The Team and the Move (Team books Book 3)

by S G Read

  Stuart nodded, turned and walked on. When they reached the car there were only three of them, Wendy unlocked and they sat waiting until David returned. Stuart looked at his father but David was saying nothing and Stuart knew better than to press him. They drove home.

  Chapter 4

  Saturday morning came but there was no chance of seeing if they could land on the other side of the pond. They were woken early and after a quick breakfast they were on their way to visit Jenny in hospital. Wendy had phoned earlier to find out if all was well. The nurse told her that everything had gone well and Jenny was awake now. They drove to the hospital via Jenny’s house to collect Brian and Stuart felt a little put out, when he was made to go with the rest into the cafeteria when they arrived. To give Brian some time alone with Jenny. Stuart sat looking at his expensive glass of cola, just waiting to go up and see Jenny. Eventually Wendy stood up and Stuart knew they were going up to see her, he took an early lead on the way up but neither of his parents minded. Stevey soon caught him up and they were soon out of sight. Brian was sitting there talking to Jenny when the two boys arrived and Brian saw Jenny’s eyes light up when she saw them. He chose to go and get a cup of tea himself then and let them talk together.

  When Brian had gone Stuart sat in the chair Brian had just vacated while Stevey found another chair to sit on.

  It’s not that bad you know!' Stuart admonished.

  'What isn’t that bad?' Jenny asked.

  'Our house!' Stuart answered. 'You seem to be going out of your way not to go there.'

  'I hardly think appendicitis is trying to avoid going to your house!' Jenny retorted.

  Stuart smiled. 'I know, did it hurt, as much as it looked like it did?'

  Jenny nodded. 'I’ve never known pain like it and all for a little bit that doesn’t do anything!'

  Stevey slid his chair into place and sat down. Out of his pocket he pulled a get well soon card. He had made it on some printer paper. It was folded into four like a small book. He had cut down the folds and stapled it together with drawings and verse written on each page.

  'I made this for you last night.' He said as he gave it to her.

  Stuart looked at it as he passed it over to her and felt slightly deflated, he should have thought of that and to go to the shop to buy one now, was a waste of time. He brightened slightly when he thought of posting one to her, then she would actually have a letter come for her. Jenny read the card all the way through and then gave it to Stuart.

  Stuart looked at Stevey. 'Is it all right if I read it.'

  'Of course it is! It’s only a get well soon card.' Stevey replied.

  Stuart read it. 'You can draw well Stevey.' He admitted. 'I could never make one as good as this!' He gave it back to Jenny and she stood it up on the little cupboard, next to her bed.

  Jenny saw David and Wendy turn the corner into the ward and she waved.

  'I shan’t be in here to long, they are short of beds.' She said as the two approached. 'But I won’t be able to do too much when I come out. Do you want to see my stitches?'

  Both boys leant forward and she pulled up her top to reveal a small pad stuck on with tape. She pealed back the tape to show a small scar with neat stitches.

  'They are going to take them out in four days to keep the scarring down but I won’t be allowed to do anything that might cause the wound to open, for two weeks!' She covered it back up as Wendy and David arrived.

  Stuart stood up and motioned for Wendy to sit down, then went in search of a chair for his father. Stevey let David sit in the chair he had found and went in search of another one. Soon they were all seated round the bed talking, when Brian returned, he found another chair, sat down and Jenny was happy.

  It was early afternoon when they returned home and everyone was starving. Wendy laid out a buffet and they ate all they wanted to before changing. Stuart looked at his watch and came to a decision when they were up in his room.

  'We can’t make friends with that dog today, well not good enough to want to take the others over there, so we won’t mention it to them when they come, or the raft for that matter, as one leads to the other!' He decided.

  Stevey nodded in agreement, it seemed to make sense knowing what the others were like, besides, to keep away from the dog suited him right down to the ground!

  They changed into their football kit and played football until they were called in for their dinner, not what usually happened but then today was different. They ate but chose not to play on, instead they started to clear more ground ready for the rest of the team in the morning. The bigger the pitch, the better they would like it!

