The World of Mr Green
Introduction.
Hello all, thanks for entering to read my novel 'The World of Mr Green'. I really hope you enjoy it.
This book is posted up here because I'm looking for feedback. I am aware that there are a few spelling mistakes, and probably quite a few grammatical mistakes. But I am hoping for feedback on characters, plot, development etc.. So I really hope that you would be kind enough to leave a review after reading. It would be a massive help! Thank You!
Chapter One, The Start
Imagine this. You're on a dark stage lookin’ out on the crowd, then the table turns and you're watchin’ them. It's the regular Friday shazam. The audience are here for a good time, it's the start of the weekend, but they've been here for the whole week already. There's nothing new for them ta see. The joker tells the same jokes, the juggler always drops the ball on the third round, the dancin’ girls sing outta tune, and the lights are too bright to see that bit of leg supposedly they're throwin’ around for you ta see.
Then suddenly the place is a hush. The lights go off. The tables turn again, except you're not on it this time. And then the place starts up again. The dancin’ girls can suddenly sing, the lights aren't as bright and you can see the legs. The juggler makes it through the whole show without droppin’ a single ball and the joker tells jokes your old man's never even heard before. And out of the gloom, high on the tops of the stage where the curtain sits ready to be dropped, you see a still figure. It's still too dark in the place to see what exactly he looks like, but you can see him better as the lights aren't as bright. You can't see his face but the clothing you can. It's a dark suit, green with strips. Fetchin’, the sort only a well-paid movie star could pull off. And then you notice you're able to see the man smile; it's a nice smile, though strange. You feel entranced by it. You see it fade and the man walks away. All of a sudden, you're sad.
But then suddenly the lights change and everythin’'s back to how it used to be. The juggler sucks, and the joker has been fired. And the dancin’ girls... well, the dancin’ girls. You find out the real reason for the lights being too bright to see any of 'em.
And that's the sort of life you end up with in a back room club with cockroaches as big as your Aunt Fanny, and food you definitely don't wanna be seein'. It's the life you lead if you live here in Barter Town, a town in the middle of the Aussie outback, full of flies and no water -but that don't matter, none of the inhabitants drinks the stuff.
The place is full of dirt, and the heat is heavy and thick. You can almost see it and most likely be able to cut it with a knife. But, what's the point? The tables turn again but by now you're pretty used ta them doin’ that. You're once again on the stage lookin' at the folk who've come here tonight to watch you perform. And you're nervous. Sure you've done this a hundred times before, at a hundred different places, but you've never done it here. And you wonder, as you pull on your white gloves and straighten your top hat, what if they don't like it?
And you can't answer the question since you've got to perform now. The crowds getting edgy. You've been standin’ there starin’ off into space for a few minutes now. They want some entertainment. But still you're too nervous to perform. A man throws the first bottle. The place is still the same murky dark as what you started with and you can't see his face. Yells start from the audience, callin' you names and tellin' you ta get off the stage. But you have ta go on. Why? 'Cause the show must go on. So you take a deep breath, dodge the bottle flyin' towards you, click your fingers... and vanish.
The crowd’s a hush. They saw you just there a moment ago. And now you're not. After a few minutes you figure it's time to go back; you've stunned the audience so why not continue? You click your finger again and there you are, back where you started.
The crowd's amazed, stunned, they start clapping. It’s something they've never seen before. You smile with relief; maybe you'll get payed tonight, who knows? You continue with your tricks, things never seen before, and all the while the man above the stage watches you, watches with a sparkling look in his eyes.
Chapter Two, A Strange Introduction to a Boy on a Log
Jimmy did sit on the log. There was nowhere else to sit but on the log.
The sun was rising over the scorched red earth, and for one of the only parts of the day it was cool. He was watching the sunrise. It was what he did. He hadn’t been sitting there the whole night waiting for the sun to rise, no way. He had to sleep. There was work to be done, and he needed his sleep for it. He was up at four, tending to the cattle in the barn and feeding the chooks. It was what he did.
He heard the sound of a door crashing against a frame, bouncing, and then slamming shut. He half turned to look behind him. His father was standing on the front porch stretching.
Jimmy turned once more to watching the sunrise. It was almost finished, not much more to see. His father saw him and called over a good morning. Jimmy ignored it. The silence he was enjoying was broken. It wouldn’t be fixed until next morn when he woke again at four to tend the animals on his father’s farm. The door of the house opened and then it was left to swing shut against the frame with a bang, bounce off and then slam shut again as his father walked inside.
Jimmy sighed. The day was really starting to start. He hopped off the log and shimmied down the tall pole of wood, it was the sort used for power poles. He reached the bottom and plunged into the cool murk of water that surrounded the pole as it sat in the middle of their dam.
He hopped out and shook himself dry -first shaking his head, and then each arm, each leg and then the middle of his body- before getting down onto his hands and knees and bounding off towards the house.