by S G Read
‘Your mum will be there Si.’ Stuart whispered. ‘She'll need you to be strong or she'll flood the airport.’
‘Mine will anyway.’ Stephen conceded. ‘Put your wellies on!’
‘The same goes for mine!’ Ben added. ‘Even when I go into hospital she cries buckets, I wouldn't mind but it's me who's actually going in!’
‘So, we've got to show them that we've grown up!’ J.C ordered. ‘We'll greet them like long lost friends, with no tears!’
They looked out of the window until the flashing light told them to return to their seats and to fasten their seatbelts. The plane banked and turned, losing height as it did so, causing ears to pop; then they were on the ground.
‘Look out for trees!’ Stephen whispered.
‘I think they'll have cleared them all by now.’ Stuart said wisely.
The plane seemed to taxi for ages until it finally stopped.
‘My dad's sure to be there!’ Stuart whispered excitedly, making sure Simon could not hear him. ‘Surely he can't be at work now!’
‘I hope my dad's not here!’ Stephen replied, as they edged out of their seats into the flow of people. ‘What is the time anyway?’
Stuart looked at his blank wrist. ‘I don't know! Is there a clock somewhere?’
It was too late they were carried along on a tide of people, unable to find a clock but not really worried by the fact. As the passageway widened the tide relented and they started to look about. The others pushed their way over to them and they were a team once more. Through a glass screen they saw their parents waiting and waved. A man in a uniform steered them to a locked door, opened it and let them into the lounge where their parents waited. The stiff upper lips subsided into floods of tears as they ran over to their parents and were lifted off the ground by the strength of their embrace. Stuart saw his father was there, as well as his mother and held them both pushing his face in between them, tears flooding out.
‘We didn't think we were going to see you again!’ His father said through his tears of joy.
Stuart did not answer; he just held on to them and cried. His mother was unable to speak; she gripped him tightly, as though never to let him go again.
Stephen was hugging his mother tightly, tears streaming from both pairs of eyes.
‘Welcome home, my little hard worker.’ She said through her tears. ‘I thought I'd lost you!’
They cried harder and hugged tighter.
The officials who were charged with expediting their journey out of the airport, stood and waited. In the distance the odd flash of a camera could be seen as the waiting reporters became impatient. Finally the greetings over, they were steered past the waiting reporters through a side gate, to where their parents had been asked to park; to make their journey a little less distressing. Simon was pleased to see his uncle waiting with his mother, his uncle was like a miniature version of his father. They were loaded into the waiting cars and driven off, through a barrage of flashing cameras. Stuart and Stephen were in the same car, although they said very little until they dropped Stephen and his mother outside their block of flats.
‘Bye Stevey, call me later!’ Stuart yelled out the door after the retreating pair.
‘Okay!’ Stephen shouted back. ‘See you Stu.’
The car sped off and they were soon home. Stuart was carried into the house by his father.
‘I can walk you know!’ He protested.
‘I know Stuart but I need to hold you in case it's a dream and I wake up in a minute!’ His father replied.
‘Do you want me to pinch you?’ Stuart asked with a laugh.
‘Just try it!’ His father replied, as he threw him on the sofa and tickled him.
It was a long while since that had happened. His father stopped when Stuart screamed in submission. He kissed Stuart on the forehead.
‘We've missed enough of you growing up, both before and since you've been gone. From now on it's going to be different!’ David Sellars declared. ‘Isn't that right darling?’
‘It sure is!’ Stuart's mother replied and snuggled on the sofa with him. ‘Can I get you something?’
‘No I'm full up. In fact I've got a present for both of you!’ He walked tiredly over to where he had dumped his bag and took out two boxes of liqueurs. ‘I was going to bring you some whisky dad but they thought we might get drunk or something!’ He said as he handed the liqueurs to them.
‘But how?’ His mother asked and sat there her mouth open. Stuart closed it by lifting her lower jaw by one finger.
