THE TIMELY TWINS
THE EMERALD SERPENTS
Harry Ball-Weber
Published in 2010 by Harry Ball-Weber at Smashwords
Copyright 2010 © Text Harry Ball-Weber
The author asserts the moral right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work. All Rights reserved.
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Table of Contents
CHAPTER 05 – SPARKS OF CREATION
CHAPTER 07 – GETTING THERE IS EASY
CHAPTER 08 – EXPLORING THE PAST
CHAPTER 09 – A ROMAN HOUSEHOLD
CHAPTER 10 – MEETING THE MASTER
CHAPTER 14 – THE EMERALD SERPENTS
CHAPTER 18 – A LIGHT IN THE DARK
CHAPTER 24 – DARK FACE ILLUMINATED
This only is denied to God: the power to undo the past
Agathon (448 BC - 400 BC), from Nicomachean Ethics
All my possessions for a moment of time.
Queen Elizabeth I (1533 - 1603)
Grown-ups never understand anything for themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.
Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900 - 1944), ‘The Little Prince’
How important would football be once Laurie was a famous archaeologist like his father had been, searching for the remains of Atlantis or discovering Mayan pyramids in South America? So what if during sports that morning he had been absolutely hopeless as a goalie: seventeen – nil. Was it his fault that he was smaller than most of the other 11-year-old boys in his class? At least his mind was miles above; that’s what Miss Sheldon, their geography teacher, had said to the class just that morning. That, unfortunately, was also the reason Patrick Fitzgriffin had bullied him once again just before Professor Hawkins’ history class.
What he wouldn’t give right now to be exploring the deserted beach near their house with his twin sister Gertie and their terrier Britney - their father had bought the terrier for the twins when they were two years old, just a few months before he had mysteriously disappeared.
‘Laurie!’ Gertie hissed. ‘Stop daydreaming.’
‘This is a nationwide competition, and it is open to any student wishing to enter,’ boomed Professor Hawkins in his familiar deep voice. Laurie straightened up, his curiosity awake. ‘Yes, even you, Laurence Timely,’ the professor addressed Laurie. ‘This may be the last day of school before summer, but you will want to hear what I have to say.’
‘Laurence Timely,’ aped Patrick Fitzgriffin. ‘How are you going to do a history project like that without a computer, carrot-top?’ he sneered.
‘I was just getting to that, Mr. Fitzgriffin,’ the Professor sighed. ‘These are forms for those of you who don’t own a computer. They are to be signed by your parents or guardians. Return them to me and you will be given a card.’ Professor Hawkins held up a small blue plastic card the size of a credit card. ‘You are to show this card at the town library, where you will be able to use the computer to research your chosen history project.’
Laurie was really paying attention now. A history project and using a computer. This was just what he needed to take his mind off recent events. But, as soon as his mood had lifted he remembered the hopeless situation he found himself in. He remembered his grandfather’s final words, whispered inside an ambulance only one month earlier.
‘You’re the man in the family now,’ Monty Timely had said to him. ‘Look after your mother, great-aunt and sister!’ But how could he? They needed money, and fast!
Just then Professor Hawkins continued. ‘The winning entry to this competition will win the sum of five thousand pounds, and the project will be published in a national newspaper. You have until the end of your summer break.’
The silence that followed was absolute. For once, even Patrick Fitzgriffin was lost for words.
Like her brother’s, Gertie’s hair was the colour of strawberries mixed with chocolate, and her nose was covered in freckles. Happy-spots, their grandfather used to call them. Well, he didn't have to live with them every day. Still, she didn't much care what anyone else thought of her freckles; or of her bushy red hair for that matter. Gertie was a carefree girl and well liked amongst her fellow classmates. She was also very good at sports and would happily wrestle anyone to the ground if they dared to call her, or her brother, names. It's just that she wasn't always there to defend him. And even if she was, he got so embarrassed being rescued by a girl that things usually got worse.
The twins were putting their books into their adjoining lockers, when Patrick and his gang sauntered past them. Just when Laurie thought that for once the headmaster’s nephew would leave him in peace, Patrick turned around.
‘I am off to work on my winning entry, Timely.’ Some of the boys in Patrick’s gang sniggered. ‘Since you’re no good at football and you haven’t got a computer why don’t you go to the library with the old folks and use theirs?’
‘I’ve seen you kick a ball, Fitzgriffin,’ Gertie’s voice cut through the noisy hallway. ‘I’m surprised you can actually see the ball over that fat belly of yours.’
This was followed by giggles from the crowd that had formed around them. No one usually opposed Patrick, but moments like these confirmed that many of the other children longed to see Patrick get some of his own medicine.
‘And as for the library,’ Gertie continued in a firm voice, ‘only morons like you think that libraries are just for old people. Books are for all ages and you can even borrow the latest movies and music these days.’
Most of the children present were whispering amongst themselves now. Maybe they, too, should pay a visit to the library. Laurie shut his locker with a loud thud, which scattered the crowd. But Patrick hadn’t finished quite yet.
‘Never mind your stupid library,’ Patrick spat, his face now purple with rage. ‘Did you know that my father’s best friend works at your mother’s bank?’
Laurie looked at his sister. Fitzgriffin couldn’t possibly know, could he?
‘Your family, or what’s left of it, doesn’t have any money left,’ Patrick continued gleefully. ‘In fact, you are all going to be evicted from your decrepit old house soon. God knows where you’ll live. Maybe at the library?’
Laurie really couldn’t take much more. Why couldn’t he have a normal family with an ordinary mum and dad who both had good jobs? In fact, where was his father, and why had his silly grandfather not left them any valuable inventions? That final thought took him by surprise. In all the years he could remember he had always been proud of his grandfather. What was happening to him?
‘It is possible I can help you,’ a voice interrupted his dark thoughts. It was a voice he had grown to like over the past weeks. But to admit that to his sister, or anyone else for that matter, would have been too embarrassing.
