Catch Us If You Can - PLOT.docx

7/27/2019 Catch Us If You Can - PLOT.docx

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R e s t r u c t u r e d & R e o r g a n i z e d : M o h d F a z d l y C h e K a m a r u d d i nL i t e r a t u r e C o m p o n e n t s : S P M E n g l i s h

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The Plot of

CATCH US IF YOU CAN

EXPOSITION:

The reader is introduced to the main characters. Rory was a young boy who lived with his

grandfather whom he called Granda. Granda was old and forgetful which made him incapable of

taking care of himself and this created a lot of problems for them both.

Rory father left his mother when he was a child and after his mother died, his grandfather took

care of him. Granda looked after Rory all his life. Now his grandfather had grown old, is weak and

ill and forgetful. Now, it was Rory who took care of his grandfather. This was a heavy responsibility

but one that he happily accepted.

Rorys life is described. It is Rory who ensured that his granda took his medication; Rory would go

home at lunch time to buy lunch for his grandfather. He also made sure granda kept his hospital

appointments. Because Rory had his hands full taking care of his he was not able to take part in

school activities after school such as football as granda could not be left alone on his own for too

long without getting into some kind of trouble.

Incidents of his grandfathers forgetfulness included setting his trousers on fire when he put his

pipe in his pocket without putting it out completely; putting his shoes in the fridge and the milk in

the wardrobe or absentmindedly throwing away Rorys homework down the rubbish chute.

RISING ACTION:

An unfortunate incident happens. Rorys teacher had a general idea that his home situation was

problematic and was worried. Rory had a best friend, Darren, who helped cover up for him. In

spite of his difficulties, Rory managed alright until one day when his granda accidentally set their

flat on fire.

Granda was admitted to hospital for smoke inhalation. Because there was no one at home, Rory

was sent to Castle Street, a home for children who did not have parents who could take care of

them.

Rory is sent to a childrens home and Granda to an old folks home. Rory made friends at Castle

Street which turned out to be not too bad a place after all. Tony and Nellie who ran the place

seemed to be rather decent people, and Rory made a few friends. But Rory missed his granda and

he had a problem with one of the children there. This person was a frightening girl called Tess who

seemed determined to make his life miserable.

Granda soon recovered but he was judged not to be competent to care for himself and so he was

sent to Rachnadar, a retirement home. This was something he had always been dreading.

Rory was upset and unhappy at this turn of events. He thought up a plan to take granda out of the

old folks home and to run off together. Luckily his friend Darren had a holiday caravan belonging

to his mother. Darren gave Rory the keys for him to stay there with his grandfather.

Rory escapes with Granda and begins life on the run. Rory managed pull off his grandas escape

from Rachnadar. They were able to spend a short happy time at the caravan site in the woods

where they enjoyed nature and fishing.

But their whereabouts was soon discovered by the authorities so they began their life on the run,

travelling here and there at the mercy of kind strangers, until Rory discovered, through watching

TV about his escape, that he had a father. He made up his mind to go to Liverpool where his father

lived to seek him out.


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CLIMAX:

Granda appears to have died. Being on the run took its toll on granda until finally at a bus shelter

in the Lake District, he lost consciousness and would not wake up. Rory thought he was dead. He

had no choice but to give up and get help. Granda was sent to hospital and as fate worked out, hemet up with a man, who turned out to be his father.

FALLING ACTION:

Rory and Granda are reconciled with his father and things start to improve. Granda was not dead

but spent a critical time in hospital, and pulled through. He was reconciled with his son, Jeff,

Rorys father, and met Jeffs wife Karen and his young daughters Rhonda and Ava whom Granda

loved instantly.

RESOLUTION:

Rory life is not problematic anymore. Granda and Rory moved to Liverpool to be near his father

and he and other social workers are on hand to give granda the support and help he needed in his

old age.

Although he had a new life now, Rory still remained in contact with friends like Darren and friends

he met during the course of being on the run from the police.

It is sad that it took a dramatic and traumatic escape and dodging the authorities before the

authorities realised that perhaps they had been too hasty in moving granda into the old folks home

and Rory to a childrens home. They made up for their mistake by helping granda and Rory

relocate to Liverpool so that they could be near his father who could take care of him and granda.

The state also provided various aid and support so that granda was well take care of, in terms ofmeals and health care.

MESSAGE OF THE STORY:

This is a story about family relationships which can be so strong in the face of odds and obstacles.

It also looks at the problem of the aged in society and about children who have no parents to take

care of them. It looks at how the state (government) tackles these problems in practical but

uncaring ways. It also shows that there are a lot of kind and understanding people who are willing

to help people in trouble, because the law does not understand their predicament, like Rory and

granda.


