The Game of Shepherd and Dawse (15 page)

“Is there something you need to tell us, Chris”? Asked Charlie, in mild disgust at the lame answer Chris had given about the power of being invisible. Carl sensed that the tables were about to turn on his old adversary and retribution would be very swift indeed. Charlie could see both sides of the argument and decided to call it a draw – being that he was leader of the Three C gang and all, as he confidently put it.

“So who made you the leader then, Charles”? Quipped Chris.

“It was by a majority vote, young Christopher. Carl and I both voted for it, so it’s two against one. Isn’t that right, Carl”?

“It certainly is, my trusty companion”, Carl nodded in a way that said 'I’ll agree to anything as long as I don’t have to give up this new feeling of power over Chris and his silly remarks'.

“And besides, Chris“, Charlie added, “being that we all make up the Three C gang because we each have a C in our names and we come from class 3C (which they all thought was really clever) but — because I happen to have two Cs in my name, then it stands to reason that I should be the leader", Charlie triumphantly informed his friend.

“Couldn’t agree more, comrade”, said Carl.

“Well...okay then”, Chris slowly responded. “So if someone comes along with three Cs in their name, would that mean that they would be the new leader”?

Chris had indeed checkmated his friend.

“And who do you know with three Cs in their name”? Scoffed Charlie.

They all racked their brains to come up with a name with three Cs in it.

“I know”! Chris blurted out victoriously. Cuthbert Calcutter. He’s got three Cs in his name”!

Undaunted by this, Charlie confidently informed his friend that he didn’t know anyone by the name of Cuthbert Calcutter, while Chris racked his brains to see if he had actually ever met a Cuthbert Calcutter.

“Well...” Chris said lamely, “I've not met him personally...but I’m sure there must be a Cuthbert Calcutter out there somewhere”.

To seemingly lend support to his argument (and hopefully change the subject) Carl quickly added, “Why don’t we look in the phone book? There’s loads of weird names in there. I've even seen people called Mr Cock”.

This made all three boys laugh uncontrollably.

”My god! Imagine being called Mr. Cock”, Chris giggled.

Charlie could go one better than that. “And did you know that Cock and Climax are on opposite pages in the phone book”?

To which Carl added, “Can you imagine being called Mrs Climax"? This made Charlie and Carl go into even greater fits of laughter.

“What’s so funny about that”? Asked Chris in bewilderment. “What does climax mean anyway”?

Charlie and Carl looked at each other and uttered in unison, “He’ll learn”.

To which Chris begged, “Oh come on, guys. Let me in on your little secret. It must be good. I really want to know”!

“You better explain it to him, Charlie. You were always better with words than me”, Carl said, still giggling.

“Yeah, I always struggle a bit with that one. I mean, I know what it means...but I can’t really describe it. Better ask your nana. She'll be able to tell you”.

Young Charlie struggled hard to avoid doubling up with laughter, imagining the utter carnage that would unfold into poor Christopher’s life would he ask his Victorian nana such a pertinent question. Feeling sorry for his friend, he downgraded the advice to, “Actually no. Probably better if you ask your mum. She should know”.

While desperately trying to keep a straight face at this equally hilarious thought, the two likely lads nearly wet themselves laughing.

Nearby, the gates to the school opened and students began trickling out one by one and the usual avalanche of children followed. Nettie found herself at the back of the queue, so she carefully bobbed and weaved her way through the crowd so as to get a good clear run for home. As soon as she found an opening, she made a dash for it and went belting past Charlie, Carl and Chris in her usual fashion.

One of the older boys from the nearby senior school saw Nettie’s mad dash and thought it would be funny to stick his foot out and trip Nettie up. As he did – her glasses went flying, her books went everywhere and she ended up spread-eagled, face down on the ground. It wasn’t so much as a thump she made but more of an uncomfortable sounding splat! For a moment everything went silent. Then, Nettie burst into a flood of tears. There was a momentary silence from the other children, as though they were all working out whether to laugh at Nettie or to help her. It was Charlie who made the first move and in utter disgust at what the older lad had done, he ran over to the boy and pushed him as hard as he could and screamed at him from the top of his lungs.

“What the hell did you do that for? Now look what you done”!

The older boy could easily have overpowered Charlie, but he didn’t retaliate. Even this bully could see he had gone too far, so he just stood there and looked very sheepish and desperately hoped someone would help the poor girl up. In his stupidity, he’d thought she'd just stumble a bit. He hadn’t planned on her hurting herself as much as she did. Had it not been for Charlie’s initial response of disgust, no doubt the reaction from the other kids would have been to burst into laughter. But thanks to his heroic response, soon everyone was helping poor little Nettie by picking her books up and asking if she was all right. It was the first kindness she’d ever received from them.

Her chin was grazed and her bandy little legs had lost a good bit of skin. Despite the pain, all Nettie kept saying was that she needed to get home because she was going to be in a lot of trouble. Charlie couldn’t understand this. On the few occasions that he’d hurt himself, he had never been in trouble. In fact, it was the total opposite, as his mum would load him up with treats. The fact that Nettie was limping so much, meant that she was going to be late whatever happened, and this made her even more upset.

The Three C crew all helped Nettie limp home, proud of the fact they were body guarding her the very short distance it was to her house. Some of the other girls kept asking how Nettie was as she limped along and by the time she got to her house, she had never felt so popular.

