Colin Meets an Emu (2 page)

They had just arrived in front of the duck-fishing stall, which was circular and had all round it a trough of water about half a metre wide and about a metre off the ground. Lots of little wooden ducks floated on it. To win a prize one had to hook three of them out of the water and score at least 25. Each duck had a number painted underneath it. Olivia had stopped here. Two men, short, dark-haired, dark-eyed, and menacing looking with shaven heads and wearing black jeans and black sweaters, stood on either side of her. They spoke in quiet, deep voices, but the threat in their words was clear.

“Ciao, Olivia!”

“Ciao, baby!”

Olivia pretended to ignore them.

“Don't go deaf on us, Olivia darlin', or that can be arranged for real,” murmured Twin One.

“What do you two filthy pigs want?” hissed Olivia. Her eyes seemed to flash defiantly. “I don't have to talk to you.”

“Now, now, no need to be insulting.” Then Twin Two added, “Oh, by the way, our associates have just been talking to your three brothers, and Darius in particular is very keen to hand over all that you make tonight. After all, aren't we, should we say, the Controllers of this - How do you say it? – ‘patch' of the city? Aren't
we
also a worthy charity?”

He gave a low chuckle, as did his brother, but there was no humour in it, and with a swift movement he reached forward to take hold of Olivia's extra large carrier-bag.

“What have we here?” he asked, tipping it upside down. Nothing fell out. “Oh, not started yet? Well, you better have got plenty for us by the end of the night. Shall we say eleven o'clock at your caravan?” He tossed the bag on the ground, and called, “Hey, Nico, Carlo, keep an eye on her. Don't let her out of your sight.”

Without waiting to hear Olivia's furious reply, the twins strode arrogantly off. They were immediately lost to sight among the crowds of people still enjoying the fair. All the onlookers had decided it was wiser for them not to interfere, and they began to drift away, as two burly young men stepped purposefully towards Olivia.

 

Colin decided it was time to act. “Right, M,” he murmured. “It's time those two went for a bath!” The emu needed no encouragement. He knew exactly what Colin meant. One after the other Nico and Carlo felt themselves gripped by a powerful unknown, unseen force and hurled into the water-filled trough along with the little floating ducks. Bewildered and soaking, Nico sat up in the trough. Four little ducks, showing their bottoms, stuck to him, whereas Carlo only had three.

“Oh dear, oh dear!” jeered Colin. “You only scored 14 and 9. What a shame! You couldn't win a prize even if we combined your scores!”

“Yaaaargh!” roared Nico, launching himself at Colin. Once again he found himself gripped by a mysterious unseen force. Only Colin and Sammy could see M. Everyone else thought Nico was running away at full speed. Carlo, like everyone else, was looking on in amazement, when he too was suddenly propelled out of the trough, in which he was sitting, to speed between the stall and sideshows. Colin and Sammy raced after him, and they saw M just emerging from the men's toilet block.

Colin heard what had happened, as it was described to two policemen standing at the entrance. Little Ziggy, who had once been a circus clown, was now in charge of the toilets and washrooms at the fair.

“I couldn't believe it! It was as if they were playing some mad game. No, not racing leap-frog. What do you call it? Slam Dunk? I don't know. Anyway, I was just mopping the floor here by these wash-basins, when these two big blokes came running in, well not together, but one after the other with perhaps half a minute in between. As I say, they came running in, sort of dived forward and stuck their heads into those toilet bowls there. They were shouting and screaming, but I couldn't understand what they were saying. I think one of them may have said “Mama mia!” but I'm not sure. What's even more incredible is that they kept their heads stuck in there and then they flushed the toilets on themselves! Crazy men!” Ziggy shook his head in wonderment. “I've never seen anything like it! And then they just ran off screaming!”

Of course what Ziggy did not know and had not seen was M using his beak powerfully and skilfully to reduce Nico and Carlo to nervous, gibbering wrecks.

