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| 5. The Gobstopper-popping Goose that went ...SPLASH! |
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Ben Madigan left Moss Abbey Ambulance Station in a hurry, his trike rumbling out through the hospital gates in a cloud of dust; all set up for a wild-goose chase of a day. But where to start?
The goose symbol still wasn't flashing on his tracking device, and with every fire station he visited empty, he'd absolutely no clues to go on.
Rachel McGinty wasn't in much better mood either as she toured the countryside looking for the one-eared dog. He was missing from the flat, but she never thought to check the vet's just down the road where he'd spent the night sleeping off his little asthmatic emergency.
The fire fighters were busy doing their rounds of local shops and offices, checking fire alarms and escape plans; making sure stairways weren't blocked in case anybody ever needed to get out of the smokey buildings in a hurry.
Oh...and sticking up MISSING posters of the little goose in glasses!
Even the vet was puzzled; now that the one-eared dog was fully fit, the nurse from the surgery had taken him back to where he'd been found, in the hope that someone might claim him.
But once off the lead, the dog just legged it, and a lot faster than a nurse in fancy shoes on a muddy path could run!
*
Retired Ambulanceman Ernie Walker was a little sad to see the goose-sized crate on the Moyle Princess boat in Ireland.
He knew it was for the best that the goose was going home, but all the same, he'd spent a lot of time, and taken a lot of care putting it back together.
And OK, it wasn't a brilliant job, what with the glue and safety pins and sticky tape, but the little green uniform was an absolute masterpiece... even if Mrs Walker did say so herself.
The Moyle Princess set sail bang on time, not far from where my wonderful niece Edna was setting sail in her own little rowing boat beside Stepminder Castle. In fact, if she'd had my binoculars handy, she could have made out the very address label on the goose-sized crate on the bigger boat in the distance.
But of course the binoculars were somewhere in the highlands of Scotland by now, draped around Maud Pinkerton's neck, no doubt. And besides, Professor Edna Dunlambert's only concern today was fishing; she knew nothing about a missing goose, or a missing one-eared dog.
Nor, for that matter, about a bright purple gobstopper that was about to go missing in about twenty-two minutes.
*
It was Sean and Connor McCabe's first time on a proper boat with their kid brother Colm.
It was barely out of harbour before they'd spent all their pocket money on fizzy drinks, a pack of playing cards and a bag of gobstoppers in assorted colours from the on-board shop.
They were too excited to stay indoors though, and by the time the boat reached open waters, most of the cards had been blown away in a series of wild Irish Sea gusts.
They argued about whose fault it was the cards were gone. Then they argued about who should ask mum for some more money to buy another pack. Finally they argued about who should have the last gobstopper...
the purple one.
What Sean and Connor didn't realise though, was that it was already in Colm's mouth. And while the two older boys searched high and low for it, Colm kept tight-lipped and held his breath.
But it's hard to hold your breath when a freak wave hits the side of your boat and salt water goes shooting up your nose, while all sorts of ropes and boxes come crashing down around your feet.
And when you get a surprise as huge and as salty as that, the last place you want a gobstopper going, is down into your windpipe...
WINDPIPES WERE DESIGNED FOR BREATHING IN AIR...NOT GOBSTOPPERS!
Sean and Connor McCabe knew right away their kid brother was in real trouble; he was choking and his lips were quickly turning as blue as the ocean. But they hadn't the foggiest notion how to save him.
Sean ran one way, Connor the other... both screaming for help.
Colm stumbled around the deck in a frightened daze, holding his throat.
He was alone and starting to get very weak and very, very dizzy.
He could see stars in front of his eyes; he could see the tangled ropes and smashed boxes getting all blurred.
But suddenly, among the stars, out of the blur, and out of one of those very boxes, he saw a bright orange beak and a pair of glasses coming straight at him.
His first thought was to turn and run... and who could blame him?
But as he did turn, he felt the big orange beak whack him on the back, right between his shoulder blades - not just once, but three times.
And with each whack, he felt the gobstopper move a little bit more.
But still he couldn't breathe!
There was no sign of his big brothers yet, or the help they'd gone to find. But as Colm looked down, he saw two orange webbed feet wrapped around his waist.
He would have screamed if he could, but in a split second he felt the webbed feet dig into his tummy and shoot up towards his ribs.
And at exactly the same moment, the purple gobstopper shot up from his windpipe, out of his mouth, and across the deck into the ship's bell.
As the 'DING' sounded, Colm finally managed a deep breath and fell backwards.
Unfortunately, right behind him was the little goose in the green uniform, with its wings held on tight by huge safety pins; so tight that it couldn't grab onto anything.
And over the safety rail it went... disappearing with an almighty splash!
*
Far away in Scotland, all Ben Madigan could do now was wait for the little goose that Ernie Walker had just phoned to say was safely on board the Moyle Princess and should be back at Moss Abbey the next day.
All my niece Edna could do was fish on the little boat that kept her mind off the million-and-one chores that needed doing around Stepminder Castle.
All the one-eared dog could do was sit tight at the Scottish harbour, listening out for the rumble of the trike he was sure would be here some day soon.
Of course none of them knew about Colm McCabe, or the purple gobstopper, or the goose that had just gone...SPLASH!
Watch out for the next BLOG coming soon.
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