3 The Mountford Gang Get Clever - Audio Drama By S D Hudson

Chloe, Jack, Cathy, Sam, Bradley and Elliot all live on the outskirts of an English town called Mountford West. It is the 1980s and life for the Mountford Gang is simple and fun. Until they discover a secret and are thrown into a world of mystery and intrigue. This audio drama was written as a cosy, mysterious, nostalgic trip to simpler times.

In this episode, the gang visit the house at night and see something they're not expecting.

All rights reserved. Individual use only. Copyright Neworld Books Ltd.
This audio file is enabled with an invisible watermark.
Written by S D HUDSON
Performed by Stephanie Poppins
Music by Jean-Miles Carter
Published by Neworld Books

Transcript

Welcome to sleep stories with Steph your go-to podcast. That offers you a calm and relaxing transition. Into a great night's sleep. It is time to relax and fully let go. There is nothing you need to be doing now. And know where you need to go. Close your eyes. And feel yourself sink into the support beneath you. And let all the worries of the day go. Drift away. This is your time. And your space. Take a deep breath in through your nose. And let it out with a long sigh. That's it! There is nothing you need to be doing now. And know where you need to go. Happy listening. To three. It was about a week since we had last got together as a group and Bradley told his parents about the clubhouse we made. And they said we couldn't use it until the ceiling was fixed properly. Being his brother, Elliot felt betrayed by this. But it wasn't anything new. Bradley was always telling tales. He was the golden boy in the Button family and Elliot was used to being left out of any decision making in his family. No one really knew why Bradley was a telltale, But suffice to say, His parents encouraged it. Now of course, As the Malfa gang, We all backed his brother Elliot 100%. We never blamed him for what his brother did. But instead, We decided we would keep the clubhouse no matter what. So we went to Mrs Bantry and we asked her to teach us how to fix the broken beam, Which in turn would fix the ceiling. In true White Witch style, She did just that. As well as give us cookies and milk when it was time for us to have a break. We loved Mrs Bantry, We did. And we knew that she loved us. We were like her children, She said. Elliot, Of course, Always got an extra cookie by her as well. Bradley could only look on. He would never be part of her gang, And everyone understood that. Including Mrs Bantry. Anyway, At last the ceiling was fixed and our clubhouse was given a new lock and key, Courtesy of Mrs Bantry. She told us she spoke to the local council and she rented the garage out herself so no one could take it from us. And that was when we started to make plans. Nothing could stop us now. Going out at night was my idea. I'll put my hands up to that. It was a Tuesday. I remember it was a Tuesday because Aunt Susan always had a bath on a Tuesday and that meant the bathroom was occupied from half seven till God nine. While we were summoned to bed, Mum would be in and out fetching towels for her and the particular soap she liked. And Dad would be out in the garden shed with the radio on, Pretending to sort his tools and actually listening to the cricket. Our parents, In other words, Will be otherwise engaged. It was up to the rest of the gang to sort out their appearance. So anyway, On the night before, My brother Jack went round to the others and told them three words. Tuesday night, Ten o'clock. Well, That's four actually, But who's counting? He came back then looking extremely pleased with himself, Which he always did when completing a successful mission. He told me he told Elliot first, Then Elliot went round and told the others. Mrs. Button had asked him where he'd been, Jack told me, And he told her he was helping Mrs. Bantry do an old job, Which was not quite true, But Mrs. Bantry would always cover for Elliot. That was her way. Tuesday night cane. Lights went off. The doors were closed and that's when we all took action. Within minutes, When everyone had gone to sleep, We were all at the Green Triangle. I had my notebook, A proper one with a marbled cover that I'd brought with my birthday money and saved for something worthy. I also had a torch with fresh batteries, A pencil tucked behind my ear and the feeling I was in charge because by and large I usually was. I don't know why, Probably because I was the oldest. Mum said I was born with a plan already in progress and someone had to think things through, So it just so happened I was rather good at that. My brother Jack was wearing his football socks pulled up to the knee, Even though it was still the summer holidays and not cold enough for football socks. And he had a length of rope culled over one shoulder like some kind of sailor. He got that from the shed without asking. He was also carrying a bag of flapjacks I made that afternoon, Because Jack never went anywhere without something to eat. As it happened, This turned out to be very