Kolo and the Mango Park Mystery

By Dave Caswell

Strange things are happening in the lives of Kolo and the Mighty Mangoes.

 

Who is the mysterious and grumpy man who has moved into the house opposite Kolo?

Why is Coach Kato behaving so oddly?

Who is the stranger they are both secretly talking to?

 

And what has all this got to do with the Mighty

• Language: English
• Publisher: David Caswell
• Release date: Mar 7, 2022
• ISBN: 9781802273335

Book preview

Acknowledgements

Thanks once again to everyone at Publishing Push for your help, support, and expertise in bringing this story to print.

Thanks, as always, to Clive Gordon, Gavin Shepherd, Stuart Jones, and Jonathan Gordon, for supporting me and my work. Thanks for holding me up, keeping me going, and making me laugh.

Thanks to Michelle Briers, Stuart Jones, and Jodie Gordon, for reading and giving feedback on the initial drafts.

To my friends and colleagues at Oasis for your support and encouragement on this project. Specific thanks to Steve Chalke, Jill Rowe, and Jim Currell.

To the Oasis Football for Life family around the world. Thanks for all you do for children and young people, and for embracing the world of Kolo and the Mighty Mangoes.

Finally, huge thanks and much love to my family. I couldn’t wish for better.

Introduction

Stories can often help children and young people understand moral or ethical issues much better than simply being taught about them in a formal education setting. This is especially true in cultures that have an oral and storytelling tradition and where moral tales and storytelling are part of the culture and context.

The ‘Kolo and the Mighty Mangoes’ stories centre around a young boy called Kolo. They are designed to help children and young people identify and address key areas of their personal formation, development and ultimately to develop positive habits in their lives.

Kolo is the central focus of the stories. Children are encouraged to put themselves in his position and that of the other characters to discuss how they would feel and react in a similar situation (they may already have found themselves in those circumstances before).

Each story has a particular focus on a core habit or life skill, though there are many related habits, life skills and life lessons woven into each story.

The discussion questions at the end of each chapter are best tackled in a group or team setting but can also be used by individuals.

Kolo and The Mango Park Mystery is the second book in the ‘Kolo and the Mighty Mangoes’ series.

Chapter 1

Coach Kato’s Strange Behaviour

The cool rain poured down on Kolo as he ran to reach the safety and shelter of the large mango tree. His friends, Midi and Hami, were close behind him as they, too, tried desperately to escape the sudden downpour.

Despite their efforts, they were all soaked through to the skin when they finally reached the tree, but at least the large and thick branches provided them with enough shelter to rest and dry off.

I told you I’d get there first, Kolo said, as Midi and Hami arrived at almost exactly at the same time as each other (they were twins after all).

That’s only because you didn’t train as hard as us, said Midi. You saved all your energy!

Midi and Hami sat down next to Kolo, the three of them sitting with their backs against the large mango tree. Its trunk was big enough that all three could sit comfortably together.

It was a good training session, though, said Kolo, and what about Shoopa trying that trick? He’ll never do it in a million years!

The boys laughed. Shoopa had been trying a new trick for weeks and hadn’t even come close to achieving it, much to the amusement of all the other boys. It involved kicking the ball over his head and then hitting it from one heal onto the other, then back over his head to the starting position. It was a very difficult thing to achieve; impossible, some were saying, but Shoopa was determined to do it.

At least he’s persistent, said Hami. He won’t give up, will he?

That’s true, said Kolo, and I hope he keeps trying; it makes it fun for all of us watching! The boys laughed again.

Coach Kato didn’t find it fun today, though, did he? said Midi, and the boys suddenly became serious.

Coach Kato had shouted at Shoopa when he was trying the trick instead of listening to the team talk. This was very out of character for him. Coach Kato was never that tough.

He doesn’t seem to find a lot of things fun these days, said Hami. He gets annoyed really quickly.

Most of the time, he’s fine, but he does seem irritated sometimes, doesn’t he? Kolo replied. And he seems distracted; like he’s thinking of something else when usually he’s really focussed on the training.

Maybe he’s going through a tough time and has some challenges that we don’t know about. That’s often the reason why people act strange at times, said Midi.

Yeah, you’re probably right. I’m sure he’ll be back to his normal self soon, Hami said.

As they’d been talking, the rain had slowly eased, and the boys decided it was best they went home before it started again. They said their goodbyes, and Midi and Hami went off in one direction, leaving Kolo to walk home in the other.

‘I do hope Coach Kato is okay,’ he thought to himself. ‘He’s such a good man and a good coach, and he’s been really kind to all of us.’

He remembered one of his own experiences and how he’d been judged and had also judged others, simply without knowing the facts. ‘We don’t know what makes someone behave differently sometimes,’ he thought to himself. ‘We just have to be considerate towards them and hope we can help.’

