The Rabble

Photo credit: Chris Pietsch/The Register-Guard

It is just a few minutes before midnight when the rabble breaks into the youth club. There is only one thing on their mind – destruction!

In the mob, they all have nicknames: there is ‘Blondie’ – the greedy one, ‘the Bear’ – always up for a fight, ‘Tubby’ – he likes to party, and ‘Roo’ – with his Australian accent. In the half light of the hall, they look a bit like the orcs in the film ‘Lord of the Rings’.

Without a moment’s delay, they start to trash the place: Tubby stuffs paper towels into the sinks in the toilets before turning on the taps; Blondie and Roo make a pile of the chairs and anything else that will burn then set fire to it; the Bear shouts and throws glasses at the others till the club’s floor is littered with broken glass.

It won’t be long before the fire alarm is ringing – it will draw the attention of the police and the fire brigade. In any case, the acrid smoke of the nylon curtains is making them cough.

‘Let’s get out of here!’ shouts Blondie. ‘There’s another place to trash not too far away.’

‘Yeah. But how’ll we get there?’ asks Tubby.

‘Don’t be stupid!’ replies Blondie.

They kick the front door of the club till it opens and make a run for it. Blondie stops for a minute to pull down the banner above the door. He tramples on it and rips it up. The writing on the banner is barely legible now – ‘Club Planet Earth’.