Selby Snaps Read Online Free PDF Page B

run when he heard the soldier say, ‘I can’t do it! I can’t!’
    ‘You have to, Dwayne! Don’t pike out now! The women and children of Bogusville are depending on you!’
    ‘But can’t we get the demo guys to blow it up?’
    ‘No can do, Dwaynie boy. If the bomb goes up it’ll take the dam out. Then the town will be hit by a wall of water.’
    ‘But why me?’
    ‘Because you’re the only one who’s been trained to defuse old bombs.’
    ‘Trained? Do you call watching some boring old movie called
Bomb Brigade
training?’
    ‘That’s more than we got, Dwayne. We didn’t even get to see the movie. Come on, mate, get a wriggle on. If this rain keeps up it’ll short it out and then it’ll go off anyway.’
    ‘Okay, I’m going to cut the black wire — just like in the movie.’
    ‘No, Dwayne, it was the white one,’ Selby mumbled.
    Selby watched as Dwayne’s trembling hand picked up the wire-cutters and put them around the black wire.
    ‘The white wire!’ Selby whispered. ‘The white one!’
    ‘Did I hear someone say, “The white one!"?’ the soldier called out.
    ‘We didn’t say anything, Dwayne.’
    ‘I think it was the black one,’ Dwayne mumbled. ‘No, the white one. No, the black one.’
    Selby’s head was spinning as he watched the terrified soldier move his wire-cutters from one wire to the other. Then he imagined himselfrunning across the field as a huge explosion threw a mountain of dirt into the air. The side of the dam burst and then a wall of water tore down the valley towards Bogusville.
    ‘No, I can’t let it happen!’ he said out loud. ‘Dwayne, it was the white one!’
    Dwayne spun around. His uniform was soaked with sweat and his hands shook so much that his watch flew off. He stared at Selby.
    ‘Wha-What did you say?’ he asked. ‘Did you talk?’
    ‘I said, cut the white wire, Dwayne!’ Selby said. ‘I saw the movie, too. It was the white one, not the black one.’
    Dwayne’s eyes slowly rolled up into his head and he collapsed in a faint.
    ‘Oh, great,’ Selby thought as he saw the rain water beginning to pour into the bomb. ‘Now I guess
I’ve
got to do something.’
    Selby put on the headphones and grabbed the wire-cutters.
    ‘Talk to me, Dwayne,’ the voice said.
    ‘I’m talking,’ Selby said, doing his best imitation of the soldier’s voice. ‘And I’m about to cut the white wire.’

    ‘I thought you said it was the black one.’
    ‘I was wrong, it was the white one,’ Selby said putting the wire-cutters on the white wire. ‘I remember it now.’
    Selby snapped the wire in two with the wire-cutters. The ticking suddenly stopped.
    ‘What’s happening? Talk to me, Dwayne.’
    ‘Mission accomplished,’ Selby sighed.
    Selby had just put the headphones back on the soldier when he heard a loud buzz followed by a whirring noise.
    ‘Crumbs,’ Selby said. ‘I forgot about the firing pin! I’ve got to put a pencil in there! Hey, where am I going to find a pencil? Oh, no! Dwayne, do you have a pencil? Help! I’m only a dog — I don’t have anything to keep the bomb from exploding!’
    It was a nervous bomb squad that crept slowly over the hill and peered down at the unexploded bomb. Next to the bomb lay the soldier, just waking up.
    ‘You did it!’ the captain said.
    ‘I did what?’
    ‘You defused the bomb and saved Bogusville. Great work.’
    ‘I-I did,’ he said. ‘I don’t remember anything.’
    ‘What do you mean you don’t remember anything? Hey, what’s this? Dwayne.’
    ‘What’s what?’
    ‘Where did you get this thing that’s between the firing pin and the trigger? Why it’s — it’s a dog’s collar. That’s a strange thing to carry around with you.’
    Dwayne looked around for the dog but there was no dog in sight. In the distance a small blur fled over a distant hill towards town and disappeared. Dwayne rubbed his eyes.
    ‘It certainly is,’ he said with a smile. ‘Unless you’re a dog, that is.’

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