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| 18. Hobby Horse Hullabaloo. |
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Professor Dunlambert hadn't slept at all well. The Lough Shore annual regatta was today; there was a race to be won and Team Fergus had a raft to build before lunchtime.
'Right...' she muttered as she crawled out of bed, '...let's get Maud Pinkerton up here. She'll design a craker for us!
***
Four miles south of the castle, the morning session of the regatta was getting under way. The lifeboat people patrolled the sea keeping the raft teams safe, while the coastguard guys kept an eye on things on the shore.
Hundreds of visitors cheered the racers as the funfair and circus set up on the green just inland of the sandy beach.
Everything was under control.
UNTIL THE CIRCUS LORRY SKIDDED OFF THE ROAD...AND SAMSON THE ELEPHANT SKIDDED OFF THE CIRCUS LORRY!
And as the circus crew tried to direct him AWAY from the funfair, all hell broke loose - well, one of the carousel hobby horses did anyway; the one Shane McClatchey was just testing. Unfortunately Shane didn't manage to get clear of it before they hit the ground together, leaving two nasty gashes on his right leg, and a rip in his brand new jeans which he was more worried about...at first!
But as the blood carried on running from the wounds, Shane got dizzier and dizzier. So dizzy, in fact, that he didn't see the wooden box of elephant feed. And over he went in a crumpled heap of hobby horse hullabaloo.
The circus workers were no help to Shane: they had Samson the frightened elephant to steer away from the crowd.
The Coastguard guys were no help: they had a panicking crowd to steer away from the sea.
The lifeboat crews were no help either: they had sixteen raft teams to keep safe.
AND NOBODY ELSE KNEW ANY FIRST AID!
***
Four miles up the road, Uncle Sid's one good ear was up and down, round and round, like an excited kid on a helter-skelter. He'd never heard an elephant trumpeting before.
Ben, Maud and the professor had, but they assumed it was some sort of starting and finishing horn for the raft races. They carried on putting the finishing touches to their own Team Fergus raft.
But suddenly the one-eared Old English sheepdog began to howl. And seconds later the castle was filled with the helicopter-chasing-the-police-car sound, as the lights on the Beetle flashed.
Ben Madigan went through his part of the launch sequence. 'What is it?' he shouted. 'Who needs Team Fergus this time?'
'A horse has come loose at the funfair and crashed onto the ground,' the professor replied, going through HER part of the launch sequence.
'Shouldn't we be sending a vet then?' Ben suggested.
'Not a real horse, you idiot!' she replied. 'A hobby horse - from the carousel. And it's smashed into someone's leg. Bleeding quite badly apparently. And the ambulance can't get to the scene because a lorry's causing havoc with the traffic.'
Uncle Sid went through his part of the launch sequence as Maud Pinkerton watched in wonder.
And off went Fergus in a blast of colour.
'Don't forget, wee guy...' shouted Ben, skywards, '...Shaftesbury Gardens...I'll be waiting. Don't stand me up this time!'
It was a perfect launch...ALMOST!
For as Uncle Sid hosed the coloured juice off the screen, and the professor fired up the laptop computer, Ben Madigan bent down to lift the piece of magic stone and set it safely in its hiding place behind the wall plaque. But he completely failed to spot the little metal ring spinning at the back of the launch pad.
***
As usual, the landing was slightly dodgy.
The paramedic superhero goose once again managed to stumble, trip, roll and fall over his wrong-way-round legs. What eventually stopped him this time, was the box of elephant food that Samson was trying to get at. And as Fergus sent the contents flying onto the road, a very grateful (and very hungry) elephant quickly scoffed the lot, and finally calmed down.
Now it was safe to get on with the first aid stuff.
There was nothing to suggest that Shane McClatchey had broken any bones; it was just that the bleeding wouldn't stop. But cuts, grazes and gashes were easy-peasy for a talented superhero goose.
He just had to:
- get the patient lying down to stop the dizziness,
- rest the injured leg up high on something to slow the bleeding down,
- put a clean, dry bandage on the wound with some pressure.
EMERGENCY OVER!
Of course Shane still needed to go to hospital to get the leg cleaned up properly - and quite a few stitches too, probably. But the ambulance was still miles away, stuck in the traffic. Thankfully the professor had spotted that from the castle...on her laptop. And within just ten minutes, she and Maud Pinkerton were waiting at the beach to transport Shane up to Farset City Hospital by speedboat.
And how did they get Shane from the carousel to the beach?
ON THE BACK OF AN ELEPHANT CALLED 'SAMSON' OF COURSE!
Well let's face it...when it comes to huge crowds of people...who on earth's NOT going to make way for an elephant?
***
Fergus, with free time on his hands - well, on his wings - was having such fun riding on the empty carousel. Little did he know that a new emergency was about to unfold.
For as Professor Dunlambert handed her patient over to a waiting ambulance at the city harbour, a police patrol boat went speeding past them...in the direction of the Lough Shore funfair. They looked like they were on a mission; a mission to snatch back the goose golf mascot if she wasn't mistaken.
Once again, Fergus had been rumbled!
Luckily she was able to warn her little green friend through his earpiece in plenty of time.
He jumped from the hobby horse and flicked his tail - with its tiny piece of magic stone - into the emergency tin of fruit on the back of his belt. He closed his eyes and looked skyward; ready for take-off as it exploded in a riot of colour and smell.
Brilliant! Except he DIDN'T take off.
The fruit can did, though - whizzing around the carousel faster (and in the opposite direction) than the hobby horses. A bit like a ball in a roulette wheel!
And although Fergus had no idea WHY he was still squatting on the ground, you and I both know it had something to do with a metal ring left back on the launch pad at the castle; the metal ring which should have kept the emergency fruit can fastened to Fergus' belt.
The police officers piled off their boat in search of the missing mascot goose, just as the morning series of raft races was ending.
Luckily for Fergus, the crowds were heading back his way too; SLOWLY, because nobody wanted to spook Samson again. And because the crowds were so big, the police officers had no way through.
Ben Madigan could see it all on the laptop at the castle, but he had no way of speaking to Fergus.
Fergus had no way of speaking to the professor to tell her what had happened.
The professor could speak to Fergus from her microphone, but since she'd forgotten to take the laptop with her and couldn't see what was going on, that wasn't a fat lot of use to anybody.
Elephants, on the other hand, NEVER FORGET. And this particular one didn't forget that when he was frightened and hungry, the little green goose had come to his rescue. And with one last HUGE trumpet sound, he lifted Fergus on the end of his big grey trunk and swung him to the top of the fairground helter-skelter; the helter-skelter which was just high enough to let Fergus glide off and disappear into the distance.
Next stop:- Shaftesbury Gardens...and a waiting secret agent on a trike!
Watch out for the next BLOG...coming soon.
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