Norman Runs Away [Different Version]

Part 1: Norman Runs Away

PREVIOUSLY, ON 'FIREMAN SAM: THE GREAT FIRE OF PONTYPANDY'...

"You made a campfire?!" said an outraged Station Officer Steele. "Oh... Norman Price, you've done it this time! Right, where's your mother!"

Dilys stepped up. "I'll make sure he's properly dealt with at home, Station Officer Steele!" She glared angrily at her son. "You naughty boy!"

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And indeed, Norman was.

At Dilys' shop, Dilys was scolding Norman and Derek severely.

"HOW COULD YOU DO THIS?!" Dilys shouted at her son. "HOW COULD YOU DISOBEY THE RULE OF NO CAMPFIRES IN THE FOREST?!"

"Well, it wasn't my fault!" Norman said defiantly. "Trevor wouldn't let us take the sandwiches you made! If he had, me and Derek wouldn't have had to take the sausages to the forest and make that campfire!"

"WELL, HOW COME I SMELT SAUSAGES COOKING?!" Dilys snapped. "Oh, right; BECAUSE YOU AND DEREK HAD THE NERVE TO DISOBEY TREVOR AND FIREMAN SAM!" Her voice rose to a scream.

"But- but..." Norman stammered.

"BUT NOTHING!" Dilys shouted, now apparently furious. "Norman Stanley Price, you are grounded! Go to your room!"

Norman and Derek were both gobsmacked. Dilys had never used his middle name when she was angry before. I suppose there's a first time for everything, huh?

Immediately after this, Norman broke down in tears. Needless to say, Dilys and Station Officer Steele were very unsympathetic. "Nobody loves me!" he howled. "I shall run away! I shall!" he said angrily. "You're all so horrid!"

Steele and Dilys were both shocked and offended at this. "Don't you dare speak to your mother like that, Norman Price!" Steele scolded.

"Shut up, you... you... PIG-FACE!" Norman yelled, making Station Officer Steele and Dilys gasp, quite shocked, insulted, and hurt.

Norman, his eyes full of tears, quickly ran up to his room. Derek, also as gobsmacked as he had been, followed cautiously.

Fireman Sam and Elvis, who had been watching this from outside, looked shocked and worried.

"Do you think Norman Price really will run away, Sam?" Elvis asked.

"No, I don't think he would, Elvis." Sam said. "He was just being silly. I'm sure he'll forget all about it soon enough."

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I'm sorry to say that Fireman Sam was wrong - Norman decided that he WAS gonna run away, and do it he did.

Later that day, Norman Price was busy writing a letter, telling anyone who read it that he was running away.

The letter read, "Dear anyone who reads this letter:'

'Don't bother looking for me, cause I'm running away to Newtown and I will never ever EVER be coming back, EVER!'

'GOODBYE FOREVER!'

'NORMAN PRICE'

"Done." Norman said to himself. Immediately, he began to feel much happier. "When everyone's asleep tonight, I'll sneak out the back door, and run away!" He chuckled naughtily to himself. "This is so exciting!"

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Finally, night-time arrived. When Norman was sure Dilys and Derek were sound asleep, he got up, and grabbed his backpack. Quietly, he snuck out the room into the kitchen, and raided the cupboards for snacks and a few drinks, and filled up his backpack. Then he put it on his back.

He snuck downstairs, really quietly, then he grabbed the picnic hamper Dilys had packed that morning, and very very carefully pushed the back door to the shop open, and snuck out into the night. And then, he ran out down the road. Then, he stopped, and turned round, staring at the shop, and then he shouted out at the top of his voice very loudly, "GOODBYE FOREVER, YOU GREAT BIG FAT MEANIE OF A MAM!"

And with not a care for how he acted and/or what was gonna happen to him, off Norman Price ran, down the road, over the hill, out of town, past the Floods' house, and off down the road to the forest. He didn't care about what his mam, Fireman Sam, or anyone else would say if they found he was gone. He didn't care if he never saw Pontypandy again. All that mattered to him was going far far away, and never ever coming back. EVER.

He took one last long look at Pontypandy in the distance.

"So long, Pontypandy." he said, and carried on going, disappearing into the night.