quick kick to Billy’s shin. This resulted in Billy losing his balance and falling back on his other foot, twisting his ankle.
Logan heard Billy yelp in pain behind him but he couldn’t look back, he had a race to win. Gilly was ten meters ahead of him, if he wanted to win he would have to do the impossible. He stretched his strides as long as he could, but he wasn’t gaining on Gilly fast enough. He could see Huck cheering him on, and he knew his friend would be heartbroken if he lost this race, and all their candy.
His legs started to burn as his muscles cried for more oxygen but he kept on going.
He was half way and still eight meters behind Gilly.
He looked down at the road trying to focus, forcing his lungs to take deeper breaths to feed his muscles.
When he looked up again he saw something strange. The box underneath Huck’s pullover started to glow with the same green light as it did before. The light pierced through the little holes in Huck’s jersey.
Logan was thinking how odd it looked when, suddenly, he went over the finish line. He took a few meters to stop. When he turned and looked back, he saw that Gilly still hadn’t finished the race, but was slowing to a stop. Huck and Silly were staring at him, astonished, with open jaws.
The box had stopped glowing under his friend’s pullover, and he realised he couldn’t remember a thing about the end of the race.
With his mouth still open in surprise Huck grabbed the bag of candy from Silly’s hand and walked towards his friend.
“How’d you do that?” Huck asked.
“Do what?”
“You were behind and then you started moving like a rocket and I mean rocket. I could barely see your legs”
Gilly still hadn’t completed the race, he was standing twenty meters from the finish line. He had his hands on his hips like he was trying to catch his breath but his face told a different story. He was amazed, shocked and angry all at the same time. How could this have happened? He was going over the race in his head to figure out where it all went wrong when he noticed Silly running towards him.
“Did you see that, zoom, quick, fast that one,” he said.
“Shut up” Gilly snapped.
“But, speed, train, no aeroplane. Quick”
“I said shut up”
They heard their older brothers yell something from the starting point and moved closer to hear what they were saying.
Logan finally made the connection between the race and the glowing green light.
“The box! It must have had something to do with it,”
“What do you mean?”
“Didn’t you see it glow?”
“What glow? The box? It was under my jersey.”
They heard the older boys yell something. The Naiker boys met each other at the halfway mark. Billy was limping behind his older brother. They had some words and then their attention turned to Logan and Huck.
“They look mad” Huck said.
“I think we have to get out of here” Logan said quickly.
“Why? You won fair and square” Huck watched the fast approaching Naiker brothers. “Well, sort of, I don’t know how you did it but….”
“I’ll tell you later, but first, we have to get out of here.” Logan interrupted while trying to drag his friend from the approaching danger of the Naiker brothers, but Huck didn’t move.
“You’re going to ruin my jersey is you keep on yanking on it like that.”
The Naikers were starting to run towards the boys, all except Billy who was limping.
“Why are they so mad?” Huck asked.
“Billy tripped me and I kicked him”
“Serves him right” Huck decided to start to jog behind his friend. Not completely sure why, as far as he was concerned Logan had full right to kick Billy for tripping him. Especially when there were gobstoppers at stake.
“I think I might have broken his ankle” Logan replied.
“Still serves him right. Why don’t we stand like we’re about to fight? That worked the last time.”
“I don’t think they were this mad the last time.”
“ That’s true.” Huck was moving faster now, while trying to hold on to a pair of shoes, two umbrellas, a bag of candy, and the box underneath his pullover which had started to come loose and slide down his belly.
“I’ll never be able to outrun them” he said shifting his contents, trying to find a comfortable running position..
“You won’t have to, just follow me”
“Is this another one of your ‘plans’, the last one didn’t work out too well” They still had to face Aunt Belle and her sheets.
“Run with me or fight the Naikers”
“Okay I’ll run again, but it feels like that’s all we’ve been doing today.”
They ran towards the coal landing where the carters received their freight before they left for the power plant. Deaf Dilbert had finished loading, and was getting into his truck. The boys ran up the landing as he started to pull away.
