Danny  Ch. 7 (2)  
Page 56-61

5. Read Story

Page 56

The Baby Austin

Part 2

I kept going.

I knew every bit of the road,
every curve
and every little rise
and dip.

Once
a fox
flashed out of
the hedge
in front of me

and ran
across the road
with his long
bushy tail
streaming out
behind him.

I saw him clearly
in the glow
of my headlamps.

His fur
was red-brown
and he had
a white muzzle.

It was a thrilling sight.

I began to worry
about the motor.

I knew very well
it would be certain
to overheat
if I drove for long
in either first
or second gear.

I was in second.

I must now
change up
into third.

I took
a deep breath
and grasped
the gear-lever
again.

Foot off
the accelerator.

Clutch in.

Gear-lever up
and across
and up again.

Clutch out.

I had done it!


I pressed down
on the accelerator.

The speedometer
crept up
to thirty.

I gripped
the wheel
very tight
with both hands

and stayed
in the middle
of the road.

At this rate
I would soon
be there.

Hazell’s Wood
was not
on the main road.

To reach it
you had to
turn left
through a gap
in the hedge
and go uphill
over a bumpy track
for about
a quarter
of a mile.

If the ground
had been wet,
there would have been
no hope
of getting there
in a car.

Page 57

But
there hadn’t been
any rain
for a week
and the ground
would surely
be hard
and dry.

I figured
I must be getting
pretty close
to the turning place
now.

I must
watch out for it
carefully.

It would
be easy
to miss it.

There was no gate
or anything else
to indicate
where it was.

It was simply
a small gap
in the hedge
just wide enough
to allow
farm tractors
to go through.

Suddenly,
far ahead of me,
just below
the rim
of the night sky,
I saw
a splash
of yellow light.

I watched it,
trembling.

This was something
I had been dreading
all along.

Very quickly
the light
got brighter
and brighter,
and nearer
and nearer,

and in a few seconds
it took shape
and became
the long white beam
of headlamps
from a car
rushing
towards me.

My turning place
must be
very close now.

I was desperate
to reach it
and swing
off the road
before
that monster
reached me.

I pressed my foot
hard down
for more speed.

The little engine
roared.

The speedometer needle
went from thirty to thirty-five
and then to forty.
 
But
the other car
was closing fast.

Its headlamps
were like
two dazzling
white eyes.

They grew bigger
and bigger
and suddenly
the whole road
in front of me
was lit up
as clear
as daylight,
and SWISH!
the thing
went past me
like a bullet.

It was so close
I felt the wind
of it through
my open window.

And
in that tiny
fraction of a second
when the two of us
were alongside
one another,

I caught a glimpse
of its
white-painted body
and I knew
it was
the police.

I didn’t dare
look round
to see
if they
were stopping
and coming back
after me.

Page 58

I was certain
they would stop.

Any policeman
in the world
would stop
if he suddenly
passed a small boy
in a tiny car
chugging along
a lonely road
at half past two
in the morning.

My only thought
was to get away,
to escape,
to vanish,
though heaven knows
how I was going
to do that.

I pressed my foot
harder still
on the accelerator.

Then all at once
I saw
in my own
dim headlamps
the tiny gap
in the hedge
on my left-hand side.


There wasn’t time
to brake
or slow down,
so I just
yanked the wheel
hard over
and prayed.

The little car
swerved violently
off the road,

leaped
through the gap,
hit the rising ground,
bounced high
in the air,

then skidded round sideways
behind the hedge

and stopped.

The first thing
I did
was to switch off
all my lights.

I am not
quite sure
what made me
do this

except that
I knew
I must hide

and I knew
that if
you are hiding
from someone
in the dark

you don’t
shine lights
all over the place
to show
where you are.

I sat very still
in my dark car.

The hedge
was a thick one
and I couldn’t see
through it.

The car
had bounced
and skidded
sideways
in such a way
that it
was now
right off
the track.

It was
behind the hedge
and in
a sort of field.

It was facing back
towards the filling-station,
tucked in very close
to the hedge.


I could hear
the police car.

It had pulled up
about fifty yards
down the road,
and now
it was backing
and turning.

The road
was far too narrow
for it to turn round
in one go.


Then the roar
from the motor
got louder
and he came back fast
with engine revving
and headlamps blazing.

He flashed past
the place
where I was hiding
and raced away
into the night.

Page 59

That meant
the policeman
had not seen me
swing off the road.

But he was certain
to come back again
looking for me.

And if he
came back
slowly enough
he would probably
see the gap.

He would stop
and get out
of his car.

He would walk
through the gap
and look behind
the hedge,

and then…
then his torch
would shine
in my face
and he would say,
‘What’s going on,
sonny?

What’s the big
idea?

Where do you think
you’re going?

Whose car
is this?

Where
do you live?

Where
are your parents?’

He would
make me go
with him
to the police-station,

and in the end
they would get
the whole story
out of me,
and my father
would be ruined.

I sat quiet
as a mouse
and waited.

I waited
for a long time.

Then
I heard the sound
of the motor
coming back again
in my direction.

It was making
a terrific noise.

He was going
flat out.

He whizzed
past me
like a rocket.

The way
he was gunning
that motor
told me
he was
a very
angry man.

He must
have been
a very puzzled man,
too.

Perhaps
he was thinking
he had seen
a ghost.

A ghost boy
driving
a ghost car.

I waited
to see
if he would
come back
again.

He didn’t come.

I switched on
my lights.

I pressed
the starter.

She started
at once.

But what about
the wheels
and the chassis?

I felt sure
something
must have got broken
when she
jumped off
the road
on to
the cart-track.

I put her
into gear
and very gently
began to
ease her forward.

Page 60

(picture only)

Page 61

I listened carefully
for horrid noises.

There were none.

I managed
to get her
off the grass
and back
on to the track.

I drove
very slowly now.

The track
was extremely
rough and rutted,
and the slope
was pretty steep.

The little car
bounced and bumped
all over the place,
but she kept going.

Then at last,
ahead of me
and over to the right,
looking like
some gigantic
black creature
crouching on
the crest of the hill,
I saw Hazell’s Wood.

Soon I was there.

Immense trees
rose up
towards the sky
all along
the right hand side
of the track.

I stopped
the car.

I switched off
the motor
and the lights.

I got out,
taking the torch
with me.

There was
the usual hedge
dividing the wood
from the track.

I squeezed
my way
through it
and suddenly
I was right inside
the wood.

When I looked up
the trees
had closed in
above my head
like a prison roof
and I couldn’t see
the smallest patch
of sky or
a single star.

I couldn’t see
anything
at all.

The darkness
was so solid
around me
I could almost
touch it.

‘Dad!’
I called out.

‘Dad,
are you there?’

My small
high voice
echoed through
the forest
and faded
away.

I listened
for an answer,
but none came.

The End

ThEnd