‘I may be young but I'm not Ga Ga.’ He answered with a smile. ‘Now I think I'll go and change. I think I've worn these things for long enough!’
Stuart walked into his room; the duvet was pulled back and looked very inviting. He slipped of his trainers and suddenly realized that they were dirty but his mother had said nothing about them when he had walked in. ‘Oh no dad carried me in!’ He reflected and slid his feet under the duvet. He clasped his hands behind his head and relaxed.
‘My own bed.’ He said contently.
When Stuart did not return, both of his parents looked into his room. He was fast asleep on the bed, fully clothed. His mother pulled the duvet over the rest of him and they let him sleep. They were just glad to have him home!
CHAPTER 6
The boys did not meet again for three days, it took them that long to catch up on their sleep and to deal with all the callers. Relatives came from far and wide to see them; the airline sent a representative to see them. They went to their doctor for a check-up, which entailed a blood test, much to both Sherman's and Stuart's annoyance. The bond between Stuart and his father grew from nonexistent to very close in that time. Since the plane's disappearance David Sellers had spent many days at home waiting for news and supporting his wife. The company he worked for had not argued but had installed his office into one of the spare bedrooms to enable him to stay at home and work when it was necessary. On the third day at midday Stephen rang the door bell.
‘Come in Stephen.’ Stuart's mother said ushering him in and helping him out of his coat. ‘You're looking very well!’
‘Thank you Mrs. Sellers. Is Stu in?’
‘He's still in bed but you can go up, it's about time he started to get up in the mornings, he's going back to school next week!’ She replied.
Stephen grabbed his throat in horror at the word school.
‘Ugh school.’ He gurgled and walked up the stairs, making sure he wiped his feet several times.
‘You'll wear my mat out if you keep that up!’ She called after him.
Stephen poked his head round the door to Stuart's room. Stuart was a lump under the duvet completely covered and not moving, save for the rise and fall of his breathing. Stephen shook the lump. Stuart mumbled and turned over. Stephen tried again, this time a head appeared.
‘I might have known it was you. Hi Stevey, I thought you were going to call me!’
‘I've been a bit busy, my mum was in a mess but she's okay now that there's a man in the house again!’
‘Why has your dad come back?’
‘No way! I meant me!’ Stephen exclaimed.
‘Have you seen the others?’ Stuart asked.
‘Yes, they phoned me, we're meeting them by the river.’
‘They didn't phone me!’ Stuart answered, a little put out.
‘No, I said I’d come and see you to save them having to.’
‘When are we meeting them?’
‘Half an hour.’ Stephen answered casually.
‘Give me plenty of warning won't you!’ Stuart complained and disappeared into the bathroom for a shower. His head reappeared. ‘You can play on my computer while you're waiting if you like!’
A quick shower and a bowl of cereal later saw them emerge from the house.
‘Don't you want your coat? This isn't the jungle you know!’ Wendy Sellars asked through the open door.
Stuart looked at Stephen and saw that Stephen was wearing a coat.
> ‘Yes please mum.’ He answered.
She held the coat out then withdrew it as Stuart tried to take it.
‘Where's my kiss?’ She asked.
Stuart hugged his mother.
‘There that's worth more than a measly kiss!’ He said contentedly.
She gave him his coat.
‘Where are you going?’ She asked.
‘We're meeting the others by the river.’ Stuart replied.
‘Well, just you be careful!’ She warned.
‘This river isn't anything like the one in Colombia and there's no piranha in it!’ Stuart replied.
‘How do you know?’ Stephen asked. ‘There might be!’
‘No it's too cold in this country for them; they have to be kept in aquariums over here.’ Stuart explained patiently, knowing Stephen knew that anyway.
‘Go on but don't do anything silly!’ Wendy warned.
‘I won't mum.’
They walked away.
‘Have you told her about your blackouts?’ Stephen asked.
‘No. I haven't had one since I've been home and I don't expect I will have one ever again!’ Stuart retorted.
