Free Aaron Connor by Nathan Davey

“we
have something extra to carry that we weren’t expecting before we
started”
    “ Fair enough
man” said the lorry driver, “right, let’s get this down
then”
    What he did next was
astonishing, especially for a bloke of his size. He climbed up onto
the back of the lorry from the side. He put one large hand on the
side and just lifted himself up like King Kong. He climbed up the
mountain of rubbish. He was causing doll’s heads and tin cans to go
rolling down the hill, as he kicked them aside with his large feet.
He came to the sidecar, grabbed it with both hands, lifted it up
and chucked it aside. Thankfully we all bolted out of the way just
in time for the sidecar to land next to us. It landed perfectly, on
its wheels and without any kind of damage whatsoever. This guy was
obviously a pro!
    Gary jumped off, walked
alongside the lorry, leaned up against it, got out another
cigarette and carried on as he did before as if nothing happened.
At first we were so stunned by what we just saw, that we lost the
ability to do anything. Then of course, we remembered our manners
and together rolled the sidecar across the car park. We shouted
back our thank yous. Gary replied with a grunt, a smile with the
fag in his mouth and a thumbs up.
    “ Well, that
happened” said Nick with a laugh,
    “ Nice chap”
chuckled Zo, “didn’t even charge us for this!”
    “ Who are you
by the way?” asked Nick, looking at Lizzie,
    “ I’m Lizzie”
she said shyly, “I’m Aaron’s friend”
    “ Aaron’s
girlfriend?” asked Zo, brandishing a rather dirty grin,
    “ No” replied
Lizzie blushing, “we’re just mates”
    “ That’s aright
then” said Zo,
    We finally arrived at the
yellow bike. Nick disappeared around the corner to the band’s van.
He returned with an on road tool box to attach the sidecar onto.
Out of the left hand side of the sidecar, were lots of iron bars
with nuts and bolts sticking outwards. When we brought the sidecar
together with the Moped, we could see that there were places on the
bike’s framework that the sidecar’s bars could be attached
onto.
    Nick took out some spanners
and, with each one he had, placed them onto the bolts to see which
spanner was the best fit. Once he found the one that wrapped around
the bolt the best, he asked the rest of us to push the sidecar
towards the bike so he could screw it on. I can’t remember how long
we were holding that sidecar in place, but it felt like hours. My
arms started ache real quickly.
    Finally Nick had gone through
all of the bolts and made sure they were fastened onto the bike’s
framework perfectly. We wobbled it and it seemed sturdy. Just to
make sure I rode around the car park with the sidecar on, it seemed
fine. It didn’t fall off, the bolts didn’t come loose and it hardly
shook at all. I drove the bike back in, ready to get the bass
guitar inside it.
    Once again the boys forced
Stewie to get the bass in, so if it fell off and smashed on the
road it would be his own fault. The boys were still mad at him. I
and Lizzie knew that they’d calm down eventually, right now though
they just wanted to get out some frustration. While we watched him,
Lizzie saddled up to me for a chat.
    “ Can I ask you
something?” she asked,
    “ Yah sure” I
replied,
    “ Next time you
wanna do something like this, run it by me first!”
    “ I really
wanted to help and go on the road with these guys. I was afraid
you’d say no”
    “ Why would I
say no? It’s not as if we have a time limit to go by. It’s not as
if we knew where we were going. I think it’s a good idea. It’ll be
fun. I like these guys. Next time though, just ask me first, that’s
all”
    “ Ok, I
will”
    Stewie had strapped up the bass
nice and tight. It was one of these belts like you get in RAF
planes, where it doubles up in both directions like an “X”. He made
it tight as he possible could. Zo tried to pull it out as a test.
It wouldn’t budge. We were ready. It was an