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Star Wars

Star Wars is a crucial part of the education of a 21st century kid. (I should know, I’ve never watched it!) It’s for the same reason as Greek Myths: it’s a part of our culture – everything alludes to it. If you haven’t watched Star Wars, you so many cultural references in books and in films and in your friends’ dialogue. Gradually you start to work out what all these references are about – when your friends go on for the umpteenth time about Light Sabres and Darth Vader, you start to realise what it is that they know and you don’t. Eventually, you realise that Darth Vader must be a bad guy (an evil emperor?) and that he must be the father of a good guy (how else can you explain Toy Story 2 ?). But while you understand certain things, you also know that you must learn more: because, I repeat – everything alludes to it: Lego sets, Apples to Apples, six year old birthday parties…. So even though I would definitely classify myself more as a book reader than a movie watcher, I am very glad that we have borrowed the first (or, I am told confusingly, the 4th) movie from the DVD rental place, and my ignorance in this vital area can finally be banished.

The Adventures of Rob and Wally

The Magpies

“Hey Wally let’s go exploring!” Yelled Rob to his friend coming in the gate.

“Sure.” Wally replied, “Beat ya to the Rock!”

The rock was the friends’ name for their favourite place in the world. It was a hideout with it’s secret caves underneath; It was a perfect picnic spot the place for sitting and eating sandwiches - it’s ledges were made for sitting with legs hanging over the edge to eat; it was a playground - it towering spires were perfect for climbing games: seeing who could climb the most difficult spire or who could climb a certain stretch the fastest. It was quite a huge rock, Rob had paced it out once and it had been nearly a hundred metres right round. It was big enough to play hide and seek and the boys had played about a million games of it over the past two years since they had discovered it, though they were pretty tired of the game now.

Wally was winning but he was tiring fast. He had started too quickly and had a terrible pain in his side. It was a long way to the Rock and Rob almost always sprinted past him in the last hundred metres.

Wally had to walk. He had really blown it this time. Why had he thought he could run that fast all the way.

“Ha ha, beat ya!” laughed Rob, “You started first too!”

“Shut up.” muttered Wally.

“I’ll tell your mother you said that.” crowed Rob.

“Oh come off it!” pleaded Wally, “I didn’t mean it.”

The quarrel was soon forgotten as the boys made plans for their exploration. They threw a stick into the air and it pointed west, so west they went.

They trekked through the forest climbing trees occasionally to “scout out the land.” Every now and again they would slide down a grassy slope without any trees on it.

Suddenly Rob heard a great cawing ahead.

“Birds!” he whispered, “Hey lets go and see if we can climb up and steal some eggs.”

Wally didn’t have much more sense than Rob and it sounded like a great idea.

“Aw yeah mate, and maybe we can cook some of them to eat - I’ve gotta magnifying glass and I lit a couple of fires the other day. We could borrow one of Mum’s frying pans. Boy I’m feeling hungry just thinking about it!”

“Yeah man. Mum said we should never do anything like that ‘cause the birds’ll get mad and peck at ya, but I don’t believe it, I mean think about it, Mum says ‘Don’t run down steep slopes or you’ll twist ya ankles’ Mum says ‘careful on the rock, you could fall and break your neck.’ We’ve been down a ton of slopes, Anything wrong with our ankles? We’ve climbed the rock dangerously a million times, anything wrong with our necks? Mothers don’t know nothing man.”

Walter was a bit doubtful about saying such rude things about mothers, but Rob sounded right so he agreed.

“Alright.” said Wally, “But I don’t want to be pecked because you make some stupid blunder, so how about we climb in trees along way apart. That way, if one of us has unfriendly birds, only one of us will get hurt.”

Rob thought the birds would be too stupid to fight back, but he thought the idea of splitting up sounded exciting and he agreed.

So the two boys crept quietly around in a wide circle until they were a good hundred metres away from each other, then they selected good climbing trees with bird’s nests in them and began to climb.

Wally was doing well, but Rob messed up early. He put too much of his weight on a weak branch and it snapped. It sounded very very loud in the quiet forest. Two birds swooped down on him like rockets, pecking wildly. He slid down the tree, giving himself grazes all over. He was too scared even to scream in terror.

He fled as fast as he could. He was pecked twice in the arm, once in the shoulder, and once on the top of his head, and the blood was streaming down.

Only when he was completely out of danger did he stop to yell out his fury on the magpies who dared to defy him.

After a while it occurred to him that Wally had not come back yet and perhaps he could return and steal some eggs as revenge.

After all, he had probably just got a bad bunch he reasoned, because Wally was still there, maybe he had found so many eggs that he couldn’t fit them in his pockets and that was why he was taking so long.

Suddenly Wally was crashing out of the forest almost on top of him, pursued by half a dozen angry magpies.

The boys fled, but the magpies were faster and assaulted them with a volley of spirited pecks and bites.

Then Rob noticed that Wally was clutching two baby magpies.

“Let go of them!” he screamed, “They’re a bad luck charm.”

Wally let go, and the magpies, by now well out of their territory, stopped pursuing them and swooped down to attend to their chicks.

The bleeding boys didn’t stop running all the way home, and their tears mixed freely with their blood.

After that neither of them was so hasty to deny the truth in their mother’s words.

As Rob had unintentionally said, “Mother’s don’t know nothing man.”

The Mud War

One day, early that autumn, Rob was walking through an area he did not yet know well. It was hilly, but not big hills, more smaller rises, about the size of the rock, though not the same shape.

