The Fastest Boy in the World by Elizabeth Laird

Author:Elizabeth Laird [Laird, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781447267324
Publisher: Macmillan Children’s Books

We could see right over the heads of the crowd. The road was empty of traffic, and all the people were crammed on to the pavements at the sides, with policemen holding them back to keep the roadway clear.

Then I heard a roaring noise, a sort of bellowing like a herd of animals, only it was people, thousands of people, cheering. It was all drowned out a moment later because there was another, much louder noise, a terrible, ear-splitting racket that scared me so much that I grabbed hold of Kebede’s arm before I knew what I was doing.

‘It’s OK!’ he yelled, right in my ear to make himself heard. ‘It’s only a helicopter. See?’

I looked up, and there it was, hovering overhead like a giant bird. As I watched, someone leaned out of the helicopter’s open side and threw handfuls of papers down from above. They fluttered over the crowd like big white feathers, and the people below jumped up to catch them. I’d never seen anything so strange in my life. I was so fascinated I forgot about everything going on down in the street. But then the helicopter seemed to roll over on to its side and a moment later it had turned and flown off. I couldn’t see it any more.

Down in the street, a whole forest of Ethiopian flags had appeared. Our national colours were everywhere, red and green and gold, draped over people’s shoulders and waving in the air. I was shivering with joy.

‘Isn’t this great!’ shouted Kebede, nudging me so hard I nearly fell off the windowsill.

Then, from far down the road, we saw them coming, bands of men. They were running. They carried poles over their shoulders with flags fluttering from them. They were shouting even louder than the cheering crowds. They came closer and closer until I could hear them.

‘Ah oh!’ they were chanting. ‘Ah oh! Ah oh! Ah oh!’

Sweat glistened on their cheeks.

The crowd was on fire, yelling and clapping, and the women were crying out ‘Alalalala!’ at the tops of their voices.

And then there was the blare of motor horns and police sirens, and the rumble of engines, and several jeeps full of policemen with outriders on motorbikes came past, the sunlight glinting on their white helmets.

Suddenly they were there! They were being carried along the waves of sound. I could see them! Our heroes and heroines! Our Ethiopian champions!

There were three black cars. The athletes were standing on the back seats, their heads and chests sticking out through the sunroofs. They wore our flags, the gold and green and red of Ethiopia, draped over their brilliant green and yellow Team Ethiopia tracksuits. Garlands of golden flowers hung round their necks.

Everyone was jumping up and down, waving their arms and cheering at the tops of their voices. And then a strange thing happened. The sound seemed to fade away. My eyes had fixed on the blue ribbon round the neck of the woman in the first car. The gold medal on the end of it glittered in the sun.

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