Saturday, May 30, 2020

Short Story Saturday: Dog Fight: A Creepy-Colin Escapade by Guest Author Paul Skelton




Dog Fight
(A Creepy-Colin Escapade)

Written by
Paul Skelton


   Billy Chandler, who was nearly twelve years old, loved his toy. It was ace. During the day, Billy was home alone for the school holidays with only Benji, the families Yorkshire Terrier for company. Benji did not share Billy’s love of the toy. In fact, he was terrified of it, especially when it was used to chase him 'round the garden.
  Billy’s Mum, Lorraine, worked in the local bookies in the afternoons, and Dad, Terence, worked the twilight shift (2pm – 10pm) at a local warehouse. Both parents worked six days a week, with only Sundays off. Lorraine finished at 5:30pm each day and had Billy fed, watered and in bed by 7:30pm, giving her a two-hour window to go to her bedroom and play with her favourite toy, which was ace.
   Creepy-Colin was a fifteen-year-old nerd who lived next door. He was very clever and into all sorts of high tech gadgetry, including a sophisticated surveillance system set up to watch Lorraine when she played with her favourite toy. What he did not know was that Billy with his toy could spy on Creepy-Colin. Billy often wondered what Creepy-Colin was looking at on his computer screen, but judging by his antics, he reckoned it must be very exciting. Only Lorraine was oblivious to all this spying, whilst lost in ecstasy and pleasure, sprawled naked on her divan bed.
  The neighbours on the other side were the Caswells, a family of six adults, all benefit and alcohol dependant. Their pet dog, Tyson, was a vicious pit bull, who regularly attacked other people's pets when he was on the loose.
   One afternoon, Billy was playing in his upstairs bedroom, whilst Creepy-Colin next door was setting up his telescope to watch Mrs. Wilson (two doors down) come out to do some topless sunbathing. This was inferior entertainment compared with Lorraine’s activities but had its moments when Mrs. Wilson applied sun-tan lotion to her chest area.
   Billy was just turning his attention from his Tonka-Toy truck to his X-Box when there was a loud and urgent banging on the front door, accompanied by shouting through the letterbox.
   'BILLY, BILLY! Let me in quick! Your dog's in trouble. He's being attacked in your back garden. LET ME IN! I CAN HELP, BILLY!' It was Creepy-Colin.
   Billy jumped up and shot a glance from his bedroom window to the back garden below. He could not see Benji, but he could see Tyson, who had come through a hole in the fence. Alarmed, he ran down to let Creepy-Colin in.
   'Billy, them Caswells kicked a hole in your fence, which let their pit bull into your garden. Benji's hiding behind your Dad’s shed. Saw it all through my telescope. We gotta do something, Billy.'
   'We can't fight Tyson, Colin. He'll kill us.'
   'No, not with our bare hands we can't. Get your drone, Billy, and I'll get some knives and stuff from your kitchen. I've got some duck tape, we can rig up your drone to scare Tyson off, okay? See you up in your room, Billy, in two minutes.'
   Billy went and got out his favourite, ace toy: his drone. It was a sizeable one fitted with a camera. It was also fully charged. Within minutes, Creepy-Colin was in Billy’s room, equipping the drone with sharp kitchen knives, attached with the duck tape. He'd even found some loose craft knife blades to stick onto the rotors. Billy, meanwhile, had opened the bedroom windows wide. He saw a bloodied Benji being chased from behind his Dad's garden shed by a snarling, slavering Tyson.
   'QUICK, COLIN,' he yelled.
   'It's ready, Billy,' Creepy-Colin affirmed. 'Now, gimme the remote controls, and hold your drone over the window ledge. I'll fly it, coz it's a bit heavier than you're used to with all these knives on it.'
    Billy did as he was asked.
    The drone lurched drunkenly through the open window into the garden. Benji was now perched up on top of an old coal bunker, quaking and yelping in fear. The rather heavier pit bull stood in front of the bunker, glaring up at Benji and growling with malicious intent. Tyson lacked Benji’s agility and therefore did not succeed in his attempts to jump up onto the bunker himself, which bought Billy and Creepy-Colin valuable time.
   Creepy-Colin lost no time in mastering control of the drone, and in moments, had it circling above Tyson’s head. As Tyson attempted to rear up on his hind legs to assault the drone, one of the knives slashed one of his front paws, leaving a nasty gash. The stricken pit bull fell back heavily, howling in pain just as Creepy-Colin steered the whirling machine in for a second attack. This time the blades caught Tyson in the face and head. One ear was sliced through, an eyeball vacated its socket and Tysons jaw was severely torn. The whimpering hound retreated to the Caswell’s back garden, leaving a scarlet trail behind him. Once he was on the other side of the fence, he hid under a garden table to lick his wounds.
   Billy ran downstairs to bring Benji inside for a drink of water and some rest. He and Creepy-Colin then found some unused paving slabs to block the hole in the fence, they even thought to use Billy’s Dad’s garden hose to wash away Tyson’s trail of blood.

* * *

   Billy’s Mum arrived home just after 5:30pm.
   'Hi, Billy, been up to much?' she called as she entered the front doorway.
   'Just playing with my drone, boring day really.' Billy yawned.
   Billy was fed, watered, and sent to bed at 7:30pm, but he did not sleep. Once he'd heard his mother close her bedroom door, he got out of bed, put his dressing gown on and sneaked downstairs. Creepy-Colin’s mother and father were out at the local pub when Billy entered the house. Soon Billy was in Creepy-Colin’s room watching the action on his computer screen, he'd never seen his mother quite like this before.
   'Told you, Billy, ace, innit?'
   'Blimey,' said Billy. 'Is it naughty of us, doing this?'
   'Nah. Fun though, innit? I call it neighbourhood watch. It's just spying really.'
   'Yeh? Like James Bond and stuff?'
  'Yeh, Billy, like that. And remember, Billy, if it hadn't been for me doing my bit of spying, we might not have saved Benji. So no telling, right, Billy-boy?'
   'No. No telling,' Billy reassured him. Then giggling and pointing at the image of his mother on the screen in front of them, Billy said, 'And mum's the word.'
   'Ace,' said Creepy-Colin, high fiving Billy’s palm.


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