Read The Bare Bum Gang and the Football Face-Off Online
Authors: Anthony McGowan
Contents
Chapter Four: The Bad News Sinks in
Chapter Five: The Horror. The Horror
Chapter Six: Smarties-Tube Fart Bombs, etc.
Chapter Nine: Practice Makes Perfect
Chapter Ten: A Surprising Proposal
Chapter Twelve: The Stash Gets Split
Chapter Thirteen: The Traitor in our Midst
Chapter Fifteen: The Traitor Unmasked
Chapter Sixteen: The Big Match
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Illustrated by
Frances Castle
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To the BBG originals:
Graham Doran, Simon Morley and Niall McGowan
It all started when Jennifer Eccles said she wanted to be in our gang. Until then we were just called
the Gang
.
The people in the Gang were:
As well as names, we all have jobs in the Gang. Of course I am the Gang Leader, which means they all have to do what I tell them, except quite often they don't.
Noah is the Gang Doctor, which is why we sometimes called him Doc. Gang Doctor is quite an important job. Noah has to carry dock leaves around with him for when someone gets stung by nettles. And if you get a grass cut, which is when you pull some grass and it cuts you, he has to wee on it. Weeing on it is all you can really do for a grass cut, which everyone knows is the worst thing that can happen to you.
Noah's mum is a nurse and she told him that wee hasn't got any germs in it, and that it's better for washing bad injuries than using water out of a puddle. But it's quite hard for Doc, because he might not want to have a wee exactly when you get a grass cut, so you have to stand around for a bit while he makes himself, by thinking about waterfalls and running taps and babbling brooks.
Jamie is our Gang General, which means he takes charge in Times of War. He got the job because he's the best at throwing stones and fighting, even though he isn't actually very good at throwing stones or fighting, just better than the rest of us.
The Moan â I mean Phillip â is the Gang Admiral, which is a bit silly, as we don't have any ships. We had a bit of an argument about it. The trouble was that we all had cool jobs except Phillip, who wasn't anything when we started. So he said:
âI'm going to be the Admiral.'
âDon't be stupid,' I said. âWe haven't got a navy.'
âWell, that doesn't matter,' he replied sulkily. âWe
might
get one. We could expand and take over someone else's navy.'
I didn't know of any other gangs nearby who had a navy we could take over, but I didn't say anything.
âHe could be in charge when we play Bomb the Bismarck.'
That was Noah speaking. He was always being nice and trying to stop arguments.
Bomb the Bismarck, by the way, is when it rains and there's a gigantic puddle and you put a big stick or a plank to float in the puddle and then you throw stones and bricks at it until it sinks or surrenders. It's probably the best game you can play that involves a puddle, a plank and some stones.
Well, that's our gang, and we didn't want Jennifer or any sister or any other type of girl to be in it. Everyone knows that girls are rubbish at being in gangs and get you
to tidy up your gang den and try to make your action figures wear dresses. A girl in a gang is like a stone in your shoe, or a hair in your throat, or a bit of bird-poo in your ice cream.
But she just wouldn't take no for an answer. She used to follow us around and it really spoiled things, having her miserable face wherever you looked. So that's when I said to her:
âLook, Jennifer, there's a special test you have to pass to be in our gang.'
I didn't know what the test was going to be when I said that, but I knew I'd be able to think of something. I was good at thinking of things, which is why I was Gang Leader.
âWhat test?'
Jennifer had her suspicious face on. It was like her normal miserable face but more suspicious looking. Her hair was sort of banana-coloured, and it was tied in a kind of knot-thing on top of her head, with more hair squirting out of the top of it, so
it looked a bit like yellow lava exploding out of a volcano.
âJust a test. A
special
test.'
âI don't believe you.'
âWell, you should. There
is
a test. You don't know anything.'
âOK then, I'll take your stupid test. What do I do?'
I did some hard thinking, expecting a bright idea to pop into my brain. But nothing popped, so I decided to play for more time, which is something even famous geniuses need to do occasionally.
âFirst we have to go to the den.'
We were at the park. The park has some broken swings, a broken roundabout, a broken seesaw and some grass, which would probably be broken as well, if you could break grass. Next to the park there is a football pitch. It has some proper goals but, like everything else, they are broken, because someone stole the crossbar from each one. What the thief wanted with two
crossbars is a bit of a mystery. Maybe they needed some replacements because someone stole
their
crossbars.
Anyway Noah was there with us â I mean, me and Jennifer â but not Jamie or The Moan.
âGo and get the rest of the Gang,' I said to Noah. âMeet us at the den.'
The den was in the tiny bit of a wood that's left between the new estate and the old estate. We live in the new estate and most of our enemies live in the old estate.
All the way there Jennifer kept nagging at me to tell her what the test was. And when I didn't tell her, she started to guess.
âDo I have to walk in bare feet over broken bottles?'
âNo.'
âDo I have to eat worms?'
Good idea that, but I didn't want to do
it after she'd said it, because that would be copying.
âEr, no.'
âDo I have to set fire to the school?'
âDon't be stupid. Your mum would tell the police and the whole gang would be put in jail.'
âDo I have to eat mud?'
âNo.'
âDo I have to eat your bogies?'
âNo. It doesn't involve eating
anything
.'
Maybe I shouldn't have said that. It cut out an awful lot of tests, such as eating leaves, eating pepper, eating a raw sausage, etc., etc.