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  ‘OH, MY GIDDY AUNT!’ she suddenly exclaimed in shock ‘Father Mathews, I swear you’ve just aged me forty years! Why I never even saw you sitting there’ she explained in surprise.

  ‘Ah, Mrs O’Mally, I’m sure if you’d taken my advise about wearing your hearing aid you would have heard us both sitting here talking’ the priest replied with a smile.

  ‘Do what?’ Mrs O’Mally puzzled as she hadn’t heard him properly.

  Tom instantly cheered up and couldn’t help but giggle a little.

  ‘Ay, Father Mathews, you have to stop mumbling away so much’ she complained as he just winked his eye at Tom when she wasn’t looking.

  ‘And who might this young man be, Father?’ asked Mrs O’Mally curiously.

  ‘Well this is young Tom Ellis who has come here for confession’ Father Mathews explained with a smile.

  ‘Well pardon me for telling you your job, Father Mathews, but isn’t the lad a bit young?’ she insisted.

  ‘Ay well, happen you’re right, Mrs O’Mally, but he has just confessed to being a bank robber, he claims he stole a million pounds from the bank just up the road here, but I do suspect he might be fibbing a little’ The Father smiled.

  ‘It’s not nice to make fun of me, Father and I think you shouldn’t be joking about the Holly confessional either’ she told him off sternly.

  ‘Ay, happen you’re right, Mrs O’Mally’ he smiled ‘now where would I be without you keeping me on the straight and narrow?’ he joked.

  Then quickly changing the subject he asked;

  ‘I say, Mrs O’Mally would you be going passed young Tom’s school, Elm Park Primary?’

  ‘Ay, that I would’ she replied busily putting on her hat and coat.

  ‘Then I wonder if you might accompany this young lad just to see he gets there safely and doesn’t get himself into robbing anymore banks?’ he asked.

  ‘Yes I will. I tell you, the things I do for you, Father Mathews, I’m a saint I am, a saint’ she insisted as she quickly began to leave.

  ‘Ay that you are, Mrs O’Mally’ he replied. Then under his breath he mumbled ‘a slightly deaf one, who should be wearing her hearing aid, but a saint none the less’ and he turned around and smiled at Tom.

  ‘Ay now, Tom, now don’t you go worrying yourself anymore, you put all this business behind you’ he told him.

  Then Father Mathews looked to where Mrs O’Mally had dashed off to.

  ‘Now you’d better take to your toes lad and catch up with old Mrs O’Mally there, she’s a lot faster than she looks, especially at home time funny enough’ he chuckled away.

  ‘Thanks, Father Mathews’ replied Tom as he then dashed off after her.

  ‘Ay and if anything like this happens again….’

  Then Father Mathews just paused for a moment as he just gave it some thought.

  ‘JUST TELL YOUR MOTHER!’ he shouted as Tom just smiled before he waved goodbye and ran off.

  After the small boy had gone though, Father Mathews just sat down in the pews again as he silently contemplated on the small boy’s statement.

  There was just ‘something’ about the young boy’s story that had disturbed him quite deeply.

  It was unusual to say the very least.

  Chapter Two

  7th May 2014

  Elm Park Primary,

  Little Compton,

  Surrey, England.

  Tom was a popular boy at Elm Park Primary School, in fact he had made loads of friends there.

  His best friend by far though, was Alec James and they went everywhere together. They both shared a good sense of humour and liked all the same things.

  As Alec was so brilliant at maths, Tom often called him ‘Smart Alec’ whilst Alec in turn often jokingly called him ‘Tripover Tom’ as he was always falling over his own feet!

  Alec especially got his own back when it came to sports as Tom had what Alec described as ‘a dysfunctional relationship with sports’ as Tom was simply terrible at everything he tried.

  Their sports teacher, Mr Fellows, soldiered on regardless though. He tried his up-most to find a sport Tom was good at. Mr Fellows was always fighting a losing battle though as Tom truly was hopeless!

  One day Mr Fellows had all the boys lined up to teach them how to kick a football properly and take a really good penalty kick. Typically, when Alec took his turn he neatly slotted the ball passed the keeper and brilliantly into the top corner of the net!

