Little Croker (7 page)

T
he two cousins had to be very careful not to slip up and say anything that might draw suspicion on the morning of their trip, and so they kept their distance from each other.

Everything was going nicely to plan. Larry said his goodbyes to Jonathon at breakfast, as he knew that he’d probably be gone by the time he’d get home from work. He left in fairly good form, probably because he didn’t have Danny glaring across the table at him.

Danny was deliberately still in bed.

The coach wasn’t leaving Littlestown until five o’clock, which suited Danny and Jonathon perfectly.

Danny said his goodbyes to Regina and Jonathon at lunch time. He made out that his coach was leaving at two o’clock, and he wanted to go home first to check on his dad’s house.

As Danny strolled out the driveway, little did his aunt realise that stuffed into his training bag were Jonathon’s good clothes for the disco.

The only thing that Danny was telling the truth about was the fact that he was going home first. But not just to check on the house — Jonathon’s training bag was in Danny’s house, and that had to be collected.

At three o’clock Jonathon started banging on Lowry’s bedroom door.

‘Come on, Lowry!’ he yelled. ‘It’s time.’

Lowry left him waiting there for a few minutes. She resented the fact that Trinity had roped her into being a part of ‘Operation Larry’ and wanted Jonathon to know that although she would help, it would be under 
protest.

The door opened.

Jonathon had his mobile phone ready.

‘Mum’s in the back garden. I’ll ring you in about two minutes.’

Lowry just stuck her tongue out at Jonathon and waved her phone in front of him. Then she went out to the garden.

‘It’s freezing out here, Mum. Would you like me to fetch you a cup of tea?’

Regina was planting some primroses in the rockery.

‘That would be lovely, darling.’

Lowry looked up to the bedroom window, where Jonathon was peeping out.

Immediately her phone rang.

‘Hi, Trinity!’ said Lowry, slightly above her normal tone, just for her mother’s benefit.

‘Okay! Yep! Super! I’ll be over in a while. I’ve just got to make my poor freezing Mum a cup of tea. She’s out in the garden fiddling with her rockery.’ 

Lowry wasn’t surprised to notice that Regina was listening, and she turned up her performance. She’d always wanted to be an actress.

‘I’m not bringing brat features with me. Mum can drop him over later.’

‘What’s that, darling?’ interrupted Regina.

Lowry made a big huff.

‘Hold on, Trinity – nothing Mum!’

‘If you’re going over to Trinity’s now, you can bring your brother with you.’

‘Muuum!’ screeched Lowry.

Lowry said goodbye in a cross voice and hung up her phone. Jonathon smiled down at her from the bedroom window.

‘Operation Larry’ had moved to the next level.

Regina gave Jonathon his instructions going out the door and a big, sloppy, motherly kiss.

‘Don’t cause any trouble, darling,’ insisted 
Regina. ‘What time will you be home tomorrow? Let me know and I’ll pick you up. Have you got your phone?’

‘I’ll be okay, Mum. I’ll make my own way home, I’m nearly thirteen,’ huffed Jonathon.

‘I’ll ring you tonight, darling, to see if you’re okay!’ called Regina as Jonathon crunched across the driveway.

Danny was thrilled when he saw Jonathon
getting
off the bus in Littlestown.

‘Animal!’ cheered Danny and he threw his arm around his cousin.

‘See!’ he said. ‘Piece of cake. Here’s your bag, I’ve put your clothes in it.’

Jonathon just smiled. He was feeling a little bit sick with what he had just done, but there was no going back now.

The atmosphere was buzzing on the coach, as all the boys were excited about their trip. Jimmy sat up at the front with the driver and 
some parents who had come along to help supervise.

He spoke into a cordless microphone, ‘Okay lads, settle down. Anyone caught messing will be kicked off the bus!’ chuckled Jimmy. He was in his element.

‘Sing us a song, Jimmy?’ shouted Danny.

Jimmy went red.