Francesca Feliciano was a willowy, pretty Italian girl, whose family had recently moved to England from Naples in Italy. She had arrived right in the middle of the school year, and although she was struggling to keep up with the rest of the class her English was getting better every day. This was the first time she’d actually spoken to Laurie.
‘What do you know about Pompeii?’ she asked in heavily accented English, which sounded heavenly, Laurie thought.
‘Isn’t that the city that was destroyed by a volcano long ago?’ Laurie’s voice seemed to have gone up an octave. What was the matter with him? It wasn’t the first time this had happened either.
‘Si,’ answered Francesca, and broke into a big smile as she remembered happy days in her native Italy. She pulled an enormous book from her school-bag and thrust it at Laurie:
- La Storia di Pompeii - The History of Pompeii -
‘I’m afraid I don’t know much about it,’ Laurie replied, whilst leafing through the magnificent book, which was full of colourful illustrations. ‘We haven’t learned about it at school yet, and I’ve never been to Italy.’ His voice was almost back to normal and the smile Francesca gave him made him blush again.
‘My father gave me this book to help me learn English,’ she said sheepishly. ‘My home is in Napoli but Pompeii is only forty minutes away. I have been there many times and have many more books about it. My father says our family originally came from Pompeii two thousand years ago. I have been trying so hard to find out more about it.’ Her face clouded over momentarily. ‘My father says I am wasting my time, but I am sure I am close to finding out the truth.’ She put her mouth close to Laurie’s ear and whispered, ‘I think my family-tree began with a young woman who survived the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.’
‘What makes you think that?’ asked Gertie, her arms crossed over her chest. Francesca’s whisper had not been too discreet and, nearby, Patrick Fitzgriffin was listening to her story with great interest.
‘Intuizione,’ Francesca continued passionately. ‘I am so close, I can feel it. Maybe I help you with your history project and you help me find my ancestor?’
‘So, your great-great-great aunt was a pickpocket in old Pompeii and was burnt to a crisp by a volcano. Big deal!’ Patrick’s heinous comment was loud enough for all to hear, and Francesca began to tremble. How could anyone be so mean? She stepped towards him and threw back her wild mane of dark hair. Laurie walked up to Francesca and put his arm on her shoulder, but she shrugged him off and stepped closer to Patrick. For a moment it looked as if Patrick was going to step backwards, but he swallowed hard and stood his ground.
‘All these silly boys are by your side because your uncle is the headmaster.’ Francesca continued with barely a whisper. ‘But when school is finished you are just a lonely boy with no friends. For me a friend is like family. Even a new friend.’ Francesca glanced at Laurie before glaring back at Patrick. This really affected Patrick and his face clouded over, but when some of his feeble friends surrounded him his confidence reappeared with added venom.
‘At least there’s one tradition your clan has kept alive,’ Patrick retaliated. ‘Stealing. In fact, didn’t your family have to leave Italy because your father stole money from the government? At least, that’s what my dad says.’
It was as if he’d slapped her. She was lost for words and tears appeared in her eyes. Was this true? Had her father lied to her? Why had her family really left Naples?
Gertie took hold of Francesca’s hand and faced Patrick defiantly. ‘I’m sure that, as usual, you’ve got your facts muddled up, Fitzgriffin,’ she snapped at him. ‘But, even if it’s true, you can be sure that we would rather be friends with a thief’s daughter than with a worthless coward and a bully.’
In deadly silence the hallway began to empty. Soon Francesca and the twins were alone.
‘Why would you want to help my brother with his project?’ asked Gertie as she collected her things.
‘Why not?’ Francesca answered, her voice shaky but strong. ‘Maybe Laurie can win and the Fitzgriffin boy will lose,’ she added, and her dark, sparkling eyes threw virtual daggers towards the door Patrick had disappeared through. ‘We can eat lunch together,’ she suggested to the twins. This had almost been an order and not a question. ‘I will lend you my book. It will help with your project.’
Gertie was beginning to think that Francesca generally got her way, and she was not so sure what to make of this headstrong girl. Who did she think she was? And to top it off, a long lost-relative in ancient Pompeii. How could she ever prove that? And why did Laurie keep dropping things?
‘I think I saw you down on the beach with your mother once,’ Laurie said nervously, while putting away his books.
‘Si,’ Francesca replied. ‘You were running with your little dog. It is bellissima. That means very pretty.’
‘We don’t usually call dogs pretty, but thank you,’ Laurie replied sheepishly.
Gertie finally realized what was happening, even though she couldn’t quite believe it. Laurie hated girls. Well, maybe hated was a bit strong, but she certainly had never seen him go ga-ga whilst talking to any of her girlfriends. Maybe it was the accent. Or, better yet, maybe it really was the history project. Yes, that had to be it.
‘I just remembered something,’ Gertie blurted out the first thing she could think of to get away. ‘I promised aunt Hortense I’d pick up some wool during my lunch break.’
‘Wool?’ Laurie asked suspiciously. Before he had a chance to ask more questions, Gertie smiled and ran off.
‘Your aunt Hortense, she does a lot of, how you say...’
‘Knitting,’ Laurie completed her sentence.
*****
Francesca and Laurie were soon walking along the dusty lane that led down to the sea.
‘I am always happy when I am next to the sea,’ Francesca said with a faraway look in her dark eyes. ‘My grandmother, she lives in Positano. Since I was very little we go in the summer and walk on the beach just like this, but with little stones instead of the sand.’
‘Pebbles,’ said Laurie and smiled.
‘You laugh at my English,’ Francesca snapped, her dark hair flying in the sea breeze. Laurie could see that she had pride and a temper to boost, and he hoped he hadn’t offended her.
‘I’m sorry,’ he mumbled, ‘I’m not making fun of you, I promise. I think it’s amazing that you’ve learnt English so fast, and I’m sure none of us could have learned Italian even half as quickly.’
‘The Fitzgriffin boy can never learn Italian, I am sure,’ she said with a naughty twinkle in her eye. ‘But he looks as if he likes a lot of Italian food.’
