22
The Farm
I went to Alex C’s farm in Horsham and the first thing I noticed was Alex C riding his motorbike across the fields. My mum and I drove slowly over the long and muddy puddle filled drive caused by tractors driving up and down it all the time. I saw a huge blue sphere on the other side of the farmyard. When we pulled up at the house, Sarah, Alex C’s mum greeted us. While I waited for my mum to get the wheelchair out of the boot of the car Alex C came up to the car and greeted us with a beaming smile.
“Hi Alex, how are you?” I said cheerily.
He looked tired and mud stricken. We then spent a nice afternoon playing on Alex’s trampoline and on his PlayStation. Throughout the day I was keeping my eye open on the farm for anything suspicious and I kept asking Alex leading questions about the recent terrorist attacks, but found nothing. When it was time to go Alex said -
“How’s about we have a sleep over next month some time. When are you free?”
“Well I’m free every day next month apart from the 12th and the 19th when I have got gym appointments, so you name a time!” I replied.
“Ok the 2nd then, I’ll give you a call nearer the time.”
My Mum was waiting outside; we drove back across the tractor tracks up to the end of the drive. When we got on the main road we hit heavy traffic going towards Bolney and it took between 40 minutes to an hour to get home.
The next day I went back to C.H.I.S for a solid week of swimming, cards with Sheila and physiotherapy with Pat. I don’t know what happened to Eleanor or Jayne as I didn’t see them all week. However I did have speech and language therapy. I hadn’t heard anything of Mario. As I was day dreaming looking out of the window I saw a big Mercedes Benz Sprinter pull up outside. A man got out of the van,
He had jet black long hair and he had a massive frown on his face. He then took out a camera and started taking pictures of drains. I guessed he was a plumber and then the man took off his jacket, I recognised him now, it was Harry H. When he had finished taking pictures he came up to the door of C.H.I.S and rang the bell. When one of the nurses opened the door he said that he had something for “Chris Manson”. Of course he was then welcomed with open arms. I heard his massive boots hitting and squeaking on the lino floor.
“So how are you Harry and how’s the wife?” I asked.
Immediately his face changed from a twisted face to a mental face.
“You and I need to have words!” Harry replied angrily.
“Ok I’m listening” I replied.
“Are you here tomorrow morning Chris, because I’d like a word with you in my van if that’s not too much to ask?”
The following morning I woke up fearing the day ahead of me. At breakfast I carried on as normal having my usual bowl of cereal. I had noticed the Mercedes Benz van while I was finishing my breakfast. Angie walked into the dining area and said to me –
“How are you today Mr Manson?”
“Fine thank you Angie.” I replied “I’d like to go and clean my teeth now if that’s alright?”
” Yes that’s fine but have you any idea why that man is sitting there in his van? It’s an ambulance bay!”
“I don’t know but if he’s still there after I’ve cleaned my teeth I’ll go and ask him why he’s still there, if it puts your mind at rest.”
Once I had cleaned my teeth and given my face a wipe down with OXY cleansing wipes, I went along to the family room; it was also Dr B’s therapy room. I thought of a way of getting out incognito down onto the ground level, but I wasn’t sure of how I would land. I’d seen Jackie Chan do almost the same stunt in movies countless times before; I thought why couldn’t I do the same manoeuvre? I waited until the nurses were busy getting Patrick ready for the day and then I pulled the red call button in Emma’s room (she was a new arrival at C.H.I.S) to create another distraction. I then got hold of the blind cords, wrenched open the window of Dr B’s room and abseiled down the side of the building to the wet concrete ground. I opened the gate as quietly as possible, as I didn’t want to alert any of the nurses. I crawled past the office and then I heard the strange clicking sound of a NHS van. I hid behind one of Pats old plinths and turned it on its side to give me the maximum amount of cover possible. I was getting a bit cold because I was only wearing a thin t-shirt and shorts. After a while I came out from behind the plinth, on my hands and knees. I quickened my pace to get to the van where I found that the front doors were locked, so I tried around the back of the van, fortunately they were unlocked. Harry Howler was sitting in the back of the van in front of a massive computer he was on a kind of throne totally engrossed in the huge screen in front of him. I coughed; he automatically turned around and said –
“Hi Chris, what kept you? How are you my old chum?”
