Oscar Hazelnut and the Metal Dogtectors

By G F Crawford

Almost twelve-year-old Oscar Hazelnut has no idea that the two puppies his Dad found in the hedge are the world’s last surviving Metal Dogtectors.

Soon he is plunged into a magical and perilous world of buried Saxon treasure, talking animals, ruthless villains and the enchanted Golden Dog...and that’s even before he discovers the terrifying secret of The Extinction Club!

• Language: English
• Publisher: G F Crawford
• Release date: Mar 11, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301019168

Book preview

OSCAR HAZELNUT

AND THE

METAL DOGTECTORS

G.F. Crawford

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organisations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

ISBN: 978-0-9888415-0-5

Smashwords Edition

G. F. Crawford

‘Oscar Hazelnut and the Metal Dogtectors’

‘The Extinction Club Series’

Copyright © 2013 by G. F. Crawford

Cover design by buzzart of 99designs.com.

Interior book design by 52 Novels 52novels.com.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author / publisher.

Synopsis

Almost twelve-year-old Oscar Hazelnut has no idea that the two puppies his Dad found in the hedge are the world’s last surviving Metal Dogtectors.

Soon he is plunged into a magical and perilous world of buried Saxon treasure, talking animals, ruthless villains and the enchanted Golden Dog…and that’s even before he discovers the terrifying secret of The Extinction Club!

Accompanied by an extraordinary puppy, a crazy stoat and a hungry piglet, Oscar sets off on the most dangerous journey of his life to try and save the future of the animal kingdom.

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Synopsis

Dedication

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 10

CHAPTER 11

CHAPTER 12

CHAPTER 13

CHAPTER 14

CHAPTER 15

CHAPTER 16

CHAPTER 17

CHAPTER 18

APPENDIX

APPENDIX CONTINUED

Acknowledgements

About the author

Synopsis: The Extinction Club Series - Part 2: Oscar Hazelnut and the Return of the Druids.

To Pamela.

Keep on treasure hunting!

PROLOGUE

THE FIGHT

Oscar Hazelnut preferred talking to animals than people. He would chat with geese, badgers, caterpillars or indeed anything as long as it did not have two legs and wore clothes. He also went out of his way to avoid other people, which was why he was hiding behind the trunk of a large oak tree as he ate his cheese and pickle sandwich.

On his first day at Highhurst School, two of Oscar’s classmates had taken note of his strange habit of rubbing his nose whenever he was nervous and had started teasing him about it. At first he had confided in his Dad who had sternly told Oscar to ignore them. Rubbing one’s nose, he had said, was no crime and any reaction from Oscar’s part would just inspire the bullies to make things worse. He said it was just a self-conscious habit and if Oscar just avoided them, things would quickly get better. So Oscar had gritted his teeth, put on a brave face and steadfastly ignored the name calling.

But his Dad’s advice hadn’t worked. Annoyed that Oscar wasn’t reacting, the bullies had started to resort to more violent tactics.

The main person responsible for organising Oscar’s name-calling was a small and skinny individual called Finn Scales. He was a cowardly and sickly boy and as such all his classmates called him Fish. Finn liked to think he had been nicknamed Fish because, just like his name, all fish have fins and scales. However the real reason was because people thought he was such a pathetically feeble wet fish.

This was because Finn was twelve years old, but only as tall and strong as somebody half his age. He was so wet that when he was younger he had always regarded the garden as far too dangerous to play in. Instead, he preferred to mess around with teddy bears in the safety of his bedroom. His parents thought he would make an excellent jockey, except that they knew this would never happen as he was far too afraid of horses to go anywhere near them. Knowing he was too weedy to stand up for himself, Fish had cunningly recruited his non identical twin brother as a bodyguard.

If Finn was skinny and pathetic, Charles Scales was the exact opposite. He was fatter, taller and stronger than any other boy in the school and he loved to make the most of it. However, despite being almost twice Finn’s body size, his brain was a different matter. Whereas Finn had been given a small but devious brain, Charles had in effect been given absolutely nothing. He thought lessons were for losers and so much preferred his favourite pastimes of eating chips, bullying and when he got bored of this, vandalising school property. People at school were too scared of him to call him anything, so in honour of his favourite meal he had nicknamed himself Chips.

