Trolley Trackers

A short story written by Bron Hartas

Lost puppies, football season sign-ups, car boot sales and computer technicians wanted.  All the advertised events in town could be found in one spot.  The community noticeboard outside the local grocery store was the place to find everything from local trades people to Neighbourhood Watch meetings.

“That’s interesting.  If you find any lost, stolen and abandoned shopping trolleys around town, the store will give you a five dollar reward and a can of baked beans,” Dad announced to his two children as they wandered down Main Street on a sunny, Saturday morning.

Stephanie strolled back and forth in front of the store window, performing tricks with her bright, pink Yo-Yo.  She listened to her father. The wheels turned in her head as she tightly wrapped her fingers around the Yo-Yo.

“Joel! Come over here! That’s exactly what we need to complete our mission!” She informed her brother, who slowly weaved his scooter towards his father and sister.

“What? Five dollars?”  Joel was stumped.  He dropped his helmet on the cement and parked his scooter next to his sister.

“No! A can of baked beans!” Stephanie giggled in delight.

“Oh! Yes, of course! And, we know EXACTLY where to find a trolley, Dad!” Joel declared.

“Wouldn’t you be happier with five dollars?” Dad asked them. Five dollars sounded better to him than a can of baked beans any day.

The children shook their heads at their father and on the way home they took a detour to reveal the whereabouts of the trolley to their Dad.

“There it is!” Stephanie and Joel chimed.

Covered in sticks, leaves, mud and various bits of rubbish, the abandoned shopping trolley was half-floating in the dirty, shallow creek.

Dad scratched his head in bewilderment.

“Dad, can you please help us lift the trolley out of the creek? Can we clean it up today and return it to the store this afternoon?” Stephanie pleaded her father.

“For a can of baked beans? Why would you want a can of baked beans, anyway?” Dad asked her.

Joel and Stephanie pointed their fingers to their lips. “Shh, Dad!  It’s a secret mission,” Joel told him importantly.

Dad thought about his days as a boy scout, playing around campfires. Surely, his children couldn’t be as silly as he had been when he was a young boy. As long as his children were not going to put the baked beans on the backyard campfire and make them explode, then he didn’t see the harm in the project. Plus, retrieving an old shopping trolley from the creek would also benefit the environment. Dad carefully heaved the trolley out of the creek and he pushed it home, leaving a trail of sludge along the footpath.

Dad made Stephanie and Joel wear gloves and they scrubbed the trolley with soap and water and hosed it down.  Except for the fading store logo on its handles, the trolley looked nearly as good as new as it sparkled in the late afternoon sunshine.  They had spent nearly all afternoon cleaning up the trolley.

There was no time to lose. Dad looked at his watch and realised they only had half an hour left before the store closed at five o’clock. Dad hastened and pushed the rickety, old shopping trolley towards Main Street, with Joel and Stephanie taking turns riding in it.

It was ten minutes until closing time and Dad asked to see the store manager when they approached the customer service counter. Albert, the store manager, presented himself to the front of the store, expecting to process a refund of some sort. He was astonished to see the family with the old shopping trolley.

“We saw your sign on the community noticeboard and are returning this trolley. My kids found it in a creek and cleaned it up,” Dad told Albert.

A few of the staff in the store overheard the amusement and walked over to the customer service counter to watch.

“Do we get baked beans?” Stephanie asked the store manager eagerly.

“Why, certainly, I’ll throw in a couple of extra cans for all your hard work, plus five dollars,” Albert promised.

“We only need one can to complete our mission!” Joel blurted out.

Albert smiled at Joel and asked, “What mission might that be?”

Stephanie nudged her brother and whispered to him to be quiet.

“It’s apparently top secret and they aren’t willing to spill the beans,” their father mentioned to Albert jokingly.

Albert shook hands with the family and handed them three cans of baked beans and five dollars. Joel and Stephanie gave the money and two of the cans to their Dad because they said he deserved it for all his hard work.

After dinner, Stephanie emptied the baked beans into the friendly neighbour’s dog’s dish and retrieved a hidden, empty tin can from behind the garden shed. Joel grabbed some string, a hammer and a nail from the shed.  Stephanie handed Joel the two clean tin cans and he carefully nailed a hole through the bottom of each.

On Monday afternoon, Albert the grocery store manager, walked outside to check the store car park for any shopping trolleys that had been stacked away by the shoppers. He walked into the shade and noticed a piece of string stretched between two trees. Albert touched the string and it shook rapidly. He jumped but then he caught sight of Stephanie and Joel hiding behind the trees, speaking to one another through what looked like a phone made out of two tin cans joined together with string. Albert now understood the children’s determination to earn their can of baked beans.

Stephanie and Joel scooped up their tin can phone and ran home. The store manager watched them run past the window as he pushed a stack of trolleys into the store. Albert peeled a sticker off a sheet of plastic paper, and re-labelled the old trolley handles so they looked as good as new.