kids christmas story 2012

Late night show

The moon had travelled a quarter of it's distance across the night sky. The last of the Friday night clubbers were waiting on the platform at the yeronga train station. The Station Master had gone home hours ago, leaving the travellers to their own devices. Amongst the youth waiting for the city train, was Nan. Sheila was a cleaner at the RSL, just across from the station, and lived in the Fairfield area, which was just the next station. It was a good job for an older woman, and not too far to travel. She was used to the rowdy youth of the area and sat quietly reading her little book about fine needlework.

Most of the residence were also well informed about Nan. A nice old lady who greeted everyone with a smile, gave her spare change to the needy and packed a thirty eight in her pink and sparkly handbag. She glanced up at the car park, across the opposite side of the station, looked at her watch and frowned. She went back to reading her little book but couldn't concentrate on the words, as tonight there were more important details that she had taken care of. She now waited for...

Nan heard the backfire first, then looked over to see the yellow van pull in and stop in the car park she'd been surveying for the last half hour. She breathed a silent sigh of relief. Maybe the plan would go easy after all. The blissful thought was short lived, as the crew climbed out of the vehicle. 'Hey Nan', called Curtis, as he grabbed the mesh wire fence, 'I'm a cat.'

'Shut up!' shouted a voice from inside the van. Curtis waved then walked back to the van. Nan smiled and looked around to see who might be watching and listening. Nobody seemed to be paying any attention. The train lights came around the corner of the track and the voice over informed the travellers that the city train was arriving. She could only hope now, that they all understood the plan and would all return safely and loaded.

Alex had been behind the voice trying to quiet his brother. He stepped out of the van and shook his head. 'We're not supposed to bring attention to ourselves number four,' he said.

Curtis stared uncomprehending his brother, and said, 'who are you talking to?'

'You...that's your code name for tonight? Remember, the code names are ranged from one to four in order of our ages?'

Curtis glanced at his oldest brother Terence, who walked around from the driver's side, then at his sister Renae, closing the back of the van. She brushed herself off and said, 'why do I have to ride in the back? It's all dirty back there.'

'Okay, I'll explain this one more time. Number One needs to drive, Number Two needs to navigate, and I'm also in charge here, Number Four can't ride in the back because he plays with the door handles. So, Number Three has to be in the back. Got it?'

One, Three and Four looked at each other and shrugged. Then Four said, 'if your in charge, why are you number two?'

Alex, or Two, observed the rest waiting for an answer, then shook his head and began walking to the stairway that led over the station. 'And number four, you're not a cat, you're a cat burglar,' he called back.

'Oh yeah...'

They all got to the stairs and Two stopped when he hadn't heard the van pull away. He turned to see One standing behind the others. 'Why aren't you in the van?'

'You just told us number One drives the van,' said one.

'You are number One. We have to go over the bridge,' Two stated and watched as the other nodded in agreement. He then began climbing the stairs and saw that all were still following. He said to One, 'what are you doing?'

'You just said 'We have to go over the bridge. Right?' he asked Three and Four, and they both nodded.

'You did say that,' said Three.

One put his hand to his forehead and took a breath. 'I didn't mean we, I meant we. Understand?'

'Not exactly,' One said, a brow furrowed in confusion.

'Okay, we are we, and you are you...'

'I thought I was One?'

'You are...'

'But you just said I was you.'

'What? You're not me...'

'I know, I'm One. However, you just told me I was You, and yet earlier you said I was One...' corrected One.

Three interrupted, 'Two said You were One earlier, then just now said you were You, so if You are You and You is One, then you must be One.'

'What?' asked One and Two.

Four stepped into the conversation, 'Three was explaining that Two,' he pointed at Two, 'that's you. Not You,' he pointed at One, 'but you,' he pointed at Two again. 'Three said that Two told One that he was You, not you, but You, so if you,' he pointed at One, 'are You, and You is One, then it only makes sense that One, is One, because You is One and you are You....and One.'

'Am I still Three, because it just sounds wrong...' asked Three.

'Yes.'

'Am I still a cat?'

'Burglar! Cat Burglar!'

'Oh yeah... Are we part of we?' asked Four.