Charles did not particularly like anybody and this included his younger twin brother, but he was happy to be the little squirt’s bodyguard as long as Finn kept on handing over his weekly pocket money.

As far as Oscar was concerned the worst thing about Fish and Chips was that they seemed to love picking on him. Fish had come up with the name ‘Rub-Nose Oscar’ and then used Chip’s help to make sure everyone at school used it. To make life even more unpleasant, when they got fed up with Oscar ignoring their name calling, they would punch and kick him when nobody was looking.

Perhaps the most awful thing of all was that Fish and Chips could do no wrong at school. Oscar had heard that this was because their mother was Chairwoman of the Highhurst Town Council and Mr Sobers, the headmaster, was Vice-Chairman and desperately wanted the top job. Consequently they never seemed to get into trouble for anything and despite showing no interest in any of their lessons, would always be at the top of the class in almost every subject. Oscar had even heard rumours that Mr Sobers reversed Fish and Chip’s bad school reports into good ones, to further encourage Mrs Scales to support him for the Chairman position.

It was quarter of an hour before the end of the lunch break when Oscar lost his temper. He was slowly eating his sandwich in the shade of the majestic oak tree next to the geography classroom and watching a pair of swallows feeding their chirping young in a mud nest they had built under the building’s eaves.

He loved early summer because this was when the countryside really became alive with animals and birds. The energy and skill of swallows never ceased to amaze him and each time one of the swallows caught an insect, he called out to congratulate it through a mouthful of sandwich.

The female had just flown up to the nest and presented her chicks with a particularly large mouthful of flies, when without warning his lunchbox went flying through the air spraying bread, lettuce, cheese and his apple across the grass. Oscar leapt up in fright and spun around to see Fish and Chips grinning idiotically from behind the tree trunk.

‘Well, well, Rub-Nose is being a freak and talking to birds again!’ Fish smirked nastily as he eyed the swallows’ nest.

It took Chip’s a few seconds to think about this. ‘That’s because he has no friends,’ he eventually said.

‘Of course he doesn’t!’ Fish said with a laugh. ‘His family is dirt poor and lives in a shack in the middle of nowhere without a car. He hasn’t even got a computer or a mobile phone! And if that’s not bad enough he spends his time talking to swallows or any other stupid creature that he sees! Who’d want to be friends with a loser like that?’

Despite knowing full well he should just ignore them, Oscar found he was trying to justify himself. ‘That’s because there’s no mobile reception in Sunshine Valley,’ he muttered, ‘and if I need a computer I use the school ones and the bus gets us around without a problem...’

‘Yeah, yeah whatever. Just shut it Rub-Nose!’ Fish cut him off. ‘My Mum says your family can’t even afford to buy you a new school uniform. You stinking lot are no more than peasants and should be put out of your misery. You’re a waste of space Rub-Nose and the world would be a much better place without the likes of you in it!’

‘Dad says second hand clothes do exactly the same job as new ones,’ Oscar mumbled as he rubbed his nose nervously.

‘Hey there he goes again Finn!’ Chips gave a mean laugh. ‘The pheasant is rubbing his stupid honker again. What’s the matter with this loser?’

‘I’ve no idea Charles, but I said Rub-Nose is a peasant not a pheasant you idiot!’ Fish smirked as Chips stared at him blankly. ‘Anyway,’ he continued, ‘we’ve told him enough times to stop rubbing the thing like a nervous nellie, but he still does it. Maybe you just ought to start punching it until it bleeds. Perhaps that will stop him from doing it? What do you reckon Charles?’

Chips started to giggle and began opening and closing his fist in preparation. He then began to jab the air right in front of Oscar’s nose, giving little pig-like grunts as he did so.

Humiliated and a little frightened of the large boy, Oscar dropped his hand and with his cheeks burning bright red stared at the ground in silence. Once again, he had not even realised he had been rubbing his silly nose in the first place.

