Читать книгу The Complete Ruby Redfort Collection: Look into My Eyes; Take Your Last Breath; Catch Your Death; Feel the Fear; Pick Your Poison; Blink and You Die - Lauren Child - Страница 93

POOR CLANCY – IF ONLY HE HAD KNOWN what was in store for him that day, he doubtless wouldn’t have made it out of bed. Morning class was interrupted by an in-person announcement from Coach Newhart.

It seemed that the whole of the grade 9 swim team had gone down with mollusc poisoning at last night’s clambake – except for Denning Minkle who was allergic to seafood. The doctor had advised that no one take part in the swimathon for fear of weak limbs and consequent drowning.

Coach Newhart wasn’t to be defeated by this alarming news – Coach Newhart was rarely defeated by anything. To Coach Newhart, this was a challenge, and a coach’s job was about nothing if not challenges. So grade 9 were all getting up close and personal with their latrines – he still had grade 8 and they looked to be fighting fit, a bit weedy perhaps, but no one was throwing up.

‘So can I count on all o’ youse for the Twinford swimathon?’ bellowed Coach Newhart. ‘I am determined that this year we will beat Branwell High.’

Clancy tried to make himself very small and very invisible, but it didn’t work.

‘Crew! I’m including you in this. I want you out in that bay, front and centre, swimming as if your life depended on it.’

Clancy had a premonition that it probably would. The idea of getting in that ocean scared the living daylights out of him, but then at this precise moment, so did Coach Newhart – Coach Newhart was not a man one said no to. No siree.

‘So Crew, you gonna be there?’

Clancy nodded his head. But that wasn’t good enough for Coach Newhart.

‘I can’t hear you sonny.’

‘Sir, yes sir,’ shouted Clancy, like he was on a parade ground.

‘That’s more like it,’ said the coach, nodding. Then he turned to Ruby. ‘And you Redfort. I won’t be accepting a note from the Governor this time. Everyone swims. And that includes you.’

‘OK,’ said Ruby, shrugging. She really didn’t mind – she was a good swimmer. In fact so was Clancy; it was a curse for him that despite appearances he was actually very athletic and surprisingly fast in water. For someone who hated water as much as he did, this was a real problem.

Once Coach Newhart had finally stopped barking, Twinford’s very own chief lifeguard, the implausibly named Slicker Dawn, gave a little briefing about bay safety. Slicker delivered all information at top volume, probably because he had spent much of his time shouting instructions at swimmers; he liked to repeat things too, so his five-minute briefing took a good half-hour.

‘Anyway,’ concluded the lifeguard, ‘Twinford Bay is one of the safest in the county. I repeat, one of the safest in the county. So long as you stay between the flags, you will not get sucked out to sea by the riptides and you will not get dragged down by the undertow.’

‘Oh boy,’ muttered Clancy under his breath. ‘I don’t stand a chance.’

‘Just to reassure you,’ shouted Slicker Dawn, ‘we haven’t had one mayday call or rescue in three weeks, not one! That’s a record right there.’

To Clancy this just made it all the more likely that there would be one soon – according to probability, a rescue was surely due.

The announcement over, Clancy tried to go back to concentrating on class, but however much he tried to engage with the subject at hand, he found that right now the life cycle of the Peruvian tree frog didn’t really have too much to do with the life prospects of a shrimpy boy from Twinford City.

When the bell rang, he slowly pushed his chair away from the desk, picked up his bag and walked out into the corridor. He was so lost in thought that he didn’t see his long-time enemy lumbering towards him.

‘Crew, you look like you’re about to pee your pants,’ sneered Bugwart, blocking his path.

‘No, I’m about to throw up actually so if you don’t want to get puked on, I’d get outta the way.’ As soon as he had uttered these words, he realised that he was indeed about to throