The Ashton Road Gang Chapter 5. May

Chapter Five.

 

                   Roller Skates and Boards.

 

          I was in trouble again. Not with my parents this time, but with old Mrs. Blaggard.

"You wait till I see your Dad. I’ll tell him," she was shouting and waving her walking stick.

Anyone would think that I had deliberately fallen off my go-cart outside her house just to annoy her. I did not argue. I just grabbed the steering rope and ran. Most people who lived in Ashton Rd. were very tolerant of the children who played around in front of their houses, but not Mrs. Blaggard. She lived further down the road where the houses opened straight out on to the pavement. The sour, irritable old woman used to go mad about the noise made by people roller skating, sliding or carting past her window. She objected to us even walking past. On one occasion she complained to my mother that I had been rude to her when I was walking up the road with my Father.

Most parents took Mrs. Blaggard’s complaints with a large pinch of salt. In deference to our parent's wishes we usually went past her house on the other side of the road. It did not always matter, out she would come, waving her stick and threatening us all with good hidings. We took great care never to let her catch us.

I took my go-cart in to the back yard. Either as a result of the accident or possibly the cause of it, the front wheel was buckled. Until I could find a replacement set of pram wheels the cart was of no use. I went in.

"What’s up?" asked Mum. "You look miserable."

"The cart’s bust and Mrs. Blaggard will be telling you all about me." I told her.

"What have you been doing to her now?" She asked with a sigh.

"Nothing! I just fell off the cart in front of her house. You know what she’s like."

Mum shook her head. "You’ll just have to find something else to do then, won’t you?"

I opened the door of the toy cupboard. Everything fell out. I groaned. Mary must have left it like that. I had not been in there for months.

Mum looked at the mess on the floor, "Well, now you’ve got something to do. Putting that lot back in." "Aw Mum," I started to protest, but she had that look in her eyes so I started to shove things back in. When I came across one of my roller skates though, I knew exactly what I was going to do. I jammed the door shut, hoping that it would not be me who opened it next time. "It’s all away, Mum," I shouted. "I’m off out." Her reply was muffled so I assumed it was all right and went.

Simon was in his back yard, working on his go-cart.

"Got a piece of wood?" I asked.

"Plenty." He said indicating a pile in the corner. "Help yourself."

I found a piece the size I needed.

"What’re you doing?" asked Simon, wiping his hands on an oily rag.

"Watch," I said. I put the board on top of the skate, sat on the board and pushed myself along. "See!" I grinned at him.

"That’s great!" He said. "Hang on I’ll find one of my skates and we’ll have a go down Ashton Rd."

Within half an hour all of the gang was out skate and boarding down Ashton Rd. Bob found a piece of chalk and used it to mark out a twisting course.

"Right!" He announced. "Who can get the farthest? No crossing the lines or touching the floor."

Noddy went first, steering by leaning to the left or right. Since the skate and board were not attached if one leant too far over, they came apart. He fell off at the third bend. Everyone else went farther, except me. I fell off at the first bend. We had another race. I fell off again and so it went on, or off in my case.

The more I fell off the more determined I became to complete the course. After all the skate and board was my idea. At last, I began to get the hang of it and I managed to get halfway. The gang cheered.

The next run was a brilliant effort. I completed the course at record speed. As I ran out of chalk lines to follow, I found myself heading for the Hypo man’s horse.

The Hypo man came round once a month selling Hypo, a general-purpose bleach and cleaner. He also collected bottles in which he sold the stuff. We always smelt the contents of any bottle before drinking, just in case it was Hypo. Unfortunately for me, this was his day for visiting Ashton Rd. Of course, I had seen him before I set off, but I expected to fall over long before I reached him. Now I was heading straight for the horse's hooves. My speed was too great to fall off. With a gasp I steered the skate into the alley between Nos. 75 and 77. I felt the hot breath of the horse ruffling my hair as I shot in front of it.

