Ultimate Justice (8 page)

BOOK: Ultimate Justice
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10

“We need a quiet activity for fifteen minutes,” said Kloa to the volunteers. “We can't play games right on top of this feast.”

“Would you like me to tell them a story?” Kakko offered.

“Doubt they will sit still for fifteen, but you can give it a try.”

Kloa stood up.

“OK everyone, listen up!” But the noise was so great no-one heard. Kloa looked over to the captain who smiled and went to his little bridge and sounded the horn. It worked.

“OK. Listen up. I want you all to gather round Kakko… when
I say
Jeno – wait… Kakko's got a story from her world to tell you. But before she begins, did you all enjoy the food?” (A huge cry of, “Ye-eee-s”.) “So let's say thank you to Mr. Zookas. He's not here but if you shout loud enough he might hear you. Are you ready? One, two, three…”

“THANK-YO-OU!!!” they screamed together.

“OK, go and find a space near Kakko and sit down… That's it but don't crowd her… Jeno, sit down… Right down… on your bottom.” Kloa stood beside Kakko with her hand in the air. “Put your hand up like me,” she called. Kakko did the same and then slowly one by one everyone followed suit, including Adnak. There was silence.

“Now, over to Kakko.”

“Hi, everyone.”

“Hiiii,” replied the kids.

“OK. Shhh. This won't work unless you are all listening…” She raised her hand and silence was restored. “So this story doesn't come from my planet, but my father's. He told it to us when we were kids and I liked it. So here goes.

“Once upon a time there were three bears. (Bears are big furry animals that, like, live in woods). There was a daddy bear, a mummy bear and a baby bear. Well, they had this house in the middle of the woods. They were
bears
, but they were kind of, like, people, because they slept in beds and sat on chairs and ate porridge for breakfast…”

“What's porridge, miss?”

“I don't know. Never had it – we don't eat it at home. But on Planet Earth they cook it for breakfast and it gets real hot. So this porridge was too hot to eat. It was a nice day and they thought they would all go out for a walk while it cooled down. So they put their boots on and headed off into the woods. Well, while they were gone, along came this girl with blonde hair… a bit like Kloa's here. Her name was Goldilocks because of her hair being yellow. Anyway, she went into the house and smelled the porridge. She was hungry. Goldilocks could have waited for the bears to come back and asked for some, but she was not going to. She was not a good girl. So she saw the big bowl, which was Daddy Bear's, and tried some. It was still too hot. Then she looked at the medium-sized bowl – this was Mummy Bear's – but Mummy Bear puts salt in her porridge and Goldilocks didn't like it. So then she tried Baby Bear's which was not too hot and had lots of sugar… and she ate it all up. But while she was doing it she was sitting on Baby Bear's chair and it was too small for her and it broke, but Goldilocks didn't care. Then she saw the beds and thought she would have a lie down. There were three beds. There was a big one for Daddy Bear. She tried it but it was far too hard. Then she went on Mummy Bear's bed, but that was too soft. Finally, in the corner, she spotted Baby Bear's and got right in under the covers, and it was so comfy she went straight to sleep.”

The children were all quiet and attentive, but some of them were getting sleepy, so Kakko decided not to drag the story out.

“Well, then the bears got home and there was trouble. Baby Bear's porridge had been gobbled up and his chair was broken. Daddy Bear noticed that someone had been in his bed and said, ‘Who's been sleeping in my bed?'” Kakko used an appropriate deep, gruff voice. Some of the children laughed. “Then Mummy Bear noticed her bed had been slept in too.” Kakko spoke in a lighter voice, “Who's been sleeping in my bed?” Then, with a high pitched squeal, she made the children jump, “‘Help! There's someone in my bed!' It was Baby Bear. The bears all looked and saw Goldilocks' hair on Baby Bear's pillow. She had been fast asleep but Baby Bear's squeal had woken her up. She looked up and saw the three bears… and then she shrieked. She was no match for three bears! She leaped out of the bed and out of the door as fast as she could. But the bears ran after her and caught her!”

The children gasped. What would the bears do to her?!