Once again, however, Colin, M and Sammy had lost track of Olivia. So, once again they wandered through the fairground looking for her. Sammy yapped twice. Colin expected that his little dog had found her, but instead he realised that M had vanished again. To his great relief after a few anxious moments he saw the great bird's head and long thin neck above the heads of the people all around, but what on earth was he doing? Colin managed to squeeze past a young couple and found himself standing in front of an ice-cream stall. M was dipping his head forward into the various tubs of differently flavoured ice-creams. He would snatch a beakful, raise his head high in the air, and then swallow the large lump of ice-cream, shuddering in delight, as it slid down his neck.

“Oh dear!” thought Colin. “Auntie Flo was quite right. Easily distracted! He certainly is!”

Quickly he asked for a vanilla ice and paid for it with a £5 note. “Keep the change,” he said to the surprised, very busy stallholder, who had not noticed an invisible emu stealing his ice-cream.

“Listen, M,” said Colin. “We haven't got time to waste. We must find Olivia. She may be in great danger!” The emu didn't look guilty, but he never did, did he?

 

Carrying Sammy, so that he would not be trampled by the people still crowding the narrow alleyways between the stalls and sideshows, Colin hurried in search of Olivia. It was quite hard work pushing his way through but M, it seemed, had no such problems and it was M, who by holding his head high, spotted her. He ducked his head and tapped his beak gently on Colin's shoulder to tell him to follow. Colin glanced at his watch. It was nearly a quarter to eleven. Once more they were heading for the caravans. Once more they skirted the dizzyingly high tower of the Helter-Skelter with its spiral descent, the long, long GHOOOOOOOOST Train, and the gigantic structure of the Hellzapoppin-Screamalong roller-coaster ride. Colin crouched down in the semi-darkness and peered round the corner of the caravan that was parked askew. Yes, Olivia was there, and so were her three brothers, looking very frightened, guarded by two thugs both a head taller than the Sanguinetti twins, who were grinning triumphantly at Olivia. Their voices carried to Colin. M was standing in full invisibility as before.

“Well, darlin', hand it over,” rumbled Twin One.

“No!” hissed Olivia, spitting at the two men.

“Luigi, Bruno, take her snivelling brothers away. Wait with them at the entrance to the roller-coaster, and tell that bobo-head of an owner to switch off the power to it and to go home pronto.”

Twin Two turned to Olivia. “We have plans for you and your brothers,” he grinned.

“Leave us alone, you pig-faced toads!”

Olivia's reply merely increased the width of the smirk on both men's faces.

“Olivia, beautiful Olivia, why are you so upset?” cooed Twin One.

“Because of what you did to my father. You have ruined him. He has lost all his money. You have made him ill. He is very depressed. You loan-sharks are all the same. It's impossible ever to repay you. You make sure of that. You keep increasing the interest on the money owed. You even caused that accident that kept him off work and so he couldn't repay you that month and you told him he would have to pay even more. We were only trying to get some money tonight to help him pay his other bills, but you greedy pigs want that as well!”

“Bravo!” gloated Twin Two, whilst his brother clapped his hands mockingly. “You will enjoy working for us.” Suddenly he barked, “Hand it over! All of it!” He reached out and tugged at Olivia's dark blue headscarf. She jerked her head back, and, as the scarf dropped away, her dark glasses fell to the ground. M's eyes were staring fiercely at her. He stood completely motionless with one foot slightly raised. Olivia was indeed very beautiful. Her dark eyes and their long dark lashes matched her long dark hair.

“Where is the money?” snarled Twin One.

“I haven't got it!” cried Olivia, snatching back her scarf.

“O.K. Come along with us. Your brothers will tell us,” continued Twin One.

“No, no! Don't hurt them!” pleaded Olivia.

“So come with us. Let's ask them.”

The bookmark throbbed, as if telling Colin to wait, as the two men hustled Olivia towards the giant Hellzapoppin-Screamalong roller-coaster ride, where their two thugs stood with Olivia's three brothers, who were looking even more unhappy than before.

