Keepers of the Quantum (chapter one) (standard:drama, 7695 words)
Author: Sue Simpson (Sooz)	Added: Feb 13 2003	Views/Reads: 3101/2067	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
This is the first chapter of my second novel in the Lizard's Leap series. It's an adventure/fansasy story bridging the gap between adult and child fiction.

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

bet you haven't brushed your teeth either have you?”  She said not 
waiting for an answer to either question. “You had those clothes on 
yesterday, I'm not having you mooching round all day in mucky clothes, 
go on, get into that bathroom and get yourself washed and changed. And 
don't forget to put clean underclothes on. If you have to go to 
hospital you'll be sorry.” Mark went red and scuttled off to the 
bathroom. He was at that age where he didn't like having his underwear 
discussed in front of the girls. He also didn't see what clean 
underwear had to do with hospitals, but then Nanna often talked in 
riddles. 

They always had a cooked breakfast at their grandparent's house on a
Sunday, normally it was one of the highlights of their week and they 
usually stayed at the table chattering long after the food was 
finished. Not this morning though. Kerry who was the worrier of the 
group didn't want to eat anything, her stomach was churning but she 
knew Nanna would only fuss if she didn't, so she forced down a little 
scrambled egg, after pushing most of it onto Mark's plate. The rest of 
them shovelled food into their mouths with little respect for their 
normal good manners. They had so much to talk about and so much to do, 
but they couldn't discuss any important stuff with Nanna just in the 
kitchen.  So the main topic of table conversation was the homecoming of 
the new twins. Amy and Eve were coming out of hospital at lunchtime.  
Emma and Kerry were the twins sister's and couldn't wait for them to 
finally come home. They had been arguing constantly about who was going 
to do what for them. It was all very exciting.  Vicki felt a little bit 
put out because she didn't have a baby sister coming home. Vicki was 
the eldest of the four and had her own plans for her two new cousins 
and God help any established cousin who got in her way. Mark said it 
was all a big fuss about nuffing. Secretly he thought the babies were 
brilliant, and couldn't wait to show them his Lego building skills but 
he wasn't going to admit that to all the giggling girls.  He said that 
if he heard the phrase ‘so cute' once more he was going to hurl all 
over Mr. Ming, the Siamese cat.  What was it with this family, he 
thought, and their inability to produce boys. At least his mother had 
got it half right and had a fifty percent success rate. But Auntie 
Debbie was a total disaster as far as Mark was concerned. Four girls! 
Four of them all nagging and teasing and crying all the time. There was 
no justice in the world. 

Breakfast was a brief event, they cleared the table and stacked their
dishes in record time. Nanna was suspicious about what they were up to, 
and wasn't entirely convinced when they said they were just excited 
because the twins were coming home, she determined to keep an eye on 
them that morning. 

When they were back in the privacy of Kerry and Emma's room, Kez
immediately brought out the large file she'd been keeping.  It was a 
purple folder with a pretty design that said ‘Leaps'. It was filled 
with a hundred clear pockets into which she had placed all of their 
leap pictures to date. She couldn't fit the one of the mansion into it 
because that was a bulky oil painting. It was only their second 
adventure. They almost got killed that day by a large white stallion, 
and Vicki fell in love with a boy who was over a hundred years old. 

“I think we should go somewhere we've been before, just to check the
frame out,”  said Kez. “Nanna's pretty suss and we don't want to be 
gone long.” 

“I agree, and then we can still go to Whence,” said Mark who wanted to
go and see Sylvia that morning as well.” Sylvia was their friend and 
she was very ill. “We could leap into the glade and check Lupus out.” 

“We can't go to see Sylvia Mark, we haven't got time.” And anyway it'd
be too dangerous to go and see her yet.  Have you forgotten what we 
brought back with us last night?” 

“Technically,” said Kerry, who was the brainy one of the four even
though she was the youngest by just one week.  “That should be who we 
brought back through with us, but given that Adobe's not human--and 
even if he was human he's so horrible that he wouldn't be-- we can 
overlook it I suppose.” 

Just the mere mention of adobe caused their mood to drop.  Adobe is
Sylvia's brother and is a bitter little man who wants the frame for 
himself. Emma favoured calling him ‘the prat with a hat' but didn't 
underestimate the malice that he was capable of.  The night before he'd 
chased them out of Whence and through Sylivia's house. He almost got 
them that time and the cousin's had to run down the streets and back 
alley's of Dalton in an attempt to lose him before they went home. 