useful. Kathy was dressed from head to toe in black. She'd managed that by putting on her school pimp songs, Her darkest jeans and an old black t-shirt. She'd also tied her hair up and tucked it under a dark cap. I thought that was really cool. She bought a bag as well and inside it were three items she'd assembled, A pot of her old mother's cold cream, A stick of black theatrical makeup and a small hand mirror. Kathy could change what her face looked like in four minutes flat. We timed her once. She was also the only one of us who seemed completely calm, Which was either because she was brave or because she didn't yet understand how much trouble we'd be in if we were caught. Sam, The youngest, Brought the most. He always did. His rucksack had in it a walkie-talkie set he'd assembled himself from a key. A small battery-powered listening device with a directional microphone, No bigger than a 50p piece, A coil of very thin wire, Three spare batteries, A roll of electrical tape and a packet of digestives. He put those into the bag, Didn't rattle. Being small for his age, He was very precise in everything he did. He didn't rush either and didn't fidget. He watched and he listened and when he spoke it was usually the thing that mattered the most. Sam had been upset earlier that day because the listening device produced more interference than he'd hoped. He spent most of the afternoon in his room fixing it. He looked slightly tense, But I gave him a very small nod and he gave me a very small one back. And then there was Elliot. Elliot, Like Kathy, Was the same age as Jack, But a lot older in some ways. I think he had to be because of the situation he was in with his brother, Bradley. He would never be the favourite, So whatever he felt, Went straight there. He didn't really have a hold on his feelings. I said before that he liked to laugh and he was grinning as he crossed the triangle towards us. A wide, Helpless, Crumpled green plant. He told his parents he'd gone to bed with a headache. That was everyone agreed very nearly brilliant because Elliot's always getting headaches and his parents would have been so relieved he'd taken himself off quietly they wouldn't have checked on him till morning. He said he stuffed pillows under the duvet out of habit because he'd always wanted to. Sometimes he even slept under his bed. He also said, And this was the detail I appreciated the most He also said he bought a small pot of WD-40 in his coat pocket. For hinges, He said, In case they squeaked. That was Elliot all over. He couldn't do algebra to save his life, But he thought of things no one else thought of, And he thought of them in exactly the right moment. I remember looking at my Mountford gang with pride. That was the first time for me being in a gang really meant something. People talked about gangs and groups and that at school, But I'd never really belonged to one of those. This was where I belonged. Everyone who mattered in Mountford Lane. We were the best gang around and we were out to make things happen. I also remember chuckling at how much stuff we had. What we were going to achieve, I had no idea that night, But it didn't matter because when we left the mystery house, We put all of our stuff back in our clubhouse, Locked the door and sealed in time who we were and what we were capable of. We went down single file with our torches packed away. Being in the summer it was only just twilight and we didn't want to draw attention to ourselves. When we reached the bottom of the lane, Elliot led because he was the tallest and the least afraid of the dark. I brought up the rear notebook tucked under my arm, Looking back every 20 seconds, The way I always did when I felt we were being watched. The path behind the allotments was quite dark, And the sheep were like shadows in the field beyond the wooden fence, Shuffling every now and then. But they weren't really bothered about us. We reach the boundary wall of the mystery house in about 5 minutes. Which was good. I wrote down the time. Then Jack went first. He swung the rope up and caught it on the iron hook I discovered the last time we were there. That was noted in the margin of my notebook as useful ironwork. Jack had already tested it once and then, When he knew that it was safe, He climbed hand over hand easy as anything up and over. Then Kathy went, Nimble and quick, Barely making a sound. Then Sam, Slow and deliberate, The rucksack threatening to unbalance him at the top. Until Jack reached down and took the weight of it. Then Elliot, Who went up fast and jumped over the top in this sort of rolling tumble that should have been disastrous, But somehow wasn't. I meant last, As always. I didn't really love heights. I didn't really want to say so either because I was 12 and in charge. But I didn't love heights. I dropped down into the garden and the smell hit me the same as before. Lavender and earth and something else. And then the house in the background stood dark and tall against the sky. But all the windows were black except for one. The round