  Sunday was exactly like the previous Sunday, with the exception that C.J looked at Stuart’s mangled wheel and declared he could fix it. When they went home C.J took the wheel with him. They had made the pitch a little bigger and the grass a little shorter, before they started playing and they had played until they could not play any more. Ben’s brothers van filled with hot, sweaty boys and drove off with Stuart and Stevey waving, glad they were not inside with them.

  'I wouldn’t like to be it there!' Stevey said as he waved.

  'I should say, especially as they are going all the way to Minton!' Stuart replied. When they walked inside, they were sent straight to shower or bath which ever they preferred.

  Monday came quickly but they were tired and stayed in bed, even Stevey. When they finally climbed out of bed, Stuart sought out Wendy in the kitchen, while Stevey had a shower.

  'Good morning lazy bones.' She said when she saw him.

  'Can you take me into the village mum?' He asked. 'My flu’s all better as the schools broke up Friday.'

  'So they did but what’s wrong with your bicycle?'

  'I got a puncture, C.J took it away to fix it for me. It was his idea!' He added the last bit quickly, just in case he was accused of being lazy.

  'Okay, I’ll take you after your breakfast.'

  'Can’t we go now? I want to catch the post!'

  Wendy looked at her watch. 'Okay we go now, ask Stevey if he wants to come.'

  Stevey was still in the shower, when Stuart reached the bathroom.

  'We’re going to the village, we’ll be back before you are out of the shower, the time you take! Okay?'

  'Okay.' Stevey replied and Stuart scampered down the stairs.

  Wendy drove Stuart to the village, he chose the card he wanted to send to Jenny and sent it off. They were back before Stevey was out of the shower.

  When they walked over to the raft everything was exactly as they left it. Stuart had the bones and they were soon by the other bank feeding the dog. It had not barked this time, it merely waited for something to eat. As they were bones this time, the dog took longer to eat each one and Stuart ventured on to the bank with the next bone clutched in his hand. The dog finished the bone and looked at him, the next bone was in plain sight but Stevey was fearing the worst. The dog stood up, it was a big dog. It walked over to Stuart and Stuart held out the hand without the bone. The dog sniffed it and Stuart tried to stroke it but the dog pulled its head away. Without moving the bone he tried again and this time the dog let him stroke its head. Contact made he gave the dog the bone. Over the next hour they made friends with the dog, even Stevey! They tied the raft to the fence and looked to see what was on the other side of the fence, it was a car breakers, overflowing with old cars and vans. They could see a man, a short well built man, working on a car. They ducked down and the dog promptly licked their faces. They looked again, the man was still working on the car. They watched him finally remove what he was trying to get off and walked of up towards an old dilapidated house.

  'Cor look at that old house!' Stuart whispered.

  'We’ve got to have a look in there!' Stevey replied. 'He can’t live in there, look at the state of it!'

  The man disappeared into the house and closed the door. They waited and watched but the man did not reappear, in the end they returned to the little beach area followed by the dog.


  'Well-' Stuart started, speaking to the dog but stopped when he realised he did not know the dog’s name. He looked at the little disc hanging on the collar. 'Marmalade! You’re called Marmalade!' He cried in disbelief.

  'Marmalade!' Stevey echoed.

  'Well Marmalade, we’ll see you tomorrow with some more goodies.' He gave the dog a stroke and then they pushed off with the dog barking. 'Don’t worry we’ll be back.' Stuart called as they crossed the pond.

  The next day was more or less like the first, they fed the dog and made sure they were still friends but as there was no one about in the car breakers they wandered about keeping a low profile. At one point they were close to a hole in the fence, the only hole they found and that led into a garden. A squeaking noise sent them into hiding, thinking they had been spotted but when the squeak repeated, they could hear that it came from the garden. They watched the garden an old man walked by, pushing a wheelbarrow, which squeaked once every time the wheel went round. They watched him pass the hole in the fence. Someone had tried to block the hole by putting two pallets in front of it. The two boys held back their laugh until the old man was out of earshot, then they laughed, causing the dog to look at them quizzically. They stayed away from the dilapidated house and explored the yard with the dog not far away.

