Four Wheeled Hero by Malcolm Brown

Chapter 1

    The Gift
     
    ‘Yes! Yes!,
shouted Smithy as he celebrated scoring another goal before being
mobbed by his fellow players, just before he rushed over to give
his best friend Tommy Clark a big hug in celebration. Tommy sat in
his wheelchair with a grin on his face that showed his pleasure in
his mate’s achievement.
     
    ‘Go get us
another one Smithy’, he cried as his team rejoined the other side
to finish the game. ‘Ain’t they great Dad’, he said to his father
who attended every school match with him. ‘I do wish I could be
with them just once more’, he added before letting out another yell
as the ball bounced off their opponents cross bar.
     
    ‘Never mind
Tom, you can help them celebrate their win’, his Dad replied.
     
    Tommy was just
eight years old when he fell down a flight of stairs and damaged
his back which left him paralysed from the waist down. Many a lot
older than himself may have given up and just accepted their fate,
but not Tommy. Over the following two years he had astounded
everyone, trying anything and everything that came along that was
within his ability. Now at the age of ten he was one of the most
outward looking young boys that anyone would wish to meet.
     
    His best mate
Smithy would involve him in all sorts of activities, at times
forgetting that Tommy was in a wheelchair. They had grown up
together and were never far apart. Smithy had bright ginger hair,
wore horn rimmed glasses and had a face covered in freckles,
whereas Tommy looked more like a shaggy Old English sheep dog with
his blonde hair, which at times covered his eyes making it
difficult for him to see. He too wore specs which gave him an even
cheekier grin.
     
    The final
whistle blew and Tommy and his school team celebrated with a meal
at Mc Donald’s, before making their way home. Tommy’s Dad dropped
Smithy outside his house before driving the 200 metres to where his
parents lived in a large bungalow that had been adapted to allow
Tommy free movement inside and out. His Mum was waiting on the
doorstep to welcome them home.
     
    ‘Come on you
two’, she said wrapping her cardigan around her to keep out the
chilling wind that had sprung up. ‘I’ve a nice cup of hot chocolate
ready for you’.
     
    They went in
and Tommy told his Mum about the game and Smithy’s two goals while
he drank his hot chocolate.
     
    ‘By the way’,
his Mum said. ‘I nearly forgot, there’s a parcel come for you. By
the looks of it, it’s from your Uncle Bill’.
     
    Tommy’s Mum
left the kitchen to get the parcel. Tommy’s Uncle Bill was an
archaeologist who was part of an expedition looking for the lost
tribe of Kataka in the Brazilian rain forest. Whenever he went away
he would always send Tommy something for his rock collection,
something out of the ordinary.
     
    Tommy’s Mum
came back into the kitchen holding a rather battered parcel wrapped
in brown paper tied tightly with string. Tommy rushed to open the
package ripping off the paper as if it was a long awaited Christmas
present. Inside was a small wooden box with a little silver catch.
Tommy pushed open the catch and lifted the lid.
     
    Inside was a
bright orange pebble like stone with patches of gold and silver
that caught the light and sparkled like diamonds. Neither Tommy or
his parents had ever seen anything so beautiful. Beneath the stone
there was a letter from his Uncle Bill. Tommy unfolded the letter
and started to read.....
     
    “Dear Tommy.
Just a quick line so that I can give this parcel to the boatman
who’s going down river to post it for me when he gets our supplies.
About a week ago while pushing through an unexplored part of the
rain forest we came across a young boy who had injured himself
badly and was unable to make his way back to his village.
     
    We managed to
set his broken leg and dress the gash in his side after which he
directed us back to his village many miles away that took us over a
day to reach. My was his father glad to