‘Oh no, that’s disgusting!’ Fish exclaimed loudly, making Chips drop his arms, ‘I’ve got chutney on my shoe! It must have got there when I kicked Rub-Nose’s lunch box.’

The scrawny boy was looking down at his highly polished black shoe and trying unsuccessfully to flick the globule of pickle away.

‘Well Rub-Nose can just lick it off then,’ Chips said nastily, ‘it’s his lunch after all.’

Oscar tried to ignore the pair and instead looked at his destroyed lunch in dismay. A cheeky blackbird had flown out of the oak tree and was beginning to peck at the bread. At least it would not go to waste he thought. Then he saw his bent and battered lunchbox which had been a birthday present from his Mum and Dad and he felt a wave of anger running through him. He would have loved to give the pair a piece of his mind, but he could hear his Dad’s advice clearly in his head. He gritted his teeth, turned around and began to walk slowly towards the remains of his lunch.

‘Who gave you permission to turn your back on me Rub-Nose? Lick the chutney off my shoe!’ Fish ordered loudly.

Oscar ignored him. He reached the remains of his lunch, stooped down to pick up his broken lunchbox and bruised apple and carried on walking. He had gone three more steps when he heard a dull thud as a stone ricocheted off the brick wall of the geography classroom. This was quickly followed by the sound of a nest full of chicks screeching in fright.

‘Blast! I missed the stupid thing!’ Fish said with a laugh.

‘That’s because you’re too pathetic to throw properly!’ Chips responded.

Oscar spun around and was horrified to see them pointing at the swallows’ nest.

‘Here’s a bigger one,’ Chips said picking up a small rock, ‘even you can’t miss with that Finn. Just aim a bit to the right and you’ll flatten it!’

Oscar watched open mouthed as Fish took aim at the unprotected and very fragile mud construction. The baby swallows were shrieking for their parents, sensing they were in grave danger. His Dad’s advice flashed through his mind again but this was different. He knew he would never forgive himself if he just stood there and watched the stoning of a nest-full of helpless chicks.

‘Don’t Fish, they’re just babies!’ he called out in panic.

‘Ah, I see Rub-Nose has a voice after all! Pity you seem to care more about those stupid birds than my shoe. You can think about that after I’ve smashed them to pieces. Protect my back Charles.’

Chips grinned and stepped between Oscar and his brother, with his arms held out wide in case Oscar thought about trying to get past. Oscar saw Fish draw back his arm and knew he had to do something. With no chance of getting past Chips to stop him, he clutched his apple tightly, took aim and with a yell of rage hurled it at the rock in Fish’s hand.

The Granny Smith shot through the air like a rocket, missed its target, and hit the astonished Chips straight in the right eye. The fat boy bellowed in pain and collapsed on the ground clutching his face as Oscar ran up and launched himself at the now unprotected Fish. He wrapped his arms around the skinny boy and angrily tackled him to the ground. Oscar tore the rock out of his hand and tossed it away.

‘Rub-Nose has lost it!’ Fish screamed in terror. ‘Get the nutter off me Charles, he’s hurting me!’

Oscar was beginning to get up when Chip’s large hand grabbed a handful of his hair and he was wrenched into the air. He dangled above the ground as Chips used his considerable strength to hold him out at arm’s length.

‘Get him Finn!’ Chips snarled as he watched his brother pick himself slowly up from the ground, ‘and when you’ve finished with him, I’m going to make sure he gets really hurt!’

‘I’m going to do you in Rub-Nose,’ Fish said nastily, ‘and afterwards I’m going to rip apart that birds’ nest right in front of your stupid face!’

He ran in and with a yell swung his fist into Oscar’s stomach. Oscar grunted in pain and felt himself swinging like a clock’s pendulum under Chip’s iron grip.

‘Ow!’ Fish squealed pathetically, clutching his hand. ‘I’ve hurt my finger!’

‘So kick him instead!’ Chips said in disgust. ‘That’ll hurt him just as much!’

Oscar tried to ignore the pain from his throbbing stomach and his head, which felt as if the hair was being pulled slowly out of his scalp. His only thought was to try and attract someone’s attention so Fish would not be able to pick up another rock and kill the chicks. He shouted and screamed for someone to help him as he dangled over the ground, kicking the air helplessly.

