The Four Boys and The Invisible Friend by Alastair Macleod (great novels of all time TXT) 📕

Once there were four young brothers, Liam, Patrick, Ciaran and Sean all born a year apart and they were great ones for the imagination, always making up stories. Liam was nine and Sean was the littlest. Well they lived in County Clare by the sea and rambled about the hills and the shore.

      There were four of them but Sean had an invisible friend and the others teased him about it something rotten. "Where’s your invisible friend today? They’d say, or, "What does the invisible friend think of this or that," said another.

      Sean retaliated by making his invisible friend special. The invisible friend ate all the food the others did not like such as the green vegetables and the crusts of the pizzas. He also could tie his shoe laces, ride a bike and turn a somersault. This only made the others mad. If anything went wrong they said, “Mammy it wasn’t me, it was the invisible friend.” Sean thought they were jealous of the invisible friend.

      “Well,” said Mammy, who knew about invisible friends, having had one herself when she was little,“Well, what is the invisible friend’s name?" She said looking at Sean, “Everybody has to have a name.”

      The other boys stood open mouthed at their mother; she was taking this seriously. Sean looked about him not knowing what to say, then he looked up at the sky for inspiration.

      “Mick,” said Sean, “he’s called Mick."

      “Mick,” said his mother, “Well Mick, welcome to the family.”

      “He says he’s happy to be here,” said Sean, his face lighting up with a smile.

      “Right boys, off you go now and play, and be sure to look after Mick and he’ll look after you.”

      Well the boys scampered off but the older ones were not so sure of this new invisible brother, who up till now had been the butt of their jokes.

      “I still don’t think he’s really there,” said Liam,

      “Nah,” said Patrick, "I don’t see nothing.”

      “But Ma thinks he’s here," said Ciaran.

      “Sure he’s here,” said Sean in a confident voice.

      “Well he can have this,” said Liam, throwing away the remains of the apple he had been eating.

      “He’s after it," said Sean.

      “What is he wearing?" said Ciaran.

      Sean again looked to the sky for inspiration.

      “He’s got red socks,"

  None of them had red socks, all their socks were grey, a job lot mum had bought from the store.

      “and he’s after wearing long trousers.” None of them had long trousers only short trousers.

      “and he’s got a purple shirt.”

      “A purple shirt!" said Liam. “That’s really pushing it, who ever heard of one of us in a purple shirt. We‘d look like thistles.”

    They had rambled towards the shore and then walked out onto the strand. There was an old legend about the strand. A monster, the Strand Beast, was supposed to come out of the water at the high spring tide and carry people off, especially children.

      As the boys skipped along suddenly they saw a dark head in the waves, then a black shiny body, then the most horrible creature pulled itself out onto the beach. The boys shrank back in fear.

      “It's speaking,” said Sean.  

      “What’s it saying?" Said Liam.

      “I am hungry,” said Sean, putting on a deep monster voice, “One of you must be eaten. I haven’t had a boy for a while to snack on, and here we have five of you on the beach."

 The four boys looked at each other. The monster could see five!

     “You truly see five boys on the beach?" Said Liam.

    “Five, I see five, what of it?"  Said Sean, continuing to transmit the monster’s words."There’s a small one there,”  it said, pointing to the space next to Sean.

     “And is he wearing a purple shirt?” said Ciaran.

     “That he is,” said the monster.

    “And red socks?" Said Patrick.

    “ ‘Tis like tomato sauce on a boy, a pair of red socks,” said the monster.

     “I don’t want to be eaten,” said Liam.

    “Me neither,” said Patrick.

    “Nor me," said Ciaran.

They all looked at Sean.

    “Mick’ll sort him,” said Sean boldly. “Go at him Mick.”

    All was silent for a bit, just the water gently breaking on the shore and the monster’s great head weaving back and forth, then the boys watched aghast as the monster started to writhe about as if wrestling with something then slowly it backed down the shore into the foam, 'till its black shiny body sank beneath the waves.

     “He could be useful this invisible brother," said Liam.

     “Yes, that he could," said Patrick.

     “And him a great fighter with the mystical powers,” said Ciaran.

Liam took a sweet from his pocket and gave it to his youngest brother,

      “For Mick now,” he said.

