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THE ANTICS OF MICKY
MOLLOY |
Part 6 - ‘Club Night’
Before he knew it the
radio alerted him of the time. ‘And now the 4 o’clock news’.
“Oh flippin Eck,
I’m getting picked up at half six and I haven’t had any proper dinner or owt”.
“Calm down” said Granddad, “I have some sandwiches and a pie
in my bag”.
The old man never
really panicked over little things like this. “You have two and a half hours
and it’s only fifteen minutes’ walk home.” So they ate the sandwiches,
tidied round a bit and set off home. Granddad
came in with Micky to have a brew
and a chat with Sally and almost
straight after them came Mum and Dad. Billy had been to pick Jenny up from work. They chatted for a while
before Granddad said he was going. “Got
to get my milk and a paper before they shut. See you later in the week Micky!”
“Yeah, see ya
Gramps” shouted Micky,
who was up in his room getting his stuff ready.
6:25 and John
and Dave sound the car horn outside,
and Micky is out of the door in a
flash. “See you later”. Door slams and the car pulls away. “Flippin
eck” said Billy and the
girls just laughed.
When the lads
arrive at the track, Coach was
talking to some official looking blokes in suits. He waved to the boys as they
went to get changed. “Who d’ya think they are?” Dave asked John.
“Don’t know mate”. When
they were changed, John showed Micky some warm-up stretches and set
off with easy jogging for a couple of laps.
A loud shriek on the whistle said
that the coach was ready to put everyone to work. All the field athletes went
to the allocated areas and John said
to Micky he would probably be put in
a proper group this week. And sure enough, Coach called him over, “Alright
Micky, you ready to try some group stuff?”
“Yeah! Sure Coach”, said
the eager young lad, whose eyes were as wide as could be.
“Good lad, we’ll put
you with the under 15’s mixed group. Sean will look after you.”
Sean was a lad who was probably a little older that John and Dave and as Micky was
about to find out, a real slave driver. But an OK bloke as well. The under 15’s was made up of five lads and four
girls. One of the girls looked familiar to Micky,
but no big deal, he was hear for the running.
“Right then” said Sean, “let’s start off with a nice easy
run to the 200 mark, that yellow cone over there. Then flat out back to the
start line. Ready? Off you go.”
Now they all had
different ideas of what was a ‘nice easy run’. A couple of the
lads thought it was a race to the yellow cone and had nothing left for the
second 200. Sean stopped them all on
the 400 line and explained ‘nice and easy’. “You will need to jog to the 200
mark because after you have sprinted to the second 200, I want you to do it
again, 3 times.”
A group groan was
heard by all. “Sean putting the kids through it?” John said to the coach. “Sounds like it” he replied with a
smile. Micky soon got into the swing
of things. “Easy 200, hard 200, easy 200, hard 200”, he found himself
saying as he ran each section. Somehow he found this helped him maintain a
rhythm. After four times obvious gaps had happened and Sean told each kid as they passed, to finish with a slow jog round
the track until they all met up again.
This they did and
all finally crossed the finish line together. “Right then! You’re all warmed up
now” said Sean. “What?”
said Micky and four or so others.
“This time I want
you to do a full lap easy, followed by a full lap as hard as you can.”
“You’re joking” said
one of the girls.
“No, come on, big
effort and you can call it a night. No effort and I will make it 2 laps.”
So off they went,
starting with a nice easy lap crossing the line almost in unison. “Right.
Go-Go-Go!” screamed Sean.
The young group gave it everything. Round the second bend and Micky has two lads and a girl just in
front of him. Down 
the back straight he takes one of
the lads but he is hurting. His legs are burning and he is breathing hard.
Round the top corner and he can hear grunting in front which is enough to force
a final push. 150 to go and the girl is pulling away. Micky is alongside the lad who is the one making all the noise. He
passes him and is gaining on the girl, but the line comes too soon.
“Well done, nice
run” said Sean,
applauding them all as they finish. “Final jog round and we’ll finish off with
some good stretches”. As they jog round together, Micky gets talking to the girl who finished in front of him. “I
know you from somewhere”.
