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| 21. JIMBOB JELLYBEAN AND THE FLYING DAGGERS. (A story by Woodburn Primary School's Year 5 children) |
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A huge balloon floated over Stepminder Castle, in the shape of 999. In the courtyard below, the Year 5 children's party was in full swing. The idea had come from Station Commander Max Joyce from Rockfergus Fire Station. He thought it would be a super idea to have a fun day for the 999 emergency services on the very day the castle was 999 years old.
Would you believe it...almost a thousand years since it had been built to protect the magic stone!
The courtyard was buzzing with fast food vans, candy floss, all sorts of stalls, and bouncy castles in every shape and size imaginable. And of course, Maud Pinkerton's ice cream van. The mayor was there too, and a few tourists even called in to see what all the fuss was about.
The only thing missing, was JIMBOB JELLYBEAN, the children's entertainer. His stage was all set up; the 'JimBob JellyBean' jingle was playing, and the lights were flashing. But no sign of the star attraction.
He was, in fact, behind the stage, dusting himself down after tripping over an electric cable while practising his free-running act. He'd banged his head on the castle wall; the real castle that is...not a bouncy one! And he couldn't prove it, but he was pretty sure it was that little rascal Melanie Scott who'd moved the cable there on purpose.
Anyway, apart from seeing a few stars and a strange ringing in his ears, he reckoned he was OK now to go on stage and do his act.
Professor Dunlambert was busy too, in the huge banquet hall. She was looking after the top bosses from the Ambulance, Coastguard, Police and Fire and Rescue Services.
There was, of course, one small matter she'd had to be very wary of: a certain goose who lived in the castle, and who was on the run from all of them. But not to worry...Ben Madigan had that one sorted: nobody was going to recognise him underneath the ZORRO costume, with his black hat, black mask, and black cape.
Back on stage, JimBob JellyBean's act was well under way. The children had been amazed by the magic, and in stitches at JimBob's crazy jokes. And now that he'd run out of balloons to make into animals, it was on to the scary dagger-juggling they'd all heard so much about. And when it was finished, he'd end the show with the dazzling display of free-running.
Uncle Sid loved the fact that so many people had come to the castle to celebrate, but there wasn't really much for him to do, except lie at the bottom of the steps leading up to the private wing of the castle. That's where the professor, Ben and Fergus lived. My niece didn't want mischievous Melanie up there causing havoc.
It's also where the banquet hall was, where the professor was entertaining her guests. Until now, that is.
All of a sudden, pagers were bleeping, radios were blaring, and a hoard of footsteps came charging down the steps, like stampeding elephants.
Within less than a minute, there wasn't a single member of the emergency services left in Stepminder Castle; they were all racing towards Farset City Airport, where the pilots of an incoming jet had reported problems with their landing gear. It was, actually, a pretty regular problem, and nearly always a big fat storm in a teacup. But still, the emergency services had to be there by the time the jet landed. JUST IN CASE!
And talking of cases, the party crowd stood open-mouthed, as JimBob JellyBean balanced on one leg on a suitcase of his very own, juggling five daggers at once. They gasped as he closed his eyes, yet carried on juggling. They guessed it was all part of his act and cheered for all they were worth.
What they didn't realise though, was that the stars were back before JimBob's eyes, and the ringing in his ears was now deafening. And that one leg on a suitcase, under those circumstances, was a recipe for disaster - especially with five flying daggers so close!
Well, as JimBob fumbled, the suitcase wobbled. And as Jimbob stumbled, the suitcase tumbled.
One dagger smashed a coloured light above the stage. Two of the others landed on balloons, causing a pink giraffe and a blue elephant with a yellow trunk to go 'BANG!' A fourth punctured JimBob's microphone. But the one that did the most damage, was still in the air as Mr JellyBean landed on the stage floor with his arm outstretched. It was like slow-motion: everyone knew it was going to happen, but nobody could do a thing about it.
And yes...right through his outstretched hand it went!
Most of the audience just about managed to get their eyes closed in time. Some turned and ran in the opposite direction. A few - just a few - ran on to the stage to help. But none of them knew what to do.
JimBob was very quiet; he looked dazed. There was quite a lot of blood on the stage, and it was still flowing out of the wound.
For a moment there was complete panic. Should they move him? Should they sit him up, or just keep him lying down? Should they pull the dagger out or leave it where it was? Nobody knew what to do for the best.
Then, from nowhere, up popped ZORRO; well, the Zorro with an orange beak and strange orange, webbed feet.
He rushed from the right of the stage just as Ben Madigan jumped on from the back.
Ben switched off all the electrics, ushered everyone out of the way, and moved all the obstacles from the immediate area, as the masked superhero sprang into action; the masked superhero who never panicked at the sight of blood.
He kept JimBob lying down. He checked first of all that the patient was awake and breathing normally. He was, although still a little groggy from banging his head earlier.
And he didn't remove the knife. Instead, he raised JimBob's arm into the air and packed bandages tightly around the dagger; putting just enough pressure on the wound to stop the bleeding, but also to support the dagger so it didn't move; taking it out could only be done safely at hospital, where they'd also check the damage the castle wall had done to his head.
It was probably just a little concussion, but better to get these things checked.
Emergency over! All the hard work had been done by the time the professor arrived at the castle gate, where Jimbob was now sitting comfortably; getting some space and a breath of fresh air. She double-checked everything anyway, counting JimBob's pulse and checking his blood pressure with her pink stethoscope. He was ready to go to hospital now.
They would have taken the Beetle of course, had it not been for the flat tyre. And no prizes for guessing which little rascal had let that down! So instead it was time to rev up the trike and take it for a spin up to the city.
Meanwhile, word had come back from the airport that the OTHER panic was over too, and the emergency services were on their way back to the party. But 'what?' the professor wondered, 'would Station Commander Max Joyce and the others make of a masked superhero with an orange beak?'
They couldn't take that chance.
There was nothing else for it: Ben had to get JimBob JellyBean out of there quickly, and take Mr. FERGUS McZORRO with them.
Moments later, as the trike roared off into the distance, JimBob Jellybean held on to Ben with his good arm, and waved the injured one to the cheering crowd. Clearly there was no serious damage done.
Fergus laughed. 'Looks like we'll all be back in time for the fireworks display then!'. And with that, he popped down into the luggage box.
Just in time too, because the emergency services men and women were flooding back into the castle.
But even without JimBob JellyBean, the show went on. And the new star attraction was a free-running big Old English Sheepdog; jumping through hoops...trying to complete a whole obstacle course without biting the elephant-shaped balloon in his slobbering mouth.
Now for me, the original Lord Sidney Dunlambert, that wouldn't have been a problem: I'd have just taken my false teeth out and not let on. But for that big bouncing bundle of grey and white fur with real, and very sharp teeth? Well, that was a big ask...especially with one eye on mischievous Melanie!
Watch out for the next BLOG...Coming soon!
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