To an adult this area would have been just any old piece of landscape, but to an imaginative young boy it was something different. Rob was seeing what it could be if he, Wally, and their other friends put hours of work into it. There would be forts, walkways, dikes, shelters, pits from which they could excavate mud for their battles.... It would be a world fun.

As soon as he got the chance he showed Wally the marvelous site. A few days later, he, Wally, Michael, Sarah and Lilly got to work. Slowly, bit by bit, the children transformed the area into what Rob had imagined, maybe not quite as perfect as he had pictured in his mind’s eye, but it really was quite a feat for a small band of eight year old’s to accomplish in a single month.

The main work was done as a group, with Rob as sort of a foreman or overseer. Then they split up - He and Wally together, and Michael, Sarah and Lilly together. Each team chose a base, and they developed their bases with secret hide-outs, paths, and stashes of mud balls.

“Hey Rob, come with me!” Whispered Wally excitedly after school one day, “I’ll show ya something I’ve invented - for the war we’ll have on Saturday.”

Rob was doubtful that Wally had something good, but he had. With mud, mouldy cheese, water and flour he had made a fantastic kind of cake. He had baked a hollow cake of bread with the water and flour, then he had cut holes in it, filled the holes with mud and mouldy cheese, sealed the hole with dough, cooked it again, and he had a burnt yellow bun, but when he threw the bun very hard at something it broke open, and the smelly mouldy cheese and mud leaked out.

Rob was overjoyed.

That afternoon the boys cooked two dozen. They would have cooked more, but Wally’s mother didn’t let them use any more of her ingredients than that. She thought they were making paste with the flour and water and she didn’t know about the mouldy cheese. She probably wouldn’t have given them any ingredients at all if she had known what they were really doing with them.

The boys put the cakes in an emergency stash of their best mud balls. Ones which they had allowed to dry over night. The hole was so secret that even if Michael or Lilly (Sarah wouldn’t dare) had been snooping in their territory against rules, they could not have found them, for the hole was small, and there was a rock in front of it - a rock that looked as if it really belonged there.

The area in which the entire construction was situated was on two little hills. In between these hills was a little gully, but the gully wasn’t very long, and there were actually two passes across from one hill to the other on either side of the gully. Each army had built on one hill, and the forts were facing each other across the gully, less than ten metres apart. The main fighting would be chucking mud balls across the gully, but if they could manage to send a soldier across to climb up the opponents’ hill and attack from above, without being seen, then they would seize every opportunity. In this, Michael’s team had a big advantage, because although those three were smaller, slower, and not as smart, they had the advantage of numbers.

On Saturday the armies were ready for the mud war. General Robert Thompson had sent a message to General Michael Rockefeller that he had declared war, but he said he would give General Rockefeller the right to surrender without fighting if he feared the lives of his troops. General Rockefeller flatly stated that he was not so cowardly as that.

The war was on.

Rob and Wally attacked quick and hard, catching Sarah three times and Michael and Lilly each once before they had the chance to gather their wits about them. Then Michael came to his senses. He ordered that he and Lilly would crouch under the wall, rising only to throw mud balls, and that Sarah would lie down on the ground out of sight and pass them ammunition.

After that they did better. Lilly and Michael only got caught occasionally, while they were throwing, and Sarah only got hit when a shot at Lilly or Michael went long, but because they couldn’t see her, Rob and Wally didn’t know except when she screamed.

“Wally.” Muttered Rob, “ I have a plan. Duck out of sight, don’t let them see you for the next ten minutes. They’ll think you’re trying to sneak up behind them and they’ll be on they’re guard. They won’t fight as hard, then, after a while when they don’t see you, they’ll think you’re just passing me ammunition. Gradually they’ll start fighting harder and paying less attention behind them. That’s when you’ll really sneak off. Take a sack full of mud balls with you, get into a spot where you can fire very quickly easily. Then fire off a lot very very fast and pretend to make off, but hide someplace, go back after a minute, assault again, then you really make off - got it?”

While he had been giving Wally that long lecture, he had still been fighting and dodging with as much vigor as before.

Wally obeyed his general, and after the correct time (or round about) he snuck off.

Very quietly Wally climbed up the back of the hill which was Michael’s fortress, making careful note of the best places to hide.

Once he stepped on twig which snapped painfully, making his heart skip a beat. Another time sent a tiny shower of gravel down the hill, but Michael’s army was engaged in it’s battle. Trying new tactics, throwing the odd high quality mud ball to catch Rob unawares, they didn’t here Wally sneaking down on them.

With lightning speed and pinpoint accuracy Wally chucked two high quality mud balls and Sarah, sprawled out directly beneath him, then he sent one each at Lilly and Michael.

Before they could launch a single muddy missile back at him, he was running up the hill and sliding down the other side of him.

Michael thought quickly. He realized that if he and his entire force left in pursuit of Wally, Rob would be able to drop down into the gully, and climb up into the fort, and Wally could take his old fort back. Then Rob would have won, so he and Sarah ran after the fleeing Wally, leaving Lilly to guard.

Wally had also thought quickly. He had fled in one direction, then he had flung himself behind a bush. From the bush he chucked stones on the path to make it sound like he was still running along it, but he had chosen a path that was out of sight of Michael and Sarah, and therefore they could not immediately see that he had been fooling them.

He soon stopped throwing stones now - that would be logical too - he would be too far away for Michael and Sarah to hear by now. Now Michael was sprinting down the false trail, but Wally was sneaking back to the weakly guarded fort.

