Read Online NO ORDINARY ROOM by Bill Williams - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Bill Williams
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problem.’
Kevin smiled and asked Rufus if he had anything dodgy on his computer, like pirated software. Rufus screwed up his face, puzzled by Kevin’s remarks and then asked, ‘What’s pirated software and how could I have anything, what you call dodgy, on my computer? I don’t download anything illegal if that’s what you mean.’
Kevin was about to ask Rufus what sort of things were illegal or if he had ever hacked into someone’s computer, but decided that he’d teased him enough.
‘Anyway, I think I’ve just about finished here, so I’d better make a start on the back garden.’
Rufus closed his front door and was taking his shoes off when he heard a call from his mother.
‘What did you say, Mother,’ he asked when he joined her in the living room?’
‘Those workmen have left their tools, which means that they’ll probably come knocking on the door again, disturbing the peace.’
Mother Cranleigh brushed aside the wisps of grey hair that had fallen across her eye before she repeated, ‘Those workmen have left their tools, which means that they’ll probably be back again, so we’ll have to be careful they don’t use it as an excuse to come inside the house again.’
‘I’ll leave them by the front door,’ said Rufus, not wanting to have the men back inside the house again.
* * *
The tools that the gas men left behind had been on the doorstep for three days when Rufus decided to telephone the gas people to make arrangements to have them picked up. It seemed the right thing to do, but he wished he hadn’t bothered.
‘Why were you shouting down the telephone,’ Mother Cranleigh asked when he had replaced the telephone.
‘Because the gas company woman was trying to say that I must have made a mistake.’
‘What sort of mistake?’
‘She asked me if I was sure that it was gas engineers that called here and not men from the electricity company. I told the stupid woman that they’d arrived in a van with the GAS sign displayed on it. According to her there was no record of the work being booked on their computer system.’
Rufus calmed down and retrieved the tools from the front step intending to put them in his garden shed. He was troubled as he recalled the remarks made by the newcomer next door that the men might have been impostors and up to no good. Well, if any burglars tried breaking in to his house then they’d end up with a sore head. It would probably be the first time that a man had defended his property with a giant sized cucumber. Rufus was thinking that it would make a perfect weapon!
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Jamie had never used a soldering iron before or even seen one until he had rummaged through Uncle Stanley’s tool box, but he was pleased with his effort as he soldered the last component on to the circuit board. He still wasn’t sure whether his friend Daniel, otherwise known as Soupinpota really was winding him up this time. It was just as well that he had been sworn to secrecy because they would have carried him off to the funny farm if he’d told anyone what he was trying to do.
It had all started last week when Daniel had told him about a space action game called, Ultimate Planet Wars. According to Daniel it was the most exciting computer game that he had ever played and it was just like flying a space craft for real. The problem was that even Uncle Stanley’s wonder PC couldn’t play it because the program required some more memory. He had told Jamie that his granddad in Scarborough could have loaded the game onto a communications satellite that he had access to if Jamie could get a military radar dish, but it would have to be mounted on the roof. Jamie was confident that his dad wouldn’t mind the dish as long as he could receive the satellite sport’s channels, but a radar dish wasn’t the sort of item that you could buy in the Army and Navy surplus stores. When he’d told Daniel that the dish was a no, no,
Kevin smiled and asked Rufus if he had anything dodgy on his computer, like pirated software. Rufus screwed up his face, puzzled by Kevin’s remarks and then asked, ‘What’s pirated software and how could I have anything, what you call dodgy, on my computer? I don’t download anything illegal if that’s what you mean.’
Kevin was about to ask Rufus what sort of things were illegal or if he had ever hacked into someone’s computer, but decided that he’d teased him enough.
‘Anyway, I think I’ve just about finished here, so I’d better make a start on the back garden.’
Rufus closed his front door and was taking his shoes off when he heard a call from his mother.
‘What did you say, Mother,’ he asked when he joined her in the living room?’
‘Those workmen have left their tools, which means that they’ll probably come knocking on the door again, disturbing the peace.’
Mother Cranleigh brushed aside the wisps of grey hair that had fallen across her eye before she repeated, ‘Those workmen have left their tools, which means that they’ll probably be back again, so we’ll have to be careful they don’t use it as an excuse to come inside the house again.’
‘I’ll leave them by the front door,’ said Rufus, not wanting to have the men back inside the house again.
* * *
The tools that the gas men left behind had been on the doorstep for three days when Rufus decided to telephone the gas people to make arrangements to have them picked up. It seemed the right thing to do, but he wished he hadn’t bothered.
‘Why were you shouting down the telephone,’ Mother Cranleigh asked when he had replaced the telephone.
‘Because the gas company woman was trying to say that I must have made a mistake.’
‘What sort of mistake?’
‘She asked me if I was sure that it was gas engineers that called here and not men from the electricity company. I told the stupid woman that they’d arrived in a van with the GAS sign displayed on it. According to her there was no record of the work being booked on their computer system.’
Rufus calmed down and retrieved the tools from the front step intending to put them in his garden shed. He was troubled as he recalled the remarks made by the newcomer next door that the men might have been impostors and up to no good. Well, if any burglars tried breaking in to his house then they’d end up with a sore head. It would probably be the first time that a man had defended his property with a giant sized cucumber. Rufus was thinking that it would make a perfect weapon!
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Jamie had never used a soldering iron before or even seen one until he had rummaged through Uncle Stanley’s tool box, but he was pleased with his effort as he soldered the last component on to the circuit board. He still wasn’t sure whether his friend Daniel, otherwise known as Soupinpota really was winding him up this time. It was just as well that he had been sworn to secrecy because they would have carried him off to the funny farm if he’d told anyone what he was trying to do.
It had all started last week when Daniel had told him about a space action game called, Ultimate Planet Wars. According to Daniel it was the most exciting computer game that he had ever played and it was just like flying a space craft for real. The problem was that even Uncle Stanley’s wonder PC couldn’t play it because the program required some more memory. He had told Jamie that his granddad in Scarborough could have loaded the game onto a communications satellite that he had access to if Jamie could get a military radar dish, but it would have to be mounted on the roof. Jamie was confident that his dad wouldn’t mind the dish as long as he could receive the satellite sport’s channels, but a radar dish wasn’t the sort of item that you could buy in the Army and Navy surplus stores. When he’d told Daniel that the dish was a no, no,
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