Drumsticks!
The speeding motorcycle took the sharp corner so fast in the
darkness that both policemen in the pursuing car shouted 'Whoa!' Sergeant Fisher
slammed his large foot on the brake, thinking that the boy who was riding
pillion was sure to be flump under his wheels; however, the motorbike made the
turn without unseating either of its riders, and with a wink of its red tail
light, vanished up the narrow side street.
'We've got 'em now!' cried PC
Anderson excitedly. 'That's a dead end!'
Leaning hard on the steering
wheel and crashing his gears, Fisher scraped half the paint off the flank of the
car as he forced it up the alleyway in pursuit.
There in the headlights
sat their quarry, stationary at last after a quarter of an hour's chase. The two
riders were trapped between a towering brick wall and the police car, which was
now crawling towards them like some growling, luminous-eyed
predator.
There was so little space between the car doors and the walls
of the alley that Fisher and Anderson had difficulty extricating themselves from
the vehicle. It injured their dignity to have to inch, crab-like, towards the
miscreants. Fisher dragged his generous belly along the wall, tearing buttons
off his shirt as he went, and finally snapping off the wing mirror with his
backside.
'Get off the bike!' he bellowed at the smirking youths, who sat
basking in the flashing blue light as though enjoying it.
They did as
they were told. Finally pulling free from the broken wing mirror, Fisher glared
at them. They seemed to be in their late teens. The one who had been driving had
long black hair; his insolent good looks reminded Fisher unpleasantly of his
daughter's guitar playing, layabout boyfriend. The second boy also had black
hair, though his was short and stuck up in all directions; he wore glasses and a
broad grin. Both were dressed in T-shirts emblazoned with a large golden bird;
the emblem, no doubt, of some deafening, tuneless rock band.
'No
helmets!' Fisher yelled, pointing from one uncovered head to the other.
'Exceeding the speed limit by -- by a considerable amount!' (In fact, the speed
registered had been greater than Fisher was prepared to accept that any
motorcycle could travel.) 'Failing to stop for the police!'
'We'd have
loved to stop for a chat,' said the boy in glasses, 'only we were
trying--'
'Don't get smart -- you two are in a heap of trouble!' snarled
Anderson. 'Names!'
'Names?' repeated the long-haired driver. 'Er -- well,
let's see. There's Wilberforce... Bathsheba... Elvendork...'
'And what's
nice about that one is, you can use it for a boy or a girl,' said the boy in
glasses.
'Oh, our names, did you mean?' asked the first, as Anderson
splutered with rage. 'You should've said! This is James Potter, and I'm Sirius
Black!'
'Things'll be seriously black for you in a minute, you cheeky