The Adventures of Admiral Alf

1. ‘Lean, Mean, Flying Machine!’

©Brian W Chalmers 2009

Picture 1

Admiral Alf was not at all happy. "Oh I do wish I could twist and spin like Trevor Twist" he mumbled to himself, "and fly as fast as Bullet Bill" he continued to complain. "But I'm just an ordinary, boring old plane." he said, looking glum and feeling rather sorry for himself.

Picture 2

Just then, Trevor Twist past him on his way to the runway. “Going out again?” Admiral Alf piped up. But Trevor Twist had a very noisy engine that made him hard of hearing and so he hadn’t heard a word that Admiral Alf had said.

This just seemed to make Admiral Alf feel all the more gloomy. “I’m so ordinary, other planes just ignore me.” he sighed, trying very hard to hold back his tears.

Just when he thought things couldn’t get worse, Bullet Bill whizzed by his shed; very low, very loud, and very, very fast. Some of Admiral Alf’s wing bolts rattled with the vibration and a jar of his favourite peanut butter crashed onto the shed floor. Not a good day for Admiral Alf at all!

In the distance he could see Fixit Fred putting away his tools for another day.

“I’ve got it!” Admiral Alf broke out with a gleam of hope in his eyes. Now he couldn’t wait until tomorrow morning!

Picture 3

The next morning Fixit Fred came to do his daily checks on all the planes. Admiral Alf couldn’t wait to speak to him, but it was going to be tricky – on a good day Fixit Fred was grumpy at best!

Fixit Fred was tightening the loose bolts on one of Admiral Alf’s wings when Admiral Alf thought of an idea to win Fixit Fred round.

“Fred, would you like to fly on a plane that can go as fast as Bullet Bills?” Admiral Alf asked.

All the planes knew that this was his dream but that the flight commander never allowed him to do this in case he would get a taste for flying fast planes and never want to fix them again.

“I’m trying to concentrate. Why do you ask?” Fixit Fred rudely grumbled.

“Well you see you could if you want. Anytime you want. I won’t tell the flight commander. ”

“What do you mean?” Asked Fixit Fred as he suddenly stopped what he was doing looking very interested. “Bullet Bill wouldn’t let me fly in his plane anyway.” Fixit Fred remarked.

Admiral Alf was now ready to suggest his master plan.

“If you give me an engine like Bullet Bill’s I’ll let you fly with me!”

There was silence for a few seconds. And then, like someone had just told Fixit Fred the funniest joke in the world, he laughed and laughed and laughed again until streams of tears were flowing down his face.

“Give you an engine like Bullet Bill’s. Oh that’s very funny, that’s very funny indeed Admiral Alf” he said then finished tightening the last loose bolt under Admiral Alf’s wing.

Picture 4

That, for Admiral Alf, was the last straw. He was going to take things into his own hands now.

He would wait. Wait until Bullet Bill was away again flying in the sky.

Admiral Alf peered into the shed of Bullet Bill. He was miles away and this was his chance. Perhaps he could find something that could help him be a better, faster plane. Nothing! Except a large barrel with a sticker on it saying ‘BB’s Fuel. Do not touch!’

“Could this make me faster?” Admiral Alf thought. But thought soon turned to action and before Admiral Alf could say ‘flash lightning’ he had guzzled down as much as his belly could hold. It didn’t taste as nice as his own fuel and he couldn’t decide if it was Bullet Bill’s fuel that made him feel strangely unhappy or if it was the fact that he had just done something that was clearly very naughty!

The runway loomed before Admiral Alf’s eyes. Now that he had taken Bullet Bill’s fuel he felt he just had to take the next step to see if it would work or not.

“But I shouldn’t, I really shouldn’t.” he kept saying to himself. But all the time he was going faster and faster down the runway, until …

Picture 5

Radar Rick was scanning the area for ‘fly-fliers’ – the name given to planes that had been banned from flying because of bad behavior. Those who continued to break the rules were put in a yard known as the ‘Bad Lad Yard’, where their engines had some changes done to them so that they could not fly. That was until they proved, beyond question, that they had turned good. None of the planes that ended up in the Bad Lad Yard ever turned good. The bad ways of all the others soon rubbed off on new comers to the yard.