“We go to the same
school. You are in the year below me. I’ve seen you a few times. I take a
packed lunch as well”, she told him. “My name is Beth. Beth Jerome”.
“Micky Molloy,
pleased to meet you Beth. Great run by the way.”
“Thanks,” she
replied with a girly smile. Micky
had that effect on young girls; he could turn on the charm like a light switch.
So at the end of the jog, Sean had
them stretch properly and sent them off to shower and change. Micky got a shower in record time and
was changed and ready before John
and Dave had finished their session.
This gave him
another chance to talk to Beth. When
the young lady came out of the girls’ changing room she was laughing and
talking with the other girls. This would have seen most boys Micky’s age dive for cover, but Micky was not most boys. The little
charmer was in like a flash and had a captive audience straight away; tales of
his antics had the young girls listening to his every word.
One by one they
made their way home and as John and Dave finally shouted him, Beth’s mum arrived to take her home. “See
you Micky” she said.
“Yeah, see you next
week maybe,” Micky
replied eagerly hoping that he would.
“Oh yes, I’ll be
here on Saturday for the track and field meeting as well. Why not come along?”
“Yeah, why not? See
you then.” She was gone. Micky
ran straight over to John and asked
him about this Track & Field
meeting on Saturday. “Oh
Yes, it’s the second fixture of the season. All the local clubs compete against
each other in a league. That’s what Coach was talking about earlier with those
two blokes,” Dave told him.
“It’s our turn to host
the meeting. It’s an all day of a job. Do you fancy it?”
“Yeah! Course I do”
enthused Micky.
“You lot still
here?” the coach said on his way out.
“Coac
h, just the man.
Micky fancies the track meet on Saturday,” said John. “He’ll need to be a member before
then and get a club vest. Even then, I can’t guarantee him a run. What do you
think Micky?”
“I’ll ask Mum and
Dad as soon as I get in now.”
“Right, you can get
a form from reception, get it back to me before Saturday and I’ll see what we
can do, alright son?” The coach patted Micky’s head and smiled.
“Cheers Coach”. “Yeah,
cheers Coach”, said John and
Dave, and Micky said, “Come on you two, lets get home quick.”
The two older lads
just smiled and took the young lad as requested. When they got back to Micky’s, his mum came out to thank the
lads and John asked if he could have
a word with her and Mr Molloy. She
invited them both in. Dave turned
the engine off and they both went in the house. “What are you two doing?”
asked Micky.
“Don’t be so rude” said Jenny.
“Sit down lads” said Dad, Billy, “Do you want a drink?”
“No thanks, Mr
Molloy, we just want to let you know how well Micky is doing at the club,
because he fancies joining in time for the next meeting.” Micky went bright red; he didn’t know
this was coming.
“That’s nice of you
to say son. So is this right Mick? Fancy yourself as a club athlete do you?”
“He’s a good runner
Mr Molloy, honest” said Dave.
“I do enjoy it Dad” said Micky.
“Looks like I’m out
numbered. How much is this gonna cost me then?”
“Oh cheers Dad,
cheers John, cheers Dave. I’m in a club Mum! I’m in a club Sally!” John and Dave talked through the application form with Billy while Micky
bounced around the house, with Jenny
and Sally crying with laughter.
“Good God,” said Jenny. “Imagine if he ever wins
anything”.
“Move all the
ornaments if he does,” laughed Sally. Billy made a
cheque out there and then for Micky
to join the club, which Dave said he
would hand to the club secretary who lived quite near him. John said Micky could
get a club vest from the shop at the track. Billy and Jenny thanked
them both for looking after Micky
and said it was really appreciated.
Both lads agreed it
was no trouble; in fact they enjoyed his company. On that they all said
goodnight and off they went. Jenny
and Billy went back in the house
where Micky was just starting his
step by step account of the night’s training session. “My God, we’ve created a monster”
laughed Billy. “I’m off to bed. Early start in
the morning. Goodnight Son”, and left the young lad beaming with joy.
Written by: Graham Vickers
Submitted: 2nd
February 2008
Edited by Chris Young