One afternoon a group of children were waiting for the lollipop lady to blow her whistle to let them know it was safe to cross Old Cleveland Road. The kids didn't mind waiting for a while because something always happened at that intersection.
Some times they might see an ambulance come speeding along Old Cleveland Road with its siren screaming and lights flashing. Some times there might even be a screech of tires and the bang of two cars colliding. This time however they heard three loud bangs and when they looked across the intersection they saw a strange guy come running out of the KFC shop with a gun in one hand and two buckets of KFC in the other.
"Watch out! Get down you kids!" yelled the lollipop lady but the children were too excited not to watch what happened.
The manager of the KFC ran out of the shop after the robber but when the robber fired another shot in the air, the manager looked terribly worried and ran back into the KFC.
"Bet he's going to ring the police," said one of the boys.
"They'll have to be fast he's jumping over that fence."
"Maybe we could catch him and then we could eat the KFC."
"Yey! Let's go!"
"Oh no you don't," said the lollipop lady, "You're coming right back to the school with me until the police have caught that robber."
"Oh!"
"No Oh's you lot. Come with me." The lollipop lady blew her whistle and used her lollipop stick to push the children back inside the school grounds and into the car park near the Administration building.
"Right, stay here while I tell the principal what's happening," she said.
As the lollipop lady hurried into the Admin Building the children started arguing about where the robber would hide and eat his KFC.
"I bet he'll run into the bush and climb a tree."
"Nah. How's he going to climb a tree when he's holding a gun and two buckets of KFC?"
"I bet he'll run home and turn on the TV and watch the cricket."
"Nah. He jumped over that fence and you know what's on the other side of that fence don't you?"
"The storm water drain. Hey, that storm water drain goes under the road and up under this school."
"He could be eating his KFC right under our feet, right now."
"Hey, we should tell the police."
Just then the lollipop lady and the school principal came out of the Admin Building and the principal said, "Quite please. Mrs Jolly has told me about the robbery and we've organised a special school bus to drive everyone who's still here at school right to their homes but, while we're waiting for it, you had better wait in the library. You can read a book or play a game until it gets here."
"Is some student snoring while I'm speaking? Who's being so rude?"
But no one put their hand up and slowly everyone realised that the snoring was coming from right under their feet.
"That will be the robber. He jumped over the fence into the storm water drain. I bet he ran up the pipe and stopped for a rest under the school."
"Right, I'll ring the police," said the principal pulling out his mobile phone.
The children watched as three of the police cars that had been over at the KFC put on their lights and sirens and came speeding through the intersection and turned into the school car park.
"Down hear. Shhhhh. You can hear him snoring."
"Have you got a crowbar or something to lift up that inspection hatch."
"I want to volunteers to run to the school gardeners shed and ask him to bring a crowbar."
As quick as a flash to of the older boy scurried off. It wasn't long before they came back with the school gardener and a crowbar.
The gardener drove the end of the bar under the metal hatch and the hatch came spinning off the hole.
Two police jumped down with their guns drawn. "Stay where you are you're under arrest for robbery of the Belmont KFC!"
They pulled the robber up through the hole and bundled him into the police car. The students watched as the police put his gun and the two buckets of KFC into plastic evidence bags.
"Hey could we have some KFC please?"
"No way kids. We'll need them for the court case."
The 'Fried Chicken Robber' story
was created by
Daryll Bellingham and
students from 1KE and 1GR
at Belmont State School
as part of the
2010 Belmont Literature Festival.
was created by
Daryll Bellingham and
students from 1KE and 1GR
at Belmont State School
as part of the
2010 Belmont Literature Festival.
Love the fact that the story was made with the kids and their reactions to the situation! Good to have their pictures too.
ReplyDeleteNow if he'd just gone home to have his KFC while watching the cricket he might have got away with it.