‘Ah! Go on, Jimmy!’ Danny kept up the pressure.

‘Jimmy! Jimmy! Jimmy!’ Danny and all the boys started banging on the head rests of the seats and chanting Jimmy’s name.

The coach driver looked at Jimmy as if to say, You’d better do something to calm them down.

Poor Jimmy hadn’t got a hope in hell. Even with his microphone, he had no chance of raising his volume above the sound of eighteen chanting boys.

Eventually the chanting faded away and all the boys settled down, much to Jimmy’s
relief.

The coach was stopped at traffic lights in the centre of town, when Danny let out an unmerciful roar from down the back.

‘There’s Jason Sherlock!’

All the boys on the left side of the coach leapt up off their seats and wrestled their way to the windows on the right side of the coach.

Jimmy – who might be expected to be trying to restore order by getting the boys back into their seats – was the first to stick his nose up against a window for a glimpse at the Dublin GAA star getting out of a car across the road.

The coach driver started to panic as eighteen boys, headed up by Danny, were now banging on the windows, chanting, ‘Jayo! Jayo! Jayo!’

When Jason Sherlock waved across at the Littlestown Crokes’ players and gave them a big thumbs-up, Danny whipped off his jacket to reveal his Dublin jersey and pinned 
himself against the window, in respect for one of his all-time heroes.

T
wo hours after departure, all the passengers and the driver arrived safe and sound at the hotel in Kimuldridge.

Jonathon’s nerves had settled down and, along with every other boy, he was looking forward to the night ahead, but not quite as much as the match the following morning. It was going to be his big debut!

Danny, Jonathon and Splinter were sharing a room. The three pals joked and messed and had pillow fights and water fights and danced to the music on Splinter’s I-PAL, getting themselves all hyped up and buzzing for the disco. They were so excited that you’d think that they had never been in a hotel room
before!

It’s true to say that Splinter and Danny didn’t have much hotel room experience under their belts, but Jonathon Wilde had been in the best hotels all over the world, and yet no matter how much money his father had splashed out on them, Jonathon thought that this room was the best he’d ever stayed in.

When the partying was over it was time for the pals to get down to the serious business of showering, tooth brushing and – finally and most importantly – hair gelling.

It’s said that girls spend more time than boys getting all done up for a night out, but Jimmy must have made at least three trips up to their room to tell them that the disco had started, and still, all three were combing and twiddling and spiking lashings of the magic green gel into their hair.

Finally Danny, Jonathon and Splinter marched through the doors of the hotel 
basement disco room. The three of them stopped and stared – they hadn’t expected to see so many girls. There were plenty of local lads too, but four walls were lined with girls.

‘Are we dancing?’ asked Jonathon.

Splinter burst out laughing.

‘Get a grip!’ said Danny.

Jonathon couldn’t understand the hostile reaction to his suggestion. After all, they were at a disco.

‘We’re not here to dance, ye muppet!’ laughed Danny.

Splinter put his hand on Jonathon’s shoulder.

‘Look around the room and tell me what you see,’ he said.

‘Girls?’

‘Correct!’ said Splinter. ‘Do you seriously think that I’m going to waste my time bopping around the dancefloor when I could be putting my chat-up lines into action? Follow me, boys!’ instructed Splinter and he 
led the way with Danny and Jonathon in stitches behind him.

Splinter’s chat-up lines didn’t turn out to be as good as he thought; after the reaction he got from the girls, Danny and Jonathon didn’t even bother trying to talk to any of them!

‘Come on and we’ll get a bag of chips, lads,’ suggested Danny. He was getting fed up.

‘Fair enough,’ agreed Splinter. ‘There’s a chipper up the road.’

On the way to the chipper the three lads were fooling around, pushing each other and
laughing
. Jonathon gave Danny a friendly shove, and he slipped over onto the grass at the side of the road.

‘I’m after falling on something wet – if it’s something disgusting I’ll kill yiz!’ warned Danny.

