Googol Boy and the peculiar incident of the Great Quiz Trophy by John Michael (classic books for 13 year olds txt) 📕

was Boudicca* who had just conquered the Romans. That Savani sure oozed arrogance and was full of herself, she was getting too big for her britches and would stop at nothing to get her way.

“Savani gives me the whim-whams,” muttered Barney, “and she’s given me indigestion as well!”

“Yeah... I know what you mean.”

A thought suddenly struck me like a bolt out of the blue. Savani was the trophy thief! It all made perfect sense! All this posturing and swaggering was just an intricate ploy to throw others off her scent. It fitted well with her psychology, an overachiever, and she was certainly intelligent enough to pull off such a heist, with her overbearing sense of self-worth and delusions of grandeur, and there were definitely signs of emotional shallowness. She was the type who always had to be a winner − whatever the cost! Savani could now have access to that trophy any time it tickled her fancy. She probably had it hidden in some secret compartment in her room and every night she would take it out so that she could cuddle with it − it all made perfect sense.

This performance today was all a ruse − she must have thought that I’d never accept her challenge. Well she was wrong! Dead wrong! Ha Savani! Ha! Ha! In your face! And she probably stole the money to make it look like an opportunistic grab for the cash, to mask the true motive of the crime. Quite clever Savani! But not clever enough! Well, well, well! Let’s see how all this pans out! I’ll see you at 2pm alright, and then afterwards! I’ll see you in gaol! That’s right! Savani was in my sights and she was going down.

I felt like Daniel who was about to slay Goliath... and that was a darn appropriate metaphor! Well... except for the fact that Savani was no giant, actually she was a bit of a shrimp... hmm... but that’s still okay! On a figurative level, she was a giant! That’s right... ha ha... a giant pain in the butt! And I was Daniel... I had similar traits... I was plucky and daring and brave... I mean I couldn’t use a slingshot... but you can’t have everything in life. All that mattered was that I was going to take Savani down! Yes! Savani was about the face her reckoning − some angry chickens were coming home to roost.

Then suddenly, the cogs started to whir, slightly at first but then with greater vitality. Ha! My revelation was about to come through. Yes! An affirmation of Savani’s guilt... but I was about to be greatly disappointed. Instead of Savani behind prison bars, I saw images of the familiar doors and splinters and smells and footprints floating in my mind. It was all a stark reminder not to jump to conclusions. Firstly, there was the whole thing about breaking down the foyer doors. I mean, Savani was feisty but there was no way she’d bust through those solid oak doors. Then there were the shoe prints − Savani’s feet was so small that she must have got her shoes at a toddler store. And then there was that pungent odour − sure, I didn’t like her but she smelt more of books and pencil shavings.

Damn! I guess I had let my own bias cloud my judgement. It looked like she was off the hook... well, at least for now. Bummer! And double bummer!

I turned to Barney. “Are you okay?”

“Ha ha... don’t you worry about me,” he answered timidly. “I can handle a little squirt like Savani.”

“Yeah well... I don’t think she likes you.”

“It could have been worse,” stated Barney.

“How?”

“At least she didn’t slap me with her glove.”

“Touché!” I responded.

“Howie... which are we supposed to be, the sheep or the goats?” asked Barney.

“I’m not too sure but I guess we’ll find out soon enough!”

“So 2pm at the Royal Pavilion?”

“That’s right Barn... we’ve got a date with destiny!”

“It’s worse than that Howie... we’ve got a date with Savani!”

Chapter fourteen 

the great quiz

We arrived at the Royal Pavilion just before 2pm. We would have made it earlier except that Barney got into a heated argument at the hammer game with one of the other students about purple-sprinkled or blue-sprinkled donuts and which ones tasted better − the operator had to come in and break it up. Savani and her gang of debaters were already in attendance and, altogether, a sizeable crowd had gathered to watch the Great Quiz.

I could tell that Barney was on edge; first the squabble at the hammer game and now he was anxiously tugging on his t-shirt. To be honest, I was feeling a little jittery myself and, on top of that, I was getting the sniffles as well. I attempted to lighten the mood with a joke but couldn’t think of anything even remotely funny. I racked my brain... nothing − nix, nada, nought. This wasn’t a good sign... if I couldn’t come up with a simple joke, how was my brain going to fare in this quiz? The prognosis was not looking good. Bummer! I was going to make a fool of myself and that Savani was really going to rub my nose in it.

“Okay... calm down Howard,” I told myself. “You’ve got this!”

I closed my eyes and concentrated and finally, something came to me. In my mind’s eye I could see a chicken, a road, and a bagel. Huh? I didn’t get it − what was I supposed to do with this?

Why did the chicken cross the road? Because it wanted a bagel? No, no, no! I was going to have to have to come up with something a little more humorous. It didn’t have to be smart or witty, after all, Barney’s idea of humour mostly consisted of ‘pull my finger’ gags, but the joke did have to make sense, even for Barney.

“Try something different Howard,” I demanded. “You’re better than this! How about a riddle?”

I closed my eyes and concentrated harder.