The Adventures of Stunt Boy and His Amazing Wonder Dog Blindfold

by Lollie Barr

  It took me about one minute, four seconds to bust out of the straitjacket. I didn’t have a watch or anything to tell the exact time, but that’s about my average. I have yet to break the minute, but I’m working on it.

  I stood up and in the half-light I could see the dancing lion, the waltzing disco bear and little baby Sheeba with two big elephants; they were all like me – shackled and caged.

  ‘Benny? Caleb? Mrs Henberry? Mr Henberry? Is anybody else here?’ I called out, but nobody answered. I was alone, apart from Blindfold.

  I had no idea how long I had been unconscious or how I got here. What if Benny, his parents and Caleb had already been fed to the lion? Could a lion eat three humans in one go? I doubted it because he’d get a tummy ache.

  ‘Get a grip, Stunt Boy,’ I said to my mind. ‘You’ve got enough to think about than whether lions get indigestion.’

  Then it came back to me in a flash: I had spoken to my sister. Something was going on at the hospital. Is that why my uncles were at Chesterley’s? Were they responsible for me waking up with a pile of elephant poo for a pillow? Surely they wouldn’t leave their very own flesh and blood to be held hostage and possibly made into lion food?

  Jem must have sent the Stoked crew to rescue me for Blindfold to be here. Pikelet would be punching people in the nuts to get to me. I knew it.

  Blindfold slithered through the horizontal bars, barking at me to follow, but even with my superior contortion skills I couldn’t get through. Chesterley had learnt something from my recent disappearing act, as I was in a different cage this time. I examined the lock, but it had an internal device and there was no picking implement in sight.

  I scanned my surroundings and realised the only way to go was up. The roof of the animal enclosure acted like the roof of the cage, but from this angle, it looked as if the bars didn’t quite reach up to the top.

  I needed to get to the top and luckily I knew all about climbing. About two years ago, we’d had an expert on the Chinese Pole stay with us for three months.

  His real name was Yen-Yeh. He come all the way from China! He taught me the technique, which took ages for me to learn, but that’s what happens when you learn new stuff. You’ve just got to keep trying and trying and then your body and your brain go, ‘Oh yeah, I get it.’ As I climbed to the top of the pole, I silently thanked Yen-Yeh for making me persevere when it got super hard.

  From up high at the top of the pole, I could see all the animals, including Blindfold, who was craning his neck staring up at me. Now came the hard part – I had to manoeuvre my body over the top bars. I swung my legs out in a horizontal handstand then swung my legs through the gap. I slithered my waist through easily enough but my chest got stuck between the bars and the roof.

  It felt like my ribs were being crushed as I tried to squeeze through. I deflated my lungs and concaved my chest, and pulled my body and finally popped my head through to the other side. Climbing back down the pole on the other side was the easy part.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ I said to all the animals when I got to the bottom. ‘We’ll get you out of here, I promise on Blindfold’s life.’

  Blindfold looked at me as if to say, What?

  ‘Don’t worry, Blindfold, you’re my best best friend, I’d never let anything happen to you. I just wanted to let them know that I’ll keep my promise,’ I said.

  Blindfold barked once in approval, then let out a series of loud barks, to which the elephants trumpeted, the lion and the tiger roared and the bear growled in turn. Maybe animals can speak each other’s languages?

  ‘Shhhhhhhh,’ I whispered, putting my finger to my lip and the animals quietened down immediately.

  Maybe they understood human after all.

  P.S. How to escape from a straightjacket:

  1. As you’re being strapped in, use a hand to pinch the front of the straightjacket, giving you some slack. Take an expanding breath and squeeze your muscles making yourself as big as you can.

  2. Once you’re buckled in, relax your body and breathe out. Let the slack go. Now the straightjacket should feel looser.

  3. Use your arm to reach towards your shoulder. Now you should be able to move your arms.

  4. Bring your arm over your head.

  5. Unbuckle the sleeve buckle with your teeth. Hey presto, your arms are free.

  6. Unbuckle the buckles at the back.

  7. Step on the material of one of your sleeves while manoeuvring your body out of the straitjacket.

  8. Take a bow!

  26

  I was a wanted kid criminal

  Blindfold now had the hang of being sneaky because he stayed behind me and knew not to bark when I opened the big garage door and poked my head out. I scanned the horizon left to right and right to left and the coast was clear. By now it was dark and there was no moon at all. It was the kind of pitch black that feels as if you’ve fallen into a swimming pool of Vegemite.

