When a ninja’s got to go, a ninja’s got to go. Thanks to a few late evening drinks, I couldn’t get to sleep in my tent without one last trip to the bathroom. So I unzipped the tent and with my shiny bright torch light leading the way through the pitch black darkness of the night, I caved into nature’s calls and left my nice warm bed for the fresh night time air, and sleepy-eyed, wondered across to the bathroom.
Much to my surprise, a crowd of people lined the field along the edge of the campsite. There were some old people and some young people, and some people in between, and some who looked like it must have been way past their bedtime. But it was clear that something had made them all come out and gather together for some kind of special occasion, and it was one which I was yet to find out about.
As I made my way across the field of the campsite with my little torch lighting the way along the windy path, they all began cheering. I was only on my way to the bathroom. There really was no need for all the attention. In fact, on my way to the toilet in the middle of the night, to be honest I didn’t really want all the extra attention! And I was puzzled to think what all the fuss could be about.
Then I remembered - the Olympic torch relay. Oh…
So I thought that in the spirit of the Olympics, I’d better start to run. So I ran fast, like a true ninja, all the way over to the bathroom block.
The onlookers began cheering even louder and clapped along with my every footstep. I could feel the buzz of excitement in the air, although it was a little disconcerting that people were making all this fuss over my trip to the toilets. Probably there had been some kind of misunderstanding as quite often happens, that I’d managed to get myself mixed up in. But I wasn’t going to stop running, as I kind of needed to go to the bathroom!
A few strides later I reached the bathroom block and switched my torch off ready to go inside. ‘‘Booooooooo!!!’’ the crowd of people sighed.
‘‘False alarm!’’ I called out to them, as I flickered my little torch on and off in a somewhat Morse code-esque fashion, trying to muster something along the lines of ‘‘don’t worry! I’m not an official torchbearer!’’ out in code. For it wasn’t the real Olympic torch I was holding like everyone in the crowd had thought. It was merely my ever ready little ninja camping torch. A well-used, trusty little torch, but whether or not it truly deserved all the fame and attention, now that is debatable!