Four local children planned to have a Poohsticks competition. On the footbridge in the middle of St Joseph’s park. The bridge went over a small river. The first two of the four to arrive were the Twins. Timmy and Ellie. Their eyes fixed on the village clock over the park’s wall.
The third to arrive was the oldest of the four, Lewis. Following Lewis was his dad holding a large tree branch. Lewis waved towards the twins. Mr Adams calls, “Morning. Tell your parents I said hello.” The twins nodded and waved at him. “Dad put it down here. I’ll push it over later with Justin,” Lewis says while pointing at the bridge rail.
“Alright, you three, have a good day. Lewis, dinner is at five. I’m going to be cleaning all day while your mother is out shopping with Mrs Jones.” The twins join Lewis waving goodbye to his dad. “Justin, not here yet?”
“Nope, I was here first,” Timmy replies.
“I beat you! Liar,” Ellie says.
“It doesn’t matter who was first. We can’t start without Justin.”
Lewis jumps up onto the rail. The clock strikes one. “He’s thirty minutes late,” Lewis says. Ellie and Timmy look in confusion.
“How can you tell?” Timmy asks.
“He can read the clock, unlike you! Idiot,” Ellie replies.
“Right, we’ll start the fun then,” Lewis declares. “Whoever collects the most sticks before the clock hits two wins.”
“Wins what?” Timmy asks. Lewis slowly at first but then dramatically quick. He pulls out a roll of starbursts and says, “Winner gets their favourite colour!”
Timmy and Ellie stare in wonder at the sweets in front of them. And without a word, they run in separate directions off the bridge. Ellie heads left into the tree line. Timmy heads out across the field into a heavily bushed area. Lewis runs into the tree line as well. All three running, feverishly filling their pockets. The boys take their shirts off and use them to carry more sticks. Ellie makes a pile by the bridge. Timmy is the first to come back 5 minutes before the deadline. Lewis second, followed by Ellie. She only stopped because she saw Lewis heading back.
“Okay, Justin still isn’t here. We can start counting,” Lewis says, dropping his top and emptying his pockets into a pile. Timmy had been holding his sticks in till Lewis dropped his.
“I’m going to have the most!” Timmy shouts.
“No, you won’t. I will! Poo head,” Ellie yells.
“We won’t know until we count. Put the sticks in groups of five, and I’ll add them up,” Lewis says.
Timmy is the first to finish, proudly standing in front of five groups of four. Ellie finishes second with six groups of five. Lewis finishes last with eight groups of five. “Okay, so Timmy finishes last with twenty,” Lewis says to the cheers of Ellie. “Ellie’s second with thirty, so I win!” he declares. “Luckily, the second place also gets starbursts.” lewis says.
“Really?” replies Ellie, frustrated with tears in her eyes,
“Of course, did you forget? First only gets to choose his favourite first,” Lewis replies.
Lewis sits down to the left of the bridge in the grass. He takes out the roll and rips it down the side, exposing twelve starbursts. Lewis takes the three lemon and two strawberries. To the cries of Timmy. “An orange for a pink?” Timmy asks.
“Alright, I like them all anyway,” Lewis replies.
“Could I trade a red for a yellow?” Ellie asks, leaning over to grab it without a reply. “Sure,” Lewis replies. While eating them, Lewis lets the twins take all the good ones. He only gets to eat two orange and one cherry. “Let’s save Justin two. He only likes the yellow ones,” Lewis says. The twins offer up two prized yellows; Lewis pops them in his pocket.
“He probably Isn’t coming because he lost every game of Go Fish yesterday at mine,” Lewis says.
“Can we play without him?” Timmy asks.
“Yeah, we can! Stinky,” Ellie replies
“Yeah! We don’t need him,” Lewis says as he starts heading towards the bridge. The long branch still standing against the bridge. “I’ll grab the bottom, aim the top properly,” Lewis says. The twins get to each side of the giant branch.
“We’re going to start with the big one?” Timmy asks,
“Yeah! Loser,” Ellie replies.
“Start with a big splash! To start the day of races!” Lewis says as he begins to lift the branch. With a big heave, they throw the branch into the river. With a splash that gets them all wet, it submerges into the river, then bounces up onto the surface. It gets pulled under the bridge as they all watch. As it disappears, the trio runs to the other side of the bridge. The clock strikes three.