“Let's go somewhere new.” Said Vicki already looking through magazines
for inspiration.  “It'll be okay, we'll just make sure Nanna is busy, 
Granddad won't be up for ages yet. She'll never miss us for a few 
minutes. 

One of the special features of the frame was that it ran on it's own
clock. When they were in a leap time ran normally, but when they got 
back home after their first adventure they discovered that one-hour of 
leap, only took one minute of real time. So if they leapt for five 
hours, they'd only be gone five minutes. 

They continued to argue about which picture they should put into the
frame to try it out. Mark and Kerry wanted to go and see Lupus, the 
wolf cub they had made friends with. Emma didn't care where they went 
as long as they made a decision before she was too old to enjoy it, and 
Vicki wanted to leap somewhere new. For all the arguments it was a 
foregone conclusion that Vicki would get her own way, at fourteen she 
was the eldest and usually pulled age rank to win anything she might 
lose by majority. 

The other three continued to discuss it while Vicki flicked absently
through the magazine making vague suggestions as she turned the pages.  
“Plate with a picture of an Ascot horserace.  Picture of an 
old-fashioned hat shop. Somebody's kitchen. Swiss chocolate factory.” 

She got no further before Mark cut in excitedly jumping up and down.
“That's it, that's the one, lets go to the swish chocolate factory. Is 
that where they make swish rolls?” 

“It's Swiss, Not swish. You know Swiss is the place Sweden in Austria?”
in reality Vicki wasn't much better than Mark when it came to 
Geography, Kerry just shook her head in disgust.  Mark couldn't care 
less if it was Swiss, swish or Swahili, all he cared about was getting 
inside that chocolate factory. 

“We can't go there Mark, look at these people in the picture the place
is swarming with them.  Don't you think it would look a bit odd four 
kids suddenly appearing next to their machines?” 

“Hmm look at al that chocolate though,” said Kerry. “We could say we
were part of a school trip.” 

“I said no. I'm on a diet and I have a spot coming on my forehead. The
last place I want to be is a chocolate factory, “ said Vicki. “ But 
look at this. I've found something much better, and yes Mark there will 
be plenty of free food.” Mark lived to eat, but never seemed to put an 
ounce on much to the girl's disgust. Mark could eat ten meals a day and 
still fit through the rungs of a ladder. 

They all gathered round the magazine to look at the advertisement for
the two-week cruise round the Caribbean. The ship was enormous and 
clearly showed two swimming pools and five decks. The advert said it 
could accommodate over three thousand passengers. 

“If we go on a two-week cruise, it will take nearly all day said mark
bringing his hands up to count off the time on his fingers and make 
some attempt at the conversion, We'll miss the twins coming. And we'll 
miss dinner and it's roast tonight. You can do what you like, but I'm 
not missing out on that. 

“God you're an idiot sometimes,” cut in Emma. “You won't be going for
the full two weeks, just a few hours. You'll be there and back in five 
minutes, Nanna won't even miss you.” There was one dead give-away that 
they hadn't even considered. They didn't know it yet, but they were 
walking straight into a whole heap of trouble again. 

“I'm not going, no way,” said Emma adamantly.  She was disgusted that
none of them had picked up on the fact that she said ‘you won't be 
going for two weeks' and not ‘we'. There is no way on earth that you 
are going to get me on that boat.  You know I get travel sick.” 

“Oh there won't be people being sick will there?” said Kerry. “I can't
do with people being sick. I've got a phobia.” She finished grandly.  
“So I'm not going either, ugh vomit.” Kerry's eyes were wide and she 
did look genuinely terrified, but she made a big show of trembling for 
the next five minutes, which everybody pointedly ignored. The last 
thing they needed was Kezza going off on a paranoid-loop-do. 

Vicki and Mark rolled their eyes at each other sometimes their cousin's
were no fun. Kerry was a pushover and Vicki knew she could persuade her 
easily. 

“Of course there won't be anyone being sick Kez, look at that water in
the picture it's as calm as Potter's pond. But if you don't want to 
swim with dolphins, then that's okay Mark and I will go by ourselves.” 

