The Adventures of Stunt Boy and His Amazing Wonder Dog Blindfold

by Lollie Barr

  I was so shocked that Ginger Styles was the boss of me that it all came out without any stops for breath. ‘We just went to see what Chesterley was up to because I think he rigged my dad’s bike to crash so he could steal our people, then we saw him hit his baby elephant and I think he killed Blind–’ I said, my voice going all crackly and high, so I couldn’t croak out the ‘fold’.

  ‘It’s what they do with young elephants when they’re training them. It’s to make them submissive,’ answered Ginger Styles, actually sticking up for Barry Chesterley and ignoring the fact that Blindfold could be dead! ‘It really doesn’t hurt them. I worked in animal circuses for years before I started working in human circuses for your dad.’

  ‘Yeah, right. Would it hurt you if you got hit on the ears by a heavy silver hook?’ I said to Ginger Styles.

  ‘And Barry Chesterley put his hook right on my throat!’ said Benny pointing to his neck, where there was a small graze from the hook.

  But the adults were more interested in getting us in trouble than listening to what we had to say. They all started talking at once, telling us off.

  ‘Has anyone seen Blindfold? He could have been shot dead!’ I shouted above the din trying to get my point across.

  ‘What do you mean, Blindfold could be shot dead?’ said Jem, her hand going to her mouth in horror.

  ‘They put Stunt and me in a cage and Chesterley said if Blindfold gave them any trouble to shoot him then we heard a gunshot and a dog howling,’ said Benny.

  Then, in the distance, carried in on the night-time breeze, came the sound of a dog barking. I’d have recognised that bark anywhere.

  ‘Blindfold!’ I yelled as I ran towards the front gate, the spotlights at the entrance picking up the tan colour of Blindfold’s fur as he came limping in, his front left paw curled in pain.

  ‘Blindfold! You’re alive!’ I cried out as I ran to him and he fell down exhausted in front of me. His heart was beating so hard, I thought it was going to burst through his ribcage.

  He barked out three despondent little woofs, which in dog probably meant, ‘Only just, Stunt Boy,’ but I don’t speak dog so I could be wrong.

  ‘So much for Barry Chesterley shooting your dog, eh boy?’ said the policeman, as if I had been telling everybody a pack of lies. I wanted to say, My name is Stunt Boy, thank you very much, but my dad had taught me that you should never be rude to a police officer because they can throw you in jail, so I just shut up and pulled Blindfold into my lap and hugged him extra tight.

  10

  I hate leotards and capes!

  As punishment, Benny and I were banned from seeing each other for two whole weeks! That meant absolutely no contact at all, not even phone calls or chatting online. Nothing. Nada. Benny’s mum had advised Ginger Styles on grounding because she was an expert and Ginger was new to the game.

  Ginger took on every suggestion, including banning me from riding motorbikes, which meant I wasn’t allowed to perform stunts during the show! It was madness. We hardly had anybody coming to see us as it was. Surely the ones that did wanted to see a twelve-year-old stunt kid? She was shooting Stoked in the foot and I had to ask myself why? What was Ginger Styles up to?

  Everyone else thought so, too, but Ginger was determined to teach me a lesson by denying me access to my motorbikes.

  I also wasn’t allowed to leave the premises by myself. The only thing I was allowed to do was visit my dad with Jem. There was no way in the world they would have been able to stop me doing that. No way. Dad was still in pretty bad shape but just being near him made me feel a little better. If he was conscious, he wouldn’t be mad at me for trying to find out what was going on; he’d be proud of me for trying to save our circus!

  After I’d spent five days mooching around the circus doing nothing, the guilt was starting to get to me. Sure, I felt guilty for making everyone so worried, but I felt super guilty for lying straight to Sue’s face. The worse thing was she was being so nice to me, despite the fact I’d looked into her eyes and told a great big fat fib; I wished she’d just tell me off like everyone else.

  I’d avoided her as much as I could, but this morning, at training, she’d tried to be my partner, so I’d quickly grabbed Fat Fred’s hand and started stretching with him instead. Sue had looked at me with disappointment etched on her face, her little beard shaking on her chin and that’s when I felt triple, super awful, terribly bad.

  It was eating me up, so I knew I had to tell her I was sorry, but it was such a hard word for me to say. I wasn’t sure why.

