Live Action

By Michael Panckridge and Laurie Daley

Sam's favourite rugby league team isn't making the grade, and he means to figure out why
Sam Davies discovers that the house next door to his aunt's is being used to store action figures from all his favourite premier rugby league teams. And it looks like Sam's enemy, Vipers player Vinny taranto, might be involved. Desperate to rescue the struggling premier league club he has bought, Vinny's father is using microchips inserted in the action figures to control the players themselves, via the logos on their new jumpers. After Sam experiences a series of uncharacteristic blunders while training, discovery of a Sam-like figure prompts him and his friends to take a closer look at Mr taranto's operation. In an explosive showdown, Sam rescues Vinny from the booby-trapped house and discovers that Vinny is Mr taranto's stepson, not his son. And that's not the only surprise in store for Vinny ... Ages 10 - 14

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Australia
• Release date: Apr 1, 2010
• ISBN: 9780730444046

Michael Panckridge

Michael Panckridge has published over 20 books, including the bestselling Toby Jones cricket series and the new Legends of League series with Laurie Daley.  

Book preview

1

Caught!

‘How much?’ a little kid asked, staring goggle-eyed at the figure…

‘You’re joking, aren’t you?’ Jemma said, slamming her bike against the side of the shop and throwing her helmet onto the handlebars.

‘Jemma, when have we ever joked to you?’ Lochie said, making a useless job of trying to keep a straight face.

‘We’re not joking,’ I said. ‘Not this time, Jemma. Promise.’

‘I don’t believe it.’ We followed her into Yards Of Cards, the only card shop in Blackwood. I’d seen it half an hour ago, standing alone on the centre counter in a clear plastic box. It was a League Look-Alike. The Premier League had made fifty action man figures of three players from each of the twelve national clubs: 1800 figures in total. And here we were staring at one of them.

‘How much?’ a little kid asked, staring goggle-eyed at the 20-centimetre high figure, even though the price was clearly marked on a small white card. I read the card for the fourth time.

Genuine authentic Premier League Look-Alike action figure. Mick ‘The Wolf’ Hound. Blackwood Thunder. #11 of 20. Price $399.99.

‘A hundred bucks each if Simon agrees,’ I whispered to Jemma. ‘What do you think?’

‘Have you asked Simon?’

‘Can’t get on to him.’

The shop door opened and another group of people walked in. Word had obviously got around. I’d never seen so many people inside Yards Of Cards before.

‘C’mon,’ I urged them. ‘We’ve gotta decide quick.’

There were fifteen of us, mainly kids, crowded around the counter, pushing and shoving to get a closer look at the Look-Alike.

The shop door opened again and a tall man strode up to the counter with a child behind him.

‘I’ll take it,’ a small, overweight man in a black T-shirt suddenly said, reaching for his wallet.

‘Sorry, buddy,’ said the tall man. ‘I rang up half an hour ago.’ He was counting out $100 notes onto the glass counter.

‘Hey, I spoke first,’ the first guy retorted. ‘There’s no Sold sign on it. I’m buying it.’ The young shop attendant looked nervously from one man to the other. I glanced up as someone emerged from the back of the shop and then froze.

‘Look who it is,’ I whispered to Lochie.

‘My God, what’s he doing back there?’

It was Wu, the punk kid I’d met a few weeks ago. I slunk back, dragging Jemma with me, hoping he hadn’t seen me.

The tall guy with the kid was talking again.

‘I made a phone call, not long ago. Don’t you remember?’ He was looking at Wu. ‘We had an agreement. Four hundred dollars for the Mick Hound figure.’

‘Oh yeah,’ Wu suddenly said, nodding. ‘That’s right. Sorry, pal,’ he said to the shorter guy. ‘This man did make a call. We’ve been so busy that I just forgot to put the Sold sign on.’

‘If you’ve been so busy, how come you’ve just walked out from the back of the shop?’ The little guy was going red in the face and shaking.

‘Phone call, mate,’ Wu said, walking over to pick up the figure of Mick.

‘Yeah, well I’ll give you $500 for it,’ the little guy said. There were a few gasps from the crowd moving in closer. Wu stopped dead.

‘Now look here,’ the tall man said. ‘We had a deal.’

‘Sorry, deal’s off.’ Wu smiled thinly, starting to gather up the notes that the overweight guy was sticking onto the counter. ‘It was a phone deal and I don’t have your ID anyway.’