“Where is it?” Timmy asks.
“It’s coming! Smelly,” Ellie replies.
But it doesn’t come. Lewis waits a minute before saying, “It must have gone through a portal!”
“A portal?” the twins both say. Lewis runs and grabs a stack of five and drops them in. They barely splash before being pulled under the bridge. The trio wait to lose sight of them, then run to see if they come out. They wait another minute. The sticks don’t come out. “The only reason portals open is for the king to send weapons for his allies,” Lewis shouts.
“Who’s the king?” Timmy asks.
“I am! Poo face,” Ellie replies.
“No, I’m the King. I’m the eldest. It makes sense,” says Lewis while grabbing more sticks to throw in. “Grab your sticks! Our allies need help! Evil goblins are coming for them!” says Lewis. The twins looking frightened,
“Goblins?” they say in unison.
“Goblins! If we don’t chuck weapons into the portal, they’ll beat our allies and come through the portal for us,” Lewis says to the twins while running to his pile. Both Ellie and Timmy start grabbing their weapons and throw them off the bridge into the portal. Ellie finish first, Timmy second, they both help Lewis finish his pile. “That should do it. I’m a great King!” says Lewis.
“Great King!” the twins chanting and jumping.
“We didn’t even need Justin! We saved the town from an invasion on our own. Justin shall be known as Stinky Justin!” says Lewis.
“Stinky Justin!” the twin repeat.
“You two fought honourably. I’ll make you, my knights.”
“Knights!”
Lewis grabs a long, thin stick from the woods. “Kneel,” the King demands. The twins both take a knee. Walking in front of Ellie, “Lady Ellie of the Morris clan. I knight you, protector of the town.” Lewis takes the stick from her left shoulder to her right. “Rise, Lady Morris,” says the King. Lady Morris stands tall and proud. The King moves Infront of the Ladys twin brother. “You fight with bravery. I knight you, Sir Morris. Protector of the town.” Sir Morris can’t hide his smile. Unlike the very noble and stoic Lady Morris. “Now rise” he stands up for his King.
The clock strikes four. Lady Morris says, “Mum said we had to be back for four.” The King raises his sword into the air. “It would be a great pleasure to take me to my favourite Knights home!” says Lewis. Timmy runs into the woods and grabs two more sticks. “In case there are goblins on the way home.”
“Good idea! Fish brain” says Ellie.
Lewis walks the twins to their house, around the corner from the clock tower. Then he heads home. “Hey! Dad?” Lewis yells into his house. “In the kitchen,” Mr Adams replies. “Great timing!” says Mrs Adams. “Did you have a wonderful day?”
“Yeah. I played with the Morris twins all day.”
“And Justin?” Mrs Adams replies
“No. Stinky Justin didn’t show.” Mrs Adams looks back at Mr Adams. “Deby said Justin went an hour early to practise. Was Justin not there when you took him over?”
“Nope, only the twins. That park is practically their back yard. Their parents should be more careful letting them out without supervision.” Mrs Adams walked into the living room “you two start without me. I’m going to make a call.”
On the table was a full roast dinner. Mr Adams plated Lewis up some chicken, roast potatoes, carrots, peas and two Yorkshire puddings. Lewis started eating before his father had put the plate down. Mr Adams started plating himself. With more Yorkshire puddings and a happy lathering of gravy. The clock strikes five.
Mrs Adams briskly steps into the kitchen and whispers in Mr Adams ear.
“Has she called the police?” he replies.
“She’s going to now. Could you head over and start looking? Ryan’s already on his way there.”
“Yeah, of course.”
The clock strikes six. Mrs Adams says, “Go watch a movie. I’ll be back in a minute, going to head to the park.” The clock strikes seven while Lewis watches Spiderman. The clock strikes eight. The clock strikes nine. Mr and Mrs Adams come home. Mrs Adams is crying, held tightly by her husband.
“What happened?” Lewis asks.
“Justin must’ve fallen off the bridge this morning. I’m sorry,” Mr Adams replies. Mrs Adams takes a knee and hugs Lewis tightly. Lewis takes two lemon starbursts out of his pockets. “But we saved these for him.”