Wee Johnny was sat on his bed polishing his pride and joy. He had been doing this for the last forty-two minutes. Last week for his fifth birthday his Uncle Archie had given him a white sailboat and promised that he would be back at the weekend so that he could take wee Johnny to sail his sailboat in the local pond.
"Johnny, hurry up and bring your boat, Uncle Archie will be here soon, and you haven't eaten your Frosties yet!" yelled wee Johnny's mother from the kitchen.
"Coming mum!" said an excited Johnny and bounded down the stairs two at a time and slid into the kitchen.
Ding Dong
Ding Dong
Ding Dong the doorbell rang for a third time.
"Is it him mum? Is it Uncle Archie?" asked an excited Johnny.
"Just wait and see Johnny and finish your cereal!" said Johnny's mother.
A key could be heard turning in the lock and then the front door opened.
"Anyone here?" cried the stranger.
"Yes, Uncle Archie!" said Johnny as he slid off the kitchen barstool and ran to hug his beloved uncle.
"Easy tiger!" said the camouflaged clad Archie as he lifted Johnny high up into the air.
"You could have least changed your flipping clothes!" said a notably irritated Johnny's mother.
"Yeah, well I came straight off the chopper, we got delayed as the enemy was having a right hissyfit and we nearly came a cropper. However, I promised to take Johnny to try out his new boat! So, here I am." replied Archie.
"Well at least wipe your face clean, this is Kirkcaldy, not downtown Kyiv" replied a much happier Johnny's mother, relieved that her brother had survived yet another dangerous covert mission on some foreign shore.
Wee Johnny followed Uncle Archie into the bathroom, and handed him a facecloth.
"Thanks Johnny, are you ready to go sail the wee sailboat?"
"Yes Uncle Archie, and the boat has a name you know."
"Oh really, and what is the name?"
"Cooper, I named the boat after your hero Davie Cooper Uncle Archie." said a visibly proud wee Johnny who looked like the little person he was against the frame of six foot two Uncle Archie.
"aww Johhny, that is awesome, I am sure Davie Cooper will be looking down at us from Heaven and be proud as punch."
"I hope so Uncle Archie, well I am ready, can we go now?"
"Sure thing wee man." Replied a happy Archie, happy to be away from the warzone for a weekend of normality.
Johnny had a hold of Archie's hand and was pulling him through to the study, and sure enough there on the desk was the white sailboat, with HMS COOPER written on the bow of the boat.
"Mum painted it on for me!" beamed an excited Johnny who was very proud of his mum.
"It looks perfect Johnny, your mum did well." chuckled Archie as he thought of how much his sister hated football.
"If you take Cooper, I will get some food for Susie and Stevie." said Archie.
"No problem Johnny, talking of Stevie and Susie, have they had their baby yet?" enquired Archie.
"No silly, it is just the two of them Uncle Archie."
"Right get out from under my feet, I need to clean the house while you are gone." said Johnny's mother.
Uncle and nephew left the house and walked the short distance to the local park. It a glorious Scottish spring day, not too cold and there was a little breeze which meant that Cooper should glide over the water smoothly and quite fast for a little boat.
In the blink of an eye they had arrived at the large pond.
Archie went up to the waters edge, and placed Cooper in the water.
"Okay, now put your hand here on top of the sail like this, and not your other hand on the stern like that!" said Archie as he let Johnny take control of the boat.
"Are you ready Johnny?"
"Yes Uncle" said an excited wee Johnny.
Without waiting, Johnny pushed Cooper gently forward into the water and Cooper glided effortlessly over the water towards the island.
"Oh no, it is Derek!" said Johhny with a noticeable quiver to his voice.
"Who is Derek?" enquired an anxious Archie.
"He is a boy from the next street, he took my lunch money from me last week, the other kids in our class call him Dangerous Derek, I don't like him."
Derek was a year older than Johnny and had been kept back a year at school and so was in Johnny's class because he played truant too many times.
Archie could see a shaven head boy taller than Johnny holding a remote control who was standing beside a tall man who also had a shaved head and tattoos down his neck and on his forehead.
Archie smiled to himself and muttered well well. He knew full well who Derek's family were and was relishing a potential impending battle for the pond.
Sure enough an orange motorboat came flying over the water with a high pitched whirring sound, and headed straight for Cooper.
"No, no, no!" shouted Johhny at Archie.
The orange motorboat crossed just in front of Cooper, it was so close to hitting Cooper that Johnny had closed his eyes.
"Johnny do you want to be like your Uncle Archie?"
"Yes of course I do, you are my hero" smiled a beaming Johnny.
"Then you need to stand up for what you believe in, stand up for what's right and stand up to bullies Johhny."
"But, but Dangerous Derek is bigger than me Uncle Archie!"
"Then you use your brain Johnny, you are my nephew so you will be intelligent like me and don't tell your mother, but you will be a little rascal like I was too!"
Johhny laughed.
"Now get some of that food and stand up and then click your tongue against the top of your mouth then throw some in the water!"
