Doctor Who_ Last of the Gaderene - Mark Gatiss [51]
This was the latest in a series of tortures which Anthony had devised. One of his favourites had always been to squirt water from an old washing-up-liquid bottle over the hundreds of red mites that seemed to crawl out of the concrete every summer and drown them.
The other kids in the street would be doing girl), things like writing their names on the parched concrete with the stream of water. Anthony found his game much more satisfying. He imagined himself a great king, bringing destruction to an invading army; opening the floodgates and exterminating the heathen hordes of red mites.
Grinning, he shifted his weight on his ample buttocks and watched as the sunlight began to burn the spider’s carapace.
Whitish smoke began to curl upwards. Anthony cackled with delight. The spider struggled. A tiny black hole had been scorched into its side.
Anthony suddenly looked up as he heard shoes scraping on the concrete driveway.
A lanky boy in shirts and T-shirt stood blinking in the sunlight.
Anthony grinned. Today just got better and better.
‘Hello, Bongo,’ he said in his surly way. ‘Come back for some more?’
Graham Allinson didn’t say a word. He stared at Anthony, then down at the trapped spider.
‘What are you smiling at?’ demanded Anthony.
He got to his feet, hands curling into fists, forgetting all about the spider.
Grinning madly, Graham turned on his heel and disappeared through the narrow alley that separated Anthony’s garage from his neighbour’s.
The bully was after him at once, feet scrunching over the gravel. He emerged into the back garden and looked around wildly.
Graham was crouching on his haunches, his back to Anthony, peering down at something.
Anthony ran across and belted him in the small of the back. The skinny boy didn’t flinch.
Enraged, the bully raised his fist to hit again, then paused.
‘What have you got there?’ he muttered.
Graham did not reply. He merely rocked on his haunches, gazing down at the object at his feet.
Anthony grabbed him by the shoulder and wrenched him back. He was startled to see some kind of container lying on the ground, and what looked very much like the spider he had been burning inside it. But this ‘spider’ was big. Horribly big.
And it had dark, dark eyes. And they were staring up at him.
When it was all over, Graham picked up the empty container and he and Anthony set off to see if they could make some new friends.
Chapter Nineteen
Sleepers
Jo found the Doctor just as he was emerging from the post office. The village was beginning to bustle with activity despite the early hour, and the green was already covered in refectory tables and boxes.
The Doctor shielded his eyes against the sun and frowned.
‘What’s going on?’
‘It’s the summer fête,’ said Jo. ‘Hey, guess what?’
‘What?’
‘That old bloke that Mr Whistler was worried about. He’s turned up.’
The Doctor rubbed his neck. ‘Has he indeed? Well, so has Max Bishop.’ Jo’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.
‘Tell me,’ said the Doctor evenly. ‘This fella... Packer wasn’t it? Was he behaving... oddly?’
Jo shrugged and shook her head. ‘No. He was all smiles.’
‘Hmm,’ said the Doctor thoughtfully. ‘Same with Mr Bishop. Happy as a sandboy. Almost... too happy. He didn’t seem to have any sense of what was going on. Or why he went off to find the constable last night.’
Jo watched as a large truck reversed into the village. Half a dozen brawny men with their shirts off got out and began to unload stacked-up piles of gaily coloured sideshow booths and stalls.
‘Perhaps we should call on the constable ourselves.’
The Doctor looked at his watch. ‘Perhaps. Where is that idiot, Lethbridge-Stewart? We could get straight to the heart of this if we could only get inside the aerodrome.’
‘Didn’t you find out anything last night?’
The Doctor looked a little wounded. ‘Little more than more unanswered questions. That and a grazed knee and a barked shin. Don’t ever tell the Brigadier,’ he added in a conspiratorial whisper, ‘but