Kerry's head shot up so fast that she almost broke her hinge and gave
herself a permanent view of the ceiling. “Dolphins?” she asked 
excitedly.  “I love dolphins. Do you promise no one will be sick 
though?” 

“Promise.” Said Vicki in a voice that sounded more confident than she
actually felt.  That was one down now they only had to persuade Emma. 
She wasn't going to be such an easy take, she sat on the edge of the 
bed with her arms folded and her lips tightly pursed. When Emma made 
her mind up about something she could be very difficult to persuade. 

“Oh come on Emmsie, you won't be sick,” said Vicki in her most pleading
voice.  “The water's calm. Look at the picture doesn't it look brill?” 

“Nope it looks like one big puke bucket to me. I'm not going and that's
final. And if you call me Emmsie one more time, I'll be sick before we 
even get on the boat.  And another thing if you go on an adventure 
without me I'm going to tell all about the frame. We agreed that we'd 
only go on leaps that we were all agreed on.” 

“Well you selfish cow,” Vickie blew, she was at that age and her pretty
face contorted with rage. “Just because you don't want to come you're 
quite happy to spoil it for everyone else.  I bet you won't be sick 
anyway it's cars you are ill in, you've never been on a boat so how 
would you know?” Vickie could see that Emma was weakening so she 
continued. “Just think Em, floating along ordering ice-cold pop and 
ice-cream and sunning ourselves in deckchairs. Better than being stuck 
here in winter isn't it?” 

Emma grinned, “Okay I'm sorry. What are we waiting for then a personal
invitation by the captain himself. Let's go.” 

By the time Emma had made her mind up, Kerry already had the picture in
the frame. They stood in front of it and joined hands, they didn't have 
to hold hands but they found it made for a tidier leap if they all 
landed in the same place. 

With a thrill in her voice Vicki began to chant the rhyme. 

Here is an image for you to keep - Follow where the lizards leap. Move
with caution, take a peep, Beware! Do not get in too deep. 

Repeat the words inscribed below; Take a breath and off you go. 

Sand Lizard.  Sand Lizard, cautiously creep. Shim.  Sham.  Shally wham. 
Lizards leap! 

As Vicki read the last word, the room began to spin. It roated fairly
slowly at first. They grinned at each other and gripped the hands they 
were holding tighter. It was time to hang on. The rotating increased in 
speed, it got faster and faster until the children found themselves 
inside a lightning-fast vortex.  The room had become a spiralling cone, 
a spinning world similar to the centre of a tornado.  They spun and 
spun, unable to get enough breath to scream unable to think, let alone 
have the time to be scared.  It didn't matter how many times they did 
this the feeling that the spinning would never stop was always there. 
What if they were stuck like this forever? It was terrifying and 
exciting and it was like being on the biggest and best roller coaster 
ever. They never got sick of the joy of leaping. Never mind the fun 
they had when they landed in a new leap.  As suddenly as it had begun 
to revolve, the vortex world slowed and came to a stop.  They were 
dizzy and breathless and it was a few seconds before they could take in 
their surroundings. 

It was pitch black they were in some sort of box, it was wooden. “Oh God
we're in a coffin,” shrieked Vicki. She panicked and tried to stand up. 
Although there was something above them it wasn't a nailed down coffin 
lid as she'd expected it was heavy but pliable. As they began to panic 
the movement caused the box to move it was swinging from side to side 
with them inside it.  They could hear voices outside. 

“Oh where are we,” Whimpered Kerry, “I don't like it.  This isn't that
big ship. What's happened?” 

“Ssshhh I think I know where we are,” said Mark. “Just be quiet and help
me get this thing down.” He was struggling with the thick canvass above 
their heads. He moved to what felt like the edge of the box still 
fighting with the top, it was fastened to the outside somehow. Once he 
got a proper hold of it, he could tell it was a huge tarpaulin and he 
managed to pull it to the side. It let a small chink of blinding light 
into their landing place.  They huddled together and four pair of 
blinking eyes peeped out of the small gap. The hosts of the voices they 
heard were suddenly very apparent.  A middle-aged couple was staring 
back at them. 

“See Mary, I told you it was blasted kids. Oi you lot get out of there.
You have the whole ship to play in and you have to mess with the 
lifeboats. Don't you realise that they can save your lives if the ship 
goes down? Come on get out before I report you to the purser.” 