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Summary by Chapters

CATCH US IF YOU CAN

Chapter 1

This chapter set the scene with Grandas routine visit to Dr Nicol accompanied by Rory.

During this visit granda set himself on fire by forgetting that he had put a smoulderingpipe in his pocket. Dr Nicol voiced his worry about Grandas forgetfulness and the fact

that Rory, a mere boy, was taking care of him. In this chapter too, we learn a little

about Rorys life, that he took care of granda, he shopped, cooked, cleaned and took his

granda to the doctors clinic.

Chapter 2

In this chapter, we learned that Rory occasionally lost his homework as granda often

threw it away accidentally. We saw Rory in school and met his concerned teacher, Mrs

Foley, who suspected that everything was not all right at home. We learned that Rory

went home at lunch time in order to get lunch for his granda. (Note: In UK, children go

back to school after lunch and school finishes at 3.00 p.m.).

Chapter 3

In this chapter, we found out that Darren was not able to play football because he

had to take care of granda. We met his friend Darren and a girl, Mary Bailey. We

learned how afraid granda was of being placed into an old folks home. We saw more of

grandas forgetfulness. Parents night was looming up and Rory asked granda about his

father. This made granda very angry and upset. The chapter ended with Rory being

worried about his granda being sent to a home.

Chapter 4

Parents night at school and granda met Rorys friends with whom he was popular. He

also met Mrs Foley. He set his coat on fire again. Darrens dad put out the fire by

throwing water on it and Mrs Foley was very upset because her coat was ruined when

they put out the fire. She was also upset because granda said she had a moustache.

Chapter 5

The next day at school Rory heard that everyone was talking about the fire. Darren said

his mother thought granda should not be left alone and Rory shouldnt have to take care

of him. This was the week that Val Jessup, the social worker came to visit because Dr

Nichol had told them about Rory. When Mrs Foley asked Rory what was happening athome, Rory was happy to tell her that they had now got a social worker. When Rory got

home from school, he discovered that the fire brigade was there. A neighbour Mrs

MacKay was hopping mad as granda had set his flat on fire. Granda had been sent to

the hospital for smoke inhalation.

Chapter 6

Rory was taken to hospital to see Granda who appeared very ill. This was the time when

Rory prayed hard to God: Please God let him wake up soon. I didnt pray very often.

But I did now. I closed my eyes and sent up a special prayer.

Val Jessup came and made the decision to send Rory to live at Castle Street. The

apartment was not liveable anyway and Rory, being young, couldnt be left on his own.


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Chapter 7

At Castle Street, Rory was introduced to Tony who introduced him to Castle Streets

mad bunch,Tom, Jackie, a black boy, Georgie, a blonde girl, and the crazy Tess, whom

Rory was scared of.

Chapter 8

Rory had a fitful night and in the morning he went down for breakfast where he metTess again and Nellie. Then Val came and took Rory to the hospital. Granda had

recovered but got very upset when he learned that Rory had been taken to Castle

Street. From the way Val acted, Rory had an idea of where his grandfather was going to

be taken to.

Chapter 9

Val took Rory back to the flat where he got hold of clothes and grandas medicine. Then

he went back to Castle Street and had to contend with the horrible Tess and her

screaming. Every day, after school Vall would pick Rory up from Castle Street and take

him to see his granda at the hospital. Granda would ask him about Castle Street and

Rory would say everything was fine. Granda said there was someone earlier who itlooked like was assessing grandas condition. Then Val told Rory there was something

important she wanted to tell him

Chapter 10

Mrs Foley had been especially nice to Rory ever since granda was admitted to hospital.

Because she was nice, Rory was prompted to confide in her how scared he was of Tess.

Mrs Foley was concerned about Rory and thought he shouldnt be in the home and was

going to phone Val Jessup about it. Darren warned Rory that Mrs Foley was interested in

fostering him. Alarmed, Rory ran to hospital to see granda. But granda was not in his

bed and for a moment Rory thought he had died.

Chapter 11

Rory went berserk and the nursing staff phoned Val. They tried to calm Rory down and

told him granda was not dead but had been removed to another place. Val then came

and explained to Rory that granda had been assessed and was found to be unfit and

social services had to make a decision about him and he was transferred to Rachnadar.