“Well thank you, but why are you here?”
“I’m here to stage a terror threat and I hear you ask yourself – why here of all places? And I say - hold it right there, because I want the government to think that the National Health Service blew up the nation!”
“With whom and how are you going to escape?” I asked.
“With your friend Alex. Look out the door Chris. I’m not scared of you or any of the rest of your motley crew.”
I was surprised to see that we had gone up about hundred feet into the air, the van was able to hover. I suddenly had an idea of how to get rid of Harry Howler for the time being.
“Harry come and have a look at my house before you blow England up?” I asked
“Yeah, ok.” Harry replied.
Harry came over to the door I then got out my fully charged mobile phone and I typed in 899 behind my back which activated the prongs to come out the side of the phone. By pushing “one on my flip phone key pad it set the prongs to stun mode which I then used on Harry. I then pushed Harry H out the back of the van. I decided to try to get control of this flying van so I needed- somehow to get into the driver’s cab. I crawled over to the side door and wrenched it open, with one last effort I managed to break the window of the driver’s cab with a lead pipe. I then reached in and opened the door and somehow managed to crawl into the cab. I then tried countless times and methods to gain control of the flying van, but after about twenty seconds I decided to abandon the idea as it was nearly out of fuel! I found two high visibility jackets in the electrician’s box, which I stuck together with a tube of metal glue I found lying on the floor of the van. I held the two jackets up above my head, (this I had learnt from an old Chinese friend of mine) and I leapt out the back of the Mercedes van and was in free fall for about one or two seconds, the current of the air caught my improvised parachute, I glided for about a minute, all I had to do now was to find a field or property which had a big garden to land in. Unfortunately for me instead of a nice wide open space I landed on a mountain of smelly, grungy rubbish. The Sprinter plummeted down about five seconds later with a bang. shortly after that it exploded with wild orange and yellow flames shooting out in every direction with smoke billowing out. The spectacle looked like one that you get when a racing car crashes in Formula 1 Grand Prix’s.
When I had collected my thoughts I dialled Keith’s number into my mobile. He answered it almost immediately.
“Hi Chris how are you, where are you?” He asked.
“Fine - but you’re going to have to come to Burgess Hill tip - no time to explain!” I replied.
About 10 minutes later Keith arrived in his green van; the first thing he did was to put the fire out.
“After that performance you’re definitely going out on the field with some of our agents. Well done! by the way - that’s something to put on your curriculum vitae. What did you get on Alex C?” Keith asked.
“Too tired - tell you tomorrow.” I replied.
I woke up in the morning trying to make sense of all my thoughts. I didn’t move for about twenty minutes, I was trying to figure out if it had all been a dream or not. Once I got up out of my bed and into my chair, I switched on the TV manually and pressed one on my remote for BBC One.
“This is the BBC News and the time is 8 o’clock. Breaking news this morning a twelve year old boy threatens the Government that he is going to blow up whole of England - will he or won’t he…?” The news reader announced.
I’d heard enough. I pushed myself across the floor to the door. My Mum was waiting for me, she watched me get to the bottom of the staircase safely before coming down herself. I had my usual Coco Pops for breakfast and both a glass of milk and a glass of water to drink. Then I set off for what my Mum thought was Wintons Fishing Lake. Once my Mum had gone I wheeled myself over to “Burgess Hill’s Secret Agency”. At the entrance I turned the lever in the cave three times. I noticed the handle lighting up a concealed dark brown doorway, which now began to open making an almost silent noise. I could hear this due to my acute sense of hearing which I now had since my accident. I got a warm welcome by Keith.
“Hi Chris how are you? Now, we’ve got some new leads that Alex C is planning a mass disaster. As you were his friend I’m afraid we’re going to have to get you working to try and uncover what he has actually got planned. We need much more information this time - we’ve only scratched the surface up to now. We’ve arranged for you to go up to Alex’s place for the day. We’ll have to ask you to wear this, it’s so that we can listen in to what’s being said.” Keith informed me.
It looked like an ordinary black leather jacket to me.