  'We can tell the others about this on Sunday!' Stuart declared. 'They’ll love sneaking around under the other man’s nose.'

  'I have to agree, they will.' Stevey added. 'As long as the dog doesn’t eat them!'

  'What Marmalade!'

  The dog’s ears pricked up at the sound of its name and Stuart gave him a biscuit from his pocket as a reward.

  'Yes Marmalade!'

  'I wonder if he could eat all of Simon.' Stuart mused.

  'More likely could Simon eat all of Marmalade?' Stevey retorted.

  Stuart laughed. They played for while in the car breakers, sitting behind the wheels of the different cars and pretending to drive them, when they finally went back across the pond, leaving Marmalade with a small pile of biscuits, they saw the loudmouth next to their goals! He had an axe and they watched as he cut down both goals.

  'What shall we do?' Stevey asked.

  'Bring Marmalade over and get him to bite his bum!' Stuart said with great malice, Billy Roberts had left a lasting mental scar. Stuart did not like bullies!

  'That wouldn’t work, the dog doesn’t like water!' Stevey replied.

  'We needed proper goalposts so really he did us a favour but we’d better not go out while he’s there or he might find the raft!' Stuart said settling down to wait. 'But next Sunday he is going to learn not to mess with us and Minton football team!'

  'Why wait till Sunday, as far as I know none of them work on a Wednesday.' Stevey replied.

  'Of course Wednesday! But what can we do to him?' Stuart asked and started to think of a just revenge for the act of cutting down their goals.

  They both lay there on the edge of the wood watching the boy cut down their goal posts and plotting their revenge! They thought of some things but none seemed good enough.

  That night they sat in their room, trying to devise a punishment for the boy down the road but it was not easy. The bin gradually filled up with rejected ideas until they went to sleep, none the better off for ideas, just the bin full of rejections. They had a long conversation on the telephone with Sherman and Ben in the morning and it was agreed that the others were going to come down and cause the trouble maker some grief.

  The boys were woken by Wendy when she saw the turquoise van arrive. 'I didn’t know they were coming today!' She complained.

  'Last minute decision mum, sorry I should have told you,' Stuart said in contrition, 'but they won’t be staying for tea, Ben’s brother has to come and get them after dinner!'

  'What is going on?' Wendy asked.

  'Minton football club business.' Stuart answered without further explanation.

  The two boys dressed and ran down to meet the rest of the team but they were already tucking into a hearty breakfast, even Ben’s brother. The two boys wanted to tell them all what was going on but had to keep quiet while Wendy was there. It was only when they walked out into the field that they could tell the others about what was going on but the chopped down goalposts said it all.

  'Cor who did this!?' Simon wailed.

  'The loudmouth who lives down the street!' Sherman explained. 'That is why we are here. He has to be taught the same type of lesson that Billy Roberts was taught!'

  'How do we do that out here?' J.C asked. 'He can see us coming for miles!'

  'Yes!' Stuart shouted, now clear as to their course of action. 'Well done J.C I know how we can do it, it will be the beach all over again. Come on you lot we need to cut the grass!'

  Stuart ran off toward the house, the others looked at each other, then looked at the retreating Stuart but they followed him, they knew he had an idea!

  'Did you bring my wheel?' Stuart asked when C.J caught up with him at the house.

  'Yes I put it on your bike, it’s ready to ride, why?'

  'I’ll need it to make this work!' Stuart explained. 'And it’s me he doesn’t like! Sherman do you have your axe?'

  An hour later Stuart rode up the road past the loudmouth’s house, he came to the gate and threw something at Stuart but missed this time.