He strode forwards and undid the clasp holding the tarpaulin firmly over
their heads.  They squinted like four little moles as they clambered 
down from the suspended lifeboats.  “Bloomin` kids running wild all 
over the ship. Do your parents know what you're up to?” 

“Sorry,” said Mark, we didn't mean any harm. We just wanted to know what
it would be like to be cast adrift in one of these. 

“Oh leave them alone Jeff,” said Mary.  “There's no harm done and I bet
you did stuff like that when you were their age.” She steered her 
husband away and they could hear him moaning that he'd never had a 
holiday when he was a kid and how kid's these days didn't know they 
were born. 

Without giving the grumpy man another thought they set off to explore
the ship.  First of all they ran to the side and leaned on the railings 
looking out at the sea.  There was no land anywhere in sight. All they 
could see was the deep blue water. It wasn't a dirty grey like the 
beaches they had seen in England but a blue as bright as any sky in the 
heat of summer. Although the sea was calm the waves were crashing up 
the side of the ship as the huge vessel ploughed through the ocean. 
Mark and Kerry were mesmerised. Vickie had a cursory glance at the sea, 
but saw the deck opening out in front of her. Games were being played 
and she instantly began to scan the players for ‘talent'. Emma looked 
over the side of the ship and went a little pale. The sea went on 
forever and was very unnerving. She comforted herself with the thought 
that she could leap home at any time. 

“Come on you lot, let's see what's going on down here.” Vicki was off,
the walkway they had been on opened out into a huge deck, round the 
perimeter people sunned themselves in deckchairs. It was still early in 
the morning in the leap and yet the sun was high and bright. They 
noticed the heat that was not yet uncomfortable for the first time. 
Kerry felt ridiculous in her dark blue winter fleece. 

A voice came over the tannoy. 

“This is your captain speaking. Would all passengers who want to go
ashore be ready to disembark at nine fifty. That's one hour's time for 
St Lucia folks.  Please remember to take bottled water with you for 
drinking. It's going to be a hot one today so you'll need lots of 
sunscreen with you and I hope you all have a pleasant day. We will 
re-assemble on the pier at 18:30 sharp. Thank-you.” 

“Wow we get to get of the ship somewhere foreign. I wonder what it'll be
like,” asked Mark. This was turning into a brilliant leap.  “We've only 
got an hour so let's find the restaurant and see if we can get anything 
to eat. You don't have to pay for anything on these cruises, 
everything's free. Vickie was loath to leave the deck she had already 
smiled at a couple of young lads, and okay they hadn't exactly noticed 
her yet, but it was only a matter of time she reasoned. Emma pointed 
out that ‘lads' were not a species confined only to deck life, there 
were likely to be just as many specimens in the restaurant and bar 
areas if not more. 

It was strange walking on the ship, the constant rolling of the decks
made them lurch a bit, it was a strange sensation.  However despite 
being a bit wobbly and not having their sea legs yet, It didn't take 
long to find somewhere to eat. The ship was a rabbit warren of café's, 
burger bars, cinemas, posh restaurants, and eateries to cater for every 
taste whether you preferred Chinese, Italian, Indian, or Kathmandu. 

They decided that they got to eat at Macdonald's and Pizza Hut quite
often at home, but they'd never been in a really posh restaurant on a 
ship before. They joined the queue for a breakfast buffet fit for a 
king. It might have been called Breakfast, but it was serving 
everything you could imagine. Kerry was still worried about paying for 
their food. Did this constitute abuse of the frame? Would they lose a 
berry for it? The other's assured her that Sylvia said it was perfectly 
all right to enjoy everything the frame offered them, as long as they 
never used it to hurt or cause harm. And just so long as they never did 
anything illegal. Kerry still wasn't sure if this was classed as 
stealing or not.   Mark filled his plate with meats and cheeses. He had 
three different dips, German sausage, bacon bits, pizza slice, hot 
barbecued chicken, garlic bread and tortilla chips. On another plate he 
took helpings of four different desserts, though admittedly small 
helpings, he could always go back for more when he'd finished.  The 
melee of mixed puddings was a sight that only Mark could call 
beautiful, He was in heaven.  Vickie and Kerry filled their plates more 
modestly, and Emma took only a slice of juicy watermelon. Her lips were 
dry and she wanted a drink more than anything but couldn't fancy any of 
the juices soda's or hot drinks on offer. 