Oscar was so intent on saving the swallows that he did not notice Fish’s dive to the ground. The puny boy curled up into a ball and promptly began to moan and whimper on the grass with his hands over his face.

Chips eventually let go of his hair and Oscar dropped to the ground. Still in a fury he whirled around to face Chips, with his fists raised. Despite his anger, he was still surprised to see Chips cowering away from him, holding his hands up in the air in surrender.

Then he saw the crowd of people staring at them in silence.

‘You three to my office immediately!’ he heard Mr Sobers shout.

Oscar saw Fish groaning and writhing around on the ground in apparent agony and with a sinking feeling knew that everybody would think he had injured the pathetic boy.

Slowly rubbing his stomach, he walked through the crowd of whispering teachers and pupils. He glanced up and looked at the swallow’s nest. The female swallow had just returned with another mouthful of insects and the chicks were chirping hungrily. The swallow turned her head, looked down and Oscar could have sworn she quickly nodded a thank you at him. He blinked a few times and stared again. The swallow was busy feeding her chicks with her back to him and he thought perhaps he had imagined it.

Oscar looked back and saw Fish being taken off to the school nurse. He was lying on a stretcher being carried by four teachers. The wimpy boy had his arm over his face and there was a crowd of worried looking pupils surrounding him.

It was at this point that Oscar began to realise just how much trouble he was in.

• • •

‘Thank you for coming Mr and Mrs Hazelnut and I’m sorry I had to interrupt your working day.’ Robert Sobers peered at his visitors through his old-fashioned reading glasses.

As Oscar sat next to his parents in the headmaster’s study, he saw the concern written all over his Dad’s face. He quickly glanced at his mother and saw a tear roll down her cheek. Feeling terrible, he looked quickly away.

Despite telling Mr Sobers what had happened three times, Oscar had not been believed. The headmaster had twisted his words around and made it sound like he had beaten up Fish and Chips. Feeling defeated and fed up, he stared at the carpet and awaited his fate.

Oscar’s Dad looked at the headmaster evenly. Mr Sobers had called his wife and said Oscar had got himself into trouble, so he had taken the afternoon off work to sort things out. They had had to wait quite some time for a bus, and by the way his son was nervously rubbing his nose, he knew the long delay had made Oscar very jittery indeed.

The headmaster looked serious as he ran a hand through his thin, grey hair before leaning back in his leather chair.

He took a deep breath. ‘I regret to say that Oscar started a fight today which led to another boy being hospitalized,’ he said gravely.

Oscar’s Mum let out a gasp and Oscar saw another tear roll down her flushed face. He looked at his Dad and saw his mouth had dropped open in disbelief.

‘The boy’s going to be fine,’ Mr Sobers continued in the same tone, ‘but he’s fractured the small finger on his right hand. It’ll be painful for a week or two but there will be no permanent damage.’

‘What happened?’ Oscar’s Dad asked incredulously.

‘It seems that two boys were playing catch next to the geography classroom when one accidentally knocked Oscar’s lunchbox,’ the headmaster nodded his head slowly, ‘and I’m afraid Oscar lost his temper. He then assaulted the boys, giving one a black eye and fracturing the other’s finger. By the looks of things it would have been far worse than just a broken finger if one of the boys hadn’t managed to stop Oscar from doing even more damage to the other one.’

‘I told you that’s not true!’ Oscar exclaimed. ‘They were throwing stones at a swallows’ nest and I tried to stop them. Finn Scales is such a liar, he broke his finger when he punched me, and he didn’t accidentally hit my lunchbox, he kicked it out of my hand!’

‘Finn Scales?’ his Mum sounded horrified. ‘I’m good friends with his mother. We’re in the same lunching circle. Oh this is terrible!’

Mr Sobers looked at his desk in embarrassment before muttering, ‘I’m sorry Mrs Hazelnut.’

