James has a plan

A children's tale based around the given words at Three Word Wednesday which are Annoyed, Pain and Hushed.

"Tommy, come over here" called James waving his arms in the air. Tommy took a flying leap off the swing but landed somewhat awkwardly.

"Ouch" he yelled standing on one leg whilst massaging his injured ankle.

"Don’t be such a wimp" called James "Just come here’"

Tommy limped and hopped and stumbled until he reached the gate. 

"I’ve got a plan" said James. "Do you want to be part of it?"

Suddenly Tommy forgot that he was supposed to be in pain. "What’s your plan James?" he asked.

James jumped over the gate but made a bit of a mess of it, and landed on his knees! But James was a tough guy. A graze and a little bit of blood were nothing to him. After all they looked like battle scars.

He stood up, brushed the dirt from his legs, cupped his hand and in a hushed voice said something very secret in Tommy’s ear.

"Wow" yelled Tommy, "What a great plan. Do you mean we are going to......" And with that James clasped his hand over Tommy’s mouth.

"It’s a secret plan silly" he said "Do you really want to spoil it?"

Tommy shook his head then raised a finger to his lips. "Got it. It’s a secret plan" he hissed.

The two lads set off down the road marching like soldiers. They stopped at Rupert’s door, knocked on it asked to speak to their friend.

When Rupert appeared James said "We have a plan Rupert! You tell him about it Tommy"

Tommy cupped his hand and whispered something in Rupert’s ear.

"Great" said Rupert jumping up and down with excitement. "I’ll join in!"

The three of them marched off down the road. "Look there's Simon and his mum" said Rupert "Can he be part of the plan?" 

"I suppose so" said James. "But remember its secret"

Rupert ran over to Simon, cupped his hand and whispered something in Simon’s ear. Simon's face lit up. He asked his Mum if he could go and play with his friends. Mum said he could as long as he didn't get into any mischief and with that the four of them set off down the road.

Simon spotted Sally sitting by the pond.

"Look" he said "There’s Sally. Can she be part of the plan?"

"What?’"said the other boys all together "But she’s a girl!"

"I know" said Simon "But the other day I dared her to pick a bunch of stinging nettles and eat the leaves, and she did! That’s a pretty brave thing for a girl to do!"

The other three went into a huddle. After a lot of nodding and shaking of heads, James told Simon that provided she behaved like one of them she could join in. Simon went over to Sally and whispered in her ear. Sally suddenly started skipping around and making girly squeaking noises.

"Lets go!" shouted James. They all started marching in the direction of Farmer Jacobs' barn.

"Right" shouted James  when they arrived. "You all know what you have to do. Off you go and I'll be waiting at the swings in one hour’s time"

"But how will I know when the hour is up?" said Rupert.  "I haven’t got a watch"

"Nor have I" protested Sally.

"Duh" bellowed James. "What do you think that is over there?" He pointed to the clock on the church tower. "We meet at a quarter past three. That’s when the big hand points to................."

"We know" the others shouted. "We are not that stupid"

"Is that when the little hand points to six?" chuckled a sarcastic Tommy. They all ran off  in different directions.

*

At ten minutes past three James took his position sitting on the gate by the swings. One by one Tommy, Simon, Rupert and Sally returned to operation headquarters.

"Sally" sighed James "What’s on earth is that for?"

"Simon told me to borrow a sack from the barn" she said looking puzzled.

"No I didn't" cried Simon "I told you to borrow the farmers hat from the barn. That’s what Rupert told me"

"I said what?" laughed Rupert. "I didn’t say that. I told you we were to get the hat from the farmer’s scarecrow!" He popped a straw hat on his head.

"What are you talking about Rupert?" asked Tommy. "The plan was to ......"

"Stop and be quiet all of you" yelled a very annoyed James. "You've all ruined my plan. All I wanted you to do was to..."

But he stopped short when he spotted a red faced and very cross looking Farmer Jacobs running towards them waving a rake in the air.

"Run guys" shouted James and they all scurried off in the direction of the village.

I suppose we’ll never know what James’s plan was. Have you got any ideas? Whatever it was I bet it was a good one!