They sat at a table facing the sea so they could look out for dolphins.
Mark wasted no time getting stuck into his huge meal. For once he was 
quiet. 

Emma was also strangely quiet.  It hadn't been so bad when they'd been
up on deck in the fresh air, but now that they were stuck in a stuffy 
restaurant full of people and food smells her stomach had begun to 
churn. Vickie was about to ask her if she was all right because she was 
so quiet, but one look at Emma's face and she didn't have to ask. She 
had gone as white as the waves on the sea. Her eyes were filled with 
tears and she didn't look well at all. 

“Oh Em,” she said in a voice full of sympathy. 

Kerry began to panic. “You promised Vicki, you promised no one would be
sick,” She stood up from the table throwing the piece of Edam that 
she'd been eating back onto her plate. Emma was looking worse by the 
second and Kerry ran out of the restaurant yelling “Oh no, she's going 
to be sick, she's going to be sick.” Everyone heard and the lady at the 
next table eyed her vegetable soup with distaste. 

Now it was Emma's turn to flee. She was out of her seat in a flash with
one hand clamped over her mouth. The toilets were at the far end of the 
restaurant and she pushed through people rudely in her haste to get to 
the sanctuary of a toilet bowl.  From her position on the lavatory 
floor she vowed in between “oh no here we go again's” that she would 
throw Vicki overboard just as soon as she could stand up.  Vicki felt 
guilty and stood hovering in the doorway passing Emma damp paper towels 
in between her bouts of illness. 

Mark was still sitting at the table working his way through the plate of
four desserts. He was oblivious to Vicki's discomfort or Kerry's 
distress. All that existed in his little world was toffee pavlova mixed 
with sherry trifle, topped with strawberry gateaux and garnished with 
rich tirimissu. When Vicki came back from the bathroom with a very weak 
and embarrassed looking Emma, he eyed the buffet carousel with yearning 
before following them out. It was a huge sacrifice he felt because he 
was only half full. 

They couldn't find Kerry anywhere and for the time being Emma's sickness
was forgotten as she looked for her missing sister. Finally at the far 
corner of the deck in a place shaded by the equipment hut lay what 
looked like a discarded coat. It was only the worried little voice 
coming from under the blue fleece that gave Kerry away. 

“She promised no one would be sick. Huh no dolphins and Emma being ill,
this is just like Emma said, one big puke bucket.”  Oblivious to all 
around her Kerry was chuntering away to herself. “I've got a phobia I 
have, nobody cares about me though do they? No. I've got a phobia and 
I'm in puke bucket hell.” 

Now that the scare of Kerry being lost was over Emma was feeling queasy
again. Land was in sight now, and the shape of the looming trees 
bobbing around in front of her eyes didn't help at all. 

“I'm going home guys,” she said. “I'll see you back there in a bit.” 

“Aww don't go we're getting off in a minute. Let's at least have a look
round the island and then we can leap home from there. No more boat's I 
promise.” 

Emma dropped her voice because they were near a large man asleep on a
sun lounger. 

“Nah I still don't feel so good. I think I need to lie down. See you
later.” 

She began to chant the spell to get her home. The last thing she felt
like doing was to endure the vortex to get her home, but she really did 
need to lie down quietly. The other's stepped back so that they were 
out of range of the spell, and Emma vanished. 

So did the large man in the stripy trunks on the sun lounger. 

Emma recovered remarkably quickly from the vortex as she took in the
scene in her bedroom. The man's lounger fit neatly between the bed and 
the wardrobe, his hat had fallen over his eyes in the spin. And he 
moaned and brushed it back with his arm as he started to wake up. 

“Oh Jesus on a jetski,” exclaimed Emma, terror stricken in case he fully
woke up in her bedroom. Her first attempt at the spell came out all 
garbled and wrong. She stood as close to the man as possible, took a 
deep breath and began again. Just before the room started to spin she 
heard their Nanna calling up the stairs for Vicki. 

“Vicki, Vicki it's the tele...” 

Less than a minute after they'd vanished Emma and the man returned.  He
screamed and shot up from his chair. And then seeing the curious face 
of four kids's looking at him he seemed embarrassed. 

“Ahem, ahh yes, um forgive me. Nightmares you know.” With that he took
his hat and strode off with as much dignity as he could muster. 