Johnny dug into his bag and got some food in his little hand.
"I am going to sink your pathetic old fashioned boat Johnny." shouted a boastful Derek and laughed with the man beside him.
Sure enough the orange motor boat had turned round and was on a collision course with Cooper and looked as if it would hit Cooper right in the middle and perhaps capsize or sink Cooper.
Johnny couldn't look and had his hands covering his eyes.
"Now Johnny, now Johhny, throw it!"
Johnny let the food fly out of his hand and onto the water, and in between his little fingers he saw a big white iceberg floating down the water.
Oh no, this was a disaster, Cooper would be destroyed.
Closer the annoying orange boat got to Cooper and closer the floating white iceberg got as well.
"Uncle Archie do something!" screached Johnny in between sobs.
"Open your eyes Johnny and watch." ordered Uncle Archie.
Johnny did as he was told, he opened his eyes and stared in disbelief.
The white floating iceberg had opened its wings and stretched up its neck, with a quick flick of its strong left wing Stevie Swan sent the orange motor boat flying through the air and it landed on a rock and broke in two.
Stevie Swan carried on flying and went to eat the food thrown into the water by Johnny, who turned round to see Derek crying like a baby girl.
"That was so cool Uncle Archie, we are so smart!"
Cooper and the orange motor boat - picture by the author taken May 1st 2022
THE END
Thank you for reading if you have made it this far ;)
This was an entry for The Inkwell weekly prompt 64 Sailing , you can find details here The Ink Well Prompt #64 - Plus Weekly Challenge and Prize Announcement
It will be awesome to have an uncle like uncle Archie you know? All your problems will just be taken away. I enjoyed the story. The little boy must be very proud.
Hi @zyzymena!!! Congratulations on getting married!!!
Awww! Thank you so much James♥️
Thank you Zyzy, yes wee Johnny is lucky to have an Uncle like Archie! Thanks for reading :)
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We made it this far, indeed. You managed to make high drama out of a little boy's sailboat. And you managed to do it with a twist. Nice characterizations. Great arc. Wonderful descriptions. You certainly did use the prompt. (There might be one or two girls who take exception to this phrase:crying like a baby girl. It is a fact :) that some baby girls are tougher than some baby boys.)
Thank you for sharing this story with us. It was a delight to read. Have you supported two other writers in the community with your comments. This is always encouraging to writers and helps them to develop their skills.
I did umm and aah about that, but then figured the five year old Johnny would say that to his mum, so I would include it and take the flak that I am sure some women will give me🤣
Many thanks for your critique, it was a joy to write and I tried to get a teist in there for the readers!
When I saw the prompt I immediately thought of the sailboat at the weekend and a story was born :)
I have read and commented on three other posts. I will keep my eye on the entries added and try to come and support some more. It is great to get feedback and comments on a post you write, so thanks for encouraging people to read and engage, meaningful comments are a great way for us all to develop as writers.
:)
You make a decision as a writer. Stay true to your voice. As readers, we will stay true to ours :))
Honestly, it was a pleasure to read this story.
Thank you so very much, it was a pleasure to write this one, and yes I will stay true to my voice:)
Yay! 🤗
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hhi
I love that Stevie Swan is the hero against the nasty Dangerous Derek.
Hum, and I thought Archie was lost somewhere in the Caribbean since he hadn't been seen lately, and it turns out he was helping his nephew, the wee rascal to learn how to sail a boat, hehe
By the way, by chance, Under Pressure is at full volume at this house now. Just saying. 🤣🤣
You never know when Archie will pop up!
Under Pressure ah how I feel now, 52 minutes until kick offff
No Surrender ;)
Yes Dangerous Derek got his comeuppance Super Eli!
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Gosh, I have missed Archie!!!
hehe he pops every so often Mrs P:)
That was a nice day for Johnny. He got to learn a lot from his smart Uncle Archie.
hehe Uncle Archie is indeed smart CJ;)
Oh he sure is! No doubt about that, lol! Good morning
hehe and good morning to you too CJ
I thought I will be seeing ducky here 🙈🙈
haha am surprised you visited it if you thought ducky would be there🤣🤣🤣
Hahah, highly entertaining, I kept reading on with great interest until the end. Always good to beat bullies at their game @tengologodo
Hehe thanks Angie, it was a fun one to write, and I try to keep the reader interested so that they finish the story:)
I really liked this story, it is very well written and carried an excellent plot throughout. Couple of really cool twists as well, and it was solid enough to draw the reader into it; I felt like I was there @tengolotodo!
This post was obtained through Dreemport.
I appreciate that James, I always try to get some detail in my stories and have a plot with some twists and keep the reader engaged enough to want to know the outcome and read to the end.
I appreciate you visiting reading and of course commenting;)
Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention it @tengolotodo, but you write so quick and most likely don't spend much time proofreading your posts before publishing, but you changed Johnny's name spelling a couple of different times (oops, hate it when that happens!) Johnny = mentioned 41 times; Johhny = mentioned 6 times!!! ={) }}}}}}}
ah yes, I didn't proofread at all 🤣
When I write my documents I use Word, but for this blogpost I was straight out onto the front end and boom, at least six typos!