It wasn’t anything disgusting – it was a 
plastic bag, and it was heavy. Danny opened it and showed the contents to his pals.

Jonathon put his hands up to his mouth in shock.

Splinter’s reaction was a little less discreet.

‘There must be thousands there!’ he screeched at the top of his voice. ‘Nice one, Danny!’ celebrated Splinter, clapping his hands like a seal at feeding time in the zoo.

‘We can’t keep that!’ insisted Jonathon.

‘Finders keepers, losers weepers!’ quoted Splinter.

Danny closed the bag.

‘Jonathon’s right, Splinter,’ said Danny. ‘We’ll have to hand it over.’

Splinter was gutted. In that wonderful moment of madness he had already picked out his new football boots and about ten other things he would buy.

‘We’ll give it to your dad when we get back from the chipper,’ said Jonathon to Splinter. ‘He can bring it to a Garda station.’ 

Danny stuffed the bag of money under his jacket and they continued their journey up the road for their chips.

Outside the chipper, almost as if it was meant to be, there was a Garda car and inside it sat a huge Garda eating a battered sausage.

‘Look, lads,’ said Danny, and he stopped in his tracks. ‘Will we give the bag to him?’

Jonathon instantly agreed.

Splinter wasn’t too sure.

‘I don’t know if that’s such a good idea, lads. He looks like a bit like Shrek!’

‘I’m going to hand it over to him. Come on!’ said Danny.

Just as Danny banged on the window, Jonathon’s phone started ringing. It was Regina. The Garda was rolling down his window, and Splinter and Danny were explaining in loud, excited voices about what they’d found.

Jonathon knew that he had to answer his phone or his mother would get suspicious. 
But what if she heard Danny and recognised his voice?

Jonathon moved away from the noise.

‘Hi, Mum!’ greeted Jonathon. ‘I’m fine! … noise?’ Jonathon laughed. ‘It’s just a few of Sebastian’s friends. We’re having wrestling matches in the bedroom. … We won’t break anything! … I’ll ring you in the morning, Mum … OK … you too … Bye.’

Phew!

Jonathon returned to his friends and the Garda – he’d missed all the excitement of telling him about finding the bag! Apparently it had been stolen from the Kimuldridge old folks’ fund-raising day a couple of days previously; the Crokes boys were only a few hours in Kimuldridge and already they were heroes.

The woman who owned the chipper came out to see what all the excitement was about, and when she heard they’d found the money, she gave them batter burgers, chips and 
drinks on the house. Danny, Splinter and Jonathon munched their way back to the hotel to tell everyone about their triumph!

T
he next day, even though nobody believed a word they were saying, the three heroes were still bragging about the events of the night before as they warmed up for the match against Kimuldridge under-14s.

At last, Jonathon’s chance to shine had arrived – Jimmy announced the starting line up for the friendly and Jonathon was selected to start alongside Danny in midfield.

Danny was proud to have his cousin play beside him; all the hard coaching, and now at last it was pay day.

Jimmy took his place on the line alongside the subs while the other team’s manager, Mick’s friend, acted as referee.

The ball was thrown in and Danny and Jonathon were straight into the action.

Danny out-muscled his slightly bigger and older opponent and knocked the ball down to Jonathon.

Jonathon was feeling a bit overwhelmed, but he got a rush of adrenaline, dropped the ball to his right foot and belted an enormous pass up field. The distance he hit the ball was phenomenal, but it was to no avail as the home team’s centre full back picked it up easily and knocked it out to his right half back.

It only took a half a dozen more passes and the ball was in the back of Crokes’ net.

These lads were bigger, stronger and a little more experienced than Danny’s team, but that didn’t stop Danny from getting stuck into them.

Almost every ball that Danny Wilde won or picked up, he passed on to Jonathon. It wasn’t that he was favouring his cousin over 
the rest of his team mates, but just that Danny knew that this game was a perfect opportunity for Jonathon to pick up experience and get the feel for action. Training and practising were certainly necessary, but real match practice was priceless.