Though they were good thoughts, his heart sank a little as he thought them. Those were the things that Old Man Wilbur had taught him, but now he wasn’t around. Kolo turned the corner and walked towards his house, and as he did so, his heart sank a little more. The door to Old Man Wilbur’s house was locked with a big padlock as it had been for weeks, and the stool that he used to sit on was no longer there.

Kolo felt extremely sad, as he did most days when he saw Old Man Wilbur’s house. He missed talking to him and learning from him. He knew if Old Man Wilbur was there, he’d know what was wrong with Coach Kato and how they could help him. But he wasn’t.

He sat on the floor outside Old Man Wilbur’s house with his back up against the wall. The rain had stopped now, and the sun was beginning to dry things up. As he sat there thinking, the man with the wobbly bicycle rode past (wobbling obviously) and wobbled to his house opposite where Kolo lived.

Hello, Kolo, he shouted, waving his hand. I would have waved as I went past, but you know that wouldn’t have been a good idea, not with my wobbly bicycle!

Kolo wondered whether it was actually the man’s cycling skills that were wobbly rather than the bicycle, but he smiled and waved back. He had good neighbours and friends, but none of them was like Old Man Wilbur. And one neighbour, in particular, was quite the opposite.

A new man had moved into the house opposite, next to the man with the wobbly bicycle, and Kolo didn’t like him at all. When he had first arrived Kolo, had offered to help take some of his things into the house. He remembered when he had first moved there himself and how much work it was carrying things inside. However, the man had refused his help and quite bluntly told him he could ‘manage on his own,’ without even saying ‘thank you!’

In the days after, Kolo had even looked towards the man to greet him, but he had quickly looked away, leaving him feeling embarrassed and upset. It was not a good start to their relationship.

The man, who Kolo knew as Mr Mentrie, was fairly old but not quite as old as Old Man Wilbur, and he was very private. He went out early each morning wearing a very nice suit and with a very shiny briefcase, and he came back late in the afternoon. People said that he worked at the council, but apart from that, no one knew much about him at all; he didn’t talk to many people, and it wasn’t just Kolo that he wasn’t friendly towards.

That day as Kolo sat at Old Man Wilbur’s house, he wondered about Mr Mentrie as he had about Coach Kato.

‘Maybe he also has challenges we know nothing about?’ he thought.

One distinctive thing about Mr Mentrie was that he had a mark on the side of his left cheek and up around his eye that looked like a burn. On the day he’d asked if he could help, Kolo had been shocked by the sight of it and had stumbled over his words. Maybe that was why the man wasn’t very friendly towards him, but in truth, he didn’t know what to think at that moment; he just knew that he missed Old Man Wilbur.

As he’d been thinking, he hadn’t noticed the man with the wobbly bicycle walking across to him.

You’re looking a bit sad there, he said, breaking Kolo’s thoughts.

Oh, sorry, yeah, no, er... I’m okay, Kolo replied. Just thinking about things.

It’s good to think and have an active mind, my young friend, the man said, sitting down next to him, but not if it makes you troubled. It’s always good to share things, you know. It might not actually be all that bad when you say it out loud.

Kolo actually felt sadder than he had before! What the man had said was exactly the type of thing Old Man Wilbur would have said, and at that moment, he missed him more than ever.

Despite all his efforts to stop it, a tear squeezed out of his eye, and then another, and before he could do anything about it, a huge flood came out.

Oh dear, Kolo, the man said. What is it? What’s wrong?

It’s stupid, but I just miss Old Man Wilbur so much, he managed to say through his tears and sniffs.

Oh, Kolo, that’s not stupid at all. That’s very normal, as is crying when you’re sad. You know, some people think us boys and men shouldn’t cry because we’re supposed to be tough, but that idea is as wobbly as my bicycle! It’s good to cry sometimes. I think it’s nature’s way of washing out all the sadness, and you always feel a bit better afterwards.

Kolo smiled. He did feel better, not just from crying but also from talking. He wiped his eyes.

Thank you, he said. You sound like Old Man Wilbur. Those are the kind of things he would say.

The man smiled. Well, Old Man Wilbur was a big influence on all of us. He taught many people lots of good things, you know - even me.

Just then, Kolo’s sister, Suri, came out of their house carrying a plate and walked over to where Kolo and the man with the wobbly bicycle were sitting.

Here, she said, I think cakes make things better!

She had been watching Kolo looking sad and then saw him crying. Even though she was young, she knew what it was like to be sad, and so she’d picked some cakes that their mother had brought back from the bakery and taken them out to Kolo and the man with the wobbly bicycle. Their mother had now become a supervisor, and Mr Dough allowed her to take home some of the cakes and bread at the end of certain days. Suri sat down next to Kolo, with the man with the wobbly bicycle sitting on the other side, and the three of them ate the cakes in