Free Ctrl-Z by Andrew Norriss Page A

right, and that was the best thing about having
     his laptop, really.
    That you could make
everything
turn out right.

C HAPTER N INE

    A lex was not the only one who appreciated the effects of Ctrl‐Z. Life for his friend Callum had not simply got better, it had
     been transformed.
    Callum had been accident‐prone for almost as long as he could remember and however hard he tried, he had never found a way
     to stop it. A psychologist had once suggested that the accidents happened because he was always worrying that they might,
     but as Callum pointed out, he only worried because the accidents
did
happen – and it was very hard not to worry if you walked through life knowing that disaster was always only a footstep away.
    In the last few weeks, however, all that had changed. Since Alex had been given the laptop,
Callum had not had any accidents at all. None, at least, that he could remember, and for the first time in years the anxiety
     that had once been his constant companion had eased. He no longer walked everywhere with the worry at the back of his mind
     that something bad was about to happen because… well, because nothing bad
did
happen any more. And, apparently, if it ever did all he had to do was tell Alex and let him press a couple of keys on his
     computer.
    The relief was almost indescribable. The tight ball of tension that Callum normally felt in the pit of his stomach had begun
     to unwind. The worry slipped away, and it was as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. There was a relaxed
     ease in the way Callum walked these days, a calm in the face of any situation that he had never shown before and – and this
     was the really odd thing – he
didn’t
have as many accidents now. In fact, fewer and fewer all the time.
    When Alex had first got his laptop, he could expect to rescue his friend from some disaster at least once or twice a day but,
     as the weeks passed, that number had steadily dwindled. Maybe the psychologist had been right and, now that he was less anxious,
     Callum was no longer drawing the accidents into his life. Alex didn’t know, but he did know that his friend had changed.

    Mr and Mrs Bannister had noticed it as well. ‘I hope you know how grateful we are,’ Callum’s mother told Alex one day as they
     were sitting out in the garden. She pointed to Callum standing at the barbecue in an apron, calmly cooking sausages. ‘Look
     at him!’ she said proudly. ‘He’s in charge of an open fire and we’re not worried at all! It’s like he’s a different boy!’
     She beamed down at Alex. ‘And we all know why, don’t we!’
    ‘Do we?’ said Alex a little nervously. He had explained to Callum the importance of not saying anything to his parents about
     Ctrl‐Z.
    ‘It’s you, isn’t it!’ Mrs Bannister placed an affectionate hand on his shoulder. ‘Callum’s told us how you’ve been helping
     him. Talking to him. Teaching him how to stay out of trouble.’
    ‘Oh, that…’ said Alex.
     ‘And whatever you’ve said to him, it’s certainly worked.’ Mr Bannister had come over to join them. ‘We can’t believe how much
     better he’s been the last few weeks. It’s a miracle.’
    ‘Oh good,’ said Alex.
     ‘And because of that,’ said Mrs Bannister, ‘we were wondering if perhaps you’d be able to come on holiday with us this summer.
     Only it makes such a difference when you’re around, and we thought –’
    ‘We thought it’d be safer for all of us,’ Mr

    Bannister took over, ‘if you came too. We’re renting a villa in France. With a swimming pool. If you’d like, I’ll have a word
     with your parents.’
    And Alex said he thought a villa in France with a swimming pool would be… very nice. Thank you!
    The one thing Alex hadn’t been able to do with his computer was use it to make money. Godfather John had said that, if he
     thought about it, he would find there were at least twenty‐seven ways to make himself rich with Ctrl‐Z –