Oscar’s Dad was looking at the bespectacled teacher and shaking his head. ‘Well it’s quite clear to me that Oscar did the right thing here,’ he said. ‘What kind of a person throws stones at a swallows’ nest anyway? I suppose you would like my wife and I to decide what punishment should be dealt out to these thugs…’

‘Forgive me Mr Hazelnut but I’ve been through this many times,’ the headmaster interrupted in a stern voice. ‘I’ve listened to the stories of the other two boys and their versions of what happened are exactly the same. This had nothing to do with kicking a lunchbox or throwing stones at a swallows’ nest or indeed anything else Oscar wants to make up, it was simply an accident which your son took the wrong way.’

‘Come on Mr Sobers! You know Oscar’s not like that…’

‘Furthermore,’ the headmaster cut Oscar’s Dad off, ‘when some teachers and I arrived on the scene, Oscar was trying to hit both of them in a blind rage and it was only because Charles was holding him back that he didn’t succeed. The poor boy had already received a black eye but was still bravely protecting his little brother. Really commendable behavior from Charles I must say.’

‘Charles?’ Oscar’s mother whispered. ‘Oscar was beating up both boys? Oh, I’m never going to live this down!’

Oscar’s Dad looked at his wife and grimaced before glancing at his son and attempting a reassuring smile. He had never known Oscar to behave like this in his life. He felt certain the headmaster had to be making some sort of ghastly mistake. Or was he?

‘I’ve spoken to Mr and Mrs Scales and they want Oscar to be expelled,’ Mr Sobers continued in a grave voice.

‘No!’ Oscar’s Mum cried out. ‘I couldn’t bear the shame!’

‘Now calm down Mrs Hazelnut, any expulsion decision is down to me and me only. I certainly don’t make these decisions lightly, so I held a meeting with Oscar’s teachers to hear what their thoughts were on this unfortunate occurrence.’

Oscar’s Dad did not like where this conversation was going at all. ‘Well?’ he said.

‘Most said he’s a pleasant boy despite the fact he doesn’t mix with his classmates.’

‘What’s that got to do with anything?’

‘Everything Mr Hazelnut!’ the headmaster exploded. ‘Oscar has no friends that we know of! Nobody to discuss things with when he needs to talk and most importantly, nobody to diffuse the pent up aggression he obviously seems to carry around with him!’

Oscar stared at Mr Sobers, feeling both scared and angry at the same time. Everyone seemed to be so afraid of Fish and Chips they just followed whatever they did and said to avoid any trouble. He had had friends once but when Fish and Chips had started to pick on them, they had not dared to speak to him anymore. It was all so unfair! He really wanted to try and explain this, but as Mr Sobers had refused to believe anything he had said so far, he did not see the point. Instead, he looked miserably down at the carpet and stared at a brown coffee stain next to the headmaster’s desk, wishing he was back in the countryside and away from all this.

‘Do you know that people have seen Oscar in the woods talking to animals?’ the headmaster continued in a saddened voice. ‘Apparently he has whole conversations with them, as if they were people. He thinks they understand him and even pretends they ask him questions to which he quite happily replies to. This behavior is not normal Mr and Mrs Hazelnut and frankly it’s rather disturbing. I’ve spoken to the school nurse and she said it’s what can happen if a boy his age spends too much time alone. It’s apparently known as Lonely Child Syndrome, or LCS. She suggests a mixture of therapy, medications and a re-interaction clinic. She says there’s an excellent hospital, which specialises in the treatment of LCS in London and she would be willing to…’

‘The Hazelnuts have lived in the countryside for generations Mr Sobers!’ Oscar’s Dad almost shouted, ‘and mixing with nature is what we country people do! So what if he occasionally talks to an animal or two? You do understand that wild creatures live in the countryside don’t you? This LCS thing has absolutely nothing to do with this situation and you know it!’

Oscar’s Dad was breathing hard but he had not finished yet. The thought he had had a while ago had gained momentum. He looked the headmaster directly in the eye and lowered his voice. ‘I’m beginning to think that you’ve taken the side of the other boys because Valerie Scales is Chairwoman of the Town Council. If I remember correctly you’re still Vice-Chairman and very keen to take over from her when she’s completed