Oakley and the Mountain of Gold

Oakley was the best darts player in the whole entire world (probably). He practised every day in the garage, which smelled a bit like old socks and biscuits. His dad always said, “One day all those arrows will turn into gold!” Oakley didn’t really understand that, but he liked the sound of gold because it’s shiny and makes you feel like a king.

One Saturday, Oakley entered the big Mega Darts Championship (it was very important because it had Mega in the name). There were loads of grown-ups there with serious faces, but Oakley just wore his lucky shirt with a ketchup stain on it.

First match – BANG! All his darts landed right in the treble twenty. The crowd went “ooooooo!” Second match – Boom! Another win. Third match – he sneezed mid throw and still hit the bullseye. Even the referee dropped his sandwich.

Every time Oakley won, they gave him a gold medal. Not pretend gold – real, shiny, super sparkly gold that made his eyes go funny when he looked at it too long. By the end of the day, he had so many medals he clanked when he walked, like a treasure chest with legs.

Then came the final. The other player had a moustache that looked like two angry caterpillars. He was very serious. Oakley gulped, but then he remembered his dad cheering in the garage, holding a cup of tea and shouting, “Go on son!”

Oakley threw his darts…THUNK, THUNK, THUNK.

Triple bullseye (which is probably not real, but it happened anyway).

The crowd went absolutely bananas. Someone even dropped their hot dog. A trumpet played for no reason.

And Oakley won.

They gave him the biggest gold trophy ever. It was so big he could see his whole face in it, and also a bit of his ear.

Oakley waddled home under the weight of all his gold medals jingling, trophy wobbling, nearly tripping over a cat.

When he got inside, his dad was sitting at the table, looking tired after work.

Oakley didn’t say anything at first. He just walked over, picked up the giant gold trophy and held it out.

“This is for you dad,” he said. “Because you helped me practise. And also because you make good toast.

His dad smiled the biggest smile ever (even bigger than the trophy probably).

And even though there was loads of gold everywhere, that was the best prize Oakley had won all day.

Oakley Howe, 10.