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clear that ALL the questions had to be answered, so he reckoned he was probably sunk, but he wouldn’t give up that easily.
     
     

CHAPTER SIX
    Jamie was half way through his dinner when he tried approaching his dad with his first question.  ‘Dad, you know that Uncle Stanley was in the Royal Air Force, well was Granddad Jack in it as well?’
    Kevin laughed.  ‘No chance, my dad was in the infantry.  He used to say the RAF was full of …..’ Kevin had second thoughts about revealing the full extent of his late Father’s opinion of the boys in blue uniform.
     ‘Er, er,’ Kevin struggled to find something suitable to replace what he had nearly said and settled for. ‘He thought they were a load of toffs.’  Kevin had nearly repeated his dad’s claim that the RAF was full of mummy’s boys, although his dad had always acknowledged the bravery of the boys in blue.
    ‘So, what was the name of your dad’s regiment?’ asked Jamie eager to get the answer.
    ‘Hmmm,  I know it was one of the finest in the British Army and I used to know the name.  My old dad told me often enough and he even wanted me to join it once, but I’m not one for taking orders.’ 
    Debbie gave him a bemused smile at the thought of Kevin in army uniform and then she was saddened for a moment.  Kevin's dad had died just last year and he had been very close to him.
    ‘Would Uncle Steve know?’ asked Jamie.
    ‘I would think so, but don’t worry it will come back to me one day.’
    Jamie instinctively looked at the clock on the wall and had a sinking feeling.  Uncle Stanley might have thought that the task was easy enough, but it looked as though it was going to be mission impossible.
    Jamie was finishing off his pudding when Debbie asked Kevin if he was going to take Jamie to watch the local football team later.
    ‘Black Watch,’ Kevin shouted out.  The other three members of the family looked at Kevin as though he had gone loopy.
     ‘Black Watch,’ he repeated.  That’s it.  I told you that I would remember it.  My dad served in the Black Watch which is a famous Scottish Regiment.  I should have remembered that because there were some photographs of him wearing a kilt.’
    Jamie’s mood changed at the unexpected breakthrough and his dad’s recollection had made his mum smile.
    ‘Kevin, it’s a pity you didn’t join the Black Watch because you would have been an asset during any fighting. You could have been a sort of secret weapon in a battle.'
    ‘How do you figure that, Debs?’ Kevin asked, puzzled by the remark.
    ‘Well, it’s obvious really.  If you’d been wearing a kilt and showing off your knobbly knees the enemy wouldn’t have been able to fire their guns because they would have been laughing so much.’ 
    ‘Funny,’ Kevin said.
    ‘Nice one, Mum,’ chipped in Jamie.
    ‘Anyway, I’m not staying here to be insulted,’ Kevin joked.  ‘I’m off to the match.  Go and get your coat, Jamie.’
    ‘I think I’ll give it a miss, Dad.  I want to try and get the old computer working properly and if I do, can I try and get on the Internet?  It’ll mean using the telephone line, but it shouldn’t cost much.’
    ‘As long as you don’t become an addict in the attic,’ Kevin said as he passed Jamie on the way out.
    Jamie wasn’t sure if he would be able to connect to the Internet even if he managed to solve the test questions, because he hadn’t noticed a telephone socket in the computer room.
    After his dad had left for the football match Jamie headed for the back garden to feed the fish and then he would think about doing his homework.  He sprinkled the flakes of the fish food on to the pond and watched the hungry fish come to the surface, wondering which one of them had been Uncle Stanley’s favourite.
    ‘I hope you’re not over overfeeding those fish.’
    Jamie felt foolish that just for a split second he thought the voice belonged to Uncle Stanley until he saw the long nose off Rufus