Hearing about Patrick Fitzgriffin made him think about the history project again. He loved the idea of Pompeii. But would he be able to compete against Patrick? Even with the help of Francesca’s amazing book?
Francesca’s laughter woke him from his daydreams. She had removed her shoes and was wading in the foaming surf. The sea was rough and some of the waves were dangerously high, but that didn’t deter her.
‘Come, Laurie,’ she shouted, breathless and happy. Laurie decided that worrying about the future wasn’t going to help right now. Besides, if he was going to beat Patrick he would need all the help he could get. He pulled off his trainers and socks and joined Francesca by the water’s edge. Was it his imagination or were the waves getting higher? Before he completed his thought the distant sound of thunder stopped both of them in their tracks.
‘Look at the clouds!’ Francesca exclaimed. She pointed towards the sky. Laurie couldn’t believe it. Five minutes ago the sky had been blue and the sun’s rays hot on their skin. Now daylight was disappearing fast as ominous, black clouds drifted together to form an impenetrable dark blanket above them. How could they have missed this sudden change of weather? This was no ordinary summer storm. By now the clouds looked like thick, burnt molasses and appeared to be rotating into the shape of a large dome. Laurie was reminded of the cauldron of bubbling, chocolate rice-pudding he’d been asked to stir by aunt Hortense just the other day.
‘I’ve never seen clouds like that before,’ Laurie said, a glint of fear in his voice. A sharp bolt of lightning hit the sea close to the horizon and seconds later a deafening clap of thunder drowned out Laurie’s voice almost completely. ‘I think we should get back to school!’
Francesca nodded and raced from the water. Without bothering to dry her feet she slipped into her shoes. That was when the clouds exploded and thunderous rain began to pelt down on them.
‘Ouch!’ Francesca winced. The raindrops were so large and fell with such force that they actually hurt her skin. Quickly Laurie pulled a grey sweatshirt from his rucksack and draped it across Francesca’s shoulder. He was glad his sister wasn’t there to witness this special occasion. It the first time someone other than Laurie got to wear the sweatshirt – his absolute favorite. It was far too big for Laurie and had once belonged to their father. Gertie wasn’t even allowed to touch the ragged old thing. Here it was against Francesca’s skin, and within ten seconds it was drenched and rivets of water were running down her arms and bare legs.
As they were moving away from the sea and the by now dangerously high waves, they could hear the school bell in the distance. It was being rung frantically.
‘We’re almost there,’ Laurie reassured Francesca.
That was when they both heard the piercing sound of a siren. Francesca looked at Laurie. What was that?
‘It’s the town hall siren,’ he shouted over the ever-increasing fracas of the storm. This was not good. The siren sounded every Sunday at noon, to confirm the time and to show it was still in working order. Other than that it hadn’t been heard in the sleepy, coastal town of Larkhaven since the 27th of March 1945.
On that day a German V-2 bomb fell hair-raisingly close to Monty Timely’s house and created an immense crater, which changed the twins’ grandfather’s life, and would soon alter their own future forever.
In previous years, the final day of school had been followed by a very special dinner prepared by Hortense and Katherine. The twins’ mother had always made a point of being home early on that particular day, so that she and her aunt could prepare a feast to celebrate the end of the school year and the beginning of summer. Only twelve months earlier, Monty had been at the head of the table, which had been set in the garden underneath an old chestnut tree. The table had been laden with roast beef, roast potatoes and parsnips, and aunt Hortense’s unique concoction of creamed carrots and Brussels sprouts. This was, in fact, the only way she could get the twins to eat Brussels sprouts.
Hortense breathed a sigh of relief and welcomed the twins into the kitchen with a hug. Britney was barking like mad and jumping up and down like a hairy rubber ball.
‘Thank the Lord you made it home in one piece,’ Hortense huffed, whilst ruffling Laurie’s hair. ‘Your mother just called. She’s spending the night at the house of one of her colleagues. There are trees down on the roads everywhere and it’s best to be safe.’
Laurie’s face dropped.
‘But we always have dinner together on the last school night,’ Hortense had complained when Katherine had telephoned her earlier. ‘Storm or no storm.’
‘I know, Hortense. Please don’t make me feel any worse than I already do. It just can’t be helped.’
Hortense sighed deeply. It was easy to forget that her niece was only thirty-two years old. Far too young to carry the heavy burden of raising a young family without a husband. Still, day in day out she carried on working hard, and Hortense couldn’t remember the last time Katherine had spent some time or money on herself.
‘Maybe there are some other relatives we could go and live with. That way Mum could work seven days a week and you wouldn’t have to cook for us,’ Laurie said quietly.
‘Laurie!’ shouted Gertie, and Britney hid underneath the large, wooden table, as she didn’t like raised voices.
Hortense dried her hands on a tea towel and sat down next to them. ‘You have every right to be angry.’ She gently stroked Britney’s fuzzy head under the table. ‘Angry with the world for being unfair, or the bank for foreclosing our loan. But don’t you dare take it out on your mother.’ Hortense’s eyes were blazing. ‘As God is my witness, that girl has done everything she can to give you two a better life.’
Gertie fidgeted in her chair and Laurie could barely lift his head to look at his great-aunt. He couldn’t remember hearing her ever raise her voice at them.
‘Now, things are bad at the moment and they’ll probably get worse before they get better,’ she continued. ‘But we’re a family, and there’ll be no talk of living with relatives, you hear me?’
Laurie’s lip quivered and he nodded. Hortense rose from the table and threw peeled potatoes into boiling water.
‘Now go and make sure the shutters are closed in all the bedrooms, before this storm gets any worse. We’ll eat in twenty minutes.’
The twins couldn’t get away fast enough and Britney slithered across the polished floorboards as she tried to follow them. After they had gone, Hortense sat down again. Yes, things were definitely going to get worse. How they were going to get through the next couple of months was anyone’s guess, but right now all she could hope for was that tonight the house would protect them from the elements.