With amazing speed he launched a heavy volley of his best mud balls on Lilly. These weren’t ordinary mud balls - they were like soft rocks, and they didn’t crumble when they hit their target.

Lilly screamed. Reeling she tried to get out of the path of the missiles. Slowly, though, she came to her senses: she had to play with her strengths and Wally’s weaknesses.

She began to sob, “Stop, stop!” she cried, “O you are mean, picking on a girl like that. Your hardest mud balls too - ooh! haven’t you ever been taught any manners!”

At this Wally began to falter, many of his shots began to fly wide, and they were slow. He was beginning to feel sort of guilty.

Then Rob who was watching from across the ditch, and firing the odd mud cake too, noticed that although Lilly was sobbing, and indeed there seemed to be tears running down her cheeks, she was gathering up mud balls that Wally chucked - and there was an evil glint in her eye...

“Wally!” screamed Rob, “Don’t listen to her - she’s making it up - Wally!”

But it was too late. Lilly was firing mud ball after mud ball at Wally as hard as she could.

On one hand They outnumbered her two to one, and Wally was higher too, but on the other hand, Lilly wasn’t about to jump out of a well defended fort and start running just because of a few mud balls.

The battle was still possible until: Thud!

A mud ball thunked into Wally’s back - Michael and Sarah were back. He had better get out of there - fast.

Then, with as sudden inspiration which he could never explain later, Wally did a very daring thing.

Although the slope down to the fort below him was very steep - almost a cliff - and although and the end of the fort there was a waist high wall - Wally sprinted down that steep dangerous hill, kept on running as he came down into the fort and with a massive leap, leaped over the fort wall into the gully below.

In the gully he landed into the soft mud and collapsed.

It had all happened so fast that as he landed, Lilly scream as he raced down almost on top of her, and Rob, and Michael gasps of surprise - they were still ringing in Wally’s ears.

He lay there stunned for a moment, then began to scramble up into his fort.

Then as his mind started working again he noticed something - Lilly was lying there in the mud a couple of metres from where he had been - her screams had not been entirely from the terror of seeing him sprint down on her, they were also the screams she had uttered as she jumped out of the fort to get out of his way!

Which meant... yes! The fort would be empty until Sarah and Michael climbed down.

That was what Rob was shouting at him. All at the same time, Wally and Lilly were climbing up and Michael and Sarah were climbing down. It was a race to see which team could get there first!

Wally got there first. he immediately started chucking his best ammunition at Michael and Sarah above him, meanwhile Rob was throwing at Lilly, completely exposed as she climbed up the wall.

All three soldiers of Michael’s team fled the scene. General Robert Thompson emerged victorious.

Rob did not feel so very victorious when he arrived home. His clothes in the worst state they’d ever been.

He got a great scolding from his mother and had to clean his clothes as punishment, however the day had been so much fun that he was prepared to receive the same punishment or worse for another battle. Especially since they hadn’t got to try out Wally’s mud cakes.

He didn’t get the chance, because winter set in early that year. That was the reason that a few weeks later he and Wally had there most exciting adventure yet - if not their most pleasant...

Sledding

The snow came early that year.

Indeed in the small village where Rob and Wally lived there were many years in which it did not snow at all, as it wasn’t very far north, but the winter of ’69 was a cold one and as early as November the cold winds came howling down from the north.

At first there was just freezing wind, but wind so strong that the children did not go out to play. The stayed in doors, trying to amuse themselves reading books. Wally was more successful in this than Rob, for it was not in Rob’s personality to just simply sit down and read books unless it was about aliens or terribly violent battles, and even then he struggled.

The freezing wind however, was not alone for long, within a few days it was carrying with it icy cold water which spattered the window panes and beat upon the roads. The wind continued to blow furiously.

Rob’s father had the fire going all day. Wally came over and they would play board games in the cozy warmth of blazing wood. That was all there was to do on those cold rainy days.

Just as the wind had not remained alone for long, however, neither did the rain, within a few days it disappeared and gave way to snow. And the snow flakes fluttered down against the dark sky, paving the roads with white. It was a furious blizzard, and it was not pleasant at all going outside while the snowflakes fluttered down.

Finally after four days of continuous snowing the storm eased and the children could go out.

In a village that rarely got more than 15 cm of snow the drifts were as high as the windows, and Rob and his father had to shovel a path to the road.

Once the chores were done, Rob and Wally were free to do pretty much whatever they wanted to do in the glorious snowy paradise.

First they made snowmen. Some were just ordinary snow men; some soldiers armed with sticks, some with faces as ugly and distorted as Rob and Wally could make them look.

Then they had snowball fights - that was fun, but they soon tired of even that. That was when Rob remembered his father’s sled. He had seen it last winter and begged to play with it, but his father had said no, maybe next winter.... But now it was next winter!

“Aw I know what we can do!” He yelled to Wally, “My Dad’s got a sled, we can take turns - c’mon.”

And he ran off to ask.

His father agreed and they spent the rest of the day taking turns sliding down a nice slope that Rob’s father had suggested they sled on.

But there was something wrong with this sled - it didn’t have a rudder. Wally had read about making rudders and he thought they could make one. Rob told his father about their plan, and as he didn’t have any work now that the snow had come, being a road builder, he decided to help them. The slaved away, a few hours each day for over a week. Finally it was done. Rob and Wally couldn’t wait to try it out.

“Be careful though.” Father called after them, “Don’t break your necks doing something stupid.”