  Blindfold ran ahead, as if he was showing me the way. We clung to the edges of buildings and along the perimeter fence. As I got closer to the front entrance, I could see a crowd of people silhouetted against the floodlights in front of Chesterley’s Circus.

  It appeared that a boy was perched at the top of the iron front gates, where Benny and I had climbed next to the flagpole to escape. As I got closer I realised it wasn’t a boy. It was Pikelet! Leonie and Sue were climbing behind him, almost at the top. The whole Stoked crew was on one side of the fence, the Chesterley crew on the other, their shouts echoing as insults were traded between both sides.

  ‘You need a wash, you dirty freaks,’ spat Chesterley. As if! I knew everyone at Stoked maintained a high level of personal hygiene, even if sometimes backstage smelt like overly ripe fruit due to the combination of everybody’s body odour.

  A Chesterley clown pointed a high-powered hose at them, knocking Pikelet off the wall with a jet of water. Thankfully he fell into the arms of Muscly Mikey D, who was used to catching humans. Sue and Leonie were hanging on as tightly as they could.

  I hid behind an old-fashioned animal cage, trying to work out how I was going to get past Chesterley’s mob to the other side of the fence.

  ‘We know you’ve got our Stunt Boy in there!’ screamed Sue, the Bearded Lady. ‘His father needs him, let him go!’

  ‘Runt Boy? That stupid kid could have got himself killed climbing into my rigging. If it wasn’t for me risking my own safety to bring him down, he could be dead by now,’ said Chesterley, shaking his fist. ‘When he’s found he is going to be charged with stealing a clown car and breaking the ankle of my head clown! That’s grievous bodily harm. You’ll be visiting him in prison until he’s forty-one. He’s going straight to kid jail.’

  I was a wanted kid criminal! If I made myself known, I would be put in prison until I was forty-one. That was older than my dad!

  The black Channel XYZ van that had come to Stoked to interview me and Jem pulled up and out jumped Jennifer Pringle. This was getting scary! Maybe it was on the news that a kid criminal was on the loose.

  As I stood in the shadows not knowing what to do, I saw a topless and wig-less Benny and his parents being led out in handcuffs by the police.

  ‘Freedom to all circus animals!’ yelled Benny’s mum and the Stoked crew started cheering.

  ‘Freedom to Stunt Boy!’ shouted Benny, who had a defiant look on his face. I felt proud of Benny and his parents for standing up for what they believed in, even if they were getting arrested. A policeman placed a hand on Benny’s head and eased him into the back of the police car.

  If I ran up to them chances were they’d take me to prison, instead of taking me to see my dad. I just had to hope that he was okay and finish the mission I set out on – to find proof that Chesterley had sabotaged my dad’s bike.

  ‘Blindfold, there’s no other choice. We’ve got to go back in,’ I said into Blindfold�
�s ear. If I could find evidence then I wouldn’t have to spend my entire teenage years, and my twenties and thirties, in prison for a crime I didn’t commit. ‘It’s up to us now, boy.’

  27

  Foul-smelling black sock

  As Blindfold and I made our way through the grounds, we came across the office, in a demountable shed on a truck at the rear of the circus. People kept important things in offices, so I decided to have a snoop around.

  The lights were blazing as we approached but I didn’t know if anybody was in there, so Blindfold and I went to the back of the truck to give us cover. I climbed up onto the back wheels of the truck and wedged my fingertips in the ridges of the panels of the shed just below the window and pulled myself up. Blindfold kept watch at ground level. As my head popped just above the windowsill, I saw my two uncles sitting at a table. They were deep in conversation.

  ‘No wonder he wants to get out of here. It reeks,’ said Kevin.

  ‘That’s what you get for buying land on the cheap,’ said Ken. ‘He’s desperate for a site the size of Stoked for his Monster circus and he will pay any price to get it. We could push him a little harder and get more money.’

