Sky Lights Read Online Free PDF Page A

Noddler. ‘Like he used to do to our victims. Our poor, poor victims.’
    ‘Guess what I would’ve done,’ said Jukes, waiting for everyone’s attention. ‘I would’ve lashed him with the cat o’ nine tails till he was bleeding and his blood brought the sharks circling.’
    O’Mullins, not to be outdone by the others stuttered, ‘I would’ve…. I would’ve…. ohhh, I would’ve……’
    ‘Well? What would you have done?’ asked Skylights.
    ‘I would have laughed to see all these things happen to Hook, that old codfish,’ he said, giggling. All the pirates laughed out loud and for once they were laughing with O’Mullins and not at him.
    ‘As you can see, ‘twas not the end of me,’ said Skylights. ‘And I now need your help.’ He looked at each of his fellow pirates in turn. ‘To kill that villain, Cap’n Hook. You all hated him as much as I did and now at last we can get our revenge.’
    ‘I think you might be forgetting one tiny wee detail, Skylights,’ said MacStarkey. ‘Hook’s already dead, mate. He died a long time ago. You know that. The crocodile got him, remember? Good old croc’. After all these years the old ticking crocodile got him in the end. So I am afraid we won’t be getting our revenge after all.’
    ‘Ah, but me hearties, what if Hook were to live again, eh?’
    ‘Live again? Live again?’ asked Noddler. ‘Have you lost your senses Skylights? We know that in Never Land we don’t grow old, but once you’re dead you’re dead, matey!’
    ‘Too true,’ said Jukes. ‘I have never known anyone come back to life after death. Dead’s dead. Finished. Finito!’
    ‘Not necessarily so,’ said Skylights, touching the side of his nose with a knowing gesture. ‘I was eating some fish and chips the other night, wrapped inside this newspaper.’ The pirates looked at each other as if he was crazy. He took the vinegar smelling page from under his belt and unfolded it. ‘Here, read this for yourselves. It’s an article from The Evening News about the latest developments in cloning and reconstruction techniques.’ The article was headed,

    Scottish Cloning Professor’s Amazing Breakthrough

    ‘I’ve been following this professor’s progress for the last 15 years, so his work came as no surprise to me,’ continued Skylights. ‘However, it wasn’t until I heard on the news about the hunt for the crocodile that I began to see a way to make my dream come true.’
    The other pirates kept glancing at each other with puzzled frowns during this speech.
    ‘And how do we fit into this?’ asked MacStarkey.
    ‘And what’s a clowning professor?’ said O’Mullins
    ‘You’re a dumb lot, aren’t you? Do you never read anything more than the Beano? Or watch anything on TV more educational than The Simpsons?’ barked Skylights. ‘The professor is not a clowning professor, but a cloning professor. OK, gather round and pin back your lugs, you motley crew. Here is the plan in four easy parts! Part one – there’s a gigantic, ticking, man-eating crocodile terrorising people in the ‘other’ world. It has been caught and is, as we speak, being taken to be studied by scientists in Scotland. Part two -we all know that Hook was swallowed by a ticking crocodile and I’m certain this is the same animal. With any luck we’ll be able to retrieve some of James Hook’s DNA from the animal’s stomach. Part three- our clever professor will reconstruct Hook exactly as he once was. Tattoos and all! And part four, the best bit… we will kill him!’ He paused, savouring the shocked looks on their faces. ‘And that my old maties, is our mission, a most dangerous mission at that!’
    ‘What’s DNA?’ said O’Mullins. None of the rest knew either but were too embarrassed to admit it.
    ‘It’s a bit hard to explain, but it just means if we can get a small part of Captain Hook, the professor can grow him all over again,’ said Skylights.
    MacStarkey said, ‘But we are all here in