Colin did what the bookmark seemed to be directing him to do. To M he said, “Wait. We follow. Don't interfere yet.”

They watched as the ugly twins taunted their victims.

“Well, you fine young gentlemen, what a pleasant evening this is,” remarked Twin Two.

“Where is the money?” barked his brother.

No answer came, because at that moment Colin strolled up to them all and said mildly, “Yes, it is a pleasant evening, isn't it?” and without warning he suddenly grabbed the twins by their shirt-fronts and cracked their heads together so hard that they collapsed, dazed and groaning on the grass. Their two thugs started forward to seize Colin, but M, although a flightless bird, swooped on them, and using his strong beak, hoisted the first one up and left him hanging by the collar of his coat from a steel bracket sticking out from the caravan roof about eight feet from the ground, whilst Colin tripped the other one and held him down with ease because of the amazing strength flowing into him from the bookmark, which seemed to be glowing contentedly. M dragged the second thug over the grass and suspended him likewise from a second bracket sticking out from the other side of the caravan roof. The bewildered pair were howling in fear, as they could not see or understand how they had ended up where they were now.

“Stay here and guard them, Sammy,” said Colin. “Don't let them get down.”

For such a little dog the loud, deep, threatening growl he gave was enough to silence the whimpering prisoners. He stood alert, daring them to move. They remained almost motionless but shivering with fear.

Meanwhile Olivia and her brothers had been looking on with disbelief. The twins were still on the ground, groaning and semi-conscious

Colin smiled. “Hi, Olivia, my name is Colin. Come along with me now. I'll explain later. We have some unfinished business with these two.”

Again with his amazing strength he was able to haul the two men across the grass to the entrance of the Hellzapoppin-Screamalong ride and onto one of the cars of the roller- coaster, but he placed them face down with their heads stretching out from the front of it and about a foot above the rails. M instinctively knew what to do next. Unseen of course by Olivia, Kevin, Darius and the third brother, whose name was Wayne, he clamped a large foot over the necks of the Sanguinettis and held them firmly.

Colin said gently, “Wakey, wakey!” and switched on the power of the huge ride. Lights came on everywhere on the huge structure. Next Colin pressed the switch to start the machinery, and with a jolt the car containing M and the twins rolled forward and began to gather speed. The twins were beginning to wake up now.

“Neeargh!” they screamed.

“That's right, boys. Scream along,” laughed Colin. “That's what we like to hear.”

Olivia was clapping her hands with glee and laughing so much she couldn't speak.

“I suspect this is what they meant to do to you three lads,” said Colin, turning to the brothers. The screams of the Sanguinettis grew louder and louder, as the car carrying them rapidly rose in sickening swoops and rushes towards the steepest curve and plunge at the very top.

 

By now the concert was over and most people had left the park. A few late screams coming from the roller-coaster ride would seem quite normal. No one came to investigate or to have one last ride, but the screams and sobs continued from above.

When the car reached the end of its run, the two gangsters were absolutely shaking with fear and their dark faces were ghastly white. Only M seemed to have enjoyed the ride. To Colin it looked as if he was grinning.

“Ready for another run, boys?” asked Colin grimly.

“Mama mia! No, no, no, no, no!” the twins gasped in unison.

“Well, here's where it gets really tough for you,” stated Colin. I am worse than your worst nightmare. Far worse. That could be just the first taste of the sort of things I've got lined up for you.” He paused to make sure he had their full attention. “Unless of course you agree to certain conditions.”

“Anything! Anything!” wailed Twin Two. He did not know it was M pressing his face hard against the track of the roller-coaster.

“Who..Who are you?” asked Twin One.

“Me? You could say that I'm their guardian angel,” smiled Colin. “Now, to business. First you are going to change your life-style completely. You will not threaten Olivia or her family or anyone else. Secondly you will pay back all the money you have cheated out of your victims plus a little bit more, and in the case of Olivia's father I think an extra £50,000 would be about right.”