‘If you have one by the river and fall in it will be fun!’ Stephen answered rather unenthusiastically.
‘You can swim can't you?’ Stuart asked. ‘Or would you let me slip beneath the waves?’
‘You don't have waves on a river!’ Stephen answered. ‘Of course I’d save you, you did save me remember?’
Stuart ignored Stephen's reference to their time in the jungle.
‘What's the plan then?’ He asked.
‘Ben was talking about a gang hut or something we can meet in.’ Stephen explained.
The others were waiting for them on the river bank; sitting on their coats talking amongst themselves.
‘We've come to think the best thing would be a tree house in the woods behind the comprehensive.’ Ben announced. ‘What do you think about it?’
Stuart and Stephen thought about it for a while, before answering.
‘Sounds alright to me.’ Stephen replied.
‘And me.’ Stuart added. ‘But we've got to make sure no one else finds it!’
‘How do you mean?’ Ben asked.
‘When we go to it, we make sure we don't make the usual Elephant trail right up to it that a blind man could follow!’ Stuart explained, remembering their journey through the poppy field when they were trying not to make a trail.
‘A blind man can't see!’ Simon argued.
‘What? We practice what we learnt in the jungle, here?’ Sherman asked.
‘Yes, be careful not to make it obvious where it is.’ Toby exclaimed. ‘I like it already!’
‘So do I!’ J.C added.
The wood in question started on the river bank further along. They were on the right hand side of the river; by looking to their right as they faced the river the wood was visible in the distance.
‘The first thing we've got to do is to find a suitable tree!’ C.J said as they walked toward the wood.
‘We could all go looking then meet back here at a rearranged time!’ Simon suggested.
‘It's a prearranged time.’ Toby corrected. ‘If we do that we'll end up looking at trees all afternoon, that is if we can all find the trees we picked again!’
They stopped at the edge of the wood.
‘Let's have a meeting about it.’ Stuart suggested.
They were all in agreement so they sat and discussed it, eventually deciding to go in as a group, being careful not to make a trail and find a tree together. They walked in single file walking round anything which would give away their passage through the wood. At this point it didn't really matter but it was good practice. Once they were well into the wood Stuart stopped.
‘We should spread out a bit so that we can look quicker.’ He announced. ‘If we make it so you can call to the person on either side of you, except for the end one's that is, we can call each other over when we find one!’
They spread out into a line across the wood and walked forward, only stopping to gather at a tree which someone thought might be THE tree! The third call came when Stephen estimated that they were over half way through the wood and when they saw the tree they looked no further. The tree had no low branches to climb up and although Simon tried his best to climb it, he found it impossible.
‘At least no one will be able to climb up to it!’ Toby exclaimed. ‘But the problem is how do WE get up there?’ He patted his leg where the bullet had passed through when he had been shot. ‘It was bad enough walking here let alone shinning up trees!’
‘We will have to make a ladder then!’ Stuart replied.
‘This might help!’ Sherman exclaimed, producing the axe.
‘How did you get that through customs?’ C.J asked. ‘I thought they were kidding me when they said it was under your coat.’
‘It was in my carrier bag, when I walked with it I had the handle up my sleeve!’ Sherman explained.
‘We can't go chopping trees down!’ Toby cried. ‘We're not in the jungle now!’
‘As long as no one finds out, there won't be a problem.’ Stephen replied. ‘I can show you how to disguise what's left!’
‘We need two small trees as sides for the ladder and short bits to go across.’ Sherman informed them. ‘Spread out and look.’
They found the two trees and them cut off as low to the ground as possible, the branches were trimmed off until all that remained was the trunk. Stephen took charge of the branches which had been cut off.
‘If you stick the cut end into the ground, then it looks like a little tree!’ He demonstrated. ‘See?’
‘What about the stubs, they’re a dead giveaway!’ Ben asked.