“They carried her back to the house and sat her on the floor. ‘Tell us where you live,' demanded Daddy Bear. ‘No-where,' she answered.” Kakko put on a wistful expression. “‘No-where?' said Mummy Bear. ‘But you have to live somewhere? Where are your mother and father?' ‘I don't know,' said Goldilocks truthfully. She had never known her mother or her father.”

The children were all ears. Those who had been nodding off were now wide awake. What were these bears going to do with this street kid? Each of them was thinking of his or her own history.

Kakko continued, “‘I haven't got a mother or a father,' said Goldilocks, ‘or even a grandma, or anyone.' ‘So,' said Daddy Bear, ‘whose been looking after you?' ‘When I was little there were these kids. But then the kind one died and the others bullied me, so I ran away, and now I eat and sleep where I can.'”

Kakko put on her soft Mummy Bear voice, “‘Well, why didn't you tell us you haven't got any parents instead of coming into our house and stealing?' ‘Because most people just throw things at me, and tell me to go away,' replied Goldilocks. ‘Well, we aren't like that,' said Daddy Bear. ‘Are you still hungry?' Goldilocks said she was, and do you know what? Daddy Bear let her eat all
his
porridge, which was now cool enough, and Mummy Bear made some more for him and Baby Bear. Then they got out another bed just for Goldilocks and she went to sleep for a long time.”

The children looked happy and relieved for her.

“But do you know what the worst thing was?”

“Noo-oo,” sighed the children expecting a sad ending after all.

“They made her wash! All over. She felt funny being clean. But today her yellow hair is as bright as the brightest sunflower and she's happy,” said Kakko in a voice that indicated the story had come to an end.

‘Happy'
, thought Adnak.
A good word to end a sentence with.
He found himself asking himself whether
he
was happy.

“What's a sunflower?” asked Jess.

“Oh. It's a flower that turns towards the star that shines on the Earth. Exactly like yours here. They call their star the ‘Sun'.”

“Miss,” asked Jess. “Have you been to Planet Err…”

“Planet Earth? Earth One to give it its full name – there is more than one planet called Earth these days. No, I haven't. I've only been to one other planet apart from yours and Planet Joh where I live. But my parents have been to lots of places.”

“Do you like going to other planets?”

“Oh, yes. I like adventures.”

“How do you get here… from other planets with other stars?” asked Adnak.

“That,” smiled Kakko, “is a mystery even to us. The Creator makes a special gate. We are very, very privileged.”

“What's ‘privileged', miss?”

“It's what we are when we meet all you here and we can have fun with you.”

“But we're not special, miss,” said Fran.

“Oh, but you are! You make us happy… and Adnak here and his friends too. Isn't that true?” she asked, looking Adnak in the eyes.

“Guess it is,” he replied.

Then Kakko sat up straight, took a deep breath, and declared, “Adnak likes to watch us play football. Would you like to learn to play football?”

“Ye-eee-es!” went up the cry.

“Can we teach them football?” asked Kakko of Kloa.

“Of course. Teach us all!” The volunteers were delighted to have found such a talented young visitor.

***

Kakko called for the children's attention. “OK, listen carefully and I'll tell you how it works. It's called football because you mustn't touch the ball with your hands or arms – but you can use your body or your head. The object of the game is to get the ball between your opponent's goal posts – Bandi will you set these up now for us on the sand? That's called a ‘goal'. And you're not supposed to push people – you try to get the ball off them with your feet. Like this.” She and Shaun demonstrated, controlling the ball and tackling each other in turn a few times. “But you pass the ball to people on your own team.” And she and Shaun passed the ball back and forth, and finally Kakko kicked the ball through one of the goals Bandi had marked out. “See? That's one goal to me!”

“OK. Let's divide into girls and boys. The ten boys go with Shaun and the ten girls come with me and we'll talk tactics. OK, go!”

The ten girls all crowded round Kakko.

“The clue to playing this game is passing the ball to someone else before you get tackled,” she explained. “As soon as one of us has the ball, all the rest of you scatter into a space. If you have the ball and see someone in a space, pass it to them and keep passing it to people in spaces until you can get near the goal in front of you, then hit it as hard as you can to get it between the posts. Their goalkeeper (Shaun) will try and stop it. A goalkeeper is allowed to stop the ball with his hands. I'll be the girls' goalkeeper which means I can use my hands too. But
don't forget
none of the rest of you can use your hands… Are you ready Shaun?”

