Chapter 1: The Helping Hand Club

Chapter 1: The Helping Hand Club

William was busy as usual, in the building which was the office for Helping Hand. He worked there every Saturday morning. Today the building was full of teenagers, all waiting for someone to tell them what to do and where to go.

“Sally, Mrs Smith needs someone to collect her shopping.”

Sally went to the desk and took the shopping list for Mrs Smith, then with a smile on her pretty face said goodbye and walked out of the office.

“John, Mrs Jones wants you to take her dog for a walk.

And be careful not to step on the dog this time.”

“Gary, can you babysit for the Smiths this afternoon?”

“Jo, Mr Brown needs help in his garden.”

The telephone never stopped ringing, but slowly, as time passed, the office became calm again. Most of the teenagers were out helping the people of the town, the rest were by the coffee machine. Someone switched on the cassette player and William sat in his chair more comfortably and closed his eyes.

“Hello.”

William opened his eyes. A lovely girl stood in front of his desk, smiling.

“Hello, young lady. Who are you?”

“I’m Kathy. I’m new here and I don’t know anybody, so I thought perhaps I could help you.”

“You said the magic word. Help is always needed round here. In fact, as soon as Joan gets back, I’m taking the Library van to the Old People’s Home and I need someone to help with the small trolley. Why don’t you get some coffee and meet the rest of the group?”

Suddenly the door flew open and a tall, smiling girl came in.

“Sorry I’m late. Mr Tagg took a very long time to finish at the Foot Clinic. He’s back home now, so here I am. Any problems, William?”

“Nothing serious, but we do have a new helper. Kathy, come and meet Joan. She’s the manager here.”

“William’s taking me to the Old People’s Home to give out the library books - if that’s all right.”

“Lovely, but watch out! William is a terrible driver, so fasten your seat belt!”

“Don’t believe a word she says. Bye-bye everybody. See you later.”

“All right, but not too much later. We have a lot of things to do, you know!”

Everyone laughed as there was really not so much to do that day. William and Kathy walked out of the office and got into the van.

“Don’t worry, Kathy. I’m a safe driver, and it won’t take us very long to do this job.”

Kathy smiled at William and looked at the busy street outside.

“I’m not worried about your driving, but it will take us a long time as there’s a lot of traffic in the streets, today.”

“All right then, let’s hit the road!”