MIGHTY MOM

Stop right there!” A voice crackled through the night. It was like an atomic bomb going off, and it stopped the mob dead in its tracks. It was a voice that demanded to be obeyed. It was the ultimate voice of authority.

It was the voice of Mom the All-Powerful.

I ran out of my room, leaned over the rail of the stairway, and looked down at the hallway below.

Mom, wearing her superhero costume and a steely expression, faced down the mob. She stood toe to toe with Sergeant Hatfield, her hands on her hips.

“No one move a muscle,” Mom snarled. She jabbed the cop in the chest with a finger. “If anyone so much as touches my kid, they’ll have me to deal with. Understand?”

Now, I’m not a kid who cries much, but I have to admit my eyes welled up a little seeing my mom like that. There wasn’t a tiger on earth who would have protected her cub with more determination or sharper claws. If Hatfield and the rest of the zombie mob knew what was good for them, they’d quit now.

“He’s made a fool of us all!” Hatfield barked. “He’s got to pay!”

Behind him, the mob muttered agreement.

“He’s made a fool of Shark’s Bay!” a voice yelled from the back.

“I hate him!” Bradley declared.

“He puked on me!” Belinda shouted.

A few of the mob did double takes, as if they hadn’t heard right. Not only is this guy a slimy bunyip releaser, I could hear them thinking, he’s also a low-life puker?

“And these pitchforks cost money!” someone else piped up.

Mom stepped forward. “First of all, there’s no proof that Rafe was involved in anything.”

I gulped. Mom was on thin ice here. I was on thin ice.

One false move and the mob would push her aside and start handing out some homemade justice. But Mom wasn’t finished, not by a long shot.

“And second of all,” she said, raising her voice, “if he was involved, then he has made a fool of you all.” Mom’s voice got sharper, something I didn’t believe possible until I heard it for myself. It had an edge to it that could have sharpened a samurai sword. “And I imagine the rest of Australia would be very interested to see exactly how Australia’s Most Fearless Town ran away from a rubber toy.”

I could almost see everyone’s brains working as they processed the information. Mom was right. If this got out, Shark’s Bay would become a laughingstock.

Justin Carter Hatfield narrowed his eyes. “Are you threatening us?”

“That’s rich,” Mom said, “coming from a police officer holding a pitchfork and standing at the head of an angry mob coming to hunt down my kid.”

She had a point.

“But, yes, since you mention it,” she continued, “it is a threat. Now get off my property!”

Technically, it was Biff and Barb Coogan’s property, but we all knew what she meant.

“No one will believe you bunch of blow-ins!” Hatfield said. “Where’s your proof?”

“Right here.” Ellie stepped forward out of the crowd and held up her phone.

Her finger hovered over the screen. “If I press this button, the evidence will be uploaded to the internet. Everyone will see how you all ran away from my silly puppet. And how you knocked over an old granny in your rush for the door, Sergeant Hatfield. It’s pretty shocking, if you ask me. It might even go viral.”

“How did you find that?” Sergeant Hatfield asked incredulously.

Ellie smiled. “I filmed the whole thing.”