HANNAH and The White Van Man

Something had woken Hannah up. She pulled back the curtain. It was very early indeed. There was no traffic outside. She couldn’t hear anyone moving in the house. The only sound was a large white seagull sitting on the flat roof outside her window. ‘Come on!’ it seemed to be saying. ‘Get up!’ Hannah yawned and stretched and then slid down from the top bunk onto the bedroom floor.

She had made sure her clothes were all laid out and ready the night before. Her favourite red and yellow sun dress, a quite favourite tee shirt and some spotty socks which her Mum loved but Hannah hated! Carefully she opened the door and listened. The house was still quite silent. Hannah’s big sister, Amanda, was fast asleep in her  room and her little brother Dylan was safely curled up in the bottom bunk bed dreaming of tractors and motorbikes. There wasn’t a squeak from the grown-ups’ room.

First things first, thought Hannah. She tiptoed downstairs to the kitchen. They had nearly run out of bread but luckily she found some leftover cake. She cut two thick slices; one for now and one for later. ‘Yumm’ thought Hannah ‘nothing like chocolate cake to start the day!’ She tip toed out to the front door and was just about to open it when she heard someone coming down the stairs.

Quick as a flash Hannah crammed the rest of the cake into her mouth and pretended she was looking for something in her boot.

‘Hannah?’ demanded a croaky voice. ‘What are you doing?’ Hannah sighed it was only Dylan.

‘Nothing!’ She mumbled.

Dylan stared suspiciously at his sister’s chocolate-smeared cheeks.

‘I want some of that!’ he insisted in a very loud voice. ‘Shush!’ said Hannah. ‘You’ll wake everyone up.’ ‘I don’t care’. said Dylan ‘I’m hungry and if you...’

‘0 alright!’ hissed Hannah ‘There you are. Now say ‘thank you.’

Dylan grabbed the cake and stuffed it into his mouth. Thank you very much’ he spluttered.

‘Can you go back to bed now?’ asked Hannah. Dylan shook his head. ‘Don’t want to. Want to go with you.’ ‘You can’t’ replied Hannah. You‘re not even dressed.’ ‘Please?’ begged Dylan. ‘I’ll let you borrow my telescope. Please?’

Hannah hesitated for a moment. They had both won prizes on the pier: Hannah had got a tiny shell bracelet but Dylan had got the shiny black telescope. She was tempted but she decided it wasn’t worth it. She shook her head.

But when she saw Dylan’s brown eyes filling with tears she changed her mind again. ‘OK’ she sighed. ‘But you’ve got to be good. And you’re not to tell anyone, ‘cos it’s a secret. OK?’

So Hannah led her brother back upstairs to help him get dressed. He put on his green dungarees and a tee shirt.

‘What about socks?’ Asked Dylan.

‘Oh socks don’t matter!’ Said Hannah scornfully.

They crept down the stairs of the still-sleeping house, put on their wellies and opened the front door as quietly as two mice.

‘Wow! What’s happened?’ asked Dylan as they stepped out into the early morning sunshine.

‘Where are all the buses and cars? Where are all the people?’

‘In bed you silly’ said Hannah.

‘0’ said Dylan and he followed Hannah down the rusty iron steps onto the beach. The calm blue sea danced and sparkled in the sun. A small group of seagulls perched on the rocks by the waterline. No sunshades. No barking dogs. No deck chairs. No ice cream men. It was so quiet and empty it was like being in a painting. The only sign of people was the ugly line of rubbish that the tide had left behind: cigarette ends, battered coke cans, a blue flip flop and a tangle of orange rope.

Dylan pulled out his telescope and pointed it towards the sea. ‘Wow!’ said Dylan, ‘I can see a boat and...’

‘You said I could use that today!’ interrupted Hannah. ‘Well you can.’ agreed Dylan.

Hannah took the telescope and slowly scanned it along the beach. There was no sign of Bernie the Beachcomber.

She folded it away handed it back to her brother and began to scrunch across the pebbles down towards the rocks.

‘Wait for me!’ called Dylan anxiously.

He ran across the sand as fast as his legs would carry him, but he couldn’t keep up. Soon his sister was just a dot in the distance.

‘Stupid Hannah!’ said Dylan crossly. It wasn’t fair! He was always being left behind. One day he was going to be bigger than Hannah and he was going to have enormous giant’s legs that would never get tired.

Right now though, Dylan needed a rest so he made his way to a comfortable looking rock and sat down.

Then the rock moved.

With a startled squeak Dylan leaped up into the air!

It looked like a normal rock. It was black and lumpy. It had bits of green seaweed stuck all over it. He was beginning to think he was having a dream when the ‘rock ‘sat up, shook itself like a wet dog and began to speak again.

‘Oi!’ said the rock creature. It had a strange voice. Low and muffled, as if it was speaking through a cushion. ‘You sat on my head!’

‘Oh sorry’ said Dylan

‘That’s all right’ mumbled the rock. ‘I’m disguised you see. I’m Bernie.’

‘Oh!...’ said Dylan admiringly, ‘It’s a very good disguise. You completely fooled me!’ ‘Good ‘said the rock. ‘But will it fool the Van Man?’

‘Van Man?’ asked Dylan.

‘He comes in the morning and empties rubbish and poison on my beautiful beach.

‘Ough!’ said Dylan. ‘That’s horrible!’ He wasn’t exactly sure what poison was, but it sounded bad and he knew he wasn’t allowed to drink it.

‘It’s worse than that!’ continued Bernie ‘The poison is spreading and some of the rock pool animals are being killed. . The starfish are the worst.