Wally and Rob were ecstatic over their new rudder. They took turns sliding down the hill, taking twists and turns as they went. Then Wally had a sudden idea - he dashed off and came back ten minutes later dragging another sled behind him. It was slightly bigger than Rob’s sled, and it had a rudder!

“Where did you get that from?” asked Rob incredulously.

“It’s uncle Tom’s!” said Wally excitedly, “I suddenly remembered that old sled of his and popped over to see if I could borrow it! Now we can have races and stuff, and we can ride at the same time!”

This was paradise. They had races down the slope. Rob won most of the time, because his sled ran more lightly of the snow, but occasionally he would steer badly, or Wally would knock into him shaking him up and he would lose. Wally had an advantage in that, because his heavy sled could give bigger knocks, and wouldn’t be affected as much by a little bump.

The next day the boys were back. But this time, Rob wasn’t content just to go down that hill, he wanted to do something more exciting.

They trekked through the woods until they found a suitable slope, maybe a fifteen minute’s walk from the village under normal conditions, but more than half an hour away walking through the snow. But no matter the distance - this was the place for sledding. There were trees in the way, so that they could have obstacle course races, steering around the trees.

Neither of the boys thought twice about the danger involved. They were reckless and young and ready for adventure.

They had a heap of fun in these races. Every now and again one of them would hit a tree and their sled would go spinning down.

Then came the fateful incident. They threw a stick into the air to start the race.

Rob started very quickly and was immediately in the lead. By contrast, Wally had trouble getting his sled to start moving. But when he had he yelled after Rob, “Hey! You started before the stick hit the ground!”

“I did not!” retorted Rob, turning right round to yell back at Wally.

Rob was going faster and faster and he wasn’t looking where he was going.

“Look out!” shrieked Wally.

But it was too late. Rob smashed into a great oak with such force that the front of his sled smashed into a splintered mess. Rob fell out, his head bleeding, and toppled over a small precipice just beside the tree. He landed on his feet, but Wally who arrived sobbing at the scene a few seconds later, somehow did not think that his friend was okay. Rob’s leg was hanging at an unusual angle, perhaps it was broken, broken limbs often did that he had heard.

Suddenly it seemed so dark, and Wally realized it was getting late.

He climbed down the cliff face, to were Rob sat, his face as white as the snow around him. He appeared to be in great pain, yet he did not move - he was sitting rigidly clutching his leg.

Wally bound Rob’s leg, as Rob squealed with pain. Then he looked at the cut on Rob’s head. That was bleeding a lot, but it did not looks so serious. He put an unused handkerchief he had in his pocket over it and hoped it would heal quickly.

“OK Rob?” inquired Wally, “OK to go home?”

Rob groaned,“No Wally.” he muttered thickly, “I shall have to stay here all night. My leg - it pains me like a million injuries.”

“But Rob you’ll freeze to death if you stay out here in this weather.” pleaded Wally, his own teeth chattering, “Rob you have to come otherwise you might die.”

It was of no avail. Slowly Wally realized that however much Rob might want to go back home he just couldn’t with a broken leg. He also realized that however much he might want to he couldn’t pull Rob all the way back home in the sled.

Having lived in a small village all his life, Wally was no idiot when it came to survival. He quickly went to fetch his jacket and Rob’s where they had left them at the top of the hill. He gave Rob his own jacket as it was thicker, then he search for a place to spend the night.

He found a hollow in an old tree trunk and stuffed it with bracken to make it slightly warmer and more comfortable. He used the sled to pull Rob over to the tree, and laid him down in the bracken. The hollow was large enough that all but Rob’s legs were in it, shielded from the wind. Wally sat in the entrance to keep the hollow warm, taking care not to sit on Rob’s leg.

He wished he could have built a fire, but he had not brought matches. In any case, even if he had, it would be dangerous to light one just here as the bracken could catch alight, and then they would be trapped in with the fire - he might be able to leap out, but not carrying Rob, and he wouldn’t leave his best friend to be burnt alive.

“Anyway,” he told himself, “there is little wisdom in pointless supposing - it will only make my fear grow.”

And that was quite a wise thought for a boy of his age.

The night grew very cold. Wally tried to keep Rob as warm as possible, but it was difficult.

After what seemed an age - perhaps from about 4:30 the night before till about 7:00 the next morning. Wally lay there keeping his friend warm. Sometimes he dozed, but mostly he was wakeful.

He wanted to go as soon as he saw the first lights touch the landscape, but he realized that the last hour of the night is always the coldest. And indeed it was colder now than any other time during the night.

Rob awoke and they sat side by side, watching the movement of wildlife in the forest as the new day dawned. Every now and again Rob would wince and squeal in pain, and then Wally would wince with him.

Finally he sensed that the day was growing warmer.

“Alright Rob?” he muttered, “Will you be okay while I go for help.”

“Yeah man.” whispered Rob, “Thanks, your a great mate to have.”

Encouraged Wally hurried away. Walking as fast as he could in the snow, sometimes stumbling he headed back home. In so many stories kids get lost wandering round in places they don’t know, but Rob and Wally were country children born and bred. Wally instinctively knew the way home.

Twenty-five minutes later he stumbled into Rob’s home, “Mr and Mrs Thompson!” He yelled as he ambled into the kitchen, “Rob’s hurt! I think -”

He broke off. Rob’s mother and aunt were in the kitchen clutching each other, and they had obviously been crying, because there were tears running down their cheeks, but they had broken off as Rob came in, and now they were hiccuping.

