Gary And The Granny-Bot

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Gary And The Granny-Bot - book excerpt

Trouble for Gary Gormley

Gary Gormley ran round the corner and stopped there, panting. He pressed himself against the wall, hoping they wouldn’t see him. They’d given him such a bad time in the last few days, and now they were chasing him home from school. He knew if they caught him they’d have something real nasty to do to him, such as scragging his hair or tipping hisface in a puddle.

‘They’ were Nick and Dick, two boys from his school. Just why they had decided to become his sworn enemies Gary was not sure. Maybe it was because he sat at the front of the class while they played around at the back. Perhaps it was because he was a clever kid who could solve a maths question in a jiffy in his head while Nick and Dick were both as thick as two short planks. I mean, Gary could solve pretty complicated maths problems while Nick and Dick had a job deciding that two and two made four!

Whatever the reasons, Nick and Dick had decided that Gary should become the next victim in their campaign of bullying other kids at school. After all, he looked a nerdy little weed. They were both quite big boys and knew that Gary would not be able to fight them, especially as they worked together. So they had first of all taken to calling him names, like ‘Gary Gormless’ instead of Gary Gormley. It didn’t take much to make all the other kids join in, partly because they were afraid of Nick and Dick and partly because kids just like calling other kids horrible names. So Gary was soon known as ‘Gormless Gary.’

This was all a bit stupid of the kids as Gary was without doubt the cleverest boy in the class. He had brains to spare, which should have made the other kids envy him. But all the other kids could see were the rather shabby clothes he wore.

That was because Gary and his mum were poor. His dad had died when he was young, and his mother was ill and not able to work. She spent a lot of time in bed, and Gary had to look after her. He didn’t have time to make a lot of friends, and the spare time he had he usually spent in the shed at the bottom of the garden, where he invented things.

Yes, Gary’s hobby was inventing things. True, he hadn’t invented too much yet — just some things like a toilet seat warmer for their outside loo (which got very cold in the winter) and a radio-controlled mouse scarer to get rid of the mice that constantly invaded their home.

But then Gary didn’t want lots of friends. In fact, he didn’t want people to see the rickety house he lived in with his mum. But now these awful kids seemed to have his number. Gary remained very still as he heard voices coming from round the corner:

“Where is he?”

“We’ll get him this time!”

“Let’s bash the brainy little pig!”

“Look, there’s a puddle we can tip him in. Make his clothes muddy!”

Gary’s heart sank. Clothes were difficult to come by in his family, and the last thing he wanted was to get the clothes he wore messed up by the bullies. They’d had a go at ruffling his hair and rolling him around on the school playground, but now it looked like their rotten little games were going to get bigger.

Suddenly Gary heard another voice. It was the voice of a girl.

“You looking for Gary Gormley?”

He caught his breath as he heard his name.

“Yes!” It was the voice of Nick. “You know where he went?”

“He went that way — through the hedge and over the field.”

“Right! Let’s catch him up!”

“Maybe there’s some muck we can throw him in!”

“Hurry!” said the girl’s voice. “He runs fast!”

Gary heard a couple of grunts of thanks from the two bullies as they made off. He breathed a sigh of relief but was startled to hear the girl’s voice: “Alright, Gary Gormley. You can come out. They’re gone.” She said the last word in a singing, laughing sort of voice so it sounded like “goh-hon.”

Gary poked his head out. What he saw standing there was a young girl the same age as himself. She had freckles on her face and chestnut-brown hair, which was plaited into pigtails. Even though boys of his age weren’t supposed to care about girls, Gary thought she looked rather pretty in her red dress, which reached to her knees and the black booties on her feet. He recognised her as a girl from his class at school, Emily Truss.

“They after you again?” asked Emily.

“Yes, afraid so,” said Gary, looking at his feet rather than into the girl’s eyes. “Guess they’ve got it in for me.”

“They’ve always got it in for someone,” said the girl with a kind of pout, which Gary thought was very cute.

“Well, thanks for seeing them off,” he said.

“Oh, my pleasure,” said Emily with a shake of her pigtails. “I can’t stand those two. They’re as thick as pigs’ muck, and all they want to do is to throw their weight around. I wish I was a boy,” she said, narrowing her eyes and throwing little punches into the air with her clenched fists like a boxer. “I’d sure whip them both!”

Gary laughed. “I think you might need to be a bit bigger,” he said, looking at her admiringly.

“Guess so,” she said. “Mind you, they’d never pick on me.”

“Why not?” said Gary.

“Because I’ve got a big, big brother who will see to them.” She smiled. “At least, that’s what I told them. And they are so stupid they will believe anything!”

“So no brother?” said Gary.

“No, but I’ve got a dad. He would sort ‘em.”

“I haven’t got a dad,” said Gary as he kicked a stone aside, and they started to walk up the road together toward home. “I’ve only got a mum, and she’s often not well. I have to look after her most of the time.”

“Sorry,” said Emily. “Is that why you don’t go out much?”

“That and my inventions,” said Gary.

“Your what?”

“It’s what I do. I’m an inventor. Well, only little things at the moment, but one day I’m going to be a real inventor.”

“Cor,” said Emily. “I’d like to see them sometime, but at the moment I have to get home for tea.”

“Yes, and I’d better get home and see how mum is.”

“That’s really kind of you, looking after your mum,” said Emily with a concerned look. Then she chuckled. “My mum and dad say they have a job looking after me!”

Gary watched her walk up the road to her house and realised he’d made a friend. That felt good, he thought to himself. If only there weren’t Nick and Dick to worry about tomorrow.

An Unexpected Visitor

Gary went in to find his mother sitting in a chair. She looked quite weak but smiled at him.

“Had a good day, son?” she asked.

“Oh, fine, Mother,” said Gary. He didn’t want to bother his mother with his problems with Nick and Dick. “Do you want some tea?”

“Thanks,” said his mum. “There are some biscuits in the kitchen that Mrs Castle cooked for us. She is so kind.”

Gary cheered up. Biscuits for tea! That didn’t happen very often, as he and his mum were really poor. They certainly didn’t have any money to spare for treats like biscuits. A feast fit for a king — or perhaps a prince, as Gary wasn’t old enough to be a king.

Gary greatly enjoyed his tea and afterwards helped his mother upstairs to bed and then settled down to do his homework. It didn’t take him long as he was very clever. He solved ten maths problems in the time it took most boys his age to do one. Easy, he thought. Why doesn’t our teacher give us some real problems?

Gary then sighed as he thought of Emily and her smile. He was glad he’d found a friend but was worried about what Nick and Dick would do tomorrow, especially as they’d been sent on a wild goose chase by Emily.

He looked outside into the small garden they had. It was growing dark. Suddenly, however, he noticed a glow in the sky. He looked again and wondered. Something was coming out of the sky. It was glowing bright, and sparks were coming from it. What’s more, it appeared to be heading straight for the house he was in. It grew bigger and brighter.

“Oh, no!” said Gary. “It’s going to hit our house!”