  Later that day, Blindfold and I went to visit Sue at her wooden gypsy caravan at the edge of the big trees where the crew camp was. As I walked up the path, I saw her washing line covered in colourful leotards, lady underpants and bras flapping in the wind. I wanted to turn and run away. Not from her underwear, but from the situation.

  ‘Sue!’ I called out, feeling a bit sick. ‘Can I come up please?’

  ‘Sure, Stunt,’ she said, poking her head out of the rounded doorway. I lifted Blindfold up and into her arms. ‘You know you’re always welcome here, little guy.’

  She reached up into a cupboard and pulled out a biscuit tin. Blindfold looked up at her eagerly. He loves Sue’s biscuits.

  ‘Want one? I made them earlier, they’re still warm.’

  ‘Thanks,’ I said, a little bashful that she was being so nice to me. She held one out for Blindfold; he didn’t even chew his; he gulped it down in one go.

  I looked at the floor and didn’t say anything.

  ‘You got something on your mind, Stunt?’ Sue said, taking a little nibble of her biscuit.

  ‘Yeah –’ I said, trying to find the words. ‘Ah, I’m sorry for lying to you, Sue. Right to your face and all.’

  ‘You got to speak to people, Stunt, tell them what’s going on for you, not bottle it all up.’

  ‘I know, Sue, it’s just sometimes words get stuck in my head and won’t find a way out of my mouth,’ I said.

  ‘Yeah, I get it, Stunt, that’s just part of growing up, but you’ve got a lot going on at the moment, so you need to talk, okay? Don’t just try and solve everything by yourself. We’re all here for you.’

  ‘Okay,’ I said, feeling as if I could trust her. ‘I’m just not sure who to trust anymore. People are saying stuff about other people and Ginger has just taken over like she owns the place. She’s banned me from riding my bike during shows, Sue. That’s crazy, right? It’s like she’s trying to destroy everything that my dad has built up.’

  ‘I don’t know, Stunt. Ginger has been working really hard to keep us afloat. She’s been trying for weeks to pull in a new headliner,’ Sue replied. ‘And maybe she’s trying to get your brain to understand that you shouldn’t take things into your own hands. You did give everyone a fright, disappearing like that and I felt responsible because I was the last person to see you. That’s why I’ve been so upset.’

  ‘I know, I’m sorry,’ I said, the words coming easier.

  ‘Anyway, you’re doing aerials, tumbling and your straightjacket escape in the shows. That’s fun, isn’t it?’

  ‘I don’t mind doing trapeze and tumbling and stuff, but Ginger said I’m not allowed to wear my shorts over the leotard! She’s insisting I wear a cape as well. Everyone knows I hate leotards and capes!’

  Nothing seemed to be going right in my life. How could life be so normal, then suddenly turn into utter chaos? I just wanted everything to go back to how it’d been before Dad’s accident. I just wanted Stoked to be a happy and busy circus again. I wanted to see Benny, and ride my motorbikes again. But most of all, I wanted my dad back.

  The next day I spent the morning feeling grumpy and waiting for 1.30 pm to roll around because there was an extreme sports show called Wonderstruck on television and Caleb Calloway was going to be the special guest.

  I love Caleb Calloway. He’s the b
est teenage motocross rider on the planet. The kid is a freak! The stuff he does with his bike is truly mad.

  You know how I said I was good? I’m nothing compared to Caleb, who is like an Olympic gold medal acrobatic gymnast, but then you add a motorbike into the equation. I might be able to do superman grabs where you let go of the handlebars as you’re in the air and touch the back seat before regaining control of the bike, just like Caleb, but I can’t do fully sick double backflips. That means he flips his bike upside down twice when he’s in the air! My dad, who’s been riding forever, can’t even do that and Caleb is only seventeen!

  As I watched him on TV, I wondered if he remembered me. I met him a year ago at a special performance at the State Fair where we were all performing. Dad and I performed bike tricks and Jem set herself on fire and hooped. Caleb had signed my helmet and my poster, but unfortunately he didn’t use permanent marker, so his signature had rubbed off my helmet, which was devastating.

  Jem and I were standing in line for dinner at the performers’ buffet when Caleb had walked in, wearing his white leather suit tucked into his black motorbike boots. I’m such a fan I went all jelly-like.

