Around the Town in 80 Hours
“Prove it,” Ava challenged, “Remember Reverend Kelvin mentioned the collection for harvest festival in assembly at school today.” Aidan nodded. He had a vague recollection of Kelvin saying something but his mind had been wandering to thoughts of his break time snack by that point. “Well I think that instead of focusing on filling your stomach over the next few days, you should focus on doing something that will help to fill others.”
“Alright,” agreed Aidan rising to the challenge, “I bet I can get a trolley’s worth of food delivered to the church in time for the harvest service at 10am on Sunday.” |
It was 3am in the early hours of an autumn Thursday morning and Aidan found himself raiding the fridge as he often did when he woke in the middle of the night. Finding a hamburger, he’d just taken a bite when his impromptu night time meal was interrupted.
“All you ever think about is your stomach Aidan Osborne! You can’t possibly need any food at this time of night; you’ve been eating all day. You are becoming a greedy bear!” scolded Ava. “I don’t just think about my stomach,” Aidan protested, “And I’m not greedy!” |
“That’s too easy, anyone could do that.” Ava said looking unimpressed.
“Ok, as well as filling the trolley I’ll give up all my snacks until I’ve delivered it to the harvest service,” replied Aidan rather rashly. Glancing at the burger still in his paw he added “Starting in the morning.” Ava looked at her brother with a glint in her eye. “Starting from now,” she challenged. Aidan looked longingly at the burger and after a brief internal struggle relented, “Ok,” he sighed, “Starting from now.” He returned the half eaten burger to the fridge and after a quick mental calculation whispered to it “see you in 79 hours time.” |
Over the next few days, Aidan set about his task with confidence and enthusiasm. Starting with a trip to the Village Store he toured the shops and markets of Vandykeville asking for donations and despite the temptation to keep some of the goodies for himself and other unaccountable losses, by Saturday evening his trolley was all full up. Aidan’s plan worked and he fell into a long, deep sleep as soon as his head touched the pillow. He woke up feeling very pleased that his plan had worked until he saw the time. “I’ve overslept!” he cried, “The harvest service is starting now and I’m not there with the collection. All this hard work collecting the food and not eating it myself and I’ve failed right at the end. I don’t believe it,” Aidan wailed miserably. “79 hours of no snacks all for nothing. Ava will never let me hear the end of it. Although at least I can go and finish that burger now the 79 hours are up,” he thought consolingly.
An hour later just before the start of the harvest service, Aidan proudly presented his trolley of donations to Reverend Kelvin. "Well Aidan, I heard about your challenge and I'm very impressed you got all around the town in 80 hours to collect so much food." “Never mind the getting around town in 80 hours,” he said “that was the easy bit and a new harvest tradition that I’m happy to repeat. But what I will not be doing again is going without a snack for 80 hours!" At that moment Ava sidled up to him and slipped something into his paw. "For you," she whispered, secretly very proud of her brother. "The clocks going back saved the challenge but you also had to wait an extra hour for this. I think you've earned it. Aidan smiled and immediately tucked right in. "The hour may have changed," he thought, "But my appetite certainly hasn't!" |
Getting so many delicious donations had been the easy
part thanks to the generous nature of everyone he’d asked; the difficult part had been giving up his snacks. He had succeeded so far; he just needed to get through one more night but it was getting increasingly difficult to ignore all of the treats piled in the trolley and Aidan was struggling. “I know,” he thought to himself, “I’ll have one of mother’s chamomile teas before I go to bed. That will keep me fast asleep all night. I can’t be tempted to eat if I’m asleep.” He was just about to take a bite the of the burger when Ava tutted “Oh Aidan, I really thought you were going to succeed. You’ve done so well, don’t give up so close to the end.” Aidan looked confused “But I’m too late. I’ve missed the start of the service; it’s just gone ten o’clock.”
“No it hasn’t,” grinned Ava, “The clocks went back last night as they do every autumn. We’ve gained an hour, it’s only just gone nine o’clock. You’ve still got one hour of the challenge left. Plenty of time to get the collection to church.” Aiden’s brain scrambled to keep up with what Ava was telling him and his face lit up as he finally comprehended what she was saying. “I forgot the hour change when I did the calculation; I didn’t have 79 hours, I had 80!” Joyfully he rushed off with his trolley, the burger forgotten in his delight at winning the challenge after all. |
The end.