‘He shouldn’t be allowed!’ spluttered Dylan crossly.

‘He’s not.’ said Bernie. ‘But he does. He waits until the beach is deserted and no-one can see him. That’s why I’m pretending to be a rock.’

‘Oh good’ said Dylan. ‘But what will you do?’

‘What will I do?’ What will I do!’ Bernie started spinning round and round excitedly.  Great clumps of seaweed flew off his back and onto the sand.

‘I’m going to... And then I’m going to .. . Oh dear ’ ,admitted Bernie sadly, ‘I hadn’t really thought of that. What am I going to do?’

“I know!’ said Dylan. ‘We could scare him away! We could pretend to be Monsters. I’m really good at Monsters.’

‘Oh are you?’ said Bernie ‘That’s a...’  

Suddenly he froze. ‘Uh oh! Someone’s coming!  Are you ready?’

‘Well yes I ‘spose so.’ said Dylan bravely.

He picked up a slimy tangle of seaweed, laid it on top of his head like a wig and crouched down beside Bernie.

‘Clomp Clomp Splish!’ came the footsteps.

Dylan closed his eyes and quickly tried to work out what sort of noise a sea monster would make.

‘Clomp Squelch Splash!’

The footsteps were getting louder and louder. Suddenly they stopped!

‘What on earth are you doing?’ asked a familiar voice. It was Hannah.

Dylan stood up and took the seaweed off his head.

‘We’re being monsters!’ he explained .

‘We?’ repeated Hannah scornfully. ‘There’s no-one else here.’

‘Yes there is, ‘said Bernie ‘there’s me!’

‘Bernie!’ exclaimed Hannah. ‘I’ve been looking for you everywhere!’

‘I’m disguised.’ said Bernie proudly. Then he explained about the Van Man.

Hannah held onto Bernie’s paw and listened carefully. She got more and more angry, especially when he got to the part about the starfish.

‘Not my starfish!’ She cried.

Bernie nodded his furry head.

‘Right!’ said Hannah. We’re going to scare him out of his skin !’

‘Goodee!’ said Dylan jumping up and own with excitement.

‘Not you,’ said Hannah, ‘you’re too little.’

‘I’m nearly five!’ shouted Dylan crossly.

‘Shhh.’ pleaded Bernie. ‘No noises!’

He shuffled over towards Hannah and whispered for a few minutes.

‘OK Dylan .’ announced Hannah ‘You can be a monster. Bernie says I’ve got to humour you because you’re only young.’

‘What does humour mean?’ asked Dylan suspiciously.

‘I don’t know,’ admitted Hannah. ‘I’ve just something you do OK?  Well? Do you want to be a monster or not?’

Dylan nodded. ‘What do I do then?’

Hannah smiled. ‘You have to sit here and you have to let me disguise you.’

So Dylan sat on the sand and was very brave.  

He had wet seaweed in his hair.

And shells sticking out of his mouth.

And sand rubbed on his arms.

And chalk streaks all over his face.

And dirty feathers.

And crabs’ nippers.

Hannah was really enjoying herself. But luckily for Dylan she had to stop because Bernie’s sharp ears had picked up the sound of an engine.

‘I think he’s coming!’ he whispered. ‘Everybody hide!’

So Dylan lowered himself down onto the cold wet sand next to Bernie. It was very uncomfortable. He could feel water creeping into his boots and there was something hard digging into his chest.

He lifted himself up on his elbows but he couldn’t see anything. Then he felt in his dungarees’ pocket. Of course it was the telescope! He was just about to pull it out when Hannah arrived and dived down beside him. She had a white face and spiky hair and she looked very scary!

For what seemed like an age, nothing happened. They couldn’t hear anything except the sea breathing in and out. Then all at once they heard the engine again. ‘It must be them!’ whispered Hannah excitedly. A white van had backed up to the railings. Two men jumped out. They were both wearing yellow waterproofs and long red rubber gloves.  They pulled open the back doors and lifted a large red oil drum onto the pavement. They dragged it to the top of the steps and bumped it down onto the pebbles.

Then they tipped the drum on its side and started rolling it down towards the sea. When they reached the water’s edge one of them pulled a large spanner from his pocket and started undoing the lid.

‘Right’, said Bernie. ‘Now!’

With a blood-curdling roar they all leapt up and ran screaming across the sand.

The two men couldn’t believe their eyes. They took one look at the three wild creatures racing towards them and started running. They scrambled up the steps, onto the seafront and into the van. The doors slammed. The engine roared into life. The wheels spun and screeched and the van vanished down the road.

“We did it!’ said Hannah proudly.

‘We stopped them!’ said Bernie. We saved the beach and the starfish and the fishes and everything.’

He shuffled over and gave the two children a hug.

‘Thank you’

‘That’s Ok.’ said Hannah. ‘We were very glad to help.’

‘Heigh ho’ said Bernie, ‘Time to go.’

Hannah and Dylan stood and waved as Bernie disappeared down into the waves.

‘Right’ sighed Hannah. ‘Come on. We’d better go and tell someone about this horrible drum.’

They started walking up the beach.

‘E 568 DUR’ muttered Dylan as he tucked the telescope back into his pocket. ‘What?’ said Hannah

‘E 568 DUR,’ repeated Dylan slowly. ‘The number of the van,’ he explained. ‘So we can tell the police.’

‘Dylan!’ gasped Hannah. ‘You’re a complete and utter genius!’

‘Am I?’ said Dylan.

Hannah nodded.

‘In fact you’re so clever; I think you’d better have a piggy back all the way home.’

‘Thanks! ‘said Dylan. ‘Thanks very much.’