“Jump!” Logan yelled as he jumped into the back of the truck.
“Catch!” Huck yelled as he threw him the umbrellas and shoes.
Huck held the candy bag tightly in one hand, and pressed the box against his belly with the other, then he jumped for all he could. He landed and a big puff of cust filled the air, covering the boys completely.
They sat up and saw the Naikers start to slow down. There was no way they were going to catch them now. Huck looked at them and did something he just couldn’t resist.
All the Naikers brothers, except for Billy who was limping behind, saw the big and now completely black, cust covered body of Harold “Huck” Huckleby stand up, and wave at them. They knew he was smiling, because, except for his eyes, his teeth were the only white feature on the boy’s face.
Chapter Three – The Trials
The man would have looked out of place had anyone noticed him standing on the corner of Central and Main Roads. He was wearing a long dark trench coat, with his collar turned up, hiding his neck and half of his head. The other half of his head was covered with a dark wide-brimmed hat. There was a slit in front of the coat, through which you could barely make out a nose. Even though he was very tall, he was hardly visible next to the soot covered wall. If anyone paid him attention, which they didn’t, they would have seen that he was carefully watching the Funnybread & Goodpie Bakery.
The man moved even further back into the shadows as a truck pulled up to the corner where he was standing. On its side was written Dilbert’s Coal Carting Company. The man watched the truck stop, and saw two filthy coal covered boys sneak off the back. The boys didn’t notice him even though he was standing only a few meters away from them. He overheard them speaking.
“Agreed?” asked the tall boy with the curly hair.
“Agreed” said the round redheaded boy.
“We’ll open the box after dinner” the tall boy said taking a small box from the other boy.
The man in the dark watched them walk into the Funnybread & Goodpie Bakery. Beneath his barely visible nose, hidden in darkness, was a smile.
“Patience, young lords” the man whispered. “Patience.”
****
“Look at the two of you.” Aunt Belle scolded when they entered the bakery. She was a burly woman with high hair, always tied in a fountain on her head. The fountain was held in place by a bright yellow ribbon. She tied her hair to keep it from hanging in her eyes when she was baking, but Huck always said the ribbon was supposed to let you know where her temper was. At this moment, from where the cust covered boys stood, the ribbon looked as if it was about to shoot right off the top of her head.
“You’ve ruined your brand new outfits” she chided.
“So do you have anything to say for yourselves?”
“We….” Huck started
“I don’t want to hear it” Aunt Belle interrupted. “First a dog destroyed my perfectly good linen, and then you two ruin your brand new outfits.”
Once you reached the “I don’t want to hear it” with Aunt Belle you knew there was no point in arguing. She obviously hadn’t made the connection between them and the dog yet. Uncle Herbert gave them a quick wink, he must have hid their other ruined clothes from her and the laundry ladies probably forgot to mention that it was Logan’s fault that the dog ran through the laundry in the first place.
“Go, clean yourselves up and …”
“Then go to your rooms” Uncle Herbert interrupted, surprising Aunt Belle completely, but before she could say another word he shot her an uneasy glance, then he looked out the window. She followed his gaze until she saw what he did. The ribbon on her head relaxed a little, her anger quickly gave way to a look of concern.
They stood in silence. Aunt Belle never calmed down this fast.
“Go on, do as you’re told” she shooed them up the stairs.
Just before Logan went up his side of the staircase he looked over his shoulder. He was confused by the strange behaviour Uncle Herbert and Aunt Belle suddenly showed. They were staring out of the bakery window at something in the street. Logan tried to see what they were looking at, and for a second he caught a glimpse of a man standing across the road, the man stepped out of the shadows like he was revealing himself and then he was gone again. It was so fast that he wasn’t sure if whatever he saw was real, or his imagination.
****
Logan was sitting in his room staring at the box. He had a lot on his mind at that moment. Firstly, someone sent them a box with something weird inside, but he knew he couldn’t open it without Huck. Secondly, why did Uncle Herbert and Aunt Belle act so strangely? Usually Aunt Belle would have had a lot to say about them ruining their clothes, but tonight she suddenly stopped when she saw something outside the window.