Thanks for that James, I shall endeavour to remember to proofread when I post on Hive!
Now, isn't Johnny lucky to have his Uncle? He is there every step of the way making him probably not feel the absence of his dad(I am mentioning dad because the story didn't seem to capture if Johnny had a father figure or maybe I missed it).
yes Uncle Archie is the father figure to Johnny, and he dotes on his Uncle:)
Johnny must be a really lucky little boy for his uncle to get him a sailboat.
It's really amazing how you came up with this beautiful story, nice one Partner ❣️.
Thank you, partner, I saw the sailing prompt and thought of the two boats in the picture and then bam Johnny and his boat Cooper was born, Uncle Archie is a character I have used before in my book:)
Wow, that's awesome, you did really great with the prompt partner.
hehe thank you partner, how are you this weekend?
It's my pleasure partner.
Well my weekend is going well, what about yours partner?
So far so excellent!
I am glad to hear yours is good partner:)
Yeah, me too I'm glad yours is too partner 🥰❣️.
hahahaa looks like that teemwork (1) paid off to fix Derek and his trickster ways! Why is it that bullies are never satisfied until they're destroying something? Good thing that some grow up and grow out of it! LOL
🐯
hehe you know what they say about teemwork;)
Yes bullies do want to smash smash and smash again, but thankfully most do grow up!
Such a beautiful story @tengolotodo, I was hooked from the beginning to the end, I am glad Johnny could finally fight back.
Also, seeing the pictures of the boats made it so much better.
Thank you so much @khaleesii it was a fun story to write. When I saw the prompt of sailing I just knew I could make up a story about the boats that I saw at the pond!
I love to hook a reader and kep them entertained plus have a happy ending of course, so I am glad that Johnny did fight back and that you like it too:)
You did amazing, I loved it, read it word for word which is sometimes rare.
aww, word for word, well that is wonderful to read, I hope you are having a great weekend, I just saw a notification that you were singing....
I am having a wonderful week, my niece has her dedication tomorrow so we are all planning and yes, I sang; something new to me
Oh that is awesome, so you will all be dressing up in your wonderful dresses!
Yes I have your song open I just need to listen to your gorgeous voice again:)
I have to wear something tradition which I never do so it will be fun.
Awwnnnn thank you for watching 😊
Oh, that’s cute, and funny too. Delightfully told and sweetly manoeuvred to a satisfying conclusion; some battles do need to be fought, and boys will be boys. Lovely ❤️😊🤔
Thank you so much for your kind words:) I do try to have some humour in all my stores and a twist or two. hehe boys will be boys and yes I believe some battles do need to be fought!
Wishing you a wonderful weekend:)
I hope Dangerous Derek learned how not to be dangerous 😂 The dad needs a lesson too!
hehe I think the Dad will be dealt with haha and yes
DangerousDerek learnt🤣🤣Boys are boys and need not to cry like a baby girl for God's sake.
Hahahahahaha
You nailed it, dragged the minds of the reader to thinking of something else, a suspense mood.
Thanks for sharing
Haha very true!
Thanks for your kind words, I do try to have a twist in the stories that I write!
Thanks for visiting and have a great weekend:)
A handmade boat chase competition, brilliant fiction here. OMG! You carries me along so well, i could feel the emotion😅
What an achievement. You're a genius. Bravo👏❤️
aww thank you so much Starr, I am glad that you liked it.
I tried to get the reader involved and entertained!
Your words are just like music to my ears.
Thank you so so much for them and I wish you a most wonderful weekend:)
💗🔥💗
Hehehe I can't tell you how much I was rooting for Johnny. Johnny is so lucky to have someone like Uncle Archie by his side.
Who wouldn’t want an uncle like Uncle Archie? I’m glad Dangerous Derek was served what he deserved.
hehe Uncle Archie is a bit of a star!
Yep it doesn't pay to be a bully.
Thanks for commenting Enob and I wish you a wonderful weekend:)
Thank you! I wish you a wonderful weekend too.
Thank you thank you:)
😊
That's a sweet ending lol. I love a little justice even though it makes 5-year-olds cry.
Uncle Archie is Smart! I didn't see the seagulls coming but you never do. Those rascals have no chill.
Thanks Karina, I do like writing a happy ending hehe well justice is sweet.
Uncle Archie has been there and got the tee shirt so he is a smart cookie!
Thanks for commenting and have a great week:)
It is a good story 🙏
Thanks for that, it was a fun one to write!
Congratulations, @tengolotodo! Your story has been chosen for the Weekly #theinkwell Magazine and has received a vote from Curie. Please keep supporting the community by commenting on other writers' stories.
thank you so very much for that, and yes I shall keep supporting the community and keep supporting the community by reading and commenting on other writers' stories:)