Jezz’s Daily Story

We soared down the streets on our pushbikes, our school bags propelling us like jetpacks; we skidded on the flat curves and pushed heavily again on the upward slopes. I could always make it to the top but my brother had to get off half way and push. From the asphalt peak of the hills we could see red-rooved houses, strips of cut grass and cool blue pools dappled in lucky backyards. At the bottom of it all, a wooden fort in a semi-circle of dry lawn, cornered off by a chain fence. It was the park – our distant goal.
    – Wait up, said Zach.
    – Come on, I said. Ready?
    – No, I’m puffed.
    – Can’t you ride up the hill?
    – I can if I want, I just didn’t want to.
    – Yeah right. Come on!
    He followed behind and I rode a lazy weave across the central dashed stripe of the road. We descended, down alongside the brick houses at the bottom of the hill, looking into the front gardens and at the ratty curtains behind the windows. I pedalled steadily, Zach calling out from behind. I didn’t want to stop and wait there. I wanted to get to the park.
    – Hurry up, Zach, I called. We’re almost there.
    – Slow down for a second!
    – Why should I?
    – Please?
    I curved around and rode back towards him.
    – Ride faster, I said, letting him pass me then following right behind.

We pulled up and left our bikes leaning against the chain fence. I climbed up onto the fort first and put my backpack down on the dry wooden slats. Zach clambered up behind me, struggling to get over the top rail. He slumped down in the corner.
    – Did you bring anything?
    – Oh, not much, I said. Lego.
    – No you didn’t.
    – Wanna bet? I brought the blue box.
    – But Mum said you – he said. You’re gonna get busted!
    – She won’t know. It’s okay, I take it out all the time.
    Zach opened my backpack and pulled out the closed blue chest; it had plastic latches and a crocodile sticker half-peeled from the top. He opened it and started pulling out peices.
    – Hey, don’t make a mess, I said. I sat down next to him. It’s my lego.
    – It’s our lego, he said.
    – I carried it.
    – Doesn’t matter.
    Zach started building a spaceship and I gathered the men; I swapped their heads and their little plastic bodies around until I had a uniform group of four astronauts. I lined them up on a long white block and pushed their arms down against their sides.
    – What are you making? I asked.
    – It’s a Star Destroyer.
    – No it’s not, I said.
    – It is too.
    – No, Star Destroyers are the biggest spaceships in the galaxy. They’re nearly as big as the Death Star.
    – Are not.
    – They are. They can fit about a million people on them. That only has one seat.
    – Nah, um, two. And two can sit on the wings. Give me-
    – Leave them! That’s my army.
    – But there’s only a pirate left.
    – I don’t care. Here, this guy looks better. Put him in.
    I left the four-man army by the blue case and we stood up with Zach’s spaceship; I grabbed it off him and put it at the top of a metal slide, which angled down from the play-house to a scuffed patch of dirt below
    – Want to send it into space?
    – Don’t, he said. It’ll smash.
    – Doesn’t matter, I’ll get it.
    – You’ll lose some! Here, let me push it.
    He tapped the back end of the lego ship and it slid down the smooth metal slowly, angling sideways. It stopped before the end.
    – That was dumb, I said.
    – Jake? asked Zach.
    – What?
    – Can you see that?
    A man was walking through the park, from the side where our bikes were propped against the fence. He was wearing black pants, a padded blue and yellow jacket, and a helmet with a black visor. He strode across the grass and stopped to look up at our silent stares. Zach stepped backwards. He trod on the row lego men and then kncked over the case of lego with his foot.
    – What are you doing? I shouted. God, it’s gone everywhere.
    Zach got down and scrambled to pick up the bits of lego. When I looked back at the man he was already on the other side of the park, heading towards a motorbike which was parked by a telegraph pole.
    – Can we please go home after this, Jake? he asked.
    – Okay, I said. I have to get the spaceship first.
    I pulled myself up onto the slide but I didn’t go down to get the lego ship straight away; not until after I’d watched the man get on his bike and roar around the corner amidst an amazing thunder.