“Wally!” exclaimed Mrs Thompson, “You’re alive! Is Rob alive too?”

“Yes Mrs Thompson, but he’s injured - he’s broken a leg!” said Rob, “Where’s Mr Thompson? I was hoping he and my Dad could come and help get Rob home!”

“Oh no!” cried Mrs Thompson, “Their both on a search party!”

“Alright then.” answered Wally bravely, “I’ll find some men who aren’t on a search party, and we’ll get Rob together.”

“OK Wally, but Mr Higgins, and Mr Kirkpatrick, and Mr Jordan are all out looking for you.”

Wally worked it out in his mind as he hurried out of the house. It wasn’t good. Mr Higgins was the teacher, and the man Wally knew best after his own father; Mr Jordan was the doctor and therefore the most logical person to ask.

He would ask Royce and Mr Putnam. Mr Putnam was Royce’s father, and he was very strong, and Royce was training to be a doctor from Mr Jordan. Yes, they would be best. He hurried to the Putnam’s.

Five minutes later Wally was sitting on Mr Putnam’s shoulders as he walked with his long easy stride in the direction Wally indicated. Royce was fifteen, but a lot smaller than his towering father, and had to trot to keep up. Royce was clutching the stretcher they had “borrowed” from Mr Jordan on their way out of town.

They were with Rob very soon and Mr Putnam gently picked him up in his strong arms, and lowered him onto the stretcher. Then the group trudged back, with Mr Putnam and Royce holding either ends of the stretcher. Mr Putnam talked soothingly to Rob and Wally walked slowly behind.

When they got back Wally was treated like a hero, but after he had been given a cup of hot chocolate he fell asleep in an old armchair at Rob’s house and slept the rest of the day and the next night, for he was thoroughly exhausted.

The Race

The winter was a long one. The snow, which in that village would normally melt a few days after falling, covered the ground until late January - a full two months.

For the rest of the winter neither Rob nor Wally did many interesting things. Rob couldn’t with his leg in a cast and Wally usually chose to play games with Rob or stay at home and read books. Occasionally he would go out and built snowmen by himself or with Michael, but he didn’t have the heart to go sledding.

In mid-January a new year of school began. Both Rob and Wally were now in the fourth grade. Rob had to get there on crutches for he was still wearing a cast.

The winter lingered until early March, then all at once Spring came. Flowers and trees were blossoming, chicks were hatching and poking their heads out of nests in the treetops.... Best of all Rob’s cast was gone, and now he could go anywhere without crutches. He could run, and play like the other boys, oh how nice spring was.

Rob got to thinking that he would have to prove that his leg was as good as new again - for all to see - but how would he do it? Suddenly he had it! He would run a race - not just any old race though, a real race. It would have obstacles and hurdles... maybe even tests of strength. He and Wally would run it, and all the school children would be witnesses as to who was the winner of the race, and hopefully, hopefully, it would be him.

Everyone would witness, but not everyone would help build the course. He, Wally, Michael, and Lilly would do that.

He hurried to find them and tell them of his plan.

The children spent the rest of the afternoon designing the course. The race would be held tomorrow morning as soon as school was out.

The race would start on Wally's street. Rob and Wally would both throw a brightly painted rock as far as he could down the street in the opposite direction to the main portion of the race, and each boy would race round the other's rock. In this way, the stronger thrower could garner an advantage at the start. After running down the road to the edge of the village they would turn off into the forest in a particularly dense spot. They would have to barge through a thicket, down to their favourite swimming-hole, swim across, and then race back to the village to finish about a hundred metres further down the road than the start-line.

Although it was only a couple of hours, school seemed to take an age to the boys (and indeed to everybody who had heard about the race). Mr Higgins seemed to talk about the most boring things, and mathematics seemed to be impossible. Both Rob and Wally got in trouble for not paying attention, but finally school was over.

The older boys and girls posted themselves along the course, to make sure that neither Rob nor Wally cheated. Some of the kids preferred to watch from somewhere along the way, but most congregated at the start-line. Even some adults turned up to watch the boys.

Michael and Sarah stood at the finish holding opposite ends of a ribbon. The winner would run through the ribbon and it would break in two, just like the races on television. Everybody knew, because Mr Putnam and Mr Smith both owned television sets and everybody had seen a race finish on television.

There was even a stopwatch - Marcus was timing the race. Rob and Wally had so much adrenaline that they were shaking all over.

Take your marks. Set. Go!

Both hurled their stones as hard as they could, and Rob’s green and Wally’s red went skittering down the road. Rob’s won went further, but not by very far. No sooner had the rocks left their palms than they were off! Everybody cheered. Feet pounding, heart beating, blood rushing.

Rob was ahead of Wally. He quickly turned round the rock and sprinted back in the opposite direction. He could do it! He was winning already. In his excitement Rob completely forgot about pacing himself. That was normally Wally’s mistake, but normally he didn’t have as much adrenaline.

He slowed down slightly as he realised his mistake, and Wally stopped losing ground. Before he knew it they were out of town and diving into the long, tangled grass. Now they were in the thicket. It was denser than he remembered and he was forced to greatly reduce his pace. Lactic acid poured into Rob’s muscles and he was forced to slow to a walk. Wally charged past him.

Rob pushed out of the thicket and jogged down the slope to the water whole. Wally was already diving in.

“Keep going Rob!” Yelled Sidney in encouragement. Sidney was acting life guard.

The encouragement helped. It gave him a fresh surge of adrenaline.

