It was a heavy snow that fell from a soggy sky and all over Millsend icy puddles decorated the streets . Apart from the snowmen that lined the pathways through town there was a most enchanting sight at the foot of the hill . Right beside the girls school was this massive white architecture .
You could have thought that it had been designed by some artistic genius .
But no you could have thought it was left as a legacy for future generations to remember some great sculpture , but no a moment . You may have even thought it was an impression of life on a distant planet but again you would be wrong for in fact it was just Jimmy's Junkyard .
As a lad I recall the first day I saw beyond the scrap into an artic abyss .
That's when I knew I had to scale the fence to go for a wander through the junkyard . So carefully I climbed over the railings and with my eyes as big as saucers I fell to the other side and I was inside Jimmy's Junkyard .
It felt like I was in wonderland .
I stood in the deserted wasteland and looked all around me .
I felt like I was the first explorer on the surface of another planet .
I found a broom placed my handkerchief at one end making a makeshift flag . Then I climbed up on the roof of one of the storage sheds and erected the flag in a chimney spout and claimed Metal City as my own .
Yes indeed it was a weird and wonderful place .
I wandered through this new territory and discovered lots of forgotten things in storage sheds . Old washing machines , oil heaters, fridges , bath tubs and boilers . There were old wheels and iron gates and just as I began to think about making a Robot army out of all this scrap I heard a noise .
It was a growling kind of sound . As I turned around I saw the first sign of life in Metal City . Standing before me was this wild beast growling and snarling at me . I looked into its huge open jaws and for a moment I saw my life flash before me and then I saw the chain . I breathed a little easier now and began to calm down .
"Easy there now . I'm not going to hurt you ."
I said to the junkyard dog that was securely chained up to a post near the front office .
The more I spoke to the dog the quieter it became .
Eventually the dog sat down and we had an understanding .
It couldn't get me and I wasn't getting any closer to it .
After a while I realised that the dog wasn't angry . It was upset or worried about something . It seemed to almost want me to come over .
I trusted my gut feelings and plucked up the courage to go over and place my hands on the dogs head .
"Ok then my friend . What's the problem ?
The tried to free it self from the chain but the post was well secured .
I decided to take the collar off the dogs neck . I knew if the dog turned on me I was dead meat and was really at its mercy . As I took the collar off the junkyard dog licked my face .
The next thing the dog raced ahead of me . Every six feet or so the dog stopped and started barking and waited for me to follow it .
The dog brought me over to a area where a small caravan was parked on a e on a concrete slab . Beside the caravan was a sign with the words Jimmy's Office on it . Beside the caravan was a gate and near the gate was a pile of unopened letters . It looked as if no one had checked the mail for a while .
The letters lay there in a small heap .
By the look of it the postman just tossed the mail letters over the gate and to some place near the front door of the caravan . He was probably too frightened to venture inside because of the junkyard dog no doubt .
There weren't too many visitors who came to see Jimmy and he would have rarely chained the dog up .
The junkyard dog was scratching at the front door of the caravan and crying to get inside . The it came to me there was something wrong .
I shouted out .
"Hello is anyone there ."
I lifted the latch on the caravan door and then turned the door knob .
The door opened and I waked inside . Jimmy was lying there on the floor .
His hands were tied behind his back and he was unconscious .
The caravan was in a mess with drawers and boxes upturned and their contents scattered all over the floor .
The junkyard dog started licking Jimmy's face .
Poor Jimmy he looked a sorry sight . The victim of a robbery it would seem .
I tried the telephone but it was dead .
So I told the dog to stay and raced off as fast as I could to get help .
I asked the police if I could go with them because the junkyard dog knew me and if it saw me it wouldn't be worried .
The police agreed and in a short moment of time Jimmy was taken away in the back of an ambulance . Thankfully Jimmy's life had been saved .
When Jimmy came to the police interviewed him .
"Can you tell us who did this to you Jimmy
The detective asked .
"I don't know . I've never saw him before in my life ."
"So it was a man on his own ?
"That's right ."
Said Jimmy .
The Detective continued .
"Can you give me a description of what he looked like ?
"Yes . He was very well dressed and had a posh voice . He had a grey beard and wore a distinguished looking hat . In one hand he had a briefcase and in the other he held a cane walking stick ."
The detective looked puzzled and said ,
"Did he rob you of any money?
Jimmy burst out laughing .
"Money . Don't be silly . Where would I get any of that ?
"Then what was it he wanted ?."
The detective asked .
"Well it was early one morning when I was checking my mail . The same old thing bills and more bills . I remember I was talking to Ned ?
"Who's Ned ?
The detective asked .
"That's my dog ".
Jimmy replied .
"Was Ned chained up at the time ?
The detective asked .
"Oh no . Actually I remember the well dressed man then as he shouted from the main gate for me to tie Ned up . And as I sometimes do for the occasional customer I put him on the chain. "
"Was there anything odd about the person at the gate or did you suspect anything about the customer there.
"The only thing I though was what would someone like him want from a junkyard dealer . Anyway as I was saying , I continued opening my mail as he came into my office . The well dressed man started to tell me all about this plan of his . He said he was a developer and wanted to build a block of flats where my yard was . He offered me a large amount of money for the junkyard and everything in it . I thought it was a joke and started to laugh .
"Did you suspect something wasn't right then ?"
The detective asked .
Jimmy continued
"Yes . I guess I did . So I played the fool and tried to ask a few questions about his development . I was hoping maybe to get a bigger offer .
Anyway didn't he begin to get angry. He lifted his voice and started to ask weird questions about the junkyard ?
The detective asked ,
"What kind of questions ?
Well like . What kind of man would want to live in a junkyard with a dog and how serious this could become if I never accepted his offer . I was getting worried at this stage and decided to get Ned . That's when the gentleman produced a map from his briefcase . He pointed out a highway from North to South and smack in the middle he pointed to a red dot that hew said was my junkyard . "
"Did you believe him ?
"No . Then he started to ask me about an item I had collected from a property a few weeks ago . He was very interested in a number of old boilers I had acquired . Then the business man asked if I could show him where they were and if he could buy them back I thought there was something fishy going on .
"So what did you do ."
"Well I sold him the boilers but not the ones he was after . "
"Then what ?
The detective asked .
"Then as he handed me a large sum of money for the boilers he told
me I should clear out before the end of the week . Next thing I knew he brought his walking stick down on my head and that's the last thing I remember . "
" Can you show me the boilers he was after ?"
The detective asked .
"Sure I can "
Jimmy replied .
While a strong contingent of armed police kept watch on the junkyard Jimmy took the detectives to an old shed and pointed to about a dozen boilers lying there .
"Is that them Jimmy "
That's them all right . I marked them with a blue dot because they were a lot heavier that normal and I was going to check out what kind of metal they were that's why they are separated from the rest of my stock "
Slowly the secret was revealed . The mystery of the old boilers was uncovered by the forensics squad . Their investigations produced inner steel cases within the boilers that were loaded with narcotics . The boilers were removed by mistake from an old ship that was laid to rest in a dry dock . Instead of being collected by five international drug barons , the boilers were collected by some crazy old Junkyard man by the name of Jimmy .
Now the police lay low and waited for someone else to surface from the underworld for the boilers .
After some good detective work the police made their arrest .
The deadly cargo had been prevented from hitting the street .
Jimmy had been given a new identity and a new business to run .
The police rewarded Ned and myself with a medal of honour and once a week I took Jimmy's dog for a walk in the park .
Jimmy's Jukebox was the most popular music shop around and was said to have the best collection of heavy metal music in the world
By Paul McCann
THE END