“Sure. We're ready.”

At first the game was a real mess and Kakko and Shaun kept stopping the game to explain, but soon they got the idea and talent started to emerge. Some of the children managed to keep the ball long enough to do something with it. Shaun and Kakko were very generous in letting the ball through nearly every time it was on target to encourage them. The kids ran and ran – much more than they need to have done. It was excellent exercise but they were soon tired out.

“OK,” said Kakko. “That's a draw. Four goals each. Now, how about the leaders? Come on, seven-a-side – girls versus boys.”

“Count me out,” said Adnak.

“No. That won't work,” said Shaun. “We need you. Look even Bandi's playing. We can't beat them with only six players. You can't let the boys down.”

“But I can't run!”

“OK. You're goalkeeper. You won't have to run.”

Since the seven girls – volunteers
and
guests – were all around Kakko getting instructions, Adnak realised he had no choice. He'd be the only one sitting out with the children.

Kakko gave the same advice about running into space but she was to be up front while another took the role of goalkeeper. Three were to stay back a bit and pass the ball to the three in front of them.

The game kicked off and it was frenetic from the start. The gender rivalry was intense. When a boy tripped a girl up, the girl children all started yelling. “Unfair! Unfair!” Shaun did the gentlemanly thing and stopped the game giving the girls a free kick. After that they were more careful about fouling. The children were all shouting. The boys scored and their supporters all danced up and down while the girls jeered. They were certainly getting into the spirit of it. Then the girls scored and the roles were reversed. After ten more minutes they were level, two all. But Kakko, herself, hadn't scored.

“OK,” said Shaun. “Next goal wins!”

Soon the ball was passed to Kakko in just the right place and she hit it sweetly and powerfully just inside the right-hand post! She was getting ready to celebrate when she saw Adnak leaping to his left and getting his hand to it. The boys cheered and whooped and began chanting his name. It was a close thing. The game continued for several more minutes before eventually the boys managed to score. The boys were all delighted.

“Well done!” shouted Kakko and shook her brother's hand and got all the other players to do the same.

“Victors can get us all a drink!” she said, bending forward with her hands on her knees.

Shaun and the boy leaders went over to the boat.

“That was fun,” said one. “That's a great game. We've got team games here but not quite like this.”

“Adnak,” said Shaun, “you were brilliant. How you got across to stop that shot from Kakko was top drawer. She hit that so sweetly. You read it.”

“Read it?”

“Realised where it was going to go before she hit it.”

“Well. Yes. She is good is your sister. I watched her yesterday. She doesn't just hit the ball anywhere, she puts it where you don't think you can reach it. I knew where she would aim so I suppose I was already moving.”

“Great stuff, Adnak,” said his brother who wasn't noted for complimenting him. “Did you hear the kids chanting your name?”

“Glad you played?” smiled Shaun. “You're a natural in goal.”

“Thanks,” said Adnak.

When everyone had finished drinking it was time for more activities.

“Who here can swim?” asked Kloa.

Not one of the children raised their hands, only the leaders.

“Well it's about time you learnt,” said Kloa. “Each of you children… when I say… Fran you don't know what you're doing yet… wait. When I say… find a leader to teach you… wait for it… if there are more than two of you, find someone else. Wait… Go!”

Adnak and Shaun were rushed at by the boys. They all wanted them. But it soon worked out. They all took off their T-shirts and shorts. It was now mid-afternoon and this was the first time anyone had glimpsed a swim-suit. The children, on the other hand, had no swimming things, but they did not hesitate before ripping off all of their clothes and trotting down the beach naked. The waves were gentle in this part of the inlet and the beach shelving, ideal for safe swimming. Kakko wondered what it must be like to own an island. Beautiful view, lovely sand, blue sea – but lonely. (She needed her friends and family around her on a beach.) Without anyone to share it with, you could be very sad. It wasn't surprising that the island was uninhabited.

BOOK: Ultimate Justice
13.9Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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