  Tom though, just miss-hit the ball so it slid to a halt well over a foot short of what would have been the goal line even if his shot had been on target in the first place.

  When he returned, Alec he just shook his head at him.

  ‘I swear, Tom, I’ve never seen anyone as bad at sports as you’ and he looked at him and just giggled away.

  Unfortunately for Tom over the coming months saw excitement building for many of those sports, as their annual school’s sports day was fast approaching.

  Try as he might though, Tom’s sports teacher Mr Fellows just couldn’t find any sport that Tom was even remotely good at.

  In his attempt at the high jump, Tom blooded his nose by running straight into the bar. At the long jump he tripped over his own feet on the run up and fell head first into the sand. Whilst looking at Tom trying to run on the track Alec just took one look at him and then laughed out aloud!

  ‘I’m not kidding you, Tom, but I reckon even my old Granny could run faster than you and she’s over eighty years old now’ he joked.

  Inevitably, Tom ended up on the outside of sports day. So rather than being a competitor, like most his friends, he ended up watching all the other kids from the sidelines instead.

  With just a week to go to their school’s annual sports day, Tom and Alec found themselves as they often did, sitting in the school canteen, admiring the girl they considered to be the prettiest in the whole school.

  Her name was Sarah Brown and the two boys along with most the others just sat there transfixed as they just stared at her.

  Alec though just laughed at Tom as he looked at her as did most their friends.

  ‘There’s no point in you looking at her, Ellis, as Sarah only goes for guys who like sports, who can actually win something on sports day that is’ remarked one of their friends.

  ‘Well that thoroughly rules you out then, Tom’ Alec just chuckled away.

  ‘She wins every race she enters’ commented another of the boys as he just sat there admiring her.

  ‘Beautiful and fast, blimey, Tom, you’d never ever catch up with her even if she was keen on you’ laughed Alec as they all just looked at Tom and then chuckled away.

  Just at that moment, another of their school friends came in and slapped a piece of paper down onto the table.

  ‘Sorry, I’m late, chaps’ he smiled ‘but I was just reading this!’ he smiled as he pointed to the piece of paper.

  ‘What’s that then?’ they all asked together.

  ‘It might be the answer to all your dreams, Tom, if you want to stand any chance of impressing Sarah Brown’ laughed the boy as he noticed Tom admiring her.

  ‘What is it then?’ he asked as the boy then sat down amongst them and then began to explain.

  ‘Well one of the teachers has come up with an idea to involve all the kids who aren’t any good at sports, in a separate sports day event all of their own’ the boy explained excitedly.

  ‘What sort of sports day event?’ asked Alec curiously.

  ‘It’ll have to be something very easy for Tom to be involved’ joked one of their friends.

  ‘Yeah all right, don’t rub it in’ smiled Tom.

  ‘No seriously, Tom, it’s going to be an obstacle course, nothing too difficult at all’ suggested the boy.

  ‘Blimey, this is good news for you, Tom, it’s your chance to actually win something and impress Sarah’ laughed Alec. ‘All you’
ve got to do is beat a load of grossly obese, unfit kids in that race, and she’ll be like putty in your hands’ he laughed.

  ‘I wish!’ smiled Tom.

  A few days later, they were able to inspect the new obstacle course as it had been set up on the school’s playing fields in order to test it out.

  ‘Blimey, Tom, even someone with a ‘sports dysfunction’ like yours can win something like that’ Alec smiled as he studied the obstacles and then encouraged his friend.

  ‘You reckon?’ queried Tom.

  ‘Yeah I mean, what’s so complicated or difficult about those obstacles? I mean, it looks dead easy’ smiled Alec as he pointed to the new obstacle course and just laughed.

  During their dinner hour that day they sneaked out so Tom could have a try at the new course and he was surprised at how easy he found it.

  ‘Told you so, it’s easy!’ laughed Alec ‘it’ll be an absolute synch for you to excel at this. You’ll win the race for sure’ smiled Alec encouraged by Tom’s efforts.