“This jacket is fireproof and waterproof and it has two inside pockets the one on the left inflates the jacket so it can support up to 20 stone in weight in water. The second pocket which we’re proud of is a high velocity bomb which is detonated when you pull the toggles twice and it will blow up anything in a 50 feet radius. I almost forgot your new powered chair with removable arms. I believe Johnny has told you about them.” Keith explained.
“Yes he did.” I replied.
“Well that and your jacket should come in useful then if needed.”
“Where do I need to be this week?” I asked.
“We’ll arrange a time for you to meet Alex and let you know. We’ll deliver the jacket and the information in a parcel in person.” Keith replied.
“Ok then I’ll wait and see what comes.”
Keith dropped me off round the corner from my house. I self-propelled myself to my house, then up my ramp and knocked on my side door. Luck was on my side my older brother answered the door.
“What have you been up to?” Ian asked.
“I’ve been up at Wintons today, you know the fishing pond over on Folders Lane, I caught a trout.”
He didn’t seem to know what I was on about so he just nodded.
My parcel arrived a week after Keith had said. I was sitting at the table having breakfast with the rest of my family. I had no choice but to open the parcel there and then in front of everybody. I opened my parcel with great care to find another box, which had protective strips on it. When I opened that box it had a clear plastic bubble layer around it. When I had broken through this protective layering I lied about its contents and said to my audience around the breakfast table.
“I have been waiting for this for months and for Amazon to find one just like this.” I announced to everyone.”
I managed not to reveal what this actually was. I went up to my room with my Mum walking up behind me. She was frightened that I would fall and have another head injury. I tried the jacket on and it fitted, then I saw Keith’s promised information sheet stuck on the inside of the box. It read –“You will go to Horsham and meet Alex outside the “Underground” pub in a fortnight’s time at ten in the morning.”
Two weeks later I went to Horsham and as requested I wore the jacket. My Mum dropped me outside the pub and then went to park the car and waited there for me to finish with Alex. Alex C was 10 minutes late. As soon as I saw him I turned on the microphone in my right hand pocket.
“How are you, Alex my friend?” I greeted him.
“I’m well, what’s new?” He replied.
“Nothing really, and yourself anything new?”
You didn’t happen to see that big dome thing on one side of our drive as you were driving to Horsham?” Alex asked.
“Yes what is it?” I replied.
“Satellite dish for our TV.”
“But why do you need such a big one?”
“I guess because the trees interrupt the frequency.”
“I want to see this satellite dish.”
“Ok then, we could go now if you want?”
So Alex pushed me to the car park where Mum was waiting and she took us to Alex’s house to see the satellite dish. It was about 10 metres high and 10 metres wide. By then it was getting on for twelve o’clock so Mum drove me back home for some very nice bacon sarnies. After lunch I went out as soon as I could; I went to Wintons supposedly to do some fishing but actually I had never been there. I looked over my shoulder to make sure I hadn’t been followed. I carried on a bit further and then I got out of my chair and crawled along the grass avoiding all the cow pats, when I got into the cave I twisted the lever to let myself in. Jonathon B was there in the waiting area and he greeted me.
“Have you been called down here to the conference?” He asked.
“I have come here to give Keith some information about my friend Alex and his farm.” I replied.
Just then Keith walked in and welcomed us.
“Hi Johnny, hi Chris how are you?”
“Tired, I’ve been up to Alex’s farm today and there’s something which may interest you Keith. There is a huge sphere like satellite in his field.”
“How big?” Jonathon asked.
“About ten metres by ten, why?” I asked.
“Did he tell you any information as to why it had to be so big?” Jonathan asked.
“Yes he said that it was because of his TV, he couldn’t get any reception because of the trees that surrounded his farmhouse.” I replied.
Jonathon didn’t look happy.
“No that’s not right, how far would you say his house is away from the trees?”
“At least 50-70 feet, why?”.
“ someone’s got to stop him and I suggest you are that someone. We’ll load up a live terrorist simulation on our computer program tomorrow at two in the afternoon, does that fit in with what you’re doing tomorrow?” Keith said.
“Yes why.” I replied, slightly confused.