Once in the water Rob swam like a fish. He made gain on Wally, but was still five metres behind as Wally clambered out of the pool.

Rob’s leg was starting to pain him, but Wally was slowing down. The thought gave Rob hope and he ran with a nice quick stride. He would gradually gain on Wally and he would beat him in the final sprint.

But Rob’s leg was paining him worse now - supposing he couldn’t make it. He tried not to think about it. He looked around at the faces of the spectators - they were coming back towards the village now. That helped. Some were cheering, some were just peering intently, some were chattering amongst themselves.

Wally leapt up onto the road, Rob was right behind him. Wally was panting. He was tired. They broke into a sprint. Rob was on Wally’s heels. Now they were neck and neck. Now Rob had won!

It was so close, but he had won the day!

Everyone was cheering. The bigger boys were carrying Rob on their shoulders. They were slapping him on the back and whistling.

Wally wasn’t disappointed. He was happy. Happy for Rob. Rob was finally the same again.

The race was talked about for weeks, for in a small town not much happens to talk about, and one interesting event is often the subject of discussion for months.

Wally was happy because Rob was well again.

The Hunger

Wally, his mother, and his little sister Claudia, were sitting around the dining table, but there was nothing to eat. Each one had a horrible feeling in the pit of their stomach, for none of them had eaten enough in a long time.

Wally’s Father came in.

“James!” exclaimed mother, “Finally! Did you find anything to eat?”

But before she had finished speaking, she had guessed the answer from father’s tired and gloomy face.

“It’s no good.” he rumbled, “There’s not a spare bite from here clear to Westfield. The famine has hit, and it has hit hard.”

Wally had a feeling of fear as well as hunger in the pit of his stomach, now, and Claudia, although she did not know very well what was going on, knew that she was hungry, that everyone was sad, and that there was no food, and she began to wail. Mother tried to comfort her, but it was no use.

Wally wanted to shrink back and disappear, but from his body, a voice that did not sound like his own, but must have been, came forth.

“I’ll go.” it said bravely, “Me’n Rob will go. We aren’t scared, we’ll find food for you all and in any case, you won’t have to feed us if we go.”

After that his feet took him out the door, but it still didn’t feel like him.

Rob agreed to go with him. It seemed like a good chance for the boys to prove themselves. They would take the road North to Westfield, which should take about three days, which they knew, because men from the village often walked to Westfield. If they could not find food their they would turn east and walk clear to Mugsberry - another week. They would return home with a sack of food, and all the village would hail them as hero.

As they walked they kept their eyes pealed for food growing along the way. Once or twice they were lucky - a few turnips, an apple tree that the disease had not affected. It was a bad combination, the disease with the drought. One was bad, but together they wreaked havoc.

“My feet are sore Wally.” moaned Rob, “I can’t keep this up much longer.”

Wally was feeling the same pains. What was wrong? He knew this was the road to Westfield, but they were now marching through their fourth day and their was no sign of it.

Their feet were starting to blister, and the dust on the road was thick. Whenever they heard the roar of an engine, they fled off the road, for even the smallest automobiles raised enough dust that it took minutes for it all to settle again.

Summer was setting in, and the days were getting hot. Rob and Wally no longer needed their shirts to protect them from the cold, so they took them off and bound their feet.

They tramped into Westfield on the scorching hot evening of their fourth day. In Westfield there were beggars everywhere. There were automobiles everywhere, stirring up the dust. Even most of the people who weren’t beggars seemed thin and haggard and sad. Like Wally’s father had when he had come home the other day.

Rob and Wally sat down in a shady area. Rob took off his cap and laid it in front of him, to show that he was a beggar. The two boys sat there for a long time. Night fell, and the air grew cooler, but still people walked past looking gloomy and depressed. Some were obviously drunk. They had spent their last money on drink to make themselves forget. Still the automobiles roared past stirring up the dust, and making people cough.

Then finally something good happened. A rich man in an automobile must have seen the young boys. It must have pained him to see boys the age of his own children sitting there tired, hungry and confused. He pulled up and handed them a loaf of bread and some coins.

Wally felt too tired to say anything, but once again, that voice that didn’t sound like his own murmured thanks.

They stayed in Westfield, begging for another week, but it seemed that there was no more food to be had, so they set off again. Dragging their feet along. Ignoring the hunger pains that were gnawing at their stomachs.

Once they found a cat, half dead from hunger itself. They hated to do it, but they knew that it was the cat’s life or theirs. They killed the cat and lit a fire with the matches Rob had had the sense to bring. There was no shortage of dry fuel. So much so, that they decided to cook their meal on the road, for fear of starting a forest fire. The cat tasted disgusting. Some bits were burnt, some bits were barely cooked, they hadn’t skinned it well, so there was fur all over the place. Worst of all, they had killed the cat to get the food. It was horrible, they gagged as they ate, but still they ate. It was food after all, and that was something they could not do much longer without.

Another necessity that was even less easy to find was water. Rob had been clever enough to realize that they would have to bring water skins with them, but especially in Westfield, drinking water had been hard to find.

It was a well known fact among the village children that you can last seven times longer without food than without water, but there had always been an abundance in the village.

Now the boys dragged their feet along, low on food, low on water.

“I can’t go any further Wally.” whispered Rob finally, “We’re just about dead. We have to admit it. It is truth.”

They lay down in the grass along the side of the road. Once this grass would have been green and fresh. A pleasure roll and play in, with butterflies fluttering overhead, now it was brown. It was dusty and dry.