*****
‘I think that’s all the windows done,’ Gertie wheezed a little while later, all out of breath. They’d been running through the house at great speed. Britney kept sneezing from all the dust they’d sent flying. It was easy to forget just how large the house really was. Half-hidden beneath age-old trees and weathered by the nearby sea, the redbrick and wood house had stood proud for over 200 years. Threadbare rugs covered creaking floorboards. There were at least ten bedrooms, but most of them were dilapidated and hadn’t been lived in for decades. Many of the fireplaces were big enough for the twins to hide in, and on cold winter nights they housed crackling fires, which warmed the house. Laurie remembered overhearing Katherine and Monty, as they’d worried about the growing costs of keeping the old house. If only his grandfather could have sold one of his inventions. They would never have to worry again, and his mother could stop working so much.
But it was not to be. Monty had died without any of his inventions ever having been sold. In fact, the twins had never seen any of Monty’s work, as they had never been allowed inside his basement workshop. After his death, Katherine had locked the room and that had been the end of that.
They were making their way back towards the kitchen when Britney stopped in her tracks and cocked her head. She could hear a noise from the basement. Now the twins could hear it, too. Somewhere below, an open window was banging in the storm, but where? As far as they remembered there were no windows anywhere in the basement. Except...
‘Grandpa’s workshop!’ they gasped simultaneously.
‘We have to tell aunt Hortense,’ urged Gertie, but Laurie had other plans.
‘No, we don’t,’ he snapped. ‘I know where Mum keeps the key.’
Two minutes – and a trip to their mother’s bedside cabinet later - the twins were inside Monty’s workshop for the very first time. They’d often wondered what it would be like to explore this most secret room, which, for all of their lives, had been deemed out of bounds.
‘I’d never forgive myself if you hurt yourself amongst all my junk,’ Monty had often mumbled. Once, he and Katherine had had a bitter fight over some long forgotten accident – a fire of some sort, but the twins had never found out more. Now, they couldn’t wait to see all the magical things he’d been working on for all those years.
But, as it turned out, Monty had been working on absolutely nothing. There were large boxes filled with nothing but wood-chips. Whatever was in them was long gone. Hung up on a wall was a collection of old woodwork tools and several enormous, ancient iron keys. They, like everything else were covered in a thick layer of grime and dust.
‘I don't think he's used any of these things in years. What exactly did he do here?’ Laurie wondered. His eyes raced around, his mind working. Gertie put down the rusty spanner she’d taken off the wall. She knew that look on her brother’s face.
‘What?’ she asked, her eyes rolling.
‘It's too messy’, Laurie replied. ‘Grandpa was always so tidy, it doesn’t make sense’. Then he noticed Britney. The dog was sitting next to a large wooden book-cabinet, as if waiting for something. When Laurie approached her she got up and sniffed the cabinet, her tail wagging wildly.
‘They're only books, Britney.’ Laurie tried to pull the dog away, but she wouldn't budge. Now she started to bark.
‘Shhh’, hissed Gertie, ‘Aunt Hortense will hear you.’
‘What?’ asked Laurie, when Britney began to scratch the book cabinet. Laurie kneeled down next to Britney, and Gertie joined him.
‘What's inside the cabinet?’ Gertie cajoled.
‘It's not what's inside, it's what's behind.’ Laurie pointed at the floor. There, a faint groove, shaped like a semi-circle, ran from the corner of the cabinet halfway into the middle of the room. ‘Help me find a switch or something,’ Laurie demanded excitedly.
Gertie's laugh resembled a snort. ‘Oh, we're looking for a secret doorway, why didn't I think of that?’ As usual her brother’s imagination was running riot.
Click! The noise startled them both. The cabinet had moved only half an inch, but there was a definite gap behind it. Britney’s tail wiggled faster now, and she excitedly sniffed the air coming through the gap.
‘What did you touch?’ urged Laurie.
Gertie looked at the gap behind the cabinet, her hands shaking. ‘I'm not sure,’ she said, ‘I thought you were joking. I didn't think...’
Laurie's fingers searched the shelves, until he found it; a book that wasn't a book. ‘It's made of wood, look,’ he said as he pushed the wooden book sideways. With a soft swishing sound, the cabinet moved further away from the wall, and before the twins could stop her, Britney disappeared through the opening into the dark...
The children were greeted by salty sea-air mixed with a familiar, faded scent. ‘I can smell Grandpa,’ whispered Gertie.
‘It's his pipe,’ said Laurie.
‘I saw an old torch amongst those rusty tools,’ Gertie remembered.
Moments later, they were making their way down an uneven stairway carved into solid rock. About two feet from the ground, running along the bare rock walls, and disappearing in a downward spiral, were several thick pipes and cables.
‘These look like water and electricity pipes,’ said Laurie. The torch provided meager illumination, and their steps were tentative and slow. Twice, Gertie almost slipped.
‘Why are these steps so wet and slippery?’
‘Why do you think? We must be right above sea level here. I can almost taste the salt.’ Laurie licked his lips, and Gertie followed suit.
‘You’re right. I think I can hear the sea,’ Gertie whispered. They were silent for a moment. The sound of waves crashing upon cliffs came from the depths of the spiral stairs below them. It almost drowned out the storm’s wild thunder from above. Soon they heard Britney barking in the distance below them.
‘She’s close by,’ said Gertie, and slipped again. This time she fell against Laurie, who promptly dropped the torch. In an instant they were in complete darkness.
‘Did you hurt yourself?’ asked Laurie, his voice directed into the darkness behind him.
‘Just my knee, it’s nothing,’ murmured Gertie.
‘Take my hand,’ Laurie extended his right hand until he felt Gertie grip it firmly. ‘Let’s just feel our way along the pipes on the wall. It can’t be that much further.’
Moments later they were greeted by Britney. They couldn’t see her in the dark, but it was obvious by the racket she was making that she was happy they had found her.
