Pineapples. Nothing doing till tomorrow. At the earliest. Twelve hours more waiting.
We were revved up, like city kids going out to start nightclubbing at one o’clock in the morning. Lee went outside to do sentry, and Kevin came in, so we talked to him about the attack on the motorbikes. He was in a good mood: sensible and interested. He was a lot better these days.
‘I want to go out again,’ Homer said. ‘But not with the oil.’
‘Why not?’
‘Well, face it, what damage did we do? Stuffed up a few bikes, gave at least one of them a headache, but that’s all.’
‘Do you think we only gave him a headache?’ I asked. ‘He looked worse than that.’
‘No way,’ Homer said. ‘He didn’t hit the gutter hard enough to do any real damage.’
‘But,’ Kevin said helpfully, ‘there’s a place on your temple, on the corner here I think, and if you hit that it’ll kill you stone cold dead straightaway. You don’t have to hit it hard at all.’
‘He had a helmet on,’ I said, not liking this kind of gory detail. ‘OK, geniuses, if we’re not going to spread oil again what can we do?’
It was actually Kevin who came up with our next idea. It was his fault that three-quarters of an hour later I found myself lying in wait on
McManus Street
. I was behind a tree on the west side of the street, Homer was behind a telephone box on the other side. Kevin was lurking somewhere further along, doing nothing in particular, just being a back-up.
Two patrols had passed already but we had to let them go. I was getting bored and, although I’d said to Homer earlier that none of us would sleep tonight, I was tired now. I wandered across the street to talk to Homer. ‘Let’s wait for one more,’ he said. ‘If it’s no good we’ll go back to the house.’
I heard yet again the buzzing noise of a patrol. Like a big slow wasp. In this street, more open than
Morris Street
, you could hear them coming. These guys were still a distance away but they moved so fast sometimes, and I was on the wrong side of the road. I ended my conversation with Homer in mid-sentence and ran back to the flowering gum. I picked up my end of the wire.
A minute later they came into
McManus Street
. The throbbing of the engines reached me loud and clear, no longer muffled by houses or trees. But unless my ears were lying there was something different this time. They did sound more spread out. Maybe our chance had come. The first two were already halfway along the street, almost level with me. The other four were quite a way behind. I tensed even further, if that was possible. The first two passed quickly. I saw their bright red brake lights come on for the corner, before the others had even reached me. Three more came past. I knew this was it now. There was one still coming, and he was the one we wanted. He was fifty metres behind, but as the others got to the corner he accelerated, to catch up with them. Big mistake. Huge mistake. If he’d been going slowly he would have fallen more gently and probably not have done himself much damage. But a few metres before he got to us he went for it.
With a roar from the engine he powered into a wheelstand . I couldn’t believe our luck. As his rear wheel reached our wire I was already grabbing my end and pulling as hard as I could. Homer was doing the same. I’d been thinking of wrapping the wire around my wrist so I’d get a good grip on it. Lucky I didn’t. I think I would have lost my hand. The wire whipped out of my grasp like it had been electrified. But it did the job. The guy flew through the air, almost in slow motion. The motorbike banged and slid its way towards Homer. It definitely wasn’t going in slow motion. The man hit a tree with a dull thud, the same sort of sound you’d make if you hit the trunk with the back of an axe. The tree shook and leaves fell. The man dropped to the footpath and lay there sprawled out, completely lifeless. I’m not saying he was dead, I’m just
We were revved up, like city kids going out to start nightclubbing at one o’clock in the morning. Lee went outside to do sentry, and Kevin came in, so we talked to him about the attack on the motorbikes. He was in a good mood: sensible and interested. He was a lot better these days.
‘I want to go out again,’ Homer said. ‘But not with the oil.’
‘Why not?’
‘Well, face it, what damage did we do? Stuffed up a few bikes, gave at least one of them a headache, but that’s all.’
‘Do you think we only gave him a headache?’ I asked. ‘He looked worse than that.’
‘No way,’ Homer said. ‘He didn’t hit the gutter hard enough to do any real damage.’
‘But,’ Kevin said helpfully, ‘there’s a place on your temple, on the corner here I think, and if you hit that it’ll kill you stone cold dead straightaway. You don’t have to hit it hard at all.’
‘He had a helmet on,’ I said, not liking this kind of gory detail. ‘OK, geniuses, if we’re not going to spread oil again what can we do?’
It was actually Kevin who came up with our next idea. It was his fault that three-quarters of an hour later I found myself lying in wait on
McManus Street
. I was behind a tree on the west side of the street, Homer was behind a telephone box on the other side. Kevin was lurking somewhere further along, doing nothing in particular, just being a back-up.
Two patrols had passed already but we had to let them go. I was getting bored and, although I’d said to Homer earlier that none of us would sleep tonight, I was tired now. I wandered across the street to talk to Homer. ‘Let’s wait for one more,’ he said. ‘If it’s no good we’ll go back to the house.’
I heard yet again the buzzing noise of a patrol. Like a big slow wasp. In this street, more open than
Morris Street
, you could hear them coming. These guys were still a distance away but they moved so fast sometimes, and I was on the wrong side of the road. I ended my conversation with Homer in mid-sentence and ran back to the flowering gum. I picked up my end of the wire.
A minute later they came into
McManus Street
. The throbbing of the engines reached me loud and clear, no longer muffled by houses or trees. But unless my ears were lying there was something different this time. They did sound more spread out. Maybe our chance had come. The first two were already halfway along the street, almost level with me. The other four were quite a way behind. I tensed even further, if that was possible. The first two passed quickly. I saw their bright red brake lights come on for the corner, before the others had even reached me. Three more came past. I knew this was it now. There was one still coming, and he was the one we wanted. He was fifty metres behind, but as the others got to the corner he accelerated, to catch up with them. Big mistake. Huge mistake. If he’d been going slowly he would have fallen more gently and probably not have done himself much damage. But a few metres before he got to us he went for it.
With a roar from the engine he powered into a wheelstand . I couldn’t believe our luck. As his rear wheel reached our wire I was already grabbing my end and pulling as hard as I could. Homer was doing the same. I’d been thinking of wrapping the wire around my wrist so I’d get a good grip on it. Lucky I didn’t. I think I would have lost my hand. The wire whipped out of my grasp like it had been electrified. But it did the job. The guy flew through the air, almost in slow motion. The motorbike banged and slid its way towards Homer. It definitely wasn’t going in slow motion. The man hit a tree with a dull thud, the same sort of sound you’d make if you hit the trunk with the back of an axe. The tree shook and leaves fell. The man dropped to the footpath and lay there sprawled out, completely lifeless. I’m not saying he was dead, I’m just
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