‘Now you listen up,’ the tall man bellowed. Everyone moved back a metre. ‘A deal’s a deal and we made one on the phone. That Look-Alike is mine.’

‘Sorry, man,’ Wu said, totally unconcerned as he counted the $50 notes.

‘Oh for God’s sake. Six hundred dollars. I’ll give you 600 cash for the figure. Or else I go to the police.’

Wu’s hands froze.

‘Did you say $600?’

‘You heard me.’

‘Cool,’ someone sighed from behind.

‘Hold on one moment, please,’ Wu said, darting back behind the curtain. He emerged a few seconds later. We were all staring at him wondering what he was going to say. I’d even forgotten to stay hidden, making my way back to the front. I was standing right alongside the smaller man. He was breathing hard, glaring at Wu.

‘Okay, Rebecca says the phone deal is a legally binding contract. I’m sorry, but we gotta go with the man here after all.’

Wu passed the cash back to him and turned to the tall guy.

‘That’ll be $600,’ he said. ‘Cash.’ The first man stormed over to another stand, swearing under his breath.

‘Wow!’ Lochie breathed. ‘Did you hear that? Six hundred dollars!’

‘Was that all legal?’ Jemma asked, as we checked out the league cards under the counter and each bought a packet.

After we moved to the other side of the shop, I asked Lochie and Jemma, ‘Get anything?’

‘Commons,’ Jemma said, quickly sorting through her cards.

‘Same,’ added Lochie. ‘You?’

I tore open the packet, hoping for a rookie or legend autograph or even a predictor. But all I got were commons too.

Just at that moment someone’s phone rang. ‘Yeah?’ the kid with the phone said, his eyes wide. ‘Look-Alikes? Two hundred?’ We hung back to listen. ‘The real thing? Where?’

I nudged Lochie. Others had stopped to listen. He slammed the phone shut and smiled.

‘Taranto’s Toys,’ he grinned, racing for the door. ‘They’ve got Look-Alikes for 200 bucks. Dead set.’

In a flash the shop emptied. I caught a glimpse of Wu on the way out but he didn’t seem at all put out that he’d made one of his customers so angry. We grabbed our bikes and helmets.

‘Wait up!’ I called to Jemma and Lochie, who were already on their bikes. I’d found another two dollar coin in my pocket. Now I had enough for one more packet. The closed sign was up but the door was still open. I rushed back in and stopped dead. The overweight man was leaning on the counter and laughing. Wu said something, then stopped talking suddenly.

‘Um, I was just wanting one more pack of League Specials,’ I said, walking tentatively up to where they both stood. Wu just stood there glaring at me. ‘That was real unlucky about the Look-Alike,’ I said, turning to glance at the man.

‘Yeah. Still, I guess he did ask first. Idiot here should have put a Sold sign on the box.’ He jerked his thumb at Wu who was grabbing a packet out of the box. Suddenly, almost as an afterthought, he grabbed two more, delving down with his fingers for the second pack.

‘A couple of extras for your mates,’ he grinned, holding them out to me. ‘No hard feelings, okay? And you never saw Phil in the shop here either,’ he added, narrowing his eyes.

I licked my lips and nodded.

‘Thanks, Wu.’ I grabbed the packets and ran out of the shop.

‘Hey,’ I called, catching up to Jemma and Lochie. ‘You’ll never guess what I saw.’

‘Another Look-Alike?’ said Jemma.

‘No. That guy who bid $500. He was still in the shop standing at the counter laughing his head off.’

‘Laughing? He should be crying,’ Lochie said, stopping at the lights.

‘That’s what I would have thought.’

‘Hey, as soon as that tall man with his boy walked into the shop, that other guy said I’ll take it. I remember thinking at the time that it was, I dunno, almost sort of rehearsed.’ I looked at Jemma.

We walked our bikes across the mall. Mr Taranto had opened up yet another shop in town. Trust him to have his hands on cheaper Look-Alike figures.

‘You don’t think they were in it together?’ Lochie asked.

‘Him and Wu? Well, I wouldn’t put it past Wu.’

‘What did he say when you came back in and saw them laughing?’ Jemma had stopped her bike and was looking at me.

‘Yeah, well that’s the thing. He gave me three packets, even though I only bought one. And basically told me to forget everything.’ I passed them each a packet. ‘Hey, that one he dug real deep for,’ I added, watching Jemma open it.

