Beach (7 of 8)

The Scooteria Kids on the Beach

"Jump on, girls!" called out NickyNRG, "let's go for a ride!"

"This is my brother, the IceMan," continued Nicky, pointing to his
brother, all in silver and very cool.

"OK," agreed the girls, as they got on the scooters.

This was a typical day at the beach for Nicky and the IceMan throughout
the summer. They liked taking girls for rides along the promenade, and
it helped the Scooteria Kids' friends who owned the local scooter shop.
The shop hired out scooters in the town, and the holiday-makers liked
them to get around the busy roads, especially after seeing the scooters
down at the beach.

The scooter shop, Skoot, had looked after the Scooteria Kids fuel and
mechanical needs since they had arrived. In return, the kids would help
out at the shop at the weekends by running errands. Skoot's Italian
mechanic, Emilio, had brought Nicky back to top form after his terrible
damage earlier in the year at the Speed Trials. During the summer
holidays they offered to be hired out when Skoot's fleet was hired out.
It was a good arrangement - everyone was happy.

It was particularly hot that summer, and the Scooteria Kids loved it
down on the beach, just a few minutes away from the home they had found
when they had arrived from Italy. On board the ship bringing them to
England, a strange red glow had given them a child-like life. They had
started at school, but now it was holiday time!

The Scooteria Kids and their friends from their road - Mark, James,
Jacqui, Clare, and Natasha - and their friends from St.Michael's school
- Georgia, Sophie, and Daisy - were always down at the beach playing
together. Georgia, Sophie and Daisy were very good in the water, and
Daisy's Dad had a boat which they all enjoyed.

Everyone enjoyed playing ScootBall, the game EmmaT4 thought of when
they had first gone to St. Michael's. Because they didn't have any
legs, the Scooteria Kids couldn't play football, but being Italian they
loved the game. Emma believed that her school-friends would be able to
ride around on the scooters and kick the ball.

ScootBall became popular down on the beach with the holiday-makers.
Some of the boys who came on holiday played football at home and
thought they could easily beat the Scooteria Kids team.

A ScootBall competition was held every weekend throughout the holidays
to see if anyone could beat the Scooteria Kids, but no team could, even
those teams which played in the ScootBall league. The Scooteria Kids
couldn't kick the ball, but they knew the game!

One day, Emma and Emily were at the petrol-station collecting something
for Skoot, when there was shout from behind.

"You're in our way!" screamed a horrible blonde lady, sitting in the
passenger seat of the most enormous car, "we've got to get to the
ferry."

As they moved to let the car through, Emma noticed the driver, who
seemed much nicer, and vaguely familiar.

"Don't worry about them," called a man from his car nearby, "you're two
of the Scooteria Kids, aren't you?"

"Yes, I'm Emma, and this is Emily."

"My name is Marco, and since I've been here on holiday I've met Emilio
from Skoot, who has told me all about you and how much you like the
jet-skis. Emilio and I have an idea that you might interest you both.
I'll see you at the shop soon. Bye!"

When Emma and Emily had finished their errand, they rushed down to the
beach to tell the rest of the gang to meet them at the shop. Emilio,
who was with them at the beach, said to Emma, "You've met Marco, then.
He's OK. Yes, you should all go to meet him and hear about his
idea."

At the shop, Marco told the Scooteria Kids that he could easily convert
them into jet-skis. Although they were excited about this, only EmilyT2
volunteered to be a 'guinea-pig' for the project.

Two days later, a big crowd gathered to watch what was happening as
Marco, Emilio, and Emily appeared with a large box. Within a few
minutes Emily had become a jet-ski and it was time for her water-test.
Her engine started and Emilio got on board.

"Hey, boys!" Emily cried out to her friends, "Hey, girls, here we
go!"

With her engine buzzing, her front rose in the water and she was off!
The sun glinted off her silver body as she raced away out to sea. For
the rest of the summer, whenever they weren't playing ScootBall, the
Scooteria Kids became jet-skis for their friends!

One day, one of those hot, lazy days when nobody wants to do anything,
the Scooteria Kids and their friends were relaxing on the beach when
someone started shouting and pointing out to sea. There was somebody in
trouble on their boat, which was slowly sinking.

The rescue boat was dragged out, but it wouldn't start. Emilio, who was
on the beach with his girlfriend, went over to see if he could help. He
often helped out with the local boats and jet-skis. He quickly realised
hat a part from Rebecca Runner's engine would be needed to get the
rescue boat going, but it would need some speedy work to change it.
Emilio was soon fiddling with Rebecca's engine.

"Stop it, Emilio! You're tickling me!" she giggled.

Meanwhile, the boat in trouble was sinking quickly and everybody was
getting concerned. After what had seemed like ages, the rescue boat was
fixed and it raced out to the stricken yacht.

Just in time! The boat sank just a few seconds after the two people on
board were rescued. The owner happened to be the man from the big car
with the rude woman who Emma and Emily had bumped into a few days
before. The woman had fallen into the sea as they waited to be rescued
and was very wet and upset.

"Look at my new dress! It's ruined!" she wailed

The man from the boat went over to the Scooteria Kids and took out his
wallet to give them something for helping. Inside his wallet was a
picture of a lady, not the one in the car, but another who Emma
recognised as the lovely lady who often came to visit the owners of the
big house where they stayed.

"That's very kind of you to offer," said Emma, "but we don't want your
money. You'd better spend it on a new dress for her!"

Even the man laughed at that, and gave Emma a big hug.

Soon it would be time for the Scooteria Kids and their friends to go
back to school, but Harry and AleX9 had another adventure for them
before that &;#8230;.