“He's no doubt on his way to the bar for a stiff whiskey.” Said Emma;
“Phew that was a close one.” She grabbed Vicki by the arm to get her 
attention away from the young lad whose attention she was trying her 
hardest to attract. 

“By the way Vick, you'd better leap back flippin` sharpish Nanna's
calling you and if she comes up stairs we're all going to be for it.” 
Before Emma had even finished speaking Vicki was chanting the spell to 
leap home. 

She was moving before her feet fully touched the floor, not waiting for
the dizziness to leave her. 

“... phone. If you don't get down here right this minute I'll tell
Melanie that you can't be bothered to come and talk to her.” Nanna had 
her foot on the first step. 

“Coming Nanna,” 

Vicki wasn't gone long and leaped back from where she left.  All this
leaping backwards and forwards wasn't good, it was a sure-fire way to 
draw attention to themselves and that was the last thing they needed. 

By this time the ship had docked and was disembarking.  The cousins used
a trick that had worked for them in the past. They split up in to two 
groups of two and squeezed in between two couples. Each couple thought 
the other couple was the parent of the two children. Using this method 
they managed to get passed the cabin crew. It was only when the 
passengers re-embarked that evening that they would need their boarding 
cards. 

They were all really excited to be in St Lucia, especially Emma who felt
instantly better once her feet were back on stable ground.  They had a 
fantastic time.  By now the sun had risen and burned down viciously. It 
seemed only mad dogs and passengers on the Free Spirit cruise ship were 
crazy enough to wander round in the intense heat.   The scenery was 
lush and breathtaking and Mark was just a little too keen to dawdle 
over the topless beach.  For two hours the four walked in the sun, 
exploring and talking to the traders and local people. 

Storms hit fast in the Caribbean, one minute there wasn't a cloud in the
sky. The next the first rumbles of low thunder grumbled in the skies 
above them. The traders moved fast, they knew the weather at this time 
of year was cruel and had no respect for a poor man's livelihood.  It 
didn't take them long to pack up and shackle their shutter's for the 
day.  They hated losing good trade when there was a ship in, but they 
were a laid back island and knew another boat was due in two days. 

“Maan,” said one of the men to Mark. “It be a hol-ee-day from de lor`
above! I can sit in me chair now and watch de Mister and de Missus up 
der throwin` dem pans aroun` in temper. She got a wil` temper dat Mam 
nature.” 

Kerry who could be quite prim sometimes wanted to tell the man that he
would be a lot easier to understand if he would at least finish his 
words off properly, but he had big eyes with lots of white round them 
and he scared her. She'd never seen a live black man before. It did 
occur to her that she'd never seen a dead one either, but she didn't 
dwell on it. Mark insisted on roping them in to help Chicha pack away 
all his things. He was an artist and was very grateful to them for 
getting his canvasses off the pavement before the heavy rain came. The 
sky was still bright blue and Emma thought it highly unlikely that any 
rain was going to come at all but mucked in to help reluctantly. 

Chicha was very grateful and insisted that they all sit under the
veranda of his stall and watch the rains come.  “You will like it, you 
will like. Dat rain he come fast maan and he come strong.” Chicha was 
going to offer them beer but figured their parents might come along at 
any time and then he'd be for it so he brought cans of cola out of his 
ice-box instead and handed them round to the parched youngsters. Now 
this was more like it, thought Emma. Beautiful scenery, cold drinks and 
the promise of a pretty little storm to watch.  Half a mile out to sea 
was a picturesque lighthouse that chicha had been painting when the 
first signs of the storm came. The heat outside was still unbearable, 
but here in the partial shade of Chicha's stall it was just right. 

Mark kept looking at Chicha's right hand. He had no thumb and Mark was
dying to ask what had happened to it. 

“You be wondereen abou` me han` der man?” he held up his hand to show
them all. 

“ Dem fadders of de church, dey tell der is no difference `tween love an
war. I is chi-cha. Chicha mean Be-love-ed.”  Another of chicha's 
annoying habits was breaking his words down into syllables. “Well I is  
de man who lives by de name. Only ting is I beloved my brudder's wife a 
ting too much, so he chop de finger off wid de big hat-chet maan.” 

Kerry and Vicki sat with blank expressions and hadn't a clue what chicha
had just aid. They had trouble understanding him. 