window! It was lit up again! Like a porthole. We saw it at the same moment and no one said anything because we were all thinking the same thing. It wasn't a candle in this window. It was steadier than that. It looked like a torch. Moving slowly across the glass as though someone were looking out for something in a small room. We saw a silhouette. We crossed the garden without speaking. The grass was wet with dew and our feet made soft sounds in it. Sam had his walkie-talkie close to hand with his volume turned all the way down and Kathy was close behind me. Jack had the rope over his shoulder and I had the other walkie-talkie while Elliot was at the back, Scanning left and right. The round window was now directly above us. There was a face. We saw her face, A little boy. Now he couldn't have been more than seven, Perhaps eight at the most, Round-cheeked and wide eyes. He had a look of someone who'd been awake for quite a long time, But was very used to it. His torch was held at his chin. It wasn't searching as I thought, But he was just looking out. The way you look out when the dark is less frightening than the room is behind you. We all pull back into the shadows. It's a face, " said Kathy. I saw it too. See you soon. He was alone out there. So, Jack. . . We stood for a moment in the wet dark garden. The little boy in the round window, The torch held under his chin. Couldn't have been there because he wanted to be there. All the other lights were off. What was he doing alone? Something was not right and we, The Mountford gang, Were the only ones who knew it. That made it entirely our problem to fix. I opened my notebook and wrote down, Boy, Age seven to eight, Alone, Upper floor, Investigate further. Plan required. Then I wrote with a question mark, What's his name? I underlined it because it seemed the most important detail of all. He wasn't just a boy, He had a name! And he was in trouble. As we watched he held up his hand in the field were rustling behind us. A car, Somewhere on the main road, Was driving away. In something from the direction of the wall made a sound. We looked at one another. Elliot went first because he was the fastest, Circling wide around the rose bed. The rest of us spread out without needing to be told. We felt like someone was watching us. And we were right. Bradley Button was crouched at the base of the wall with one knee in the mud and both hands gripping the rope Jack had left hanging. He had his school anorak on with a hood up, Which should have made him less obvious but in fact made him look more like a garden gnome. He looked up at us and we looked down at him. No one said anything for what felt like quite a long time. Then standing up, He brushed his knees off with great dignity and said, I know what you're all doing. And we know what you're doing, " said Elliot, Crouching in the mud. I followed you, " said Bradley smugly. I've been following you for two nights and I know everything. I know about the notebook. He looked at me when he said this because he knew that would irritate me the most. I know about the house and I've just seen that little boy in it. We waited. Bradley straightened up a bit more. And I'm going to tell. Everyone. Older parents, Everyone. He said, I'm going to tell them their children are snaking out at night. Unless. . . We all continue to wait. He looked at each of us in turn. Then when he got to Elliot, He looked slightly less certain. Elliot squared up to him. Unless you let me in, Said Bradley Button, To the gang, To all of it. I'll tell. And that'll have you lot grounded before breakfast. The five of us looked to one another. It was too dark now to read faces properly. Which was probably just as well, Because Maia would have said things I wasn't ready to say out loud. I thought about the boy in the window with the torch under his chin. I looked up. He was gone now and all the lights were off. Then quickly I thought about how much time we'd lose if Bradley went to our parents tonight. What mattered more? The gang as it was. Or the little boy in the window. There was no choice really. I suppose looking back there never had been. You can come in on one condition, " I said bitterly. What condition? You, Bradley Button, Have to do what the gang decides. I said, When we decide it. No arguments, No tale-telling, No going home to your mother. This is bigger than everything we've done before. Including the notebook and all our secrets put together. If you can't keep this secret for the sake of a child who needs help, You're not the sort of person we want anywhere near us. Suddenly, Bradley nodded. It was very quick, But he nodded. Right then, Said Jack cheerfully, Because Jack always managed to be cheerful. Then he clapped Bradley on the shoulder hard enough to make him stagger. If you're gonna be a good lad and do right by your brother. . . Then welcome to the Mount for Gang. He held out the bag of flapjacks. And Bradley took a piece. And that, As I wrote in my notebook later that night. Was how the Mountford gang. . . We're no longer five. But six.