  ‘Jem, look back there, it’s Caleb Calloway. I’ve got to get his autograph. Will you come with me?’

  ‘No way! We’ll look like stalkers.’

  ‘Please, I’m too shy to go over by myself. Please, go on, please, go on. Please,’ I said. I am really shy. People don’t know that about me because I’m a showman, but inside I feel nervous when I meet new people, particularly if they’re my idols.

  ‘Stunt, why do I end up doing everything you want?’ she said, shaking her head. Really? Was she joking? I didn’t think that was the case.

  Jem took me by the hand and led me over to Caleb. ‘Hey! My brother wants to meet you, he’s a big fan,’ she told him. ‘His name is Stunt. Well, William, well Stunt, actually,’ she said, suddenly shy herself. ‘We’re from Stoked Stunt Circus.’

  ‘Hey, I saw your fire act, cool! That was totally out there,’ he said, his dimples creasing his face. ‘And you, little dude, you’re a freak!’

  ‘Thanks,’ I said, blushing, and then he asked if he could join us for dinner. I tried to talk to him about stunts, but he seemed more interested in talking to my sister.

  Watching the TV, I was wonderstruck with awe as Caleb performed a stunt called Dead Body, where you place your entire body over the front of the bike while holding the handlebars whilst keeping your body horizontal to the bike. It is totally nuts.

  When he was being interviewed he said he couldn’t wait to come home for his holidays because he had been riding nonstop for a whole year. He’d been in Germany, Japan, America and China.

  Then, in the ad break, I got the shock of my life when Barry Chesterley’s big ugly mug filled the TV screen.

  ‘Hello, kids!’ he said, smiling a false smile. ‘Who wants to have fuuuuuuuuuun?’

  His six thugs were dressed as clown ballerinas in pink tutus and pink wigs. They were in a chorus line, their wrists crossed over each other, doing some weird ballet dance as Biggsy rode around in the little clown car that Benny and I had hidden behind.

  Next was a series of shots of their circus animals in action, before the whole Chesterley crew broke into song.

  We’ve got bears, lions, zebras and tigers too,

  A family of elephants to entertain you.

  We are not freaks but we clown around,

  Chesterley Circus is the most fun in town.

  Chesterley Circus is the most fun in town.

  Chesterley’s head filled the screen again. He leered at the camera and said, ‘Remember, we love kids so much, they go freeeeeeeeee!’ Before a deep-voiced man announced, ‘Unlike other circuses, no adults, children or animals are ever hurt in our acts.’

  Was he calling us freaks on TV? I was so mad that I wanted to smash the screen, but that would have been stupid because then we wouldn’t have a TV. He was lying through his teeth – Chesterley hated kids! I felt so angry I thought I was going to explode but I wasn’t even allowed to ride it out on my bikes to relieve the tension.

  ‘You want to come to the bike shed with me and say hello to my bikes?’ I asked Blindfold, who was snuggled up next to me. He nodded. Since his misadventure he’d been superglued to my side, even more so than usual.

  We headed up towards the bike shed. I hadn’t seen much of the Stoked riding team lately as I’d avoided going up to the jumps – it just made me sad seeing Dad’s bikes unused and idle, while we all rode around having fun.

  As I was about to step inside the shed, I saw Ginger Styles deep in conversation with Lefty Blue Eye. They were down the back, beside his workbench.

  I stopped in my tracks, determined to find out what they were up to. I was so mad at Ginger Styles for taking over and not only that, she had also stuck up for Barry Chesterley by saying it didn’t hurt the elephants when they were being bashed by hooks.

  ‘As long as we can make it to the twenty-seventh when I’ll get the money then Chesterley’s plan will –’ said Ginger Styles. Suddenly everything was starting to make sense. Lefty and Ginger were up to something that included Barry Chesterley.

  Just as I was about to find out what, Blindfold, who didn’t realise that we were being sneaky again, took off to say hello. They looked up, completely startled.

  ‘Stunt Boy, you know you’re not supposed to be up here,’ Ginger said, wagging her finger at me. Who the hell was this lady telling me what to do? ‘It’s part of the conditions. You’ll be back on your bike soon enough.’

  ‘I didn’t know I was grounded from even visiting my bikes!’ I protested moodily.

