Part 2. A Mystery: ToeKnee Hears Some Bangs

PART 2: A Mystery ” Tony Hears Some Bangs.

One Sunday morning ToeKnee asked his mother if he could go for a walk, smiling that special big smile of his. "Of course, my angel, she said, patting him on the head and giving him some coins to buy sweets with plenty of nice E-numbers in them, "but don't be late for lunch! She stood at the door waving until he turned the corner at the bottom of the street ” how proud she was of her nice little lad. ToeKnee walked happily around the teeny-weeny little village of Great Brattin, smiling his big smile at everyone bigger than him, and stopping now and then to lick some boots, or to admire the pretty pieces of broken glass and deep-fried potato the talented Brattish people had cleverly arranged on the pavements.

Soon he found himself in the western part of the town, next to The Pond. There was a lovely little hill there, from which you could see most of the tiny-winy little land of Planna Turth. ToeKnee climbed to the top of this hill, whistling happily. He laughed when he stepped into the poo that someone had got his pet dog to do on the path ” yes, the Brattish people had a wonderful sense of humour as well as being very artistic. There was no end to the trouble they would go to make life more enjoyable for their fellow Brats.

By and by he was at the top of the hill, still laughing at the wit of the villagers. What better place than Great Brattin could there possibly be in all the tiny-winy little land of Planna Turth? How lucky he was. He looked out over the colourful streets, freshly decorated after Saturday night's laa-ga and al-coco-pops fun. He looked beyond, to the pretty countryside belonging to the village, all yellow with rape flowers as far as the eye could see, glowing in the late-morning sun and beautifully hazy from the smoke coming from the fifty-lane motorway/car parks that ran around the town. He sneezed, and then jumped: his sneeze had sounded very, very loud, much louder than usual! Then, almost immediately he heard¦ was that people cheering?
He knew he was a very special little boy in many ways (everyone told him so) but, even for someone so special, this was a bit strange! His big ears were very sensitive, it was true, but he was used to the sound of his own sneezes, and no one had ever cheered him for sneezing before. The most they ever said was "Bless you! which was very silly, he thought. He'd always known that God was on his side, and why would He desert him, just for sneezing? Yes, he knew he was truly blessed; he didn't need people to bless him¦

And then he heard a very big bang ” and it had nothing to do with him sneezing! He was turning to the east, where he thought the sound had come from, when there was that cheering noise again ” from the west! Yes, the cheering was from the direction of Amricher, on the other side of The Pond. Now what was going on? He scrunched up his eyes and looked very hard at the big village of Amricher. Ah yes, there were some people on the roof of the Planna Turth Betray Center in the middle of the big village of Amricher. Were they jumping up and down? Was that singing he heard? Then ToeKnee remembered the bang he had heard to the east, and turned to look in that direction again. Just then there was another bang, and another¦ He saw two big clouds of smoke. One was very far away. It looks as if it might be in the area of IndoAmNesia. The other was clearly over the big town of Midleast, which was a lot closer. Again the people on the rooftop in Amricher seemed to be jumping up and down and cheering. They must be very happy indeed. What was going on? Surely no one could be happier than the lucky people of Great Brattin? ToeKnee had always believed what they told him in school: Great Brattin was the nicest and best village in the whole of Planna Turth and the people were the happiest, but the people on the rooftop in Amricher seemed very happy to him. He was thinking about this when the big clock in the centre of the teeny-weeny little village of Great Brattin started to strike: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve! Oh, no! If he didn't run, he was going to be late for Sunday lunch, and Mother would be cross.

ToeKnee ran down the hill, laughing in delight as he stepped in the dog poo again ” what a good joke that was! He ran all the way home through the beautiful streets of Great Brattin, enjoying the game of jumping over the colourful patches which the laa-ga and al-coco-pops drinkers had made on the pavements when they'd emptied their tummies the night before.