‘What’s that’, asked Smithy with a tinge of terror in his voice.
‘I.. I.. I don’t know’, Tommy replied wondering how he managed to get it so wrong.
On his part Smithy could see that the crook would have his hands on them if they did nothing, so he launched himself at the tube, landing dead centre. A great blob of toothpaste shot from the tube to hit the crook a full frontal, covering him from head to foot. He was now sliding towards the boys on a slide made of toothpaste until Tommy, that is, let fly with the boxing glove. The glove hit him smack under the chin sending him flying over the rail to join his mate down below.
Unfortunately, for ‘Tiger’ the crook landed straight on top of him, scaring the living daylights out of him. His only defence for being woken so
unexpectedly was to go into attack mode immediately, so he dug his claws into the first thing he came into contact with, which just happened to be poor old Ronny the Rats bottom. The pain he felt had the immediate effect as he shot off the pallets to land with a thump on the spring machine just as the top half was about to be lowered. Within minutes he had joined Jimmy the Scar on his travels neatly tucked up in his own steel spun straight jacket.
Tommy and Smithy looked on panting with exhaustion, and stood there a few minutes before they started to make their next move. As far as ‘Tiger’ was concerned he had had enough excitement to last him for weeks, so he jumped down from the pallets and made his way through the doors into the ‘Stuffing Department’. Seeing the stairs he decide to go and find a nice little spot in a cosy office were he could sleep undisturbed. He started to climb the stairs just as horrible Uncle Frank came to investigate the noise.
Horrible Uncle Frank started to run down the walkway calling for his two comrades in crime just as ‘Tiger’ stepped out onto the walkway directly into the path of horrible Uncle Frank. Seeing that he was about to be kicked by a swinging foot, Tiger took the only option available to him. With talons fully flexed he grabbed a hold on horrible Uncle Frank’s leg burying his claws in up to the hilt. Horrible Uncle Frank let out one almighty yell as the pain hit home, which made him lift one leg completely off the ground to try and fend off this wild cat.
Tommy and Smithy came quickly to the walkway to see horrible Uncle Frank come flying towards them completely out of control and fell head first at their feet. Tommy and Smithy stood back as the now screaming Uncle came toward them in a fit of rage, temporarily forgetting the pain from the cat bound around his leg.
‘You…You’, he said unable to control his temper. ‘I’ve always hated you and your family. If it’s the last thing I do I will destroy you all’.
His face was red and bulging, his eyes bloodshot and he’d gained a twitch on his left cheek.
‘Come here you little pieces of scum’, he screamed. ‘I want to crush you in my arms personally’.
The boys were scared to death at the sight before them, but Tommy came to his senses just in time.
‘Bat and Glove’, he commanded.
The bat shot out catching horrible Uncle Frank a fearsome blow in the stomach which was followed by an even more powerful blow by the glove at it landed an uppercut to the chin. The blow was so hard that horrible Uncle Frank was knocked clean out of his shoes to go sailing over the rail to the floor below.
Tommy and Smithy raced for the rail just in time to see horrible Uncle Frank hung out to dry in his very own spring vest. As for ‘Tiger’ he was nowhere to be seen. He had had enough of this and was now fast asleep on a pile of old stuffing in the corner of the room.
Chapter 6
To The Hero’s Return
Now that the crooks had been taken care of Tommy was desperate to try and find his father, so the two boys headed in the direction of the office from which the crooks had emerged. On reaching it Smithy opened the door slowly and quietly just in case there were any surprises waiting for them. With the door open just a little Smithy stuck his head in to take a look around.
‘There’s no one here’, he said opening the door wider to allow Tommy to enter.
‘He must be here’, pleaded Tommy getting a little worried for the safety of his Dad.
No sooner had he said it than the boys heard a sound coming from behind a door at the back of the room. The boys moved slowly over and Tommy placed his ear to the door.
‘There’s someone in there’, he whispered so as not to be overheard by whoever was behind the door. ‘We had better open it to find out who it is’, Tommy added as he slowly turned the handle.
The door swung open and there in the middle of the room was Tommy’s Dad bound hand and foot and tied to a chair. He had tape over his eyes preventing him from seeing his kidnappers so he could not identify anyone at a later date. Tommy and Smithy looked on speechless their hearts jumping with joy at seeing Tommy’s Dad.
‘Who’s there’, said Tommy’s Dad. ‘Come on I know there’s someone there’, he added.
Smithy was about to move forward when Tommy suddenly grabbed his arm while at the same time putting his finger to his lips to indicate that
Smithy should not say a word. Tommy then took hold of the door handle and closed the door.
‘What are you doing’, Smithy asked in a low voice. ‘I thought we came here to rescue your Dad, so let’s go and set him free’.
‘We can’t’, Tommy replied in a whisper. ‘If we do that we’ll have to explain everything, how we got here, how we overcame the crooks etc.
‘Your right’, said Smithy now looking a little disappointed at not being able to play the big hero.
‘We will have to hide outside the building and call the police to take care of the crooks and release my Dad’, Tommy said just as disappointed as Smithy.
The boys headed back along the walkway heading for the stairs. Looking down into the ‘Stuffing Department’ they were just in time to see the crooks heading into the ‘COVERING ROOM’. The machines had done a good job of stuffing the crooks mattresses as they were now tightly jammed into their wire prisons with stuffing sticking out of every part of their clothing including their mouths.
Tommy recalled his legs and the boys were soon out of the building and out through the wire fence which Tommy welded back together. Moving around to the front of the factory Tommy and Smithy took up positions across the road hidden in a shrubby before Smithy pulled out his Mum’s mobile phone and dialled 999.
‘Police, Fire Brigade or Ambulance’, asked the operator.
‘Police’, said Smithy in as grown up voice as he could manage.