At dinner she didn’t even mention the dirty clothes matter. The little family ate in complete silence, with Uncle Herbert and Aunt Belle glancing uncomfortably at the window. Logan would have preferred an irate Aunt Belle to the silent meal.
And finally, was there really someone standing across the street or was it just his imagination? He slid the box under his bed and walked to the window to see if the figure was still there. He looked out but it was very dark on the other side of the street. ‘Nothing,’ he thought, ‘there’s nobody out there; it’s just your imagination.’
He climbed into bed and stuck some cotton swabs in his ears. When sharing a room with Uncle Herbert, cotton swabs were one of the precautions you had to take to get any sleep. He snored so loud the neighbours even offered to put in thicker window glass so they could get some sleep at night. Luckily Uncle Herbert was still downstairs in the bakery preparing for the next day’s bake and Logan easily drifted off to sleep.
****
The Wattville athletics stadium was packed with people eagerly watching the school trials on the black field. Grass didn’t grow too well in Wattville, the power plant’s smoke clouds permanently blotted out the sun. Making it impossible to try and grow grass on the field. The town used the one thing they had an abundance of to create a surface that was fit for sport - cust. They had a big machine that spread the cust evenly across the field, it was called the Cust Chucker. It was monstrous looking device with big scoops and turn wheels driven by menacing gears, but it did its job well. Cust was no fun to run on, but it was better than running on uneven ground.
Logan was getting ready for the hundred meter dash, warming up in his lane. He was wearing his running clothes, a vest, shorts and no shoes. The birthmark on his arm was impossible to hide while wearing a vest and to add to his embarrassment it seemed particularly red today.
Gilly Naiker took his position, in the lane right next to Logan. He was wearing a brand new pair of running spikes. Logan had never seen real running spikes before; they were white with two black arrows on each side. He wondered if the black arrows were supposed to make you run faster, but he didn’t have time to ponder the thought when the announcer stepped up.
“On your marks,” he yelled.
Logan kneeled down next to Gilly.
“My brother can’t go on the tour, thanks to you” Gilly said.
“He shouldn’t have tripped me.”
“You were lucky yesterday; you won’t be getting away from us that easily today”
The fact that Gilly said us, worried Logan, he was obviously not talking about the race. He sensed the Naiker brothers had done something, something bad.
“Get set!” The announcer yelled.
The boys tensed their muscles as they got ready to start the race.
“Do you see your fat friend anywhere?”
Logan looked down his lane to the end, but Huck was nowhere to be seen. His mind filled with possibilities of where Huck could be, he had never missed one of his races. The only conclusion that he could think of was that the Naikers had done something to him.
BOOOM.
The starter’s gun went off.
Gilly exploded into the lead.
Logan’s reaction to the starter pistol was slow because he was still pondering what Gilly said about Huck, but he quickly snapped out of it when he saw Gilly shooting ahead of him.
Gilly was four meters in front of Logan when Logan finally got going. He stretched his stride to catch up with the Naiker boy.
Closing the gap he was still thinking of Huck. What had Gilly and his brothers done?
They went past the halfway mark and Gilly was three meters ahead.
Logan leaned forward as far as he could without stumbling, he was picking up speed, getting closer to Gilly.
Sixty meter mark. Logan was two meters behind Gilly.
Seventy meter mark. One meter
Eighty meter mark. Half a meter
Ninety meter mark. Gilly was still ahead, slightly.
Gilly was ahead when they were about to cross the finish line, and threw his arms into the air like he was the victor. But as he raised his arms, Logan stuck his head in underneath his arms to pass him, by the skin of his nose.
The line judge stepped in behind the boys as they ran past him and he tapped Logan on the shoulder congratulating him, and with the same action declaring him the winner.
Every muscle in his body was on fire as he had pushed himself as hard as he could. But winning the race meant nothing, where was Huck?
Logan was frantically looking around to see if he could spot his friend. He saw Gilly walking towards him, slightly out of breath but he had a smile on his face, even though he had lost.
