Bernard Beagle Breaks In

By Daniel Murphy

Bernard Beagle is back! Join all your favourite characters, along with some new faces, in this action-packed second episode from author Daniel Murphy.

Bernard Beagle is living his dream - he's made the school soccer team, he's made some friends and he's scoring goals. But three games into the season, Mum and Dad deliver so

• Language: English
• Publisher: Daniel Murphy
• Release date: Dec 14, 2018
• ISBN: 9780994567536

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

Iam standing on the school oval with twelve sweaty faces staring at me, waiting. This is the Tidal Waves’ lunchtime training session. My legs are steady, shoulder-width apart, wrapped in green shorts that fit perfectly. With palms plastered to my hips, my arms form triangle wings.

I close my eyes.

I’m on the edge of the eighteen-yard box, staring at the goalkeeper. He crosses his eyes and pokes his tongue out.

‘You’ll never beat me!’ he roars, punching his gloves together.

Every bottom in the stadium is on the edge of its seat. My reputation is gold. I have never missed a penalty kick.

Two steps forward, then, I belt the ball towards the bottom left corner. The white netting ripples and the crowd explodes, every voice calling my name ...

It could happen.

Except, there is no goalkeeper. Joshua Burgs is not at training. And this is the fourth training session in a row that he has missed. Without him here, all I have to do is knock over an orange witches’ hat in one of the corners.

My teammates are waiting for me to shoot. Cody Fisher, the captain, points to the ball. ‘Hurry up,’ he mouths.

‘We don’t have all day, Bernard,’ says Miss Jordan.

I face the ball. Even though it is striped with small bits of damp grass, its orange skin contrasts against the patchy ground and overcast sky. I approach, planting my left foot and driving my right foot through its middle. It shoots towards the bottom left, knocking away the witches’ hat like a bowling ball hitting a skittle. Everyone claps.

‘What a hit, Bernard!’

‘We know who’ll be taking penalties this weekend!’

I punch the air and head to the back of the line.

My teammates are right. I am getting better at this.

CHAPTER TWO

The street lamps flicker on as I turn onto Log Road. Across the street, a black crow perches on Gladys Cragshell’s wire gate, guarding her driveway. As I walk along my front fence, it moves its head slightly, watching with beady eyes.

Where my fence meets the ground, a new trail of discoloured grass has appeared. I follow the off-yellow strip to the front gate to find someone bent over the fence, reaching towards the ground inside our front yard.

I freeze and watch in silence as the person straightens and turns to face me.

Gladys Cragshell.

Hiding her hands behind her back, she leers at me for a moment before offering a crooked smile, showing teeth the colour of an unripe banana. Her long black hair swoops around her face, exaggerating her pale skin. She smells like celery.

‘Bernard!’ Cragshell croaks, her smile widening. ‘How lovely to see you.’

I bite my lip.

‘Such beautiful manners,’ she says. Then she laughs, a high-pitched squawk, like a kookaburra with a bad cough. ‘Goodbye, Bernard.’

I wait until she gets to the other side of the road before I open the gate and step inside, peering at the spot where she was reaching for something. There’s nothing there, except for a row of Mum’s flowers.

As I toss my boots onto our porch, the front lamp blazes to life, and I’m bathed in a yellow glow. The door handle jiggles from the inside and the door swings open.

‘Bernard!’ It’s Mum, wearing a happy smile. ‘I thought I heard someone,’ she says.

‘You did,’ I say, pointing across the street, ‘but it wasn’t me.’

As Cragshell opens her gate, her huge black dog slinks into view, poking its nose through the wire and releasing a single bark.

Mum grimaces. ‘If I hear one more noise come out of that dog’s mouth ...’

‘She was leaning over the fence when I got home,’ I explain. ‘Her head was almost touching the ground on our side.’

Mum takes a deep breath, narrowing her eyes. ‘Well, we won’t have to worry about her for much longer.’

A smile tugs at my mouth. Mum has been giving hints all week. Cragshell might be leaving. What if she’s moving house? I’ll be able to use the footpath on her side of the road. She won’t be refereeing any more soccer games!

Mum directs me inside and closes the front door. ‘Come and sit with us. We’ve got something to tell you.’

In the kitchen, the two pots bubbling and hissing on the stove smell like vegetable soup. Dad’s already sitting at the dining table.

‘Hi, Dad,’ I say, plopping onto a chair.