Every now and again they would see a bird and throw stones at it in attempt to bring down some food, but even if they had aimed well enough, they would not have got any food, for their stones fell well short of their mark. The boys were that tired.

Finally the boys managed to make themselves get up and keep walking. On and on they walked. Slower and slower.

The view was wonderful, like a great picture spread out before them, but it only made it clearer how very far the boys had yet to travel before they reached Mugsberry.

They sat down at the edge of a tall cliff motionless. Suddenly Rob got up and tried to push Wally off down the cliff. Wally was on his feet in an instant, and the two wrestled.

The hunger and fatigue had driven Rob half crazy and now he was trying to push Wally off the cliff so that he could eat him.

Wally fought, back, but Rob’s madness gave him power, and he pushed Wally off the cliff. As Wally fell, screaming, Rob was sane again for a moment.

“Wally!” he cried, “Oh Wally, I didn’t mean it! Oh Wally. What have I done.”

Wally woke up sweating. He was lying on the floor next to his bed.

It had all been a night mare, a horrible nightmare. There never had been a famine, Rob had never turned against him, it had all been a dream.

Murmurs came from along the corridor and then mother tiptoed into the room.

“Are you alright Dear?” she asked.

“Yes mum.” Wally replied, “I think I just fell out of bed.”

The Flooding

A few weeks later, a real natural disaster affected the areas around the village.

It did not kill, anybody, however, and it provided a heap of fun for the children of the village.

That May it rained and rained and rained. It rained continuously from the 5th till the 13th. Sometimes it was heavy, sometimes it was light. Always it was raining.

Finally the rain stopped. The village was on ground a little higher than the surrounding areas, but not a five minutes walk down into the forest, you would be down to the water line.

On top of the  flooding in that particular area, a river about fifteen kilometres away changed it’s course, so that some of it flowed through the flooded area. This meant, that the flooding rose a little higher, and the whole thing was slowly flowing, instead of just sitting in one place.

For the children, this was a perfect scenario for another battle.

Just think - now they could build battleships and sail across to try and take the opponents forts.

Miraculously the forts were just above the water line, this was great.

Better yet, Michael’s cousins were back. Their father was an ambassador in China, but they were home for the month.

Thomas, Katharine, and Sheila (for those were their names) were also thrilled with this idea, and immediately the teams got to work repairing their forts.

This time the armies were composed of Wally, Thomas, Lilly and Katharine on one side, and Rob, Michael, Sheila, and Sarah on the other.

The generals were Robert Thompson and Thomas Henderson.

Thomas armed his men with weapons he had brought all the way from China: little bamboo tubes, with little bamboo sticks, and with little green berries as ammunition. He would stuff a berry into the tube, push it to the end with the stick, put another berry in the empty end, push it down very quickly, and the air pressure would cause the first berry to shoot out of the tube like a bullet.

He used it on Wally to prove it’s usefulness, and boy, did Wally howl when he was hit. He wasn’t hurt bad though, it just stung at first. A minute later, he was eagerly trying out the new guns with Lilly.

Rob had always been more interested in tactics, but Thomas was a weapon freak. He spent hours teaching his soldiers how to make the best mud balls, and how to make battleships that didn’t leak too much. He also gave Mr Putnam money to buy water balloons for him in Westfield when he heard that Mr Putnam was going there.

He also put stashes of weapons everywhere just in case they were driven out of the fort.

Rob, on the other hand, was drawing detailed plans of possible invasions on Thomas’ team. He too made good quality mud balls, but he didn’t spend as much time on it as Thomas.

By the date of the battle - Saturday May 28th. The flooding had ebbed slightly, but the water was still considerably deep.

Thomas attacked first. All of his team had a “man” who they would pay more attention too than anyone else: Thomas was on Rob, Wally on Michael, Lilly on Sheila, and Katharine on Sarah.

At the command of Fire! Four strong mud balls flew forth. Lilly was the only one that didn’t hit - Sheila dodged out of the way.

Immediately Rob gave the order to lie flat, and they released volley after volley after volley of mud balls. The accuracy wasn’t great, but there was always something coming, so Thomas and his team found it hard to fight back. Then, when the enemy was ducking down, Rob launched a boat with Michael and Sheila on board. This was one of Rob’s many tactics.

“Try to aim just above the wall of the fort.” whispered Rob to Sarah, “That way, if they rise above it their in danger of being hit - and fire fast.”

Thomas sensed that the fire was was slowing. So ducking back and forth, so as to be a difficult target, he rose up and started chucking quality ammunition.

He saw the boat and the navy saw him at the same instant. He straightened and started throwing water balloons at the boat, forgetting all about Rob and Sarah.

Three mud balls hit him in succession. One on the stomach, winding him, one on the neck, and then and he dove beneath the wall, one caught him in the mouth.

“Up! Up! All of you, you lazy no goods!” He roared at his team as the dirt dripped from his lips, “Real warriors don’t leave their general to do all the work. Wally, and Katharine throw at the boat. Lilly! At Sarah and Rob!”

The army was immediately on it’s feet.

Rob groaned.

But Michael and Sheila had sum stuff in them. Despite the vigorous assault, and despite their leaking, boat, they sailed on, caught hold of the fort wall and tried to swing themselves up.

Wally grabbed Michael’s hands, and shoved them off sending him with a splash into the water. A mud ball and a water balloon caught him before he could recover, and he immediately swam under the boat for shelter.

Sheila made it however.

She knew it would be useless to drive all four of them out, so instead of fighting them she grabbed a sack of mud balls and another one of water balloons and hurled them into the water.