Chapter 12

When Rory went to Rachnadar, he found granda crying. He wanted Rory to take him

back home but Rory told him he couldnt do that. Granda became very agitated. When

Rory went back to Castle Street, Tess was screaming as usual and Rory couldnt take it

anymore and shouted at her. She was very surprised then lunged at him and started

attacking him. Tony and Nellie rescued him but Tess issued a threat that he was not

safe. Rory was feeling very worried, including the prospect of being fostered by Mrs

Foley. At Rachnadar, granda was retreating more and more into a shell. That night in

bed, it suddenly occurred to Rory that the solution to the problem was to run off with

granda.


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Chapter 13

Rory confided in Darren about his plans for running away with granda and Darren

suggested they take refuge in his mums caravan and gave him the spare key. Darren

was also worried for Rory that Mrs Foley would foster him. Rory had taken all the

necessary clothes and other items in the flat one day when Val Jessup brought him back

there. When visiting his granda later, he wedged the emergency door so that he would

be able to open it later. Later that night Rory sneaked into Rachnadar through the

emergency exit door, went to his granda and told him that they were going to escape.

Chapter 14

They sneaked safely out of Rachnadar. Rory had told granda to pretend that it was a

prisoner-of-war escape and granda was cooperative. Rory took the train to the pier on

the Clyde river intending to make people believe that theyd taken one of the ferries to

one of the islands or to a town farther down the Clyde. From the train station they made

it on foot in the rain, with considerable difficulty for granda until they finally made it to

Darrens mums caravan. Rory vowed he would never let himself be separated from his

granda.

Chapter 15

The next morning, granda and Rory were very happy. They had breakfast and went for a

walk then they went fishing and enjoyed themselves very much. Then something

happened to disrupt their blissful existence.

Chapter 16

They heard footsteps. And a man and a boy appeared. The boys name was Tyrone.

Granda, mistrusting them as they were travellers, chased them off. Granda reminisced

about his childhood when his dad taught him fishing and how to clean and cook fish.

Granda was in his element for the next few days. Then the dreaded text message came

from Darren, saying that they had been found out and the authorities were out to catchthem.

Chapter 17

When they were making their getaway, they had to dodge a police car. The police were

spanning out in all directions and Granda suggested that perhaps Rory should leave him

and make a run for it on his own. Rory refused, saying they were a team. Then, they

heard a voice telling them that he wanted to help them.

Chapter 18

Rory had no choice but to follow the voice which led them to a caravan. It turned out to

be Tyrones caravan. The caravan was coloutful and smelled of aromatic cooking and

food smells. Tyrones mother, Ruby, had a soft spot for Rory and was helping him

because they were reminded of how social workers made things very hard for Tyrone as

they wanted him to have proper schooling and to her Rory appeared to be in the same

position of being at the mercy of social workers. Tyrones caravan was able to slip

through the police road block and soon they were on their way and safe.


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Chapter 19

Rory woke up to the smell of breakfast cooking. Tyrones dad was called Sammy.

Tyrones family was very warm and hospitable and Rory and granda had a nice time with

them while the caravan was parked on a farm. Tyrone turned on the television to show

Rory that he and granda were on the news. Val Jessup and Darrens mum also appeared

and the TV showed a picture of Rory and Granda.

Chapter 20

The next day the caravan travelled north through the Perthshire countryside. Granda

made friends with Sammy and flirted with Ruby. Sammy was meeting up with his

brother in Forfar. His brother, Bernie and family, greeted them warmly and they were

told that they were a famous pair as news of them were all over the media. Rory and

granda were invited to go to a party that night.

Chapter 21

It was Bernies daughters Zaras birthday. Bernie played his guitar and Granda danced

with Ruby. Ruby told Rorys fortune and said that things will change for Rory but that a

terrible sadness will come first.

Chapter 22

The next day, Tyrone told Rory that they have been sighted in the caravan park and

they suspected that travellers had given them refuge, meaning that the police were on

to them. Tyrones family thought it was best that Rory and gvranda leave them and go

on their way. They were driven to a train station in Dundee from where they would get a

train to Glasgow where they would be met by Sammys relatives.

Chapter 23

They travelled on separate carriages on the train so as not to be found out. Then Rorysaw someone who although they were travelling spearately, recognised them both. To

save the situation, Rory decided to get off at Perth. When granda had to go to the

toilet, a boy recognised Rory. Rory was trying to get away when Granda came and

knocked him on the head with a bottle and he was knocked unconscious. Rory was

frantic and didnt know what to do when granda made the decision to steal a car.

Chapter 24

Granda said he was a motor mechanic and knew how to hot-wire a car. They found a

suitable car and granda managed to open the door with some wires and also to start the

car. They took the back roads and headed south. Then they stopped at a lay-by where

granda had a nap.