‘Hey, Bernie. I have something really exciting to tell you!’

She’s leaving! Cragshell must be leaving!

‘We’re moving house! We’re moving back to Brisbane! Isn’t that fantastic?’

My stomach does a somersault. ‘Wait, what?’ I look from one parent to the other. They’re smiling like clowns.

Mum reaches over and holds my arm gently. ‘We were always going to go back to Brisbane. You knew that, didn’t you?’

I nod like a puppet. ‘But why now?’

Mum’s eye twitches. ‘We think it’s time to leave Gladys behind. We just can’t put up with her anymore.’

‘Or her dog,’ Dad adds.

‘But … but …’ I grip the sides of the table. ‘If she’s so bad, why can’t she move?’

‘Well, maybe if she wasn’t living there, things might be different,’ Dad says. ‘Sure, we were always going to move back, but maybe we would have stayed a bit longer.’

My mouth is stuck in a circle. I stare at my parents, watching their smiles fade. ‘When are we moving?’ I ask.

‘Well, I’ve already applied for a job in Brisbane,’ Dad says. ‘We go in four weeks.’

‘Four weeks!’ I accidentally spray my arm with spit and some of it lands on Mum’s hand. ‘But I can’t go in four weeks! I’ve got soccer. I’ve got school. I’ve got friends!’

Dad glances at Mum, hesitating. ‘I’m sorry, Bernie.’

I frown, trying to stop my hands from shaking. ‘I’m going for a shower.’

With warm water drizzling down my back, I gaze at the square tiles on the wall of the shower, dividing one rectangle into a group of five.

Five weekends. Five soccer games.

Using the soap on my finger, I trace the fixtures onto the shower tiles.

Game 1. V Hillside.

Game 2. V Blare Valley.

The Blare Valley Bulldogs are the team furthest from Woodland Bay. We’ll have to drive for an hour to get there.

Game 3. V Moonlight.

Game 4. V Woodland Bay.

Earlier this year, we beat the Woodland Bay Jets for the first time in our school’s history. That was at our home ground, but it will take a big effort to beat them on their turf.

Game 5. V Peepee.

My last game for the Tidal Waves will be against the Port Promise Primary Giants.

That’s it. Four weeks before I leave Woodland Bay behind forever.

I can’t believe we’re moving, after everything I’ve done this year. So what if Cragshell is annoying? I’ll have to start again at a new school, in the middle of the year. I’ll have to prove myself on the soccer field all over again! I’ll have no friends. It’s taken long enough to make them in Woodland Bay. How could my parents think this is a good idea?

The drops bouncing off my shoulders gradually wash away my messy handwriting. Down the wall, across the floor and into the drain.

CHAPTER THREE

Iusually jump over the fence to get to school. Today, I walk along the path and use the gate. The soccer pitch is squelchy so I trudge along the edge. Boot prints shaped like giant peanuts pepper the mud. But they’ll disappear soon enough, just like I will in four weeks.

When I get to the lockers outside my classroom, Joshua’s bag is in my spot, a black backpack with two big golden crosses on the front. I search for his name and find it two places to the left, but there is already another backpack there, bright pink, with blue down the sides.

I don’t want to share with Joshua, so I pull his bag out of my spot and swing it in next to the mystery bag.

Something cracks and I freeze. I check behind both bags but there is nothing there.

‘Good morning, class,’ says Mrs Mountain. ‘I’d like to introduce our newest student. She’s come all the way from Blare Valley to live in Woodland Bay.’ She waves to someone standing in the doorway.

The first thing I see is her hair – straight, brown, shooting out in two pigtails. Her brown eyes dart around the classroom as she walks between the tables to the front of the room. She has smooth tanned skin and her lips are locked in a straight line, although the bottom one pokes out a bit.

I don’t want her to see me staring, so I duck behind Cody.

Mrs Mountain brings the girl in front of the class, one hand on her shoulder. ‘Everyone say good morning to Maya Dane.’

‘Good morning, Maya Dane,’ we respond.

‘Now, as Maya is new to the school,’ Mrs Mountain continues, ‘she doesn’t know her way around. She’s going to need a buddy. Would anyone like to be Maya’s buddy?’

Like a referee calling offside, I launch my hand into the air.

‘Mr Beagle? How nice of you to put your hand up.’

I glance at Maya. She’s examining her fingers.

Cody elbows me in the shoulder. ‘What’re you doing?’