“He was diddling his brother's wife, “ said Emma, “so his brother
chopped his finger off with a big axe.” 

“Ex-act-ly,” said Chicha laughing at the girl's disgust. 

During the minute they had turned away from the beach to listen to
Chicha's true horror story, the sun had been lost behind brawling black 
clouds.  Suddenly there was an almighty clap of thunder and the first 
fat raindrops landed like bullets on the awning of the kiosk.  Vicki 
was a little bit scared of the monstrous claps of thunder and snake 
tongues of lightening that broke the sky every few seconds, but she 
wasn't going to let the other's see. She kept close to Chicha though in 
case they got washed away in all the rain. Kerry was entranced and 
never moved a muscle. This was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen 
and she watched in awe as the sky literally cracked in several places 
as more than one bolt of lightening took over the sky at any one time. 
It was darker now. Almost like nighttime and yet it was only mid 
morning. The heat was like a thing with substance, something that could 
be reached out to and touched. And so much rain had come down in the 
first five minutes that a river ran in the guttering five feet in front 
of the stall. 

“Will the stall blow away?” asked Mark worried. 

“Aye, I tink it probably will.” 

“What will you do?” Mark saw this man as some sort of super-hero and was
worried for him and his living. 

“I build anodda stall tomorra maan. I build new stall week,week,week.”
He gestured with his hands the passing of the weeks. 

“You build a new stall every week?” said Emma amazed. 

“Aye when de rains come.” 

The next time lightening split the sky, Chicha sat forward on his seat.
He was tense, all the feeling of being laid back was gone and he rocked 
slightly in impatience as he scoured the darkness to be able to see. 

The next bolt was a generous one. It brought light to the sky for three
seconds and Chicha was ready for it.  What he saw was backlit and 
looked like a postcard held by some great hand against a sheet of black 
velvet. 

A small cabin boat was being fiercely tossed around on the open sea.
Chicha ran from his seat waving his arms and screaming uselessly at the 
boat over a mile out to sea. 

“Ya Idiots,” he yelled.  “Der is da reef. Got to get to da lighthouse. 
I's got to save dem.” 

A fierce wind was blowing now and the first of the stalls came loose
from it's mooring and tumbled like driftwood down the deserted beach.  
The churning breakers roared in anger as they drove the sand up the 
beach with each arrival. Bigger waves danced their tribal war dance 
behind the breakers, and the boat rose and fell on the storm's eddy. 

“If we's don` get to dat lighthouse , dem people's be dead for sure.”
Said Chicha. “but der be no way to row der in dis.” 

Kerry had a plan.  “Chicha give me one of your painting's of the
lighthouse please.” 

“wha? Gel wha you talkin` abou` dis aint no time for de art class. Dem's
people gonna die out der an you wanna pic-cha?” 

Kerry was a bit frightened of Chicha because she couldn't understand
what he was saying. It put her at a disadvantage and made her feel 
stupid and she didn't like that. She didn't have time to argue with him 
and ran into the kiosk and helped herself to one of the small finished 
paintings of the lighthouse.  Before anyone could protest she was 
chanting the spell. 

Chicha shook his head at Kerry. “Dat girl she cra-zy.” 

Mark realising what she was about to do ran into the spell zone with
Vicki and two seconds later the three kids vanished. 

Emma was left alone with Chicha. Thanks guys she thought. What am I
going to say now? 

“Hey maan.” She said to Chicha at a loss for what else to say. She
didn't quite get the inflection right but it was her first ever time 
hanging out with a St Lucien. 

She needn't have worried Chicha didn't hear her. He was standing looking
into the space where ten seconds earlier three kids stood. He looked 
down at his beer and shook his head.  “Wow crazy magic.” Suddenly he 
remembered the girl that was left behind when the others vanished.  He 
turned round very slowly and his look of wonder was replaced by a 
wide-eyed stare of sheer terror.  He looked a pretty scary sight 
himself with his big white eyes glowing in the lightening. 

“Hey Chicha,” said Emma again trying for cool hip-hop “Take it easy man,
I'm a good fairy, you know like tinker bell. Not one of those bad-assed 
dudes that put spells on people and stuff.” 

“Hey girl, you don't pull no crazy stuff on me now. I aint got no
biznezz whit no ghost girl. You gonna hurt me girl?” Emma had her work 
cut out calming Chicha down and explaining how these things worked. 