Crokes’ were losing the game by two goals and four points to four points with only ten minutes left to the full time whistle when Jonathon made a bursting run in behind the centre full back.

Splinter had caught a super pass from Danny and fisted it to Doyler who had run in behind him, along the left wing.

Danny let a roar to Doyler to release the ball quick.

Doyler turned his marker and knocked the ball across the goal.

The gods of GAA must have been smiling down at Jonathon Wilde as he slid across the box and stretched out his right foot and toed 
the ball through the legs of the Kimuldridge keeper and into the net.

Jimmy missed the goal because he had been talking to some people on the side line with microphones and television cameras.

‘Perfect!’ said one of the camera guys. ‘That will make a great clip.’

The woman who owned the chipper had been so impressed with the three boys’ honesty that she’d contacted the media. They immediately contacted Garda Doyle and when he confirmed the story, a TV van set out for the small town of Kimuldridge to capture the story of the three friends who had found the stolen money. They thought it would be a great piece of local colour for The News. And now Jonathon was on film scoring a goal for Littlestown Crokes in the sunny coast of Wexford when he should have been at Trinity Dawson’s house!

As soon as the referee blew the full time whistle, all the players ran over to get in on 
the action.

When Jimmy ran over and told Danny and Jonathon that the media wanted to interview them for The News, Jonathon panicked and disappeared from sight.

Danny followed him. He knew that this was a serious threat to ‘Operation Larry’!

Splinter, however, couldn’t resist the media attention. He answered all their questions, but made sure to keep Jonathon out of his answers, not that it would make any difference.

The media and a bewildered Jimmy tried to find Danny and Jonathon, but the two boys had already hurried back to their hotel room, and as the footage was being broadcast the same day, the TV crew gave up the search and left.

Jimmy kept hassling Danny and Jonathon all the way home on the coach, but the two boys 
remained silent.

‘I don’t understand yiz at all!’ said Jimmy. ‘They only wanted to ask a few questions for the news. You’re heroes. Ah well at least they said they’d show your goal, J.’

Those words pierced Jonathon’s heart like a dagger. He just looked at Danny with his eyes filled with tears.

Danny had no words of wisdom for his cousin this time. He knew as well as Jonathon that ‘Operation Larry’ was well and truly over and it was time to face the music.

When the coach arrived back at Littlestown Lawns, Danny and Jonathon kept to their plan.

Danny walked one way while his cousin walked in the opposite direction. It seemed like a pointless exercise to the boys to keep up the act, but they still had a glimmer of hope that everything would be okay.

That glimmer of hope was quickly wiped out for Jonathon as his phone began to ring. 
It wasn’t ‘Mum’ that flashed on the screen this time, but ‘Dad’.

‘Danny! Wait up!’ called Jonathon.

Danny ran back and the two boys looked at the phone as it rang and rang.

‘You better answer it,’ said Danny.

‘No way!’ said Jonathon.

‘He might not know yet.’

‘He must!’ cried Jonathon. ‘Father never rings me!’

The phone stopped ringing. Larry had given up, for the moment. All the worries that Jonathon had about his father knowing were confirmed as the two boys reluctantly made their way to the bus stop.

‘There’s Mick Wilde’s son!’ called a woman from one of the gardens to her next door neighbour.

The two women started clapping and cheering.

‘Can we have your autographs, boys? We’re proud of yiz. And, young fella, your 
goal looked great on the news!’

‘Operation Larry’ was definitely out in the open.

Danny and Jonathon and Splinter were now celebrities, and that was very, very bad news for the cousins. Danny worried about his dad finding out and Jonathon couldn’t get Lowry’s words out of his head – When Father finds out you’re all going to be crucified.

The two cousins decided to go back to Aylesbridge Close to face Larry’s wrath together.