The Boy in the Jam Jar
Page 2
Pluto also wanted fun. Dylan didn’t play with him so much any more.
The noise at the funfair was horrendous. Machine noise.
Spinning, whirling, grinding, buzzing, shouting noises. On top of everything the wind was blowing, rattling on his hearing aids like a drum roll. It was unbearable.
Dylan turned his hearing aids down – but the noise was still too much. So he switched them right off and wandered through the fairground with Pluto at his heels: a phantom fairground, utterly silent.
No, he didn’t want a candy floss. He didn’t want a hot dog. He didn’t want to hook a plastic duck. He won a goldfish in a jam jar but he wasn’t interested in it. He didn’t want to go on the roller coaster or the dodgems. He didn’t want to go on anything…
Until…
… Dylan saw the Moonbounce – a huge inflatable trampoline. A few children were bouncing around on it with their shoes off.
Dylan scrambled aboard without asking, beckoning Pluto to come too.
“No dogs allowed,” said Dylan’s mum, holding onto Pluto’s lead.
With his hearing aids switched off, Dylan didn’t hear. He wobbled about, trying to stand up and jump, but he kept falling over. He crashed into a small girl with plaits. She grabbed hold of him in terror.
The wind whipped up and with the girl holding onto him it was impossible for Dylan to get his balance. Big gusts swept under the Moonbounce trampoline. It began to bounce all on its own. The tethers were coming loose.
“Sophie! Sophie!” screamed the girl’s parents.
Then one of Dylan’s hearing aids fell out of his ear, followed by the other. He was in too much of a panic to notice. The little girl held on to him.
The screams from their parents were drowned in the wind.
“Dylan! Dylan!” shouted his mother. “Pass the girl to us!”
Dylan threw himself forward with the child hanging on to him.
Her parents grabbed hold of her.
“Now you, Dylan. Quick!”
But it was too late. The wind tipped the Moonbounce so that Dylan slid further back into it. Slowly, slowly… slowly, slowly… it was lifting.
For a moment Dylan had the strangely delicious sensation of being afloat. He wouldn’t need to build a rocket. He would just float off into the stratosphere on a Moonbounce and never come back. He closed his eyes and felt tremendous peace and calm. All would be well…
Suddenly, he was caught up in a flurry of fur and paws and teeth and frantic barking. It was Pluto! He had broken free of his lead and come to find Dylan.
“PLUTO,” yelled Dylan’s parents.
The dog bounced about, biting and yapping and pawing at the rolling, rollicking inflatable. It was hard to get a grip. All around, people were panicking.
“Pluto, oh Pluto!” yelled Dylan’s mother.
“Dylan!” yelled his dad. “Hold on! Hold on!”
“OOOH!” the crowd gasped.
It was at that moment that Pluto sank his teeth into the taut vinyl surface of the inflatable.
Once he had punctured a hole, he managed to tear away at it, rippingand shredding the surface. The Moonbounce slowly began to exhale, a giant breath, a long slow, hissing. It shuddered and skittered downwards. Dylan opened his eyes and saw a circle of hands and arms reaching out for him like the waving fronds of a sea anemone. He was safe! So was the little girl. Dylan had fallen back to earth.
It wasn’t long before the police arrived, and an ambulance. People were clamouring and taking photographs. It was pandemomium. But for Dylan, a mime show.
At last came the smiles and hugs and patting and relief and tears.
It turned out that the little girl’s parents knew Dylan because their son was in the same class as school. They were so grateful. Their son’s name was Milo.
FISH
Dylan lay on his bed, the light streaming through the curtains, Pluto at his feet. Ever since their Moonbounce adventure, Pluto had been allowed to sleep on Dylan’s bed. Dylan loved to feel his soft movements in the night and the gentle licking of his face when his eyes began to flutter in the mornings. It was Pluto who had sniffed out the hearings aids after they had been lost. One was in a crease of the inflatable, the other in the churned up ground. Repaired, and with new batteries, Dylan had no trouble putting them in once they had been restored to him. He did it without thinking.
Beside Dylan on a shelf, the goldfish from the fun fair swam round and round in a bowl, his mouth gaping his eyes staring. He didn’t look at all happy in the bowl.
“Hello fish. You know what we are going to do, Pluto,” said Dylan. “We are going to put the goldfish back in a jam jar, and carry him to the pond in the Wensum Gardens. We’re going to let him go.” Dad went along too, promising an ice cream treat.
Later that afternoon, Pluto watched as Dylan emptied the jar into the pond and the fish swam away. Then the boy who had dreamed about being in a jam jar lay on the green grass and smelled its lovely smell – a boy and his dog – safe and sound. He was back where he belonged.
Suddenly… whoomphhh!
Something the crashed into Dylan. It was a football. And there was Jake, with Milo and Imran, running towards him.
“Hey, Dylan. You’re a hero! You’re famous. We read about you in the papers. You saved Milo’s sister! We saw you on TV. You’re the Moonbounce Marvels. You and Pluto. Hoorray! Fancy a game?” they cheered.
READING ZONE!
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
How did Dylan feel at different
points in the story?
What events led him to
feel sad and lonely?
Can you make a list?
What made him feel happier
and brought him back to
himself again?
How as he influenced by the
actions of other people like
his friends, Milo, Mr Skinner, etc.
READING ZONE!
QUIZ TIME
Can you remember the answers
to these questions?
• Who did Dylan say hearing
aids are for?
• How did Jake try to help Dylan
when he returned to school?
• Which lesson did Dylan like
because it didn’t rely on hearing
lots of instructions?
• What was the name of the
girl who clung on to Dylan on
the Moonbounce?
READING ZONE!
STORYTELLING TOOLKIT
The author wants us to
understand what it feels like
to be unable to hear.
At the start of the story she
describes lots of things which
would normally make a noise
but don’t for Dylan (pages 10–13).
This contrasts with the flood
of sound when he puts his
hearing aids in (page 15).
Contrasts like this can help
the reader understand how a
character in a story is feeling.
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First published in 2020 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
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Text copyright © Joyce Dunbar, 2020
Illustrations copyright © John Shelley, 2020
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