      “I’ll make sure he gets it,” said Sean.

With that the five boys turned and ran over the strand to the hill beyond.

Previously;

“Once there were four young brothers, Liam, Patrick, Ciaran and Sean all born a year apart and they were great ones for the imagination, always making up stories . Liam was nine and Sean was the littlest.
Well, they lived in County Clare by the sea and rambled about the hills and the shore.
There were four of them but Sean had an invisible friend and the others teased him about it something rotten”


      The four boys were lying on a banking looking out over the beach, watching the waves gently curling in softly on the shore.

      “What I can’t understand," said Liam, “is how do you know where the invisible friend is at any one point in time,like now?"
      “He’s only invisible to you, and Patrick and Ciaran,” said Sean the youngest. “I can see him, but at this very moment he’s not here."
      “Oh,"said Patrick,“why?"
      “What sort of question is that?"
      “A decent question,” said Liam.
      “Well, if you must know,” said Sean. “He’s left home.”
      “What?” said Ciaran, “Left home? I didn’t see him go.”

      Patrick smiled. The boys didn’t laugh out loud now about the invisible friend, they had felt his presence, or they thought they had.

      “Now, why would he leave us?" Said Liam.
      “He feels you are not always kind to him,” replied Sean. “He needs a break.”
      “Don’t we all,” said Patrick.
      “And,” continued Sean, “he doesn’t like Auntie Susan.”

Auntie Susan had come to look after the boys while mum was away and she was strict. She made them eat all their porridge, even if they were not hungry and she didn’t play with them - she was always at the computer. Mum said she was writing up a study or something.

      “She’s forgotten how to play,” said Ciaran.
      “How can you forget to play?" Said Sean.
      “Well mum says play is like football, the more you do it the better you get.”
      “Dad said Auntie Susan used to play football for a womans’ team,” added Liam.
      “Really?" Said Patrick in a surprised voice.
      “Let’s ask her if she’ll play,” said Patrick.

They picked up the ball which had been left out on the short turf at the back of the house.
Rather than ask her directly they kicked the ball around outside the window and made some enthusiastic shouts.
At last she came out with a face that said trouble.
It was Sean, the littlest, who stepped forward, the ball in his hand and an angelic look on his face and said,

“The invisible friend invites you to be our guest footballer today.”

Auntie Susan who was only 28 and pretty and fit, knew about the invisible friend and gave him much respect.

“Does he now?" She said.

      The day was fine and bright and the larks were singing above the fields. She looked around as if wakened from a dream. She breathed in the air, she could smell the sea. Her back hurt from bending over the keys. She stretched.

      The small faces in front of her looked up expectantly.
The invisible friend. How could she resist the invisible friend? She had heard of his exploits with the Strand Beast and in the rescue of the child from the eagle.
Her face changed, and she smiled.

      “I’d be honoured to have a game with him and his team.”

She was good, and for a while she managed on her own, then she lost a couple of goals. Patrick called half time. The boys talked amongst themselves.

      “We think you need the invisible friend on your side,” said Sean, “to even things up.”

And so it was that in the second half auntie Susan and the invisible friend beat the other four, 6:3.

“That was a great game,” said auntie Susan. "I think for the rest of the week we’ll have football each day from 9 to 11."

The boys were ecstatic.

And the invisible friend was happy too.

Previously

“Once there were four young brothers, Liam, Patrick, Ciaran and Sean all born a year apart and they were great ones for the imagination, always making up stories. Liam was nine and Sean was the littlest.

Well they lived in county Clare by the sea and rambled about the hills and the shore.

There were four of them but Sean had an invisible friend and the others teased him about it.

On the island Liam, Patrick, Ciaran and Sean, the four boys, were out on the green when there was a commotion in the village. A distraught mother cutting barley had had her swaddled baby snatched by an eagle.

The village which was not large swarmed to the green cliff top, below which the eagle had its large nest.

At the cliff edge they halted.

     “Someone will have to go down,” said one man as he unslung a long rope.

On the island where food was scarce they went down for seabirds eggs in the spring and usually it was a small person on the end of the rope for the lightness.

Liam Patrick and Ciaran had all been down that year for the eggs. Sean had never been down.

     “Tis a tricky one,