Back at home Mark changed the picture in the frame from the boat to the
lighthouse and then he and Vicki joined hands and leaped into the 
lighthouse.  It was decided that Kerry would stay behind and act as a 
decoy, they could hear that Granddad was up now and he might come into 
their room to see what they were up to if one of them didn't stay 
behind to distract him. Kerry was disappointed but saw the sense in it. 


Mark and Vicki weren't lucky enough to leap into the top of the
lighthouse where the lantern and reflectors were. They landed in a heap 
on the cold stone at the bottom of the building.  The groundfloor of 
the lighthouse was one large round room. A wide set of steps opened off 
in front of them and they both struggled with each other to get through 
the opening first. Vicki just managed to get purchase on the first step 
and break ahead of Mark. They ran up the stairs.  After the first 
twenty steps they began to tire and they had hardly begun to rise.  
This was when they realised that each step was narrower than the last.  
They continued round and up for another eighty steps. Both of them were 
counting. Neither one dared stop to look out of the windows that kept 
appearing as they flew passed them. At a hundred steps they opened out 
into the next room. It was the living quarters but they hardly took the 
scene in. the lighthouse was obviously not inhabited very often judging 
by the lack of care about the place. Still they went up. The steps were 
becoming seriously narrow now.  Not much wider than the width of 
Vicki's foot. 

Their hearts were pounding and the blood was pumping through their
narrow veins in an attempt to fuel this mad mercy dash. They had slowed 
exhausted, body's heaving with the need to breathe the breath that 
burst from their body's like a plume of red hot fire. The final step 
before they broke onto the top level was so tiny that Vicki almost lost 
her footing and fell backwards onto Mark who was right behind her. 

And then they were there. They flicked the large switch that activated
the lantern and pulled a lever that enabled it to rotate.  Soon the 
lantern was up to full speed and sending blinding light out to the 
entire bay. The troubled boat would be able to avoid the rocks of the 
reef now and aim for the lighthouse beacon. 

The tired pair only wanted one thing, A nice cup of tea. They were
shattered. 

Back at the kiosk Chicha and Emma high fived when the light came on.
Until that moment they didn't even know if the other's had managed to 
get into the lighthouse. It was a brilliant moment. 

When Vicki and Mark landed back in Kerry and Emma's bedroom, they were
just in time to hear all hell let lose from the living room downstairs. 


“Of all the stupid, ridiculous things to do. Don't you know how
dangerous those things can be?”  It was Granddad's voice and he sounded 
mad.  Mark and Vicki looked at each other. Had they been found out? 

Vicki took her baseball cap off and threw it on the bed.  Mark stared at
her in horror. 

Where her cap had been there was now a big white band on her forehead. 

“Oh god Vicki you've got sunburned.” 

They went down stairs to face the music and Granddad was still yelling
at kerry. “ Those sunbed's cause skin cancer you know. You must have 
had it on the highest setting your mother's going to go mad.  What were 
you thinking of girl? Oh my God I don't believe it, not you two as 
well?” 

When she went down stairs Kerry hadn't the slightest idea what her
grandparent's were gawping at.  The pale little girl of an hour earlier 
was now as red as a Caribbean lobster. She had thought fast though and 
shamefacedly admitted that they'd been playing on auntie Karen's 
sunbed. 

While the other's were getting a sound grilling, Emma was saying goodbye
to Chicha, she'd realised by this time that as they had no picture of 
the kiosk they couldn't leap back and going via the ship would be too 
risky. Emma promised to send his picture back but Chicha said they 
could keep it as both a souvenir and a means of getting back to see 
him. He assured her that on a good day it was perfectly safe to swim in 
from the lighthouse. 

Grandad was still at it, and now Nanna had joined in with the old I'm
very disappointed in you lot you've let me down speech. 

“And where's our Emma, If she's on that damned thing ...” 

“Here I am.” Said Emma who had the worst sunburn of the lot of them and
was poorly with it for three days. But at that point it hadn't even 
begun to burn and she had no idea what she was walking into. 

“Hiya gang-gang,” she said using her old familiar baby greeting for her
grandfather.  She was going to pretend that she had been reading a book 
about the Caribbean and a nice man called Chicha. 

“You'll never guess what I've been doing.” 


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