‘I can feel the stairs go further down, but there’s a wooden door to the right,’ said Laurie, his hands searching for a doorknob or handle. ‘I found it!’ he shouted, but their joy was short-lived. ‘It’s locked,’ said Laurie disappointedly.
‘Rusty old iron keys,’ they burst out in unison.
*****
Five minutes later Laurie was back with a lit candle and a handful of keys. The first two he tried weren’t even remotely the right size for the ancient lock. But the third key slid into the lock smoothly. Monty had obviously kept it well oiled, one more indication that whatever this room would reveal, their grandfather had used it frequently.
With an enormous creaking sound, the door opened and Britney rushed inside, followed by the twins. Laurie felt his way around the darkness until he found a switch. They were momentarily blinded, but when their eyes got accustomed to the light they both gasped in amazement. They had found their grandfather's secret workshop.
Even after not having been used for over a month there was hardly a speck of dust in sight, just as they would have expected from Monty. The wooden floor was covered in thick rugs, maybe to muffle any sound when he worked here late at night. But, where was Britney?
‘Woof.’ the answer came from the far corner. There, her tail wagging wildly, Britney sat in a wicker dog-basket lined with a colourful blanket. She’d been wondering how long it would take her clever owners to discover Monty’s secret. If only they could have asked her. There was also a desk, and on it, amidst piles of books and papers, a framed photograph of the twins and their mother.
Tears welled up in Gertie's eyes. The moment passed, and she found herself before a wall that was a drawing board. It was covered from top to bottom with drawings and blueprints of a sphere-like object.
‘Look!’ Laurie called out from behind her. Amongst the papers on Monty’s desk he had found an impossibly thick diary, bound in worn, black leather. With trembling hands Laurie turned a couple of pages. His eyes flew over the pages, which were covered in Monty’s familiar, spidery writing; some of it so faded, it was hard to read.
‘Look at some of these dates!’ Laurie cried in amazement. ‘He must have begun writing this when he was quite young. Laurie’s fingers caressed the pages as they turned leaf after leaf, whilst his eyes hungrily devoured his grandfather’s past. One of the entries, about a quarter into the diary, caught his attention.
Sunday, August 9th 1945
Marise agrees that it was wise to choose the American soldiers to help with the excavation work below the house. All traces of the bomb have gone and the new basement is taking shape. Soon the men will have gone back home across the ocean and with them the secret of my new underground workshop. The folk of Larkhaven are none the wiser, while they are busy rebuilding their lives. So, after all the destruction this terrible war has brought, it has provided the space I desperately needed for my work, and Marise and I are the only souls that know of its existence...
Laurie carried on searching, and he found that here and there pages had been ripped out. Near the end of the diary he reached the final entry.
‘Look at the date. He must have written this on the day he...’ Laurie didn’t finish his sentence.
Friday, June 13th 2006
Another day has passed in this seemingly unending quest for salvation and discovery. I have not seen Katherine in over five days as she has taken on more work to cover the mortgage payments. She is growing apart from the children and has no pleasures in life since the accident... What have I done? And after all that happened how could I have borrowed more money to fund this insane project? Sweet Marise, if only you were here to guide me. Instead, all I have are tormenting dreams of Phaedra, who spoke to me once, but has been silent ever since that fatal night, when Nathaniel disappeared into the void of space and time. My only hope is to find enough power and to re-awaken her. May God have mercy on my soul if I don’t succeed...
‘Nathaniel!’ cried Gertie. ‘This is about Dad. What kind of accident was granddad talking about?’
She snatched the diary from her brother’s hands and searched the blank pages that followed the final entry. But it was useless. Throughout the diary at least forty pages had been ripped from the diary. Who had taken them? And why?
Britney's bark stopped them both in their tracks again. The dog had disappeared behind a drawn curtain at the back of the room. Quickly, the twins followed her. Gertie opened the curtain, and Laurie found a light switch. Unlike the other room, which was warm and inviting, here all the walls were covered in steel and glistened coldly in the bright lights. A large, oval object hung from the ceiling, suspended on chains and covered by a huge dustsheet.
‘What do you think it is?’ asked Gertie.
‘There's only one way to find out,’ replied Laurie.
With one swift movement, he pulled away the dust-sheet and there it was in front of them; the glass and steel sphere-like object, just like in the drawings they'd seen pinned up on the wall. It reflected the bright ceiling lights magically and in parts seemed to be made of water. But, when the children touched it, it was like nothing they'd ever felt. As their fingers disappeared into the gel-like, transparent structure, they excitedly looked at each other. What was this thing? Hundreds of multicoloured thin wires covered the dome in a spider web-like fashion. It was amazing, like nothing they had ever seen before.
Laurie ran back to his grandfather's desk and returned with the diary. Flicking through the pages once more, he read frantically. Then, his eyes stopped. He exhaled sharply...
‘What?’ shouted Gertie.
Her brother looked at her, his mouth open wide.
‘It’s a time machine.’
CHAPTER 5 – SPARKS OF CREATION
In the forest behind the house the storm had caused havoc. Trees that had stood proudly for hundreds of years had yielded to the strong winds and lay strewn throughout, beaten and lifeless. Any wildlife lucky enough to survive had fled underground, and even the hardiest of birds had ceased their singing hours ago.
Whilst the storm was raging and picking up speed and force, people everywhere were preparing for worse to come. Reports on television and radio had urged everyone to remain calm, but the opposite seemed to be happening. People were panicking and had started to stockpile groceries and other necessities. Long queues at petrol stations were adding to the already chaotic traffic conditions, and supermarkets were rapidly running out of basic goods like water, bread and tinned vegetables and meat. It was, said the weather report, the worst storm to hit England since the hurricane in 1987. Hortense remembered it well, as it had completely ruined her vegetable garden. She had lamented the destruction and so had her family, when they were served bland tasting supermarket vegetables for dinner.
Just before eight in the evening the storm was officially upgraded to a hurricane and named Vicky, and Hortense and Laurie began nailing wooden boards to the outside of the ground floor windows. The newsreader on television had recommended this, and after seeing news-footage of the damage done by fallen trees all over the country, Hortense agreed that it would be a sensible precaution.