'Yes.'

'Am I in the we?' asked Three. One and Four chuckled.

'So you all get it now? Who is who?'

One looked behind them then back at Two and said, 'I thought it was just us.'

Two stared at him for a moment and said quietly, 'One, go and drive the van into the car park of the RSL.'

One shrugged and nodded, 'okay.' He walked back to the van. Two's jaw dropped, when he realised how he could have avoided all of this. He turned and they continued over the train bridge.

'So who is who?' asked Three.

'I just don't know anymore,' said Two. They all continued in silence over the bridge and made their way to the RSL.

They had to cross the car park of the Yeronga village to enter the rear of their designated building. The street between the carpark and the RSL was in darkness, and they were about to make their way across when a car came from the top of the hill. Two shooed Three and Four back behind a wall. The car passed and they all sighed in relief. At the Rear of the RSL, Two could see One, waiting in the Van. He realised that One must have forgotten what to do. He had prepared for this, by installing a small two-way microphone in the dash of the van. Two took it's twin out of his pocket and spoke into it, 'you know what to do now?'

They watched from across the street as number One froze, then slowly searched the cab. 'Can you hear my voice?' Two asked.

They continued to watch as One began screaming and tearing away at the inside of the cab. 'We better get over there,' said Three, 'before he kills the van.'

Two nodded and they ran across the street. One saw them coming and smashed the van door open, climbing out. He met the others at the rear door or the building. 'Everything okay?' asked Two.

One nodded, glancing back at the yellow van, with it's door hanging from a hinge and the windscreen cracked. 'All good,' his breathing was heavy.

'Good. Three and Four keep watch. One, get the door,' Two ordered.

'Sure,' One said.

Two turned and kept watch with the others. He heard a crunching sound then a snap and rip. They all turned to see what the noise was. One stood with the door hanging from his hand by the door handle.

'You were supposed to use the keys that Nan left under the brick,' said Two, looking at the gaping hole, as splintered timber fell to the ground.

'Sorry,' said One and leaned the door back up against the door way, he smiled sheepishly and proceed to look for the brick.

'Just take the door away.'

'Okay, but don't tell Nan.' One picked up the door and leaned it against the back wall. They all crept into the building.

'Now this has to be quick,' One whispered, as he tiptoed across the carpet of the main dining room. 'We get the tills and the main safe in the kitchen. This is the big one, all the money from pension day and the week's takings, is ours tonight. Now do you want me to go over...' he turned but they had all disappeared. 'What...where...where are you?' he said in a course whisper. One, Three and Four stood. They were at the other end of the dining room, near the stage. 'Where are you going?'

'I don't know,' said One.

'I was following One,' said Three

'I'm a cat...'

'Burglar!' the rest whispered in unison.

'Oh yeah,' said Four.

They tiptoed back over to Two and listened. 'One, you get the safe in the kitchen. Three, you get the till in the TAB, and I'll get the tills behind the bar.'

One and Three nodded, while Four put his hand up. 'Yes?' said Two.

'What do I do?'

'You stay here and keep watch.'

'But I'm a Cat Burglar.'

'And what does a Cat Burglar do?'

'I don't know...'

'They stay and keep watch,' two assured him.

Four grinned and said, 'I'll do that then.' He crept back into the darkness on the far side of the dining room, near the stage, next to a panel of buttons. Three and One went in their own directions, while Two crept across to the bar and leaped over. He used a key that Nan had left under one of the bar mats to open each till and took a garbage bag from under the bar to put the money in. Everything was going well. Nobody was around, the street was quiet and he only had one more till to open, when One walked into the bar with a metal fridge over his shoulder.

'What's that?' Two asked, leaning heavily against the bar.

'It's a fridge,' said One.

'Did I tell you to get the fridge?'

'No...' One looked at the floor.

'Did I tell you to get the safe?'

'Yes, but...'

'Just get the safe, and not the whole safe, just what's inside it.'

'Yeah, but...'

'Fine, just get the whole safe!' Two tried to smile, only it came out as a grimace.

One shrugged and returned to the kitchen. As Two tried the key in the last till, all the lights came on, the poker machines lit up and street music was blaring from the dining room.