‘Braodacre Police here, how can we help you’, said the voice on the other end of the phone.
‘I think there’s a robbery going on at Goodnight Mattresses on the Broadacre Industrial Estate’, Smithy said finding it difficult to continue speaking in such a low voice. ‘I’ve heard screams coming from inside which sounded like someone was being murdered’, he added to make them give the call a little more priority.
‘Can I take a few details about yourself’, the Policeman asked.
‘No you jolly well can’t’, replied Smithy. ‘I don’t wish my name to be known in case they try and murder me in my bed for reporting them’, he added just before pressing the button that would cut their communication.
Five minutes later all hell broke loose as police cars with sirens blazing came in all directions to squeal to a halt in front of the factory gates. In no time at all the police had cut through the chain on the gates and they were spreading all over the outside of the building. Tommy and Smithy watched in wonderment as this real life police action was played out in front of them.
After a couple of minutes of trying to gain lawful access, the police knocked down the front door of the building and went swarming in. Inside the police were astounded to see the factory in full production with not a soul in sight. They were still scratching their heads when three unusual mattresses came wobbling along the conveyor track towards them.
‘Look at that’, a policeman said rubbing his eyes in disb
elief. ‘Well I never’.
The mattresses they were now looking at had arms and legs sticking through them with a head protruding from the top with its mouth still overflowing with stuffing. The machines had done a wonderful job of accommodating the crooks, and they had even put a pretty boarder around each of the protruding parts.
‘Well don’t that take the carrot’, said one of the policemen just before there was a shout from the walkway.
‘You’d better come up here Sarge, we’ve found a guy tied to a chair’, said another of the searching policemen.
Tommy’s Dad was finally discovered and released to tell his story of the events of the past two days. Of course he had no idea as to how all of the crooks finished up in such a pickle, the only other person who could throw any light on the subject was ‘Tiger’ who had yet again been disturbed from his sleep and had wandered down to see what all the fuss was about.
By now the police had released the three crooks from their wire prisons and were about to be taken out to the awaiting police cars for a trip to jail. As the sergeant stood talking to Tommy’s Dad one of the young policemen came over to them.
‘There’s something strange here Sarge’, he said. ‘When we released the crooks we noticed that they were all covered in scratches like those you’d get from a cat, and they were all mumbling about not letting the little devil near them again’.
No sooner had he said it than ‘Tiger’ appeared making his way over to Tommy’s Dad.
‘Well I’ll be blowed’, Tommy’s Dad said. ‘It’s the Smiths cat Tiger, they live just down the road from me’.
The policeman scooped ‘Tiger into his arms and took him outside with Tommy’s Dad for a trip to the Police Station to make a statement. After waiting so long Tommy and Smithy nearly jumped with joy at seeing Tommy’s Dad appear at the doorway of the factory, safe at last, before getting into one of the police cars and driving off.
The boys felt so happy they started singing and shouting and Smithy did one or two tumbles just for good measure.
‘What do we do now’, Smithy said.
‘We head back to the canal to pick up our fishing kit before racing home, replied Tommy with an extra large smile on his face before turning towards his best mate. ‘Thanks Smithy’, he said. ‘Your the best mate that anyone could ask for’.
‘No I’m not’, Smithy replied. ‘You are. After all who else has a mate that can produce Dynamo Man’s car out of mid-air’, he added.
‘Well I’d better do it again now so we can get home’, Tommy said as he once again produced the sleek black machine.
It wasn’t long before they had reached the canal and collected their fishing kit. The longest part of their journey was the five hundred metres from the canal to where they lived. On entering the road they were greeted by Tommy’s Mum who came running up towards them before grabbing Tommy from his wheelchair and giving him the biggest hug he’d ever had.
‘He’s free, he’s free’, she said with tears streaming down her face. ‘Your Daddies free’, she continued swinging Tommy in a full circle.
Just then a police car came speeding up and out got Tommy’s Dad. He rushed forward to be greeted in the same manner as Tommy with both Tommy and his Mum hung around his neck. After all the initial rejoicing which had brought all of the neighbours out into the street, Tommy’s Dad went over to the police car and came back holding ‘Tiger’.
‘You will never know how much I owe to this little hero’, Tommy’s Dad said. He took on the whole gang single handed and beat the lot’, he added as he passed ‘Tiger’ over to Smithy. ‘You should be so proud of him for what he has done’.
The excitement over, Tommy and Smithy waved goodnight to each other as Tommy and his family headed back to their bungalow to celebrate his dad’s homecoming. Over the next few hours he listened with his Mum to a full description of the events that had taken place until Tommy so tired fell asleep snuggled up to his Dad on the sofa. The next thing he knew was his Mum opening his bedroom curtains and wishing him a good morning.
Tommy felt wonderful as he went in for breakfast seeing his Dad back in his usual place. He had just got his bowl of cereal when there was a loud
knock on the door. A little nervous at first, Tommy’s Mum opened the door to see Smithy stood there with the Sunday paper in his hand.
‘Look at this,’ he said to Tommy and his family as he opened the paper out on the kitchen table. The headlines were: ‘MAN EATING TIGER WINS THE DAY’. The paper went on to tell its readers how Smithy’s cat ‘Tiger’ had capture the crooks and stopped a £200,000 bank robbery.
‘The house is surrounded by journalists and photographer’s’, said Smithy. ‘And guess what’, he added. The bank is going to give ‘Tiger’ a £10,000 reward for his bravery and Dad said he can go in the shed any time he wants’.
‘And so he should’, said Tommy’s Dad. ‘He is a hero’.
Tommy knowing that the truth could never be told, he winked at his best mate and said. ‘That’s what true hero’s are made of, ain’t they Smithy’.
The End
Four Wheeled Hero Page 6