  ‘No motorbikes, Stunt!’ Ginger said, arching a very thin ginger eyebrow.

  Lefty Blue Eye cocked his head to the side, pursed his lips and looked at me in commiseration, as if to say, That sucks, kiddo, but I ignored him.

  Since I had been banned from the bikes, I’d made sure I had as little to do with him as possible. I’d put him in the deep freeze as if he were an ice-lolly stuck up at the back of the freezer in the middle of winter.

  I just stood there with my arms crossed, feeling angry.

  Ginger looked at her watch. ‘Anyway, shouldn’t you be at the office so Pikelet can drive you to the hospital to see your dad? Go on, skedaddle, Stunt Boy,’ she said. ‘Otherwise you’ll be late.’

  I never meant to be late but sometimes time just snuck up on me as if it were a mugger. I ran through the circus to the office, but because Blindfold couldn’t run very fast because of his paw, I had to keep stopping.

  ‘You’re five minutes late!’ said Jem, pointing at the clock, which read 3.04. ‘Pikelet and I have been waiting for you.’

  ‘It’s four minutes, actually,’ I said, sick of being in trouble over nothing.

  ‘It’s Stunt Boy and his amazing wonder dog, Blindfold!’ said Pikelet, his booming voice echoing around the office as he tried to lighten the mood. He gave me a rib-crushing hug, his head coming up to my chin.

  ‘Hey, Pike,’ I said, holding my hand up for a high five. Big mistake. He slapped it so hard that it made my hand sting and I had to shake the hurt away. Pikelet really doesn’t know his own strength.

  ‘Sorry, Stunt. Sometimes I don’t know my own strength!’ laughed Pikelet, which was kind of nuts because he’s a strong man who does steel bending, chain breaking, telephone ripping and general strong-man stuff, and he’s also a martial arts expert who can break wooden boards with his hands, feet and head.

  Pikelet is the strongest guy in our circus. He had an arm wrestling contest with Muscly Mikey D, who is the catcher on the swinging trapeze, and Pikelet beat him ten rounds to eight.

  Pikelet is also our MC, our master of ceremonies – he hosts the whole Stoked show. He wears a top hat, which is nearly the same size as he is, and he introduces the performers, makes jokes, an
d bends and breaks all kinds of stuff between acts. He’s got a booming voice and he likes to MC life as well as the show.

  ‘It’s time to rock and roll, Jem and Stunt Boy! Is everyone ready? Let’s do this thing!’ he shouted as if we were on stage, even though we were only going to the hospital. ‘We’re going to see your dad!’

  P.S. Caleb Calloway said his favourite thing in the world after riding bikes is sleeping in.

  11

  I know how to save Stoked

  Hospitals have a weird smell that rests in the back of your throat so that you can almost taste it. I think it’s the antiseptic they use for cleaning. It makes everything smell dead, even though they want to keep everyone alive.

  When we arrived at the intensive care unit, the nurses asked Jem to go through some paperwork. Pikelet and I went to Dad’s room to find his neurosurgeon and a nurse at his bedside. Dad’s doctor is called Mr Barnstable because he is a surgeon. Once you become a surgeon you get called Mr as if you never even were a doctor.

  Mr Barnstable was standing next to a machine checking Dad’s intracranial pressure, which is how much pressure was on my dad’s brain.

  ‘How’s he doing, Mr Barnstable?’ I asked worried because Pikelet and I held the handles of the dog bag that contained Blindfold between us.

  ‘According to the EEG, we are starting to see some improvement in the swelling,’ he answered. ‘He still has a long way to go but we’re very positive, Stunt Boy. Your dad is getting better.’

  Blindfold let out a little yelp of approval, which Pikelet covered with a cough. Blindfold yelped again, and Pikelet coughed. Blindfold, thinking it was a game, barked, so Pikelet had a coughing fit.

  Mr Barnstable looked perturbed. ‘You shouldn’t be here if you’ve got the flu,’ he admonished.

  ‘Sorry, right, Stunt Boy I’ll wait outside,’ said Pikelet, slinging the bag over his shoulder and backing out of the room.

  ‘Hey, Dad,’ I said, giving him a kiss on the cheek above the respirator mask, which was filled with the condensation from his breath. His face was pale and slightly grey.