Silas Jones: The Gang Fight

5

A whistle sounded over the cool night air. It travelled through the smog that covered Logan, and reached Silas Jones ears waking him up. His eyes adjusted to the moonlight that lit up the train station, now full of people, and he yawned contentedly.

"MORNING RANDOM PEOPLE! OH WAIT SORRY IT'S AFTERNOO- I MEAN EVENING!" he shouted cheerily to anyone that was listening, which turned out to be everyone in hearing range. Every eye turned to this strange man who had been sleeping on a broken bench, covered in pigeon droppings. Silas, completely at home with being the centre of attention, laughed to himself and stretched. Then, pointing to a man in a black suit jacket, called out to him "HEY RICH GUY, DO YOU KNOW THE TIME? OR WHEN THE TRAIN TO IPSWICH IS COMING? COS I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR 2 DAYS!" The man, visibly shocked, took a moment to collect his thoughts, before replying, "No I'm sorry to disappoint you.... This is the station for an interstate railway line and the time is twenty-one o'clock exactly".

Silas looked around in confusion, his eyes asking the question what in the name of Donald Trump does that guy mean? After some moments of awkward silence, a kindly young man with a fresh cut came over to Silas and gently led him out of the station and down the street to a bus stop. Then, gently informing him that too much alcohol was bad for him, he told him to wait for the next bus going to Ipswich.

So Silas was left there under a flickering streetlight, standing at a bus stop, surrounded by 3 alley cats, waiting for a bus. He started pondering life, but after 4 seconds of thinking about absolutely nothing, gave up and turned his mind to the present. Sighing a big sigh of contentment, he leaned against a pole to wait for the bus. With a creak the plastic pole snapped and Silas toppled over, and the light on top of it fell down, smashing to shards, and leaving the street in darkness.

Soon the bright headlights of a bus illuminated the inky stuff that surrounded the bus stop where Silas Jones lay, and he quickly stood up, brushing himself off. Following the custom of buses, he bowed low with his arms flailing and waited for the bus to stop. It did, and the door opened, and as passengers streamed out, Silas fought his way through the crush, smiling and accidentally elbowing people in the face. Soon he reached the bus and grabbed the handle, pulling himself over the last few people emerging from the bus and knocking them over. Finally standing on the bus steps, Silas smiled and shouted jovially "SO BUDDY, THIS IS THE BUS TO IPSWICH, THE WORLD'S CAPITAL OF BOGANESS?" someone from the back of the bus shouted back "Yeah and you're the King" Silas smiled and waved in the speaker's direction as laughter filled the bus.

The bus driver frowned and looked down his long hooked nose, over his glasses and stared for a long minute at Silas. After this pause, he said in slow, modulated voice "Yes, this is the last run from Logan to Ipswich. That will be thirteen dollars and 56 cents." He ended his small speech, accentuating the last syllable.

Silas nodded his thanks and started moving towards a free seat. The bus driver, now frustrated called out "Sir, I repeat that will be THIRTEEN DOLLARS AND 56 CENTS!" Silas looked back in bewilderment. Then in a confused voice he said, a lot quieter than usual, "you mean I have to pay to go on a bus to Ipswich?" The driver nodded curtly. The other passengers burst into hysterics. A small carpet python slithered through the open door.

The laughter however soon died as the passengers realised that this guy was serious. Silas, sadly shook his head and mumbled something about never having paid before. Then he brightened up and said, again as loud as normal "I'LL WALK IF NOBODY MINDS" and sauntered off into the night, leaving a thoughtful silence on the bus, and a half digested rat in the belly of a python.

After 0.5 minutes of walking, Silas Jones suddenly remembered that being out on the streets of Ipswich at night was dangerous. "AND I'M GONNA WALK RIGHT INTO THE TOWN" he mused to himself. He started to feel cold and prickly all over, until he remembered that he could always hitchhike into Ipswich and get dropped off at macca's and sleep on the counter. The cold prickly feeling left him and he swaggered off down the centre of the motorway, with both his thumbs stuck out.

After a few close calls of being hit by semi-trailers and drag racing commodores, Silas decided to move to the side of the road. People just don't know how to steer properly these days he thought to himself. However as he was crossing the motorway, a police car, sirens blaring and lights flashing skidded to a stop in front of him. Acting almost as fast as lightning, Silas let his reflexes kick in and bolted straight into the guardrail. Quickly jumping to his feet, he raised his hands high above his head while shouting at the top of his voice "I DIDN'T DO IT OK! IT WASN'T MY FAULT IF I DID, AND I DIDN'T MEAN ANYTHING BAD!"

The officer who had jumped out of the car, looked at him strangely, then in a gruff voice told him to get in the car. Silas complied, and walked over and opened the back door. Three large scruffy dogs jumped out at the same time, bowling him over. "Sorry" said the cop "you probably know since the council uses all its money's digging up perfectly good roads and putting new ones in, we officer's work as cops and animal catchers."

"OH THAT'S OK MATE" shouted Silas with a grin, remembering this to be true. "WANT ANY HELP CATCHING THEM?" The police officer looked at Silas for a second, then shook his head. "I think it'll get done faster if I just do it". So saying he motioned to the front passenger's door and Silas hopped in. A cat who had been hiding under the seat lept out onto the dashboard and hissed. Silas ignored it and leaned back in the comfortable chair, sighing contentedly. Looking around, he saw the keys in the ignition, and decided to turn the radio on. So thinking, he reached over and turned the car on. However he overclocked the keys, having forgotten how to use them after having a hot wired car for so long. The motor roared and the cat fell off the dash board and landed on the accelerator. The powerful engine lept in life and the police car skidded off down the motorway. Silas quickly moved over to the driver's side and opened the door, booting the cat out. He was about to stop the car when he heard gunshots behind him and so he floored the accelerator and took off.