Angelo's adventures
I heard a loud booming noise, slowly and building up bit by bit. I gathered my senses. It was the noise that had woken me up. The cab vibrated viciously, just like a Hover for Deep Down Carpet Freshness from the Household Appliances. Masklin had said pay close attention to what the driver does. Well , had missed the first part but I would try harder now. Only now was I fully aware of my surroundings. It was dark, like one of those things where the moon swallows the sun on the ceiling, no it is called sky, well outside. I could feel the coldness of the drivers cab creeping in to my hiding place wrapping around me like Wrapping Paper with Extra Strong Edges against Ripping. I pulled my red blanket closer around me to keep out the cold. I pulled out my notebook and scrambled closer to the light. I could clearly see the outline of the driver and started taking notes. There was not a lot to take note of. Just to press down pedal number one.
Soon I had fallen asleep again just as a great yellow disk glowing brighter than any Extra Light Fuseles Bulb drew over the line between carpet and ceiling. Masklin had said it was called the horizon. Well anyhow, when I woke up I blinked over and over again. It was light. Not just light, but really light. Brighter than anything I had ever seen. Suddenly I saw a great building with a cup on it. It had very, very big windows. The truck stopped rapidly and very slowly drove onto a large paved area. There were more lorries and little lorries than I had ever seen, not even in the garage. And even more amazingly they weren't all red. They varied in colour like the paints in the Children Department. The lorry stopped very slowly while the driver pressed down pedal two. Then he pulled the long lever thing in the middle of the lorry.
When he opened the door I quickly jumped out and remembered far too late that it was too high for a nome to land safely at the bottom. I fell and even then realised the overwhelming smell of all. It was light outside, even lighter than in the cab. I closed my eyes, partly because of falling but also because of this very bright light. I seemed to fall for a very long time but now that I look back on it, it seems that I reached the bottom as soon as I had jumped. I felt a sharp burning pain in my right leg as I landed. I lay panting there for a long, long time as the pain subsided to a deep, dark throbbing. Granny Morkie had told me about many injuries before I had left in case something would happen to me. It had seemed so, well so irrelevant then. I had not believed that anything could happen to me. Now I struggled to remember her words. Cures for burns, cuts and bruises came to mind but nothing about a leg that looked and felt both well, broken through in the middle.
I had nearly given up and was ready to scream with agony when her words came to mind: broken bones are best rested carefully and not moved but you would be good if you took a long piece of stick. Just as long as your arm or leg or whatever it is you have broken. You tie it tightly to the broken bone, you do. Make sure the bone is straight otherwise you'll be crippled, you will. I crawled along the ground. It was a painful process but finally I found a piece of wood long enough to straighten my leg. I tore my coat to pieces and tied the stick to my leg. I could only hope that the lorry would not leave without me. I remembered that my father, the Duke of Haberdashery, had forbidden me to go but I had so very foolishly not listened to him. I felt a deep regret for that now. I missed him. That was a thought which shocked me.
I was overwhelmed with the smell of all and old chips. I turned my head to look around me and saw the source of all the foul smells. A big, black huge cylindrical can. It had terrible smells coming from it. Like food from the food hall that had reached its best-before date and had a lot of time after that. I started crawling back towards the lorry. I heard the great booming noise again. I was not quite as loud this time and reminded me of what Masklin had called thunder. Thunder is when grey clouds cover the sky and spears of light fly from the sky. I saw the lorry moving very slowly and yet far to fast for me to crawl behind. It disappeared into the mist. I had not realised that the sky had turned grey and suddenly a great boom of real thunder disturbed my thoughts. Everything around me had turned grey and I was very much afraid. I sat down at the side of the paved area where there as a faint smell of what Masklin had called earth. I started to cry and great splats of water started falling around me. Rain. Bargains Galore. That was the last thing I needed. It was hopeless. Arnold Bros (est. 1905) please save me now.