*****
It was after nine o’clock now and the twins and Hortense were drinking their nightly mug of hot milk and honey. Hortense’s mug had been infused with a larger than usual dose of Irish whiskey, and not even the blustering winds heard through the rattling windows could lessen her enjoyment.
Katherine had telephoned again, just before the lines had gone down. Whilst this confirmed to the twins that their mother was safe, it was unlikely that they’d see her, or even hear from her, within the next twenty-four hours.
‘Now don’t you worry, we’re perfectly safe within these walls,’ Hortense assured the twins, but Laurie feared that this was probably said for Hortense’s own benefit.
‘Maybe we should all hide in the basement.’ Laurie said casually. ‘It’s bound to be safer below the ground.
‘What basement?’ Hortense asked, fast as a whip. Her eyes narrowed as she searched Laurie’s face for clues. The twins had taken rather a long time securing the windows before dinner. Could it be they’d taken a detour? ‘You know you’re not supposed to be down there.’
‘I meant the laundry room.’ Laurie replied quickly, before shooting Gertie a conspiring look. ‘It has no windows, so it must be below ground, don’t you think?’ He could see that they would have to be more careful. Their decision to keep Hortense in the dark about their discovery for the time being had obviously been the right one; especially since the time machine, even after repeated prodding earlier, had done absolutely nothing. It appeared to be as dead as a doornail. Whatever had happened in that basement so long ago, they were going to have to find out all by themselves.
Meanwhile, Hortense made a mental note to have words with her niece. So far she and Katherine had avoided Monty’s workshop like the plague. The one time they’d inspected it after her brother’s death they’d been surprised at finding only empty boxes and rusty tools. Could it be that they hadn’t looked hard enough? Maybe it was time for them to deal with the past.
The twins waited for aunt Hortense to go to her room, before once again venturing into the depths below the house. Just before they entered the secret workshop through the creaking wooden door, they considered descending the steps further. But the frightening sounds of crashing waves and howling winds from deep below soon put an end to that adventure.
‘We’ll wait until the weather returns to normal.’ Laurie’s voice was full of confidence he didn’t really have.
As soon as they entered the workshop Britney immediately hid in her basket. She really hated the howling of the wind. Naturally, she was a courageous dog, descended from a long family tree of famous fighters. Happy to show rabbits and badgers a trick or two, but a hurricane? No thank you! Now, where was that blanket and how could she best cover her ears with it?
‘What do you think this does?’ Laurie was startled out of deep thoughts by Gertie, who, amongst the dozens of strange objects they’d uncovered, had found another seemingly useless gadget. It looked like a small plastic brick.
‘Nice,’ said Laurie. ‘Great for building water-proof houses.’ But it was, in fact, an emergency dinghy. At least that’s what it said in Monty’s diary. ‘It says here that the dinghy is made from fire-proof PVC and reinforced with steel mesh.’
Gertie scratched her head as she inspected the strange piece of yellow plastic with nimble fingers. ‘But how does it work?’ she probed.
‘Upon being inserted into water the dingy-brick will inflate automatically,’ Laurie continued to read from the journal. ‘We’ll have to test it, but maybe not tonight.’
Next they found a wooden crate roughly the size of a large shoebox. Fragile, it said in thick, red letters. Its lid was nailed shut and a slip of paper was stapled to it: Patent Office London.
Soon they pried the lid from the crate Packed neatly, side by side, they found ten rectangular jewellery-cases. Was it possible they’d found diamonds?
Laurie opened one of the cases and from it he took an object that resembled a delicate necklace. Gertie opened some of the others and found they were all similar and fashioned like chokers, to be worn closely around the neck and throat.
‘They are pretty. Mum wore a choker on her wedding day. Remember the pictures?’ asked Gertie wistfully.
‘These are different,’ rebuffed Laurie. He pointed at the square front of the choker in his hand. It was made out of fine wires and small square pieces of plastic and metal. ‘I think I saw a magnifying glass on Granddad’s desk somewhere.’ He was back moments later and they both proceeded to really explore the gadget. ‘Look!’ he said and pointed at several microscopically small, square metal plates that had been soldered onto the wired structure. ‘These look like computer chips.’
Gertie took another choker from the box and examined it closely. Without the magnifying glass it was more difficult, but she could definitely identify computer chips on this piece of jewellery as well. ‘I think they must all do the same thing, even if they look slightly different,’ she said, scratching her head in confusion. Laurie put down the magnifying glass and gently unhooked the clasp of the choker he was holding.
‘What are you doing?’ asked Gertie, even though she knew the answer. ‘Here, let me help you,’ she offered. She placed the choker around her brother’s neck and fastened the clasp. ‘It’s elasticized.’
‘So it can be adjusted to fit any neck size,’ Laurie completed her thought. ‘That way it will even fit Hortense.’
‘Laurie!’ scolded Gertie playfully. Laurie turned around and presented himself to his sister’s critical eye.
‘Ta-dah!’ he said and strutted around the room like a super-model. ‘How do I look?’
‘Like a member of the Massai tribe,’ giggled Gertie. ‘Do you feel anything at all?’ Laurie stroked the choker and searched for a switch of some sort. ‘Maybe it needs to be turned on.’ Gertie moved the magnifying glass closer to her brother’s throat and her eyes suddenly widened. ‘There is a tiny screw at the front.’ Before Gertie had a chance to look for a small screwdriver Laurie had already found one amongst his grandfather’s tools. ‘Quick. Can you turn it? Or maybe try to unscrew it.’
Laurie’s face had gone red with excitement. Was this the moment they’d been waiting for? Gertie bit her lower lip and inserted the screwdriver into the microscopic screw. A click was followed by a gentle humming sound, and two small, cone-shaped pieces of plastic, attached on either side of the choker by thin blue and red wire, dropped onto Laurie’s shoulders.