  Tom though, wasn’t so sure, he now just stood there looking quite thoughtful.

  ‘I’ll tell you what I might do’ he commented.

  ‘What’s that then?’ asked Alec curiously.

  ‘I might pray that I win, just to be certain’ commented Tom thoughtfully.

  ‘Blimey, Tom, don’t start going on about your dad again, that stuff you told me about you praying freaked me out enough the first time!’ remarked Alec.

  ‘This is different though, Alec, all I’m doing is asking to win a race, where’s the harm in that?’ asked Tom confidently.

  ‘Umm, I don’t know, Tom, maybe you should just do your best on the day the same as everyone else and see what happens’ Alec commented thoughtfully.

  That night though, Tom ignored his friend’s advice and just prayed that he would win the new race instead.

  The school’s annual sports day soon came around and they all watched as Sarah Brown won all her races as usual.

  ‘PUT YOUR TONGUES BACK IN!’ shouted one of the girls as she watched all the boys just staring at her.

  ‘Gosh, Sarah’s amazing!’ commented one of Tom and Alec’s friends as they all stood there watching her.

  Soon Alec’s race came around and he secured a quite creditable second place.

  ‘Well done, Alec!’ Tom told him afterwards.

  ‘Yeah, I would have liked to have come first, but second place is all right I guess’ smiled Alec. ‘Anyway, it’s your race next isn’t it?’ he smiled then changing the subject.

  Just then, the school’s loudspeaker system announced that all competitors for the new obstacle race were to come forwards to take their place ready for the start.

  ‘Good luck, Mate!’ smiled Alec as Tom went to line up for his first sports day race ever!

  Looking over at his competitors all like him, quite useless at sport, Tom began to feel quite confident as they all looked very overweight compared to him.

  Standing on the sidelines however, his friend Alec noticed a change in the final obstacle.

  He saw Mr Fellows his sports teacher standing just behind him so he questioned him about it.

  ‘Excuse me, Mr Fellows, but why has that last obstacle there been changed?’

  ‘Oh yes, that was rather odd, Alec’ he explained ‘we went to do our final inspection on the obstacles this morning and we noticed that one had strangely broken somehow. So we were forced to look for a last minute replacement’ he smiled.

  ‘But it looks considerably higher than the old one?’ queried Alec with a rather worried look on his face.

  ‘Higher?’ puzzled his teacher ‘I can’t honestly say I noticed’ Mr Fellows commented before his attention was distracted away by some parents who wanted to speak to him.

  Alec now bit his lip.

  ‘Oh dear, I’ve got a bad feeling about this now’ he uttered under his breath just as the starter’s gun went off and the obstacle race immediately commenced.

  His fears were soon dismissed however, as he watched Tom immediately sprint to the front and quickly open up an enormous lead.

  ‘COME ON, TOM!’ he shouted excitedly.

  Sure enough, Tom was now miles ahead of the pack and he sped through the field of obstacles with absolute ease!

  Arriving at the final obstacle though, Tom immediately became stuck! It was clearly too high for him and his feeble arms just wouldn’t pull him up and over the top of it.

  Alec now just had his head in his hands.

  Just then though, Tom seemed to have managed it and Alec shouted out to encourage him.

  ‘COME ON, TOM! YOU’RE ALMOST THERE!’

  All Tom had to do was get over the top of this final obstacle and he would be home and dry and passed the winning post!

  ‘KEEP GOING, TOM!’ screamed Alec excitedly believing his friend against all odds was about to actually win a sporting event!

  Suddenly though, Tom lost his grip on the top of the new obstacle and he now slipped and he fell backwards onto the ground.

  Alec was now wringing his hands nervously as he could see the rest of the pack quickly closing in, as Tom attempted to scale the obstacle once again and just fell back down onto the ground once again.

  Soon, they all overtook him and Tom was left the only competitor still struggling to get over this final obstacle. He was quite exhausted and it must be said now looked pretty fed up. He took a deep breath and then with one almighty effort he finally managed to heave himself up and over the obstacle to then stagger forwards and finally cross the finishing line in rank last place!

  Alec now walked to the end of the course to consol his best friend.