  'Missed fatso!' Stuart yelled. 'Thanks for making way for our new, better goalposts, you won’t cut these ones down in a hurry!' He avoided the next thing the loudmouth threw and raced back up the road. He leant the bike against the fence and sat on the gate. The boy went inside, came out again and started walking up the road toward him. Stuart climbed down inside the field and backed away past the piles of freshly cut grass. The boy climbed the gate and walked toward him carrying his axe.

  'They look like they’ll cut when I hit them with this!' He said fingering the edge of the blade.

  'I wouldn’t like that!' Stuart replied.

  'I don’t care, get in the way and you might get hurt!'

  'My friends wouldn’t like that!' Stuart warned, starting to enjoy himself.

  'What friends? I don’t see nobody!'

  The grass seemed to come alive and eleven boys stood up.

  'Anyone who comes near me gets to meet the axe!' The loudmouth warned a little overwhelmed.

  Sherman stood up fingering his, much bigger axe. 'Call that an axe? My axe don’t like being compared to that little thing!'

  They closed in on him, he was older but there were thirteen of them. He swung the axe menacingly but Sherman blocked in with his and grabbed it, then they pounced on him. They took his axe from him and tied him to one of the new goalposts. After a quick discussion they started taking shots at him. By the time they let him loose, all the fight had gone from him. He walked home without his axe but with this warning "anymore trouble and next time it would be worse" The boys stayed and played football until Ben’s brother returned, then the two boys were alone again. They headed for the raft, with more supplies for Marmalade.

  Silas drove up to the gate and honked his horn. Willie heard it and called the dog but Marmalade did not come. He went in search of him and found him sitting by the pond but he still would not come. Willie dragged him by the collar back to the house and chained him up before he opened the gate.

  'You took your time!' Silas complained.

  'Had to look for the dog.'

  'Didn’t you call him?' Silas asked.

  'Yes but he ignored me, last time it was a rabbit under a car, don’t know what it was this time!' Willie answered.

  'Maybe you should leave him tied up!' Silas replied.

  'Could do but he keeps out any unwanted visitors, as you know quite well?'

  'Don’t remind me about that, I’d rather forget it!' Silas drove to the house followed by Willie, then with Marmalade barking furiously and trying to get free from the chain Willie had put him on, they went into the house.

  Stuart landed on the little beach area but there wa
s no sign of Marmalade. Stevey came ashore as well and they tied the raft up.

  'What now?' Stevey asked.

  'Now we explore and look for Marmalade at the same time!' Stuart replied.

  They crept about, following the fence up to the pallets. There were no cars after that, just a large machine on wheels for lifting and carrying cars to where they were wanted. They used it for cover and made it to a bush, now they could see Marmalade chained up on the left hand side of the house. He lay there not able to go any further than the chain would allow. He lifted his head when they crept over to him and his tail started to wag. Stuart gave him a bone to chew and they squatted beside him.

  'I wonder why he’s chained up.' Stuart whispered.

  'Probably a good reason,' Stevey replied at the same volume, 'but it doesn’t seem fair to me!'

  'Nor me.' Stuart agreed and replaced the bone which Marmalade had already eaten with a chew.

  'Well?' Stevey asked.

  'Well what?'

  'Do we let him off?' Stevey asked.

  'What if he bites some one?' Stuart replied with a question.

  'We’ll take him over the other side with us, we haven’t explored over there yet!'

  'Okay.'

  They fought with the chain while Marmalade waited patiently, then he was free. He ran to the front of the house but the door was closed, the boys moved off and called him as loud as they dared, he followed them until they were well away from the house, then they gave him another chew. They explored for an hour then headed to the raft. Before they poled away they gave Marmalade the rest of the bones, then they headed home. David saw them coming and came out to meet them but he was not the only one watching them.

  'I have had a complaint about you bullying the boy up the road!' He said seriously.

  'Just another Billy Roberts having a go at me and Stevey.' Stuart replied.

  Stevey nodded his agreement.

  'He cut our goal posts down and knocked me off my bike.' Stuart continued. 'So I told the team and we told him to stop.'