I say you need to keep your big mouth shut, you shut it – understood?’
Ambassador Crew glanced at the silver knife glimmering in the pirate’s hand, and he kept his mouth firmly shut.
‘And if I say you jump up and down, then you jump up and down, got it?’ said the pirate.
Ambassador Crew nodded.
‘So jump up and down,’ snarled the pirate.
Ambassador Crew jumped.
IT WAS 8AM ON SATURDAY MORNING and Clancy Crew was doing as Coach Newhart had suggested: swimming as if his life depended on it. At this rate he was going to win the trophy for Twinford Junior High single-handed. He was way out in front and almost at the buoy. He even thought he could hear Ruby’s shouts, urging him on, but of course he couldn’t, not with the earplugs in. What he could hear was the thumping of his heart and the voice in his head which said, ‘Why am I in the water? Am I out of my mind? I’m going to die!’
A couple of times he thought he saw something; a couple of times he thought he felt something brush past him. He tried to focus on a rule Ruby had taught him many, many years ago when he was just a tiny kid at a Halloween party. It had been his turn to stick his hand in the Halloween barrel; the barrel always contained everyday items – a hard-boiled egg with shell removed – but your imagination could easily lead you to believe that it was a misshapen eyeball you were holding. Sometimes, it is important to shut down the creative part of the brain, just tell yourself it’s OK and you will find that it is OK. RULE 21: DON’T THINK BACK, DON’T THINK AHEAD, JUST THINK NOW.
So Clancy tried to do just that. Things went fine until he got to the marker, turned and began to swim back to shore. This was the worst bit, the bit he dreaded. Now, he couldn’t see what was behind him; now, he would never know if some large fish with big sharp teeth was following him, waiting for exactly the right moment to open its jaws and bite down on a leg, or worse – his whole body. He imagined the blood gushing up out of his mouth, the feeding frenzy that would ensue.
Clancy closed his eyes and swam.
He swam so hard and so blindly that he only realised that he had reached the beach when he felt the rough sand graze his stomach and the strong hand of Coach Newhart pulling him to his feet.
‘Nice swim Crew. I knew you had technique, but I had no idea you were fast.’ The coach draped a towel round his shoulders and slapped him on the back. ‘Grab a hot drink son and get warmed up.’
Clancy staggered towards the support team, all of them smiling, all of them cheering congratulations, but Clancy was only aware of the sensation of sand underfoot; feet, all two of them, back on terra firma. He was alive.
When the swimathon was over and all the participants were out of the water and back on the beach, pulling on their tracksuits, Clancy went to find Ruby. She was sitting on the beach, her head resting on her knees, her eyes focused on the horizon. She looked up, smiling. ‘See Clance, I told you you could do it!’
‘Can we just get out of here?’ he pleaded.
Once they were safely installed in their favourite booth in the Double Donut, Ruby picked up the conversation. ‘Mind over matter is all it took you – of course, guts too,’ she added. ‘I don’t deny that.’
‘Well, never again,’ said Clancy, clutching a mug of hot chocolate. He was still shivering even though it was eighty degrees outside.
‘Don’t let Coach Newhart hear you saying that,’ said Ruby. ‘He thinks he just discovered the swim talent of the century. My guess is he’s got big plans for you my friend.’
‘Can we please talk about something else?’ pleaded Clancy. He was beginning to turn green. It was fair to say that Clancy Crew looked all washed out, which wasn’t surprising since he had just faced his biggest fear and lived to tell the tale. Ruby thought about her darkest terror, the total fear of being buried alive. Would she have fared so well if forced to confront her own nightmare? She decided to cut Clancy a little slack and changed the subject.
‘So I’m guessing Spectrum might issue me with some new spy gadgets – you know, dive-related ones.’
‘Talking of which…’ Clancy pulled something out of his pocket. ‘I found this on the beach, you musta dropped it.’ It was the rescue watch.
‘Thanks Clance! I didn’t even realise I’d lost it. It’s the clasp – the darned thing keeps coming loose. Hey, but that little problem with the retractable grab cable should be all hunky-dory now so I can abseil out of anywhere.’
‘Wish you’d grabbed me out of the ocean an hour ago,’ muttered Clancy.
‘Nah, you didn’t need me, you swam your way out of that just fine.’
‘It was the badge,’ said Clancy.
‘Well, you’re the one who did the swimming,’ said Ruby.
‘It was the badge,’ repeated Clancy.
They were both silent for about twenty seconds and then Clancy said, ‘So that was pretty nice of LB to let you keep it. The watch I mean.’
‘Yeah,’ said Ruby. ‘The “great” Bradley Baker’s rescue watch, who would have thunk it.’ She said this with more than the smallest hint of sarcasm.
‘You said it’s pretty special to her?’
‘Seems so,’ said Ruby. ‘BB and LB were kinda close.’
‘So is it true that they were sweethearts?’ asked Clancy.
‘Sweethearts!’ Ruby spluttered. ‘No one says sweethearts Clance, not unless they’re at least ancient, like two hundred.’
Clancy looked indignant. ‘Mouse used the word sweetheart just yesterday.’
‘Yeah, well, I’ll bet she used it in a cool way, you know, being ironic or something.’
‘You saying I’m not cool?’ said Clancy.
‘Clance, I’m not saying that, I just meant you were using the word sweetheart in an old lady type of way.’
‘I’m using it in its technical form,’ argued Clancy. ‘It’s technically correct.’
‘Yeah, if you’re listening to Chime Radio or something… Talking of which, did you happen to tune in lately?’ said Ruby.
Clancy looked at her like she had lost at least one or two brain cells. ‘What? Are you crazy? Do I look like I’m a senior citizen?’
‘It happens to play some great numbers,’ said Ruby. ‘For anyone with an eclectic taste in music – I rate it.’
‘Yeah, I agree actually, but not in the afternoon. The afternoon show is super lame – cheesy beyond cheese puffs.’
‘OK, I’ll give you
