Paul Jennings

How Hedley Hopkins Did A Dare...

'Okay, Hopkins,' says Ian Douglas. 'Here's what ya have to do. Behind the Loony Bin in the sand dunes there is a grave. Someone has pulled the top off...'
  'And busted into the coffin,' yells Frank Kelly.
  Ian Douglas gives him a dirty look. 'I'm telling this,' he says.
  Frank Kelly shuts up.
  'Someone's taken out the skull outta the coffin and left it in the grave,' says Ian Douglas. 'You have to go there. Tonight. After dark. You have to climb down into the hole and get the skull. Then you have to bring it back to me.'
  My brain is numb. It's sort of like when a teacher asks you a question and your mind goes blank. I hear Ian Douglas talking but the words don't mean anything. I blink and shake my head.
  'That, Hedley Hopkins, is your dare,' Ian Douglas finishes.
  The world spins around me. I feel faint. They want me to touch the skull.  It is not a plastic thing like you see in toy shops.  It is not a joke like on cartoons at the pictures.  It is not even a dancing made-up skeleton. It is the head of a real person. A dead person. And they want me to pick it up.
  Frank Kelly starts to laugh. 'It's still got some hair on it,' he hoots. 'And skin.'
  Ian Douglas throws him another dirty look. The gang seems to know a lot about this skull. I think I know who has broken open the grave but I don't mention it.
  'I have to go to the Father and Son Night with my Dad,' I say in a soft voice.
  'That's right,' says Mouse. 'I'm going too.'
  'Sneak out afterwards,' says Frank Kelly. 'After ya get home. When your old man's asleep.'
  'How do I get down into the grave?' I say. 'It's deep.'
  'You will need a ladder, idiot,' says Ian Douglas. 'There's one hidden under the old pier. You can use that.'
  My mouth starts to move. I can't believe what I am about to say... 

How Hedley Hopkins Did a Dare © Paul Jennings, 2005.  Published by Puffin Books.