That horse was magnificent. It did not even turn a hair. It just carried on plodding up the road in its usual patient way. The Hypo man, himself probably did not even see me at all.

Unlike the road the alley was not smooth tarmac, it was made up of cobbles. After no more than two yards the skate came to a halt. The board and I carried on for a further couple of feet. However, it was not the board that was touching the cobbles though, it was the backs of my fingers and knuckles.

The gang came running up. "That was brilliant!" shouted Peter

I could not speak for the pain.

"What’s up?" asked Bob.

I pulled my mangled fingers from underneath the board and held them up dripping blood for him to see.

"Yuk!" said Stew.

Somehow, I managed to get home. I got no sympathy.

"Well!" said Mum as she bathed and bandaged. "That’ll stop your gallop for a while."

Dad was no better, he just laughed. Mary also laughed, until she opened the Toy cupboard door and everything fell out. She had to put it all away by herself. My hands were too sore to help.

It took a fortnight for my fingers to heal enough to skate and board again. The enforced rest gave me time to think of a way of stopping board and skate parting company for a second time. I drilled a hole through the board and bolted it the skate.

"That’s a clever idea," said Noddy and went off to do the same.

The obstacle course was easier now. It was Grubby who came up with a new game. "Watch this!" He cried and charged off down the road. Suddenly he turned in towards the pavement. We waited for him to hit it and fall off. Somehow, he managed to lift himself and the board into the air and on to the pavement. "Pavement hopping," he said.

We were impressed and all had to have a go. We all found out, soon, that the penalty of failure was a scraped chin when you fell off forwards as you hit the pavement.

I just could not do it. By the end of the week my face was beginning to fall to pieces. The laughter of the gang spurred me on.

"I’m going to have one last try, then I am going in," I told them. We were sat on the wall of No.72.

"Give it up," said Simon. "You’ll never do it, you’ve been trying for a week."

"I’ll do it if it kills me!" I said hotly.

"It probably will," said Noddy.

"He’s too fat to do it," sneered Peter.

"I haven’t done it yet," said Bob.

"You've never tried," pointed out Simon. "You’ve got more sense. If Billy’s face hits the pavement again, we’ll have to give him a badge with his name on. Even his mother won’t recognise him when he goes in." I was nettled by the scorn. Off I went. The speed was right, the jump perfect. I finished up on the pavement. A quick lean to the left and off down the pavement I rolled. I heard the gang cheering.

Out of her front door came Mrs. Blaggard. She faced up the road, waving her stick, her feet well apart, ready no doubt to scream at us for making a noise. There was no way I could avoid her or stop. She was too close.

To my astonishment the expected collision did not happen. In an effort to avoid her stick I lay back and went straight between her feet and out the other side. I did not get much further before falling off.

Meanwhile Mrs. Blaggard was having loud hysterics. I did not wait to see any more. I fled. Hunger and thirst eventually drove me home. Mum looked hard at me as I went in. "Eat your dinner, then you can wait for your Dad to come home."

Dad heard the full complaint in silence. "Upstairs!" He said.

Slowly I sniffed my way to my bedroom. I sat on the bed fearing the worst.

Dad looked at me. "Did you really go right underneath her?"

I nodded too scared to speak.

"Do you know that she told your Mum, that from now on, every time she came out of her front door, she would have to do her kerb drill?"

I looked at him, puzzled.

"You know, look right, look left, look right again."

I wished he would stop talking and get the punishment over and done with.

"You, you......"

I looked up. Dad was grinning from ear to ear. Seconds later we were both giggling fit to burst.

"Oh, you, you are as bad as he is," Mum was stood in the doorway, looking very black. Dad stopped laughing and blushed. He coughed. "Look, son, we can't have you doing that sort of thing," he said trying to be stern. "That roller skate can go back in the cupboard and the board goes on the fire."

"Yes, Dad." I agreed. I did not care, skate and boarding was too risky. Anyway, the season was over, it was time for Cricket.