Danny, the Champion of the World

Danny tries to do his homework but keeps picturing his father in Hazell’s Wood, treading carefully to avoid the keepers. Eventually, Danny gives up on homework and goes to bed. When he wakes up it is already past 2am, and his father is not home. Panicking, Danny gets dressed quickly as he calculates how long it will take him to run to Hazell’s Wood. Danny is imagining the worst; his father has never broken a promise, so Danny knows something terrible must have happened. As Danny grabs a flashlight from the workshop he has an idea. It will be faster to take a car. Danny has never driven on a road, but he sometimes drives cars into the workshop for his father. Danny gets into Baby Austin and starts the car. He can just reach the clutch pedal with his toe, so Danny backs Baby Austin out of the workshop and onto the road. He is terrified, but the fear is mixed with “a glorious feeling of excitement” (54). Danny has never changed gear before, but he knows he must try when Baby Austin starts to shake. He successfully changes into second and then into third gear as he speeds up, staying in the middle of the road.