“You little devil.” roared Thomas, and swung her into the water too, but Sheila didn’t care. She had disposed of a whole sackful of their best mud balls. The water balloons wouldn’t sink, she knew, but at least she had done them a disfavour, by making them have to fetch it.

She didn’t even care about the mud balls, and green berries that hit her as she and Michael swam back.

“Well done guys.” whispered Rob as they got back, “That was a terrific idea Sheila, dumping their ammunition in the water.”

The battle raged on for another half hour. Wally and Lilly tried in vain to retrieve their ammunition, but they were met with such a violent assault that they were forced to retreat.

Then Thomas was out of ammunition.

“You peoples.” he whispered, “We’re out. Wally, go and fetch some from our secret stashes, meanwhile we’ll make them on the spot - it’ll have to do. We still have a few green berries, but the things take ages to reload.”

Wally, climbing the hill with his shirt, which just happened to be red, stood out like a flag.

“I wonder what he’s doing.” muttered Rob, incredulous, “He can’t hope to catch us by surprise - we know he’s there. Maybe he’s a decoy, and they’ve got something else up their sleeve.”

He was hit a dozen times before he disappeared over the other side.

“This is when we hit hard!” whispered Rob excitedly, “Wally is one of the best on their team and he’s gone. The mud ball’s they’re sending us are infrequent and are not of good quality, so if we are to assault at all, assault now. Michael, you guard the place, you know how to do it, the three of us will take as much ammunition as we can swim with and cross the moat. C’mmon.”

The three stuffed their pockets with dirt and Rob even took a small sackful. Then they dove into the water.

Sarah and Sheila swam close to the surface, not caring to go down into the murky depths, but Rob swam deep for two reasons. The first was that he could not be hit so deep down, and the second was that he could come out in an unexpected place, and would therefore have the element of surprise.

Rob came up to see Sheila fling Lilly into the water. Katharine screamed in fright and dove after her. The two girls were trying to get the better of Thomas, but even as Rob crept up behind him, Thomas threw Sarah out of the fort.

“Bye bye.” Said Rob as he heaved the Thomas’ bulk over the edge too.

General Robert Thompson had once again won the battle.

A few days later, Rob got the brilliant idea of going sailing down the river.

He fetched two large basins, one for himself and one for Rob, and went looking for sticks that would work well as paddles.

“Hey Wally, wanna go for a sail?” He asked when he saw Wally walking towards him.

Wally obliged, and they trotted down to the water line, holding the basins over their heads.

They put the basins down in the water, climbed in, shoved off and began to float down the river. This was the life, just floating slowly along, giving occasional thrusts with the “oars”. They played twenty questions for a while, then they would just drift.

Sometimes they drifted through woodlands. This was fun, because the basins would hit trees and go spinning round and round, making them quite dizzy. They sailed for a couple of hours, choosing to forget the consequences - having to walk all the way back, and then  possibly punishment on arrival.

Just when Rob was starting to get bored and thinking of turning around to go back home, the vast slow moving river split up. The main portion kept on flowing slowly along, and sort of took a turn to the East, while the side they were in narrowed and began to flow quickly down a gully.

The basins, with the boys in them went down that way.

The water was rushing very fast, and there were many rocks in the way. They would hit the rocks and go spinning, but not in the slow enjoyable way they had in the forest. No. Now they were spinning very fast and all the while speeding along down and down.

“Let’s hope their isn’t a waterfall at the bottom!” shouted Wally above the noise.

Rob tried to dismiss this from his mind as improbable and even stupid, but then, although the current was if anything slowing down, the roaring was growing louder and louder....

“IT IS A WATERFALL!!!!” screamed Rob, all his dignity forgotten, “WE’RE GONNA DIIIEEEEE!!!”

“We’re not gonna die Rob,” replied Wally. He had to shout above the noise, but Rob’s panic had calmed him, “Just grab onto the next rock you hit. Forget the basin.”

That’s what they did. The basins went flying over the roaring falls, but Rob and Wally were clinging onto rocks with all their might, lest the current carry them away.

“What are we going to do now Wally?” asked Rob.

“I suppose we’ll just have to try to get across.” He replied. “It’s shallow, so just try to crawl to the bank without being carried away.”

That is what they did. Wally was lighter than Rob, so by the time he got to the bank, he was a lot further downstream than Rob.

“Oh dear.” moaned Wally, “How are we ever going to get out of the gully.”

“We’ll just have to climb,” said Rob, “I’ll go first, since I’m better at climbing, and I’ll try to pull you out some how.”

A couple of minutes later, Rob was at the top of the five metre cliff. Being a village boy, he knew his knots, and he tied together his clothing, to make a sort of rope. Wally would have to climb part of the way before he could get any help though. After a lot of effort on both sides, Wally finally flopped down on the grass beside Rob and they lay there panting hard for a few minutes.

It was evening now, but it was summer, and neither of them were injured, so they set off back home. They knew how much their families would worry. They might even send out search parties again.

It was past eight by the time they stumbled into the village. They went into Rob’s house to find Rob’s father talking urgently with some men.

“Dad!” said Rob hoarsely.

“Rob!” exclaimed his father, “And Wally too! You must never do this to us again. Never! We were so worried about you, and we were about to go out looking for you again.”

Rob almost collapsed and his father had to catch him before he fell.

“You’re tired Rob,” said his father in a much gentler tone, “Come on, I’ll put you to bed. Mr Jordan can you please take Wally home.”