‘Oh, my god, they’re earplugs,’ cried Gertie with delight. ‘Pop them into your ears!’
Laurie did as his sister ordered and immediately touched his throat. ‘Oh,’ he exclaimed. ‘Das kitzelt aber.’
It was Laurie’s voice coming from his mouth, but there was also a soft buzzing sound coming from the depths of his throat. It was as if the English words were caught there, silently echoing in the background.
‘Was soll denn das? Wer spricht denn da?’ Laurie blurted out in fluent German. Gertie scrutinized the choker further and soon found another, even smaller screw to turn. ‘Here,’ she said. ‘Try again.’
Laurie shrugged and in the now familiar, buzzing voice said, ‘No sé porqué hablo alemán. Me entiendes, Gertie?’
Gertie’s jaw dropped and Britney barked. What was going on? Could this be true? Had their grandfather actually been a genius? Laurie removed the choker and pulled out the earplugs. He examined it in amazement.
‘This is it, Gertie!’ he cried. ‘Grandpa really was a successful inventor. Just like he always told us.’ Britney roused herself from her basket and barked. Finally her owners could see what she had known all along. It was about time Monty got the recognition he deserved!
Laurie put the choker back into its box and began to leaf through Monty’s diary again. His eyes flew over the pages and over the next hour he and Gertie began to unravel some of their past.
The twins had never met their grandmother, as she had died before they were born. They knew, however, that she had been a beautiful French woman whom their grandfather had met during the war. Now they found out that Monty had been nineteen when he had been injured by a stray bullet while fighting in Normandy. Marise had only been seventeen, but she had already been a respected member of the French resistance. She had been the one to find Monty and had single-handedly carried him back to her parent’s house. Marise’s family had been suspicious of the red-haired young Irishman, who, like the French, was fighting the Germans. But his bubbly personality and knack for repairing anything that needed fixing had soon endeared him to the whole household. Before the war was over Monty and Marise had been married, and soon after that Monty had brought his young bride to England. It had taken almost fifteen years after Monty and Marise were married for Katherine to be born and, to everyone’s heartbreak, in giving life to Katherine, Marise had given up her own. Monty had never quite recovered from his loss and had never re-married.
*****
‘We need to find these missing pages if we want to get this machine to work,’ Laurie said disappointedly. Gertie’s fingers touched the shredded remains of the missing pages. ‘He must not have liked what he wrote,’ she suggested.
Laurie was not so certain. How could they be sure that it was Monty who’d ripped out the pages? About ten pages before the final entry he paused. Something about the words he was reading felt like missing pieces to a puzzle. As if the answer to their riddle was right in front of them.
Sunday, March 15th 2006,
I have done all I can, but still Phaedra refuses to rise again. I am reminded of the all-consuming flames on the night Nathaniel disappeared. Had Hortense not discovered the fire, we might all be dead. Proof enough that nature will not be tamed. Proof also that plain electricity alone will not be enough. I have read Professor Rothman’s letter over and over. Am I missing something? But what? Only heaven’s powers can re-awaken Phaedra now...
A letter fell from the diary’s pages; the ink on the crumbling, yellow parchment paper was faded with age.
My dear Monty,
Your letter fails to state if the object to be transported across the barriers of time is alive. I will assume from your past experiments that it is. Each passing moment is like a station along a never-ending train track, and the train of time moves forward at a steady speed. So, if there are trains going from A to B why not go from B to A? At least that’s what Albert and I thought when we were at Heidelberg University together. (Just look at his relativity theory!) The universal law dictates that we move from A to B, like a thousand dolphins crossing oceans in search of new feeding grounds. For a single dolphin to swim the other way it would be quite impossible to break through. And even if it managed to do so for a while, it would bump into so many of its own kind that it would end up disorientated and hopelessly lost in the middle of the ocean. Lost in time. Naturally, a dolphin with tremendous power would just force its way through them all. Sadly, one would need a power source a thousand times stronger than ordinary electricity...
At that precise moment bolts of lightning hit the ground not far from the house and the sound of thunder was deafening. Britney hid her little snout in Gertie’s lap and the overhead lights flickered wildly. The twins looked at each other. They almost stopped breathing and knew instinctively what the other was thinking. For just the briefest of moments it was indeed as if time stood still.
The grandfather clock in the entrance hall chimed eleven times when the hurricane reached its peak. Gale force winds rattled the windows through their wooden barricades and raindrops hammered like machinegun fire against the roof.
Thanks to the special cup of tea she’d had earlier, Hortense slept soundly and would later remember nothing of that night. Just as well, for had she known what the twins were up to she would have put an immediate stop to their ‘shenanigans’ - one of her favorite words for nonsense.
Meanwhile, up on the roof, all hell had broken loose. Gertie was leaning out of the window just below the roof, hoping to catch glimpses of Laurie, but with little effect.
‘Laurie! Be careful up there.’ But Gertie might as well have tried to overpower the sound of a locomotive thundering through a long dark tunnel. It was useless.
‘Now pass me the wire,’ shouted Laurie from above, whilst checking that the rope he had tied around his waist was still securely attached to the guttering. Hortense would have his head on a silver plate when she found out about this little adventure. How he was going to explain any of this was anyone’s guess. He’d been up on the flat part of the roof for twenty minutes, wrapped in his weatherproof cape. The icy rain on their faces was another matter.
Laurie grabbed the heavy roll of thick cable that his sister had passed from the window below and began unwinding several meters. He continued by securing the thickly insulated cable against the roof and chimney. He had found the cable in the workshop, after they’d decided that this was the only way to power the time machine; and why not? After searching Monty’s journal for more clues, it seemed the most obvious choice, as lightning really was nothing more than concentrated bolts of electricity. They had decided they were going to harvest that electricity and channel it into the basement to load up the machine’s built-in power reservoir. This, according to Monty’s very detailed plans, was located at the back of the machine and looked rather like a large piece of brown toast, with rows of copper wire twisted tightly round it.
‘Why do we need a power reservoir?’ asked Gertie. None of this technical jargon made any sense to her.
