'...And so sweet victory is ours assured
After where we stuck our brassica!'
In complete silence, Captain Bill folded the piece of paper with his poem on and placed it in the hat band of his boater.
'So is it time for our photo now?' whispered Annie.
'YES!' replied Norma, Bertha and Horace at the same time and, together with Geraldine, they turned and hurried off towards the river.
'See that?' said Captain Bill to Cyril as they watched the others herding off into the distance. 'They were too affected to speak!'
'One could hardly blame them,' replied Cyril and he and Captain Bill followed on behind the others.
When they eventually caught them up they found the crew standing ready before the photographer. A rather overdressed man who was adjusting things under a black sheet.
'Right,' he said, 'all ready?' and the team nodded.
There was a pause and then a flash and a bang.
'All done!' said the man and he handed Bertha a card.
'You can collect it any time,' he said.
Bertha thanked him and gave the card to Captain Bill.
'Keep it safe for us!' she told him and he said he would.
'Well we'd better be off,' said Norma, 'we need to get the boat ready and Geraldine into her suit.'
'You're still quite sure she needs to be armoured?' asked Captain Bill.
'Positive,' replied Bertha, 'hers is the key role; without her keeping us in time we don't stand a chance, so we're sure they're going to have a go at her.'
So final goodbyes and goodlucks were said and Annie, Norma, Bertha and Geraldine left for the boat sheds. Only Horace hung back for a moment.
'That poem,' he said to Captain Bill,'it was............different!'
And with that he joined the others.
...to be continued, later on today!!!!
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