‘Simple!’ Stephen pulled up a clump of grass and rubbed the soil covered roots on the white face of the stub until it looked the same colour as the soil. ‘Instant old stub.’ He said when he was satisfied with the stub.
‘That's good.’ Ben admitted.
‘I bet it was your dad who showed you that.’ Stuart guessed.
‘Yes, we were collecting wood at the time!’ Stephen replied.
‘More like nicking it!’ John said.
‘I didn't ask but you're probably right.’ Stephen admitted.
The two sides of the ladder were taken back to the chosen tree. There were two large branches sticking out one side of the tree they had chosen, the branches getting father apart as they left the trunk but they were almost level. The boys decided on two tree trunks laid across the two branches and nailed in place. It would make a nice base to build their tree house on.
‘Now we need to get organised.’ Stuart said taking charge. ‘We need a hammer and some nails to start with, later we'll need some rope to pull the trunks up on to the branches.’
Simon stepped forward. ‘One claw hammer.’ He announced.
‘Here are the nails.’ John added. ‘I hope my dad doesn't want them!’
‘I've got some rope here!’ Denis said opening his coat to show the rope wrapped round him. ‘And my dad said we could borrow his block and tackle as long as we don't lose it. He lifts out car engines with it!’
‘See we're getting better!’ Ben cried, with more than a little pride.
‘We certainly are!’ Stuart agreed.
Soon a crude ladder stood against the tree, it reached the first branch with only inches to spare. The boys reverted to their old selves when it came to choosing someone to climb up to test it. They argued for some time until Simon called from the tree above.
‘Are you lot coming up or not!’
This stopped the argument but led to another one who was going up next? They all wanted to be next except for Sherman as he was the heaviest.
‘LOOK YOU LOT!’ Stuart shouted to get their attention. ‘Arguing will get us nowhere! Find some grass and we can do it fairly.’
They drew straws and soon all were sitting on the same branch in the tree.
‘Do you remembe
r sitting in a tree, hoping that the druggies didn't find us?’ Toby asked.
‘As if we'd forget that!’ Sherman replied. Then going off at a tangent said. ‘I never did get to fire the gun.’
‘Lucky for us!’ Ben said quickly.
‘I couldn't have been as bad as Stu!’ Sherman replied.
‘What do you mean?’ Stuart retorted. ‘At least I hit old Collywobbles!’
‘What was it like?’ Sherman asked.
‘Not what I expected.’ Stuart replied. ‘It went all over the place. You’re lucky I didn't get one of you!’
‘We know that!’ Stephen agreed.
‘And how!’ C.J added.
‘I don't think I held it right!’ Stuart added.
‘Nor do we!’ C.J said, agreeing for everyone.
‘I was lucky then, being behind the river bank?’ Sherman asked although it was not meant as a question, more a statement of fact.
‘I wonder how Captain Torres is.’ Stuart mused.
‘Don't you mean Capitain Torres?’ Ben asked.
‘Actually it was Capitain Ernesto Torres.’ Toby said. ‘He was okay when we left, well okay enough to outsmart us and nick our whisky! Did he come and see you at the hotel before we left? He said he was going to.’
‘He did come. He was waiting for Stu and the other three to come back from their ride on the helicopter.’ C.J explained.
‘You had a ride on a helicopter?’ Toby echoed. ‘You lucky dog. I suppose you couldn't wait until we were fit enough to go?’
The four boys who had gone on the flight exchanged glances and laughed then they let Ben recant the story on his own. So that the others would actually understand what went on.
‘So Captain Torres brother didn't believe we saved the captain!’ J.C complained. ‘After we carried him all that way!’
‘We carried him!’ C.J pointed out. ‘You could hardly carry yourself!’
‘He was strong enough to hold me when that snake hit me round the head!’ Stephen retorted. ‘If not I'd have been inside a Piranha by now!’
‘Actually you would have been inside lots of different Piranhas.’ Toby corrected.