“That’s two for you baker boy, but that doesn’t matter” Gilly said
“Where’s Huck?” Logan asked.
“I guarantee you, that you will not go on this tour” Gilly strayed from the question, making a point.
“Where’s Huck?” Logan repeated.
“He’s safe for now” Gilly said airily.
“Tell me where he is,” Logan felt like grabbing the boy by his vest and shaking the answer out of him, but he didn’t.
“Meet me behind the cust chucker in an hour if you want to see your fat friend” Gilly sneered as he spun round on his heels and walked off.
Logan felt like his whole world was about to fall apart, he had won Gilly twice but that did not matter. As long as his best friend was in danger, going on the tour meant nothing to him. He had to go and face the Naikers and try to save Huck, even if he had to do it alone.
****
Everyone had left for home when Logan crossed the sport field. The Cust Chucker was pushed right up to the school building where it was stored. It looked like a giant bin on wheels with teeth. The teeth were actually scoops which rotated, scooping and chucking the cust. At the rear of the machine were several levers and buttons, which Logan assumed were the controls. He was afraid of facing the Naikers alone, but that was outweighed by what his imagination thought they had done to Huck, they could have locked him away so no-one could ever find him, they could have thrown him on a train with no way to get back home, or worse the might have beaten him until he was seriously injured.
He reached the cust chucker and moved towards the wall, hoping to see his red-headed friend. He slowly rounded the teeth of the chucker and peered around the machine. Lying on the ground between the chucker and the wall was Huck. Logan sighed relieved when he saw his friend was alone and seemed uninjured. His hands and feet were tied together and he had a gag in his mouth but that looked like the extent of his situation.
Logan bolted to untie his friend.
Huck was desperately trying to say something.
“I’m going as fast as I can” Logan said, untying his feet and then his hands.
When his hands were freed, Huck pulled the gag from his mouth like it was a lump of coal someone tried to feed him.
“It’s a trap, they’re going to break your foot!” Huck screeched when he finally got the gag out.
“What?”
“They’re going to break your foot so you can’t go on the tour!” Huck said
“What?”
“Chubby said that we plan on breaking your foot,” Logan heard Gilly say from behind him. The Naikers had crept up on him while he was untying Huck.
Logan and Huck got up and turned round. In front of the cust chucker stood the four Naiker brothers. They all looked ready to jump him, all of them but Billy who was leaning on his crutch with one hand and holding a menacing club in the other.
Logan knew that club was intended for his foot.
“You put me out of the tour, so we thought we’d return the favour,” he said slapping the club against his thigh.
Logan looked around for an escape route. He might make it past Silly, who was standing on the side of the chucker, but he seriously doubted that Huck would make it.
“It serves you right, trying to cheat us out of our candy.” Huck spat.
Huck was not afraid, he was furious. Hours of being tied up had made his blood boil, and he was ready for a fight. Logan couldn’t believe the anger in his friend voice, it sounded like he wanted to take on all four brothers without a doubt that he would win.
“Like I told Mushroom Head, I’ll be going on this tour” Gilly said as he and his brothers started closing in on Logan and Huck.
Huck lifted his fists, and Logan could see he wasn’t going to stand down, even with Billy wielding a club. They were going to have to fight to the finish, even if it meant he was to end up with a broken foot.
“Grab them” Billy ordered lifting the club.
They suddenly heard the chucker’s engines start. It roared into life so loud that all four Naikers turned round. The giant engines billowed smoke into the sky like a monster coughing out a black cloud.
Logan saw a chance to run and grabbed Huck by the arm.
The chucker’s scoops started spinning.
The first scoops of cust fell on the ground in front of the machine but then it picked up speed until it covered the Naikers in a cloud of cust.
Logan yanked on his friend’s arm, but Huck didn’t move, he wanted to repay the Naikers for what they had done to him, but Logan kept on pulling. Huck landed a quick punch into the cloud of cust and they heard someone yelp.
“I think I got one of them in the nose” Huck smiled.
“We have to get out of here” Logan yanked him again.
