Hiding From Seagulls

By John Wallis

Tommy started believing in impossible things the day he caught a bus along with a man curiously dressed as a live size teddy bear. What followed was the most bizarre journey of his life.

Join Tommy and his reluctant school friends on an adventure as they meet, elephant men, talking owls, the Man of Christmas, and many more. All whilst being chased by a Duchess who knows their deepest personnel secrets

• Language: English
• Publisher: John Wallis
• Release date: Jan 4, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310698255

Book preview

Hiding From Seagulls

By John Wallis,

Edited by Adrian Finney

Copyright 2013 by John Wallis

Smashwords Edition

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Dedication

George Freshney Mumby

1935 – 2008

My Grandad. Gone but never, ever forgotten.

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Contents

#Table Of Contents

#Dedication

#Prologue

#An Almost Normal Day

#Three Children & A Man-Teddy

#An Infinite Man Bear & A Lesson About Money

#The Way Neither Back Nor Forward

#The Elephant Man

#Unclassified And Dangerous

#The Owl Couple's Guest House

#Hiding From Seagulls

#The Bloodsuckers Are Coming

#The Choice Not To Run

#Back At The Guest House

#Intermission

#The Snowmen

#The End Game Begins

#The North Pole

#The Man of Christmas

#In A One-Horse Open Sleigh

#The Last Ride

#Defeat At The Hands Of A Duchess

#Doing Time in the Sandcastle

#Believe In Impossible Things

#Introducing-The Forbidden Window Hiding From Seagulls Book Two

#Prologue A world rebooted

Prologue

The hot, sugary, tea tasted good. I watched Mr Huntington, or Geoff as I knew him, looking at me through those tired green eyes which were peeking over the top of his newspaper. Mrs Huntington sipped her tea.

So have you got anything new to tell me? Geoff asked.

It was the same question he asked every visit.

Geoff had been a friend of my families for my whole life and, despite being old, he was one of my best friends. I had been visiting him regularly since my mother had said I was old enough to leave our street and venture out across the two zebra crossings. Geoff got regular updates on everything from my friends at school to my newest video game and he got to know whether he wanted to or not.

Some of my friends said it was not so good to spend so much time with an old man. But most of the time and despite the cardigans Geoff was cool. Mrs Huntington was cool as well in her own way. While Geoff and I talked she spent most of the time making endless cups of tea or knitting. Once or twice I saw that she had fallen to sleep.

You have probably picked up this book and are wondering why I am telling you about Geoff and sleepy Mrs Huntington. He is not a seagull and he doesn't seem all that adventurous.

The book promised adventure right?

I am telling you about Geoff because he is the only other person who knows the story I am about to tell you. I told him about my travels over cups of tea in his small living room that smelt of chips two crossings from my house. The words you read here are almost exactly what I told him.

So back to Geoff who was sat in the same brown battered old chair waiting. He was expecting no doubt to hear about what my friend Dave and I had been doing in school, which teachers we liked, which we didn't and which we thought were just plain weird. Geoff liked hearing about my life and he once told me it was far more interesting than any of the programs Mrs Huntington watched on the television.

Today I did want to tell him about school but that wasn't the reason I had visited. It was odd he had asked me what was new. After the travelling everything seemed new. I could not find a good place to begin.

I started the conversation by asking him a question.

When did you believe in impossible things Geoff?

He turned his nose up and his forehead wrinkled into a frown pushing his glasses back up against his eyes.

You mean fairytale stuff. Goblins, troll's and suchlike?

I nodded and Geoff scratched the top of his almost bald head.

Well I don't know, but it was a long time ago.

Here is the odd thing, I began but instantly hesitated.

Mrs Huntington pushed a tin full of biscuits towards me prompting me to continue. Geoff's paper was now on his lap and he looked at me with his eyebrows raised. His face said both tell me more and what on earth is wrong with you today all at the same time.

I didn't believe in the impossible until this morning and now I don't know what to believe.

I must have spoken with some conviction as Geoff did not burst out laughing as I thought he might. His head tilted slightly to one side and the biscuit he was dunking broke off and fell silently into his tea.

I want to tell you about the journey I went on yesterday and about a bus, a bus that took me to a very different place.

To his credit he chose not to tell me to stop talking nonsense as most people would have. Instead he sat back in his chair and waited for me to go on.

He was sitting comfortably. So I began at the start and told him everything through to the end.

Are you ready?

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An Almost Normal Day

So as I was telling Geoff I started to believe in the impossible at around the age most people stop believing. Last spring at the age of thirteen and four months. My story is about a bus journey on a bus that took me somewhere where things were different. A place where I felt like an outsider.

I should point out that before any of this I was not a big believer in make believe. The world seemed pretty black and white to me. Like the beginning of the film The Wizard Of OZ that my mum made us watch every Christmas.

Actually while we are on the subject I never did get the point of that film. The good witch used Dorothy to kill her evil sisters, then chose to tell her that after all her effort she could have gone home any time she wanted. I don't think I would have been quite as thrilled to hear that news. I'm digressing from the point here. What I want to make clear is that I didn't believe in OZ or Neverland or anything like that. It all seemed like a load of nonsense. I have to tell you this now so you don't think I'm crazy when I get to telling you about Raheam Akbar and his bus and Lilly The Duchess Of Disapproval or any of the others. Now I can't begin to tell you that story without filling you in on some details.

So hello there, my name is Thomas, but my friends call me Tommy. I don't know why it's not much shorter but I like the sound of it. I guess my story doesn't start on a bus. It starts the way everyday starts, with breakfast. I remember spreading peanut butter thickly along plain white bread while my mother cackled on. She went through checking I had everything I needed for my school trip. Right now she was reading out each item one by one for me to check.

Do you have your toothbrush? And your pyjamas? She asked.

I could not see why she did this as she already knew I had everything. She should have known as she packed it all for me. And checked. And double and triple checked. I was sure they hadn't gone anywhere in the previous few minutes but checked again just to humour her.

Have you got the bus ticket the school gave you ready to show the driver? my mum asked.

Yeah Mum, I replied for what felt like the five hundredth time that morning.

Stay with the group, make sure you leave straight after school, and comb your hair again sweetie it's all stuck up at the back.

I sighed and bit into my peanut buttered toast. The school had chosen a few of us to go on a bus trip as a reward for good behaviour. Or more likely to bribe the worst of us into that good behaviour. It was not the usual thing I got selected for. The odd thing was the ticket did not say where we were going and none of the teachers had cared to mention. I had assumed a theme park or the seaside. It was to last one night so perhaps to an observatory? We were due to be back at school for the start of tomorrow's lessons so who knew? Knowing my luck the bus would be filled with people I didn't know from the years above. Or worse bullies that had been bribed into sitting still for ten minutes with a trip out. It's fair to say I wasn't overly excited.

The day before the trip was pretty uneventful apart from break time. I had brought a bar of chocolate from home. The school had a rule about not eating unless it was at dinner time and then only in the cafeteria. I don't break many rules and certainty wouldn't have broken this rule on purpose. I talked to Dave on the way to school and had forgotten to eat the chocolate before entering the gates. The bell sounded signalling the end of break and the beginning of the second lesson and as I had done many times before I lined up outside the door chatting to Dave.

Did you get one of these ticket things? I asked him holding my breath a little in hope that he had.

"No I didn't get one. I hear that Madeline