His shoulder clipped the side of the house as the bike, after moving half a wheel length, tipped him towards it. He got off the bike and let it fall to the pavement. Stupid thing, he said to himself. It looks easy but it isn‘t really. I don’t know how other people manage it. They don’t look anything special but they must be.
“What’s the matter?” said his mum, stepping outside.
“I hurt my shoulder” said Alfie.
“It looks alright to me” she said “Keep trying.”
She disappeared back in to the house but re-emerged quickly after she heard him say that he was finished with it.
“You give up too easily” she said. “You’ve only been on it for about thirty seconds. You’re not going to get anywhere in life if you give up every time something is difficult. Come on, have another go.”
“I will, in a minute” he told her.
“No…the phone is ringing. I’ll be back in a minute” said his mum.
I wonder if Braddle can ride a bike, thought Alfie. I’m not sure whether they even have bikes. I’ll have to ask him. If they haven’t then he doesn’t know how lucky he is.
He walked over to his brother’s football that was resting in the car port and kicked it hard towards the garage door opposite. It sounded as if a stick of dynamite had been thrown at the door rather than a premier league football.
“My my, that is noisy” said a voice from the other side of the fence.
It was Mr Nicholls. Alfie did not respond. What could he say? He placed the ball in the centre of the pavement and tapped it gently back towards the carport. It would soon be time to sneak into the garage and see Braddle again. I wonder whether he has found his mum yet, thought Alfie. I don’t know what I could do to help though if he hasn’t. It would cause a bit of a shock, I think, if I suddenly turned up with my magnifying glass and started a house to house search. He imagined the populace running panic stricken through the streets. He looked upwards and smiled to himself. If a gigantic eye appeared overhead and began to peer through their windows he would probably do the same, he thought. He would be off down the road before it had time to blink.
“Can everyone come here please?”
It was his mother calling from inside the house.
Alfie found his mum sitting in the living room. His sister Lou was already sitting next to her.
“Call Francis” his mother told him.
Alfie went to the bottom of the stairs and shouted up. His brother’s bedroom door opened.
“Hurry up” he called.
“I’ve got good news” his mother said, when they were all assembled. “Your father has just phoned and said that he can get off work next week. This means that we can go on holiday.”
“Oh” said Alfie.
“Really?” asked Lou.
“Nice one” said Francis.
“It didn’t look as if we could get away this summer” his mother continued “but now it looks like we can.”
“Do we have to go somewhere?” asked Alfie “I’d rather stay here.”
“Yeah, you can stay” said Francis. “I think we should go to Ibiza.”
“I want to go to Africa” said Lou.
His mother laughed.
“I’m afraid we can’t afford to go abroad this year. Maybe next year. We’re going to the south coast.”
All three of them looked at her puzzled. Before disappointment could take hold she quickly added that it was to be an adventure holiday. There would be loads of activities including rock climbing, quad biking, horse riding and white water rafting. This did the trick.
“Brilliant” said Francis. “The quad biking and rafting is definitely for me.”
“I want a horse” said Lou. “Can we buy one?”
“No we can’t buy one” said her mother “but you can ride on one if you like.”
Lou ran around the room with a big grin on her face shouting “Come on horsey!”
Alfie sat in silence. He wasn’t sure about the activities on offer. Climbing up a steep rock did not seem like fun. His mother heard his thoughts.
“Don’t worry Alfie you don’t have to do what you don’t want to do. The whole point of the holiday is to have fun. Ok?”
His brother stood up irritated.
“Yeah, you can play with your dolls if you’d rather.”
“Leave him alone Francis. I’m sure Alfie will surprise us all. Yes, I’m certain of it” she said, smiling at him.
“When do we go?” Francis asked.
“Saturday” she replied.
“Saturday! That’s in four days” said Alfie.
“At least clever clogs can count” said Francis as he left the room.
Lou turned quickly and threw herself on to him.
“Alfie, can you pretend to be a horse?” she asked him.
“NO” he told her and left the living room too.
Alfie stepped off the back door step in to the sunshine. It was suddenly quiet outside. There was no distant lawnmower growling furiously at the grass beneath it; there was no music leaping over the fence like someone else’s escaped tiger; even Mr Nicholls had given his garden a break from knocking it about and disappeared inside. He closed his eyes and let the silence drift over him like a cooling breeze. At least I have the tiny people, he said to himself. At least I have Braddle. A faint sound slithered in the silence. He opened his eyes. What was that? he asked himself. He looked around. There it was again. He strained his ears and waited for it to sound again. It was a voice. The voice sounded weak. It sounded desperate. It was coming from the garage. Yes, definitely from the garage. He moved closer to it. The voice was calling. It was calling to…to him. It was Braddle. Braddle was calling his name.