  ‘I don’t know where he gets his cash when Stoked has been bleeding money. But it’s Evan’s fault. He’s always has been a stubborn bugger. No matter how hard we push him, he just won’t quit Stoked.’

  ‘Just between us, do you really believe that Evan’s accident was an accident? It’s just weird timing. Us meeting with Chesterley and you telling him about the clause whereby if Evan is incapacitated we get control, and then Evan has an accident.’

  ‘Of course, it was an accident! However, if he hadn’t had it, it would have been impossible to do this. The market is at its peak and we’ve got to make our decisions based on good business sense not some sense of misguided loyalty to our father,’ said Kevin. ‘By the time they get Stunt Boy back, the out-of-action clause will be in effect and we’ll have the deeds signed over to Chesterley.’

  ‘Chesterley’s guys were a bit rough with that motorbike kid,’ said Ken, patting a big pile of papers. ‘I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve broken his arms and legs the way they hogtied him. What do you suppose they’ve done with him?’

  ‘I don’t suppose anything. It’s got nothing to do with us,’ said Kevin. ‘Let’s just stick to business.’

  They were holding Caleb somewhere on the site and he could have been badly hurt! I had to find him; there was no other option. I dropped down from beneath the window, nodded at Blindfold and he nodded back, ready to case the site. First we opened a door to a barn full of hay and animal feed, but there was no sign of Caleb in there; then we checked a second building that housed costumes and props. He wasn’t there either. We headed to the back of the circus to a massive red shipping container sitting on its own in a side paddock, next to the Chesterley’s crew campsite.

  I unlocked the door and peeked inside. It looked empty.

  ‘Caleb? Caleb? Are you there?’ I called out, but there was no response, just a deafening silence in the darkness.

  As I pulled the double doors closed, Blindfold made a low growling noise and nudged his wet nose against my hand. He ran into the dark recesses of the container and started whimpering.

  ‘Come on, Blindfold,’ I called to him. Blindfold barked back but he didn’t return. Reluctantly, I followed him into the blackness, feeling my way through the dark as if I were swimming in space. I stumbled and kicked something soft. I reached down and felt the shape. It felt like a body!

  ‘Caleb,’ I said, but there was no answer. They must have killed him! I felt for his arms and legs, which were hogtied behind his body. I wrapped my arms around his chest and dragged him towards the light. He was pretty heavy, but although I may be small I am super strong from all the training and conditioning. As we got closer to the door, I squinted my eyes to adjust to the gloom and I caught sight of a pair of bright, scared-looking hazel eyes. It was Caleb but he wasn’t dead! He was alive!

  Caleb made a muffled noise that sounded like ‘Help!’ and I realised he had something stuffed in his mouth. I pulled it out – it was a foul-smelling black sock. Caleb spat on the floor as if to get the disgusting taste out of his mouth.

  ‘One of those evil clowns took off his clown shoes and shoved his stinking clown socks down my throat!’ he said between spits. ‘I thought I was going to choke to death. Now untie me, Stunt, these ropes have cut off my circulation.’

  ‘Have you spoken to Jem? Do you know what’s happening at the hospital?’ I asked as I untied him.

  Caleb stood up and stretched. Then he grabbed me by the shoulders and looked right into my eyes.

  ‘You don’t know,’ he said and I felt the pressure of his hands before a smile slowly crossed his face. ‘They started to bring your dad out of the coma tonight! They’ve been waiting for you. I spoke to Jem before they caught me. I told her I’d get you to the hospital as soon as I found you.’

  ‘My dad is going to be okay?’ I said, the relief filling every cell of my body. ‘My dad is going to be okay!’

  ‘That’s why your uncles are here – they have to do the deal tonight. I was beneath the window listening when a couple of clowns grabbed me.

  ‘I know, I heard everything too, they’re trying to sell Stoked!’ I said as my mind raced ahead, trying to work out what to do next. ‘I just saw Chesterley out front with the police. They took Benny and his parents away because of the protest.’

  Then another thought occurred to me. ‘Did you see a woman with my uncles, Caleb?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Me neither,’ I replied, wondering whose feet were in those green shoes I’d seen at the hotdog stand.