Radar Rick picked up a very fast moving plane on his radar. It seemed to be climbing up and up and up, way above the clouds.

“That’s strange,” he thought. “The only plane I know that can fly as fast as that is Bullet Bill and he’s supposed to be on a journey miles away.”

Suddenly, the plane he picked up on his radar, seemed to just stop. Then drop, and drop and drop!

Picture 6

A very loud crashing noise awoke the Bad Lads up from their afternoon nap. This never happened. They were very upset about having their sleep disturbed indeed.

The captain of the Bad Lads, Captain Cruel, commanded his three closest and meanest comrades to go with him outside to see what caused the noise.

Admiral Alf was feeling dizzier than ever, partly because of the crash, but mostly because of the speed that he managed to fly at beforehand.

His eyes fixed, as best they could, on the ugliest and meanest looking planes he had ever set eyes on.

He looked around the yard and realised where he had crashed.

“It can’t be. Surely not!” he whimpered, realising that if he was in trouble before, he was in much greater trouble now!

The Bad Lads were getting closer and closer. Admiral Alf could hear them laughing and joking about him and talking about what they were going to do with him. He couldn’t bear to look at them and closed his eyes tight and muttered a prayer for help.

Picture 7

Just then the sound of a loud, low flying plane could be heard. It was Bullet Bill. He zoomed down over the Bad Lads, which was so low, so noisy and so scary that they ran as fast as they could back to their hideout.

“Hooray, Hooray!” Admiral Alf chanted to Bullet Bill, almost forgetting what wrong he had done against him in stealing his fuel.

Before long, help arrived and Admiral Alf was taken back to his shed where Fixit Fred repaired him back to his old self again.

“Next time you crash,” Fixit Fred said, “try and crash outside of the Bad Lad Yard!” Admiral Alf wasn’t sure if he should laugh. It was always hard to know if Fred Fixit was being funny or not. Most times he wasn’t, but Admiral Alf thought that this time perhaps he was.

Picture 8

“What a fool I’ve been” Admiral Alf confessed to the other planes.

Bullet Bill wore a gentle smile on his dark face.

“We like you the way you are, Admiral Alf.” Remarked Bullet Bill. “ That’s what makes us all special, we’re all different from each other. It would be a right boring old place if we were all the same.”

Admiral Alf could see this more clearly than ever and he was so thankful for the friends he had:

For Radar Rick, who upon realising the danger Admiral Alf was in, sent a message for Bullet Bill to come to his rescue.

For Bullet Bill, who came so quickly to his rescue and frankly forgave him for taking his fuel.

For Fixit Fred, who skillfully repaired all his scars, scratches and broken bits, even though he grumbled a bit about it.

And for Trevor Twist, who didn’t even hear Admiral Alf crashing because he was so hard of hearing, yet was there by his side to wish him a speedy recovery!

LESSONS THAT CAN BE BROUGHT OUT FROM THIS STORY

Moral Lessons

· Doing things we know are wrong (sin) will always lead us into trouble.

· We should be happy about how God has made us and not want to be like others. The only person worth being like is the Lord Jesus.

· Sometimes we misunderstand people (like Admiral Alf did when he thought that Trevor Twist was ignoring him) and should always give people the benefit of the doubt before judging them.

· Pride always comes before a fall.

· We become like the company we keep. Bad people’s habits will rub of in us (just like the ‘Bad Lads’) if we choose to keep company with them. Therefore choose your friends very carefully!

· The more we sin (do wrong) the deeper we get ourselves into trouble, the harder to get out of it again!

· It’s a good practice to know who your real friends are and to show that you appreciate them, rather than taking them for granted.

Gospel Lessons

· God, like Radar Rick, sees and considers everything. He sent help for us by sending His Son the Lord Jesus to come into the world to rescue (save) us.

· The Lord Jesus came to heal the scars of sin in our lives and to mend our hearts that have been broken by sin. Unlike Fixit Fred, He did this willingly, and it cost Him suffering Himself, when He paid the price of our wrongdoings on the Cross

· God, like Bullet Bill, is ready and willing to pardon us for all the bad things we have done against Him.

· The Devil (seen in Captain Cruel of the Bad Lads) always wants to hurt us and never intends anything for good in our lives. There is only one person that can save us from this cruel captain – the Captain of Salvation – the Lord Jesus Christ!