‘Storms like this one don’t just happen every day. By loading up the reservoir we’re making sure there’s enough power to bring the machine back.’
Initially Gertie had been mortified at the plan to direct bolts of lightning through the house into the basement. ‘I suppose one fire wasn’t enough,’ she’d reminded her brother of their grandfather’s entry in his diary. ‘You won’t rest until the whole place has burnt to the ground.’
Laurie’s eyes had clouded over, but then he’d had an idea. He had run to the fireplace and had extinguished the fire. Gertie had stared at him blankly.
‘Listen,’ Laurie had said, his ears close to the chimney breast, ‘can you hear the wind howling?’
Here they were, half an hour later, and their mission was almost complete. They had braved the hurricane, but the end result would be worth it; at least they hoped it would.
‘I can see the candle,’ Laurie shouted. He had decided earlier to place a candle inside the fireplace in the workshop. There were six chimneys on the roof, but only one of them led to the flickering candle in the distance below.
Fifteen minutes later Laurie was pulling the thick cable from the fireplace inside the workshop. Using thick masking tape he secured the cable to the floor and directed it towards the machine. Laboriously he began attaching the cable to the machine’s power reservoir. He had no idea if he was doing it correctly, but time would tell. Oddly, he had never felt closer to his grandfather than right now. It was as if Monty’s spirit was guiding him, and maybe it really was.
Meanwhile, Gertie was racing around their bedroom. She had been filling Laurie’s rucksack with things she felt they would need on their first trip into the unknown. A part of her didn’t want to get her hopes up. The machine probably wouldn’t work. But what if it did? She hesitated briefly when she saw Francesca’s heavy book on Laurie’s bed and then stuffed it into the rucksack.
Earlier, up on the roof, Laurie had built a little mechanism, and he now hoped it would work. Protruding from the workshop’s fireplace were two cables. One would channel electricity from the roof towards the time machine. The other one was much thinner and served a greater purpose.
With all his strength Laurie pulled on the second cable and, up on the roof, a small wheel started turning. Slowly a thick metal rod began to extend high into the stormy night sky. Higher and higher, but would it be high enough to attract the powerful bolts of lightning?
In the workshop’s antechamber Laurie explained to Gertie all he had learned about the machine from Monty’s journal and drawings. He secretly prayed that he had interpreted his grandfather’s words correctly.
‘Most of the machine’s actions will be controlled by our thoughts and feelings. We must clear our minds of all thoughts when we are inside it.’
Gertie was impressed by how quickly her brother had figured out how the machine worked. He’d spent less than an hour reading the journal, but he might as well have been there when Monty wrote the instructions.
‘I almost forgot the most important thing,’ Laurie added, before handing Gertie one of the translating chokers. ‘I’ve fiddled with them and I think that they are now set to Latin.’
‘Latin?’ cried Gertie. ‘What for?’
‘What language do you think they spoke in Pompeii two thousand years ago?’
It dawned on Gertie. Laurie really wanted to go to the ancient city of Pompeii, and she secretly congratulated herself for packing Francesca’s book.
The twins held hands as they approached the machine and looked at one another nervously. Britney began to whimper and kept pawing at the twins’ legs. Judging by the heavy rucksack Laurie was carrying, they were going somewhere. Well, they’d better not think about going without her!
‘It feels warm,’ said Gertie, as the gel-like structure of the machine slowly engulfed her. Soon they were settled in the two rounded seats that seemed to float in the centre of the elliptical sphere. Floating above the chairs were two helmets made from steel mesh wire. They looked like the kind of crash helmets angels might wear before they mastered the art of gliding through the skies.
‘Now, whatever happens, you mustn’t take off your helmet while the machine is moving, understood?’ Laurie insisted.
‘Aye, aye, captain,’ Gertie joked, but she knew that she would never take her brother’s advice lightly.
At that moment lightning hit the extended conductor high up on the roof, and almost immediately the machine started to hum and vibrate gently. Bolts of electricity were travelling down the chimney and it appeared as if the machine was hungrily lapping up all the energy.
Again and again lightning struck. The already beautiful machine now radiated with bright, iridescent colours and it seemed to tug at the chains that held it suspended in mid-air. It virtually took the twins’ breath away.
‘The machine is waking up,’ Gertie whispered and her brother agreed. It was as if the machine was beginning to have a mind of its own. With a clanking sound the chains holding it dropped to the floor.
‘We’re floating,’ cried Gertie with delight. The machine was alive and breathing and all its multi-coloured lights seemed to echo the life-giving lightning outside.
Laurie checked the power meter, which was to the left of his seat. ‘Almost enough,’ he affirmed, before turning his attentions to a rectangular red screen that floated at eye-level in front of the two seats. On closer inspection the twins realized that any object inside the machine that appeared to be floating was, in fact, set into the machine’s translucent gelatin-like structure.
‘This screen is the machine’s brain. Without it nothing works,’ Laurie said, and then pointed towards two identical, small panels fitted into the armrests of the two chairs. Instinctively, Gertie followed her brother and placed her right hand onto the panel at her side.
Immediately they were both filled with a strong sense of calm and strength. A delicate beeping sound interrupted them and the voice of the machine spoke to them for the first time. It was a synthetic voice that sounded like a man and a woman speaking at the same time.
‘I am Phaedra. I thank you for giving me life. Commencing initiation data transfer; please clear mind of unnecessary thought process. Connection achieved and mind exchange in progress.’
The machine’s humming increased in frequency and then changed to what sounded like thousands of wind chimes, stroked by a gentle breeze. The twins found they couldn’t keep their eyes open and almost immediately fell into a deep trance. In their dream they were holding hands and running through an unending field of lavender. They could actually smell the purple blossoms and their nostrils flared in their sleep. Moments later a man came running towards them from the distance. Who was that? Britney growled before barking excitedly. Was it possible she, too, could see the man getting closer? Even without a helmet? Soon they would be able to see the man’s face.
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