'What the fuck is that?' Two yelled, at his wit's end.

One was on his way back with the safe and said, 'it's Curtis...I mean Four.'

'So pretty,' laughed Three, as she came out of the TAB section and staring at the lights flashing from the machines. Her pockets and bra packed with notes, while her sock dragged behind her, full of change. Notes, fell around her and change rattled against the wooden floor as she walked.

'What's Four doing?' Two asked One.

One took a few steps back into the dining room and returned, yelling, 'Crumping.'

Two leaped over the bar and went to run out the back, calling for the others to follow. 'One, get Four off the stage and...' that was when he saw the flashing blue lights through the windows. Two ducked and squatted next to the bar. What the hell were they going to do now?

The officer outside the RSL sat in his car while lights flickered and music blared from the building. He called into HQ, 'is there anything on tonight at the RSL in Yeronga?'

'No,' a voice on the radio came back, 'it shuts earlier on Fridays now, because of all that trouble a couple of weeks ago.'

'Well there's something on tonight, I'm going in to check.' He was about to leave the car, when the radio crackled again.

'wait,' said the voice, 'they had new cameras installed after that trouble, and we can tap into them from here. Let me look for you, before you go in.'

'Sounds good, what do you see?'

There was laughter, with more voices joining in, as it rose to hysterical.

'What is it, what do you see?'

'Okay,' more laughter, 'I just...Okay...' more hysterical laughter. 'There's a homeless woman dancing around the poker machines, some guy...'

'Crumping...' came a second voice in the distance over the radio.

'Yeah, Crumping, on the dining room stage, and what looks like a albino ape carrying a safe. It's got some poor guy trapped in front of the bar.' The laughing and cackling continued. The officer couldn't help but join in.

Two took a risk and crawled over to the window. When he peeked, he saw the officer was hugging himself and shaking. Maybe he was having a heart attack or something. Two shrugged, but also saw their chance to escape. He yelled at Three and One to get out the back door to the van, then yelled at Four to follow.

They all listened and followed him out the door, to the van. Four and One had to help Three into the back of the van, as the change was weighing her down. Then they joined Two in the front. One jammed the van door back on and the Quartet made their getaway. Lights flashed and music blared in their wake.

Nan opened the door and saw her four grandchildren. 'Come in, I'll make some tea.'

They made their way in. Alex leading, dumped his garbage bag of cash on the floor and slumped onto the couch. Renae followed, dragging her change filled socks across the carpet and sitting next to her brother. Terence managed to wedge the safe through the doorway, while only scraping some wood and paint from the panelling. Last was Curtis, who jumped through the doorway and yelled, 'Hey Nan,' he looked across at Alex and Renae slumped on the couch and Terence sitting on the open safe. 'That was fun, we rocked the joint.'

'That's nice dear, it looks like you've all done well,' Nan said while handing out cups of tea. 'So how did we do?'

Alex said, 'I got a couple of grand and whatever is all over Renae, but the big money is in the safe.'

'Let's look in the safe then,' said Renae.

'I already know what's in there, I can see it from here,' said Curtis.

Nan chuckled and asked, 'how much then young Curtis?'

'Nothing...'

'What?' Alex shot forward, spilling his tea on his shirt and grimacing from the burn.

'It's empty...look,' Curtis continued, pointing at the open safe.

Alex looked at Terence, then to the others. 'there was supposed to be the week's holding in there, which should have been about...'

'looked like a lot,' interrupted Terence, 'there were hundreds of bundles and each bundle had heaps of hundreds in it. Maybe a few hundred Grand or over a million, it's hard to say.'

They were all staring at Terence and he shrugged, 'what?'

Alex leaned forward to sit on the edge of the couch and asked the question, which he knew the answer to now. He closed his eyes and said, 'Where is all the money you saw in the safe?'

Terence looked around at them all and said, 'it's in the fridge, but don't worry, I put that right back where I found it.'

Curtis sipped from his cup and said, 'tea's good Nan.'

Renae put her cup down on her lap and said, 'shouldn't I have been Two?'

The end.

Merry  Christmas