“I wonder which one?” he asked as he started to follow his friend.
The cust cloud made it impossible to see the brothers as the boys ran round the machine.
They didn’t look back, crossing the field as fast as they could. They heard the Naikers coughing in the cust. Billy was crying about something, and screaming idle threats.
When he felt they were far enough, Logan looked back to see a large cloud of cust where the chucker was standing. Something else caught his eye, he glimpsed what looked like a dark figure moving into the shadows. This time he was sure he saw it, it was not his imagination, who was this stranger?
****
The boys were sitting around the bakery’s kitchen table drinking milk. Uncle Herbert and Aunt Belle were in the front of the shop working. This gave the boys time to swap their stories without the listening ears of grownups.
“All four of them grabbed me before the race, I didn’t even have time to put up a fight, and they had my hands tied in a second” Huck explained.
Logan heard his friend speak but he was not listening, he was thinking of something else.
“Hey, where are you, buddy?” Huck asked “You’ve got the look of a coal carter eating a Goodpie, you know trying to put his mind on anything but the taste”
“Sorry” Logan said “but last night when Aunt Belle and Uncle Herbert acted so strangely I saw them looking at a man across the street, and today when the chucker mysteriously started by itself, I swear I saw him again.”
“Do you think he helped us?” Huck asked.
“I don’t know, he doesn’t look like the helping kind”
“What did he look like?”
“I’m not sure, he was very tall and wore a black coat, but that’s all I could make out.”
“Well I don’t care, man in black or not, we were lucky to get out of that.”
“If I didn’t drag you away, you would still be there, fighting.” Logan said with a chuckle.
“Hey my blood was up, what did you expect? After what they did, at least I got revenge on one of them”
“You know what this means?”
“I sure do.”
“We just have to stay away from the station side of town for a few days.”
“Yes.”
“Once we leave for the tour we’ll be free, with Billy and Gilly not going, and I doubt Willy will try to take us on, on his own. We just need something to keep us busy for the next few days” Logan said.
“I can think of hundreds of things to do.”
“Well, is this one of them…?” Logan said removing the box from underneath the table where he was hiding it.
Huck was clearly excited.
“I completely forgot about it.”
The boys looked over their shoulders to see if the adults were still in the shop. They could see Aunt Belle standing at the counter with her back towards them. Uncle Herbert was not visible which meant that he was most probably packing the shelves with loafs.
“Do you want to open it?” Logan asked.
“No way, not after what happened the last time.”
“Then I guess I’ll have to do it.”
Logan tore the open corner completely opening the box.
Nothing happened. There was no green glow or anything.
Logan turned the box over and three green stones fell onto the table.
Except for being bright they were not really that remarkable, they were a little smaller than golf balls, and shiny enough to see your reflection in them.
“Whoop-ti-do” Huck said sarcastically. “Someone sent us a box of rocks.”
“There has got to be more to it than that.” Logan said picking up the rocks, getting a better look.
They heard someone coming through the door and Logan quickly hid the rocks in his pocket.
“What are you two still doing up?” Aunt Belle asked the boys.
Her yellow ribbon was tied low on her fountain, and to Huck this meant she was in a good mood.
“But we’re on vacation Aunt Belle, we can stay up late, and sleep till dusk.”
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” she said.
“What?” Huck enquired.
Logan suddenly had nagging sensation running around in the back of his head, something you know you have to do, but just can’t remember at that precise moment.
“You boys have to be up bright and early to fetch Zoey from the station.” she answered.
Zoey was the last member of the Funnybread & Goodpie family, she had been attending the Glickenswitch School for Young Ladies for a few years. With all the excitement of the last days the boys had completely forgotten that she was coming home to spend the holiday in Wattville.
The boys went as pale as the flour on Aunt Belle’s apron.
An encounter with the Naikers was inevitable if they had to go to the station.
“What’s wrong, it looks like the two of you saw a ghost?” she asked.
“Nothing” they said in unison.
But it wasn’t nothing, it was something very serious. If they ran into the Naikers it would be a very dangerous and even painful encounter.