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
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