For years we’d had a long-standing argument about the position of the footy card pack in the box and the chance you had of getting an insert card—a really valuable card. Jemma reckoned that the position of the packet was totally irrelevant, whereas I was always very particular. I was the butt of heaps of jokes at Lenny’s Newsagents. Nowadays he’d get the whole box down for me and I’d rummage through, sometimes diving deep, thinking my fingers were wrapped around a pack with a one in fifty autographed captain redemption card. This was a plain enough looking card, but after sending it to the company to be redeemed, you got the real card—one of the club captains with his autograph. Other times I’d surprise even old Lenny by taking the top two packets.

‘So it’s going to have the Eric Cramer gold foil rookie card in it,’ she scoffed, ripping her packet open.

‘Yeah, right,’ Lochie added, shaking his head in disgust after looking at the cards in his packet. ‘Another dud.’

‘C’mon, they’re about to close,’ I said, running my bike around to the back door of the toy shop. I stopped, suddenly sensing that the others weren’t with me. ‘Hey, are you…’ My bike crashed to the concrete. ‘You haven’t,’ I gasped, running back to Jemma. The smile on her face said it all.

‘SAM!’ she screamed, causing everyone around us to stop and stare. She held up the card. ‘Look! A Cramer gold foil rookie. The number two!’

She passed the card over to me and I stared in amazement. Each of the fifty Cramer gold foil cards was numbered and there was only one card more valuable than this—the number one.

‘He knew,’ I whispered, staring in rapture at the card.

‘Who?’ asked Lochie.

‘Wu. He dug down to the bottom of the box. I told you the best cards came from the bottom. But Wu knew that. And that was a set-up back there with the fat guy, I’m sure of it.’

‘Yeah, well we can buy a couple of Look-Alikes with this,’ Jemma said excitedly. ‘Maybe more.’

There was an even bigger crowd at Taranto’s Toys than at Yards Of Cards, gathered around a specially made circular platform in the middle of the store. At four different heights, on flash-looking glass trays, were the League Look-Alikes.

‘How many are there?’ Lochie was gawping at them like the rest of us.

‘He must have half of the total collection here,’ a man sighed, reaching out to take down one of the boxes. Every team was represented. They were the most awesome-looking figures. They looked so real. Each figure was dressed in the club colours. They wore striped socks pulled up to their knees, and their tops were tucked into white or black shorts. Some had tattoos covering their bulging arm muscles and one player even had a mouth guard. You could tell the player by the number on his back or just by looking at him—even the hair was the right colour. And these ones were only $200.

Another figure suddenly got reefed down from the top shelf. And then it was on. A flurry of arms and bodies surged forward and in no time all the league action men had disappeared, even the Blackwood Thunder players. Slowly people drifted away. A voice called over the store’s loudspeaker.

‘There’ll be more League Look-Alikes coming into the store on Thursday at the same bargain basement prices, so make sure you come back then.’

It must have been the day for arguments with shopkeepers because another one was brewing as we left the store.

‘What was that argument about?’ Lochie asked.

‘I think it might have been because the Chandler Chiefs Look-Alikes cost fifty bucks more than all the others,’ I replied.

‘Well, seeing as Mr Taranto owns the Chiefs, maybe he’s just trying to raise some extra cash for his club,’ said Jemma.

The Chandler Chiefs had been the laughing stock of the Premier League for the last few years. They had finished bottom the previous three seasons, but somehow—no one was quite sure how—Mr Taranto had turned it around so that the Chiefs were sitting comfortably inside the eight having won more games than they’d lost in a season for the first time in seven years.

I pedalled a few metres behind Jemma and Lochie, thinking about the Eric Cramer rookie card sitting in Jemma’s top pocket, the strange scenes at Yards Of Cards and the even more amazing sight of nearly twenty League Look-Alikes all in one place. Until they’d all been snapped up by bargain hunters.

2

The Real Deal

‘Don’t break a leg, Davies,’ Vinny sneered, leaning on the metal rail. Colin lounged next to him.

‘Okay then, boys!’ the fitness coach roared, eyeing us keenly. One of the other coaches coughed, nodding slightly towards Jemma.

‘Typical,’ Jemma muttered, tightening the laces on her boots.

‘Righto, kids.’ He shook his head, staring at Jemma as if it was her fault. ‘All the same in my book. Don’t care what side of the bread you butter. You’re all here to play rugby league and this may