  28

  Danger ahead

  We made our way through the deserted circus, which looked even more sinister because it was so dark. I’m not afraid of ghosts. It’s bad people like Barry Chesterley that you’ve got to look out for in life, not dead people – who I don’t think could be bothered following living people around trying to scare them when they were getting on with their own deaths.

  ‘What’s that noise?’ said Caleb, stopping dead in his tracks.

  I couldn’t hear anything, just an eerie silence punctuated by animal noises.

  ‘I don’t know,’ I answered. ‘What does it sound –’

  ‘Shut up for a sec, Stunt Boy,’ said Caleb, all impatient, lifting his chin and tilting his ear towards the sky. It made me feel cranky, as he’d asked me a question. ‘I recognise the sound of that engine. It’s my ute! Listen, she’s calling me.’

  I strained to hear, but could make out nothing except the rushing of the wind and, in the distance, the faint howls of protest coming from the Stoked people out the front.

  ‘She’s this way. Quick, run!’ said Caleb, taking off in a sprint, giving Blindfold and I no option other than to chase after him.

  Way on the other side of the circus was a hangar. In the distance, we saw the tail-lights of Caleb’s truck fade out before the doors of the hangar slammed shut. Parked at the side of the hangar was a giant purple monster truck, its massive wheels ten times the size of me. Could this be what Hayley was talking about when she told Caleb about Chesterley’s Monster Circus? But why would an animal circus need a monster truck? And how would Hayley know?

  We snuck to the front of the hangar and heard the sound of a door opening. I poked my head around the corner and saw the back of a woman. She was using a mobile phone for light, as she disappeared into the night.

  ‘I bet it’s Ginger Styles!’ I said to Caleb. ‘I knew she was up to no good!’

  ‘You think she’d know how to hotwire my truck?’ asked Caleb, scratching his head.

  ‘I wouldn’t put it past her,’ I replied. ‘I don’t know what she’s capable of.’

  We tried the door but it was locked, and so was the side door.


  ‘I could pick that sucker in seconds if I had a paperclip,’ I said, looking at the lock. Caleb dug his hands into his pockets and pulled out tissues, coins, a plastic spider, spark plugs, some gum wrapper and, finally, a small screwdriver with a red handle.

  ‘I’ve always got a screwdriver about my person,’ he said, handing it over. I jimmied the lock open.

  ‘Jackpot!’ said Caleb as the door opened to reveal a workshop much like the one at Stoked, where all the mechanical stuff gets fixed. ‘If they rigged your dad’s back wheel, I reckon it would have been here.’

  Caleb walked over to his truck and kissed the bonnet. ‘Hello baby girl,’ he said, spreading out his arms as if he was cuddling it. ‘Were you frightened?’

  The truck didn’t reply because it was a truck and couldn’t speak.

  There were tools scattered all over the workbench. They weren’t in methodical order like at Lefty Blue Eye’s workshop. What sort of mechanic would leave their tools like this? You had to be tidy in a workshop, so you knew where all your stuff was.

  ‘Tidy workbench, tidy mind!’ Lefty Blue Eye always said.

  I asked him what he meant once, and he said that when your stuff is in order, you can think more clearly than when you’re surrounded by mess. I’m tidier in the workshop than I am in my bedroom because my dad would freak if I left Lefty’s workshop in a mess.

  Caleb and I began searching the workshop and suddenly I spotted a pair of clear plastic gloves scrunched up in a small ball that looked like an octopus with its greasy tentacles sticking out. Instinctively, I started to straighten them out and a series of thoughts came racing into my mind all at once and converged at exactly the same time into one big giant thought.

  ‘Hayley!’ I exclaimed, measuring my twelve-year-old boy hand against the extra small gloves. ‘Caleb, Hayley’s been here. These are the gloves she uses because she is allergic to latex. She told me latex makes her hands blister. Feel them, they’re not latex, plus how many people would have hands this small?’ My words were coming out with no spaces between them and I was breathing superfast. ‘This workbench has Hayley written all over it. She was the one who tried to frame Lefty Blue Eye. I remember her telling me that Blueberry told her she’d seen him going to Chesterley’s, but when I asked Blueberry she didn’t know what I was talking about. Hayley must have switched the wheels when he went to the bathroom. My dad wouldn’t have sensed anything was wrong until the impact.’