  ‘Sorry, Mate’ smiled Alec ‘but that last hurdle just did you in’ he concluded.

  ‘Yeah, I would have won by a mile if they hadn’t changed that last damn obstacle, why did they change it anyway?’ moaned Tom.

  ‘Mr Fellows said they noticed it had broken when they went to do a final inspection this morning’ explained Alec.

  Tom meanwhile, just stood there as he leaned on his knees as he tried to catch his breath back, he looked quite depressed now.

  ‘You didn’t bother praying to win then?’ asked Alec curiously.

  ‘Actually I did’ answered Tom now looking quite annoyed.

  ‘Blimey that worked well then!’ laughed Alec.

  ‘I asked for the wrong thing, Alec’ commented Tom seriously.

  Of course, what Tom hadn’t mentioned to Alec, was that he had heard a voice in his head at the end of the race that told him clearly ‘don’t ever pray for yourself!’

  Tom decided to keep the voice to himself though for fear that Alec might think he’d gone crazy.

  One thing Tom couldn’t ignore though was that every time he prayed it seemed his prayer was always answered.

  Only not always in the way he liked it would seem!

  Chapter Three

  12th February 2017

  Elmbridge Secondary,

  Little Compton,

  Surrey, England.

  By February 2017 both Tom and Alec had settled into their secondary school, Elmbridge.

  Fortunately for them, the majority of their friends including Sarah Brown, the girl they both admired so much, had also moved to Elmbridge with them.

  They had been worried for a while that they might all have been split up and sent to separate schools, but that worry had proven unfounded fortunately for them all.

  Both Tom and Alec now fired up with teenage hormones were even more in love, or so they thought, with pretty Sarah Brown.

  ‘I swear she gets prettier every time I look at her or is that just me?’ pondered Alec.

  ‘Na, it’s just you’ laughed Tom.

  Meeting up after school the two boys both chatted about her.

  ‘What I’d give to be her boyfriend’ Alec sighed as they just sat in his bedroo
m.

  ‘I could probably make that happen if I really wanted to’ pondered Tom.

  ‘You, Tom, what do you mean you could make it happen? No you couldn’t, could you?’ asked Alec curiously. ‘What, have you a thousand pounds in your back pocket to ‘bribe her’ to go out with me or something?’ joked Alec.

  ‘No, if I pray for it to happen, then it’ll happen’ replied Tom confidently.

  ‘Oh blimey, Tom, don’t start going on about that praying business again, you know it freaks me out’ complained Alec.

  ‘But I could make that happen for you, Alec, if you really wanted me to’ smiled Tom.

  ‘What? You’re telling me everything you pray for will come true?’ asked Alec sceptically.

  ‘No, of course not’ replied Tom firmly.

  Then he added after a short pause.

  ‘Not everything.’

  ‘Let me get this straight, Tom, you can pray for young ‘sexy Sarah’ to be all over me like a rash?’ smiled Alec.

  ‘Yes, if that’s what you really want?’ answered Tom confidently.

  ‘Na, you’re just having a laugh!’ smiled Alec.

  ‘No, I’m not! I can’t tell you how or why but every prayer I pray for is always answered’ Tom insisted.

  ‘Every one?’ puzzled Alec, now just staring back at him.

  ‘Yeah, pretty much’ nodded Tom.

  Alec looked thoughtful for a moment.

  Then he smiled.

  ‘All right then, if you reckon you can do this, I want you to pray for me to have a million pounds!’ laughed Alec.

  ‘It doesn’t work like that, Alec, there are firm rules about these things’ responded Tom.

  ‘Rules, what rules?’ puzzled Alec.

  ‘I don’t pretend to know how all this works, Alec. All I can tell you, is there are strict rules governing what you can pray for and what you can’t’ shrugged Tom.

  ‘Oh and don’t tell me, they include my not receiving my million pounds I suppose?’ replied Alec shaking his head despondently.

  ‘That’s right’ laughed Tom ‘you can’t ask for any financial gain, I’ve already learnt that one. I can’t ask for any personal gain, no matter how indirectly’ explained Tom.