Chapter 25

When Granda woke up, they ate the sandwiches that Ruby had packed for them. They

played old Sinatra music and soon they needed to fill petrol in the car. Outside a small

village they found a dimly-lit petrol station that Rory thought was suitable. When the

petrol was filled up, granda had fallen asleep and the gas-station man stopped Rory and

said that they were in no condition to continue since granda appeared very weak.


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Chapter 26

The gas station man had recognised Rory and granda and wanted to help. He thought

the two looked so tired and would not be able to proceed very far. They spent the night

at the mans flat over the garage. When Rory watched TV, it seemed that the public

were sympathetic to their plight and people thought it very bad that they were

homeless. What was shocking to Rory was that he learned from TV that granda had a

son. This meant Rory had a father and Rory thought it was time his father exercised his

responsibilty and took care of them.

Chapter 27

The man made them tea and snacks, The mans name was Rab and he liked Rory

thought that perhaps Rorys dad should step forward and take care of them. Finding out

that his father lived in Liverpool, Rory made up his mind to go to Liverpool to find his

dad. Rab gave Rory his assurance that he wouldnt report them to the authorities. Rab

encouraged Rory to go find his dad in Liverpool and said he would help. Granda was

done in as he had a restless sleep and when he woke up, he was disoriented. This made

Rory all the more determined to go to Liverpool and find his father.

Chapter 28

When Rory woke up he found Rab on the phone and Rab told him that he was arranging

a whole line of people to take him and granda to Liverpool. First, Rab drove them south

on country roads for two hours before stopping at a lay-by and meeting his girlfriend

Annie. After eating the food that Annie brought, they went into Annies car and travelled

with her.

Chapter 29

They crossed the Scottish border into England in Annies car, moving closer to Liverpool.

Granda was surprised to see the signs pointing to Liverpool and wanted to know why

they were going there, but they skillfully managed to avoid answering the question.Annie told them she was not taking them to Liverpool but to her cousins house in the

Lake District. They reached cousin Normas remote cottage and met her daughter

Nicola. They ate the meal that Norma prepared for them and then Annie left. Granda

watched TV and found out that his son Jeff lived in Liverpool and he became really

upset.

Chapter 30

There was no way Granda would go to Liverpool so Rory had to pacify him and say that

they would go to Hull perhaps and catch a boat to Holland. Rory had to really promise

him many times that he would not go to his dad. Rory hated his father all the more,

especially when he never once told Rory and granda to come to him and hed take care

of them. Granda fell asleep and at night Rory slept too and in the morning granda

wouldnt wake up even though Rory tried to wake him up. Norma became really worried.

Then Norma had to go to town and to see Nicolas grandmother and took Nicola with her

even though Nicola was worried about the two of them and didnt want to go. Granda

woke up in early afternoon, disoriented and upset about the news of Rorys dad but Rory

managed to calm him down. As the afternoon wore on, Norma and Nicola hadnt come

back. Then Rory got an emergency phone call from Nicola telling him that Norma had

gone to the police to report them.


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Chapter 31

Rory had to get granda ready to run away again. They escaped by the hill behind the

house as the police cars were coming up the driveway to the house. They rested for a bit

at the top of the hill then hit a road and walked along it. Granda was walking more

slowly and his breathing got more laboured. They had to dodge to a hedge when a police

car came along, then rolled into a ditch. From the ditch Rory saw a bus shelter with a

bench and they made their way there when the police car had gone. They fell asleep and

when granda woke up he wasnt breathing anymore and Rory thought he was dead. Thisis the climax in the story.

Chapter 32

Rory was frantic. He ran to get help as he didnt have a choice. He saw a house, off the

road. He knocked on the door. He told the man who answered the door about granda

and the man immediately recognised him. After asking his wife to phone the police, he

took Rory in his car to the bus shelter. They found granda had fallen off the bench and

was in a bad way. Then the police and ambulance arrived. Rory was asked to sit in one

of the police cars while granda was being attended to. A man was in the car with him.

The man told Rory that he was his father.

Chapter 33

Thankfully granda pulled through. Rory found that his father had a wife Karen and two

daughters, his half-sisters, Rhonda and Ava. Granda loved his granddaughters

immediately and liked his sons Jeffs wife too. But it took time for him to warm up to

Jeff, his son. Rory and granda were now taken care of by social services and was living a

good life. His father lived nearby and looked after them too. Rory kept in touch with the

people who helped him and also forgave Norma for her betrayal. The story ended well as

Rory was able to live together with his granda. He was also reunited with his father.

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Catch Us If You Can - PLOT.docx