Nettie’s house was just a few doors before Charlie’s and when they reached Nettie's door, Charlie took the lead and gave four solid knocks – one for each of the Three C's plus one for Nettie. But there was no answer. What none of them knew was that Tracey had gone down to the benefits office to apply for a crisis loan to buy tickets for the upcoming U2 concert and had been delayed while they processed her claim for a ‘new pair of glasses’ for Nettie.

Meanwhile, Mrs Bottal had heard the commotion and was standing on her porch, still trying to figure out what had happened. When the group of children finally came in view of Mrs Bottal’s house, she could see clear as day the state of poor Nettie’s legs.

“My goodness, dear. What in heaven’s name have you done to yourself”?

At first, Mrs Bottle’s kindness made Nettie cry even more. Nettie didn’t know how to handle such affection! She had never experienced it before.

“All right, Poppet. You'd better come inside and let Aunty Betty clean you up”.

The Three C's said goodbye to Nettie and after finishing a few more philosophical conversations of invisibility and such, they split up and agreed to meet

up again the following morning. Charlie then headed to Joe's as he usually did.

Charlie waited while Joe put his chair away and then they both joined Mrs Bottal in her kitchen for a treat of tea and cakes. They chatted together like old friends while Mrs Bottal put some plasters on Nettie's knees and some and ointment on the rest of her scrapes. Nettie had never smelt this kind of ointment before and she really liked it. Joe was glad Betty had been there, as he was never much good with this sort of thing.

By the time Tracey arrived back home and realized Nettie was at Mrs Bottal's, Nettie had drank as much tea and eaten as many cakes as she could possibly manage without being sick. She was in cake heaven! After seeing her daughter all bandaged up, some level of maternal instinct kicked in and Tracey fussed over Nettie for the rest of the evening. They even cuddled up together and watched some telly.

In a peculiar way this was one of the happiest times of Nettie’s life. She had just gained three new friends and everyone made a fuss over her at school the next day. This boost in her confidence allowed tiny snippets of Nettie's true personality to shine through. She was quite a little character it turned out and best of all, Tracey had managed to get tickets for U2.

A few weeks later, Betty, Joe, Angela and Charlie decided to arrange a surprise party for Nettie. She was going to be 10 and had never had a birthday party before. She had been invited to parties once or twice by children whose parents insisted they invite everyone in the class, but Nettie's mother had always come up with an excuse as to why Nettie couldn’t go. However, to her credit, Tracey pulled out all the stops on this occasion. She rummaged through Sally Sour’s bags of jumble and managed to find a dress that had never been worn before. Naturally, it was a bit dated in comparison with the fashion of the day but it had never been worn so she put it in the wash to lose the musty smell. Tracey even undid the two ponytails that Nettie always wore and brushed her hair straight. She really looked quite sweet.

Tracey had laid the clothes out on Nettie's bed and added the present she had bought for her on top. When Nettie got home from school, Tracey asked her to go upstairs and to see what was waiting for her. She told Nettie she must change her clothes because they had ‘somewhere’ to go, with no further information. Tracey heart swelled with a foreign sense of love and she smiled watching her daughter race up the stairs toward her surprise. Nettie had no idea what to expect, but since her mother's mood did feel lighter today, she figured whatever was waiting for her up there must be good. At the thought of this, she took the stairs by twos!

Tracey heard a few surprised squeals and giggles coming from the second floor, as she waited for her daughter to return. Nettie’s main present was a pair of very stylish thin rimmed spectacles that you could only have if you paid good money. Nettie had dreamed of having a pair like these ever since the first child in school had been given a set and everyone had made a fuss over her and how cool she looked in her spectacles. For the first time in her life, Nettie would now be elevated to the cool gang at school, if only for her new spectacles. When Nettie finally came down, Tracey was overwhelmed by the transformation and she almost felt a maternal tear start to form. She couldn’t believe how amazingly normal, sweet and adorable her daughter looked in her new spectacles and wearing decent clothes for once.

Tracey couldn’t believe that she had hated this child for so long when she could look so sweet, and for the first time ever she actually gave Nettie a proper hug. It made Nettie shed a tiny tear. As an added birthday bonus, Nettie didn’t have a rash around her mouth anymore. After being tripped up on the way home from school a few weeks before, Tracey had stopped her habit of wiping her child’s face with the dishcloth. Nettie looked so different.

There were six people at Nettie's party: four adults and two children. Small by most standards – but for Nettie, it was the best birthday ever. Everyone gave her a small gift. They played pass the parcel and pin the donkey and they ate lots party food and drank lots of pop.

Tracey loved watching the relationship that Charlie and his mother had. There was just so much love for each other. She also enjoyed the new feelings that she was having for her own daughter. It felt so much better than the way she had felt about Nettie for so long. Tracey made a promise to herself that from this day forward she was going to do her level best to be a better mother. After the party Nettie started to hang out with the 3C crew on the weekends. She loved every bit of it, as it was the first time that she had been allowed out on the weekends and life couldn’t have been sweeter for young Nettie.

Life for Joe had become a little un-sweeter. Just lately, Joe’s legs had really started to play him up. He put the problem down to his wartime experience of spending 36 hours in the North Sea after being shot down by a German fighter. Most of the time he could deal with it but just lately the legs were starting to give him a lot of pain and being outside in the cold every day during the winter months while waiting for the kids to come home safely wasn’t helping. He had recently borrowed a Zimmer frame just to steady himself from time to time but, even with that, it was becoming too much for him more days than not. Joe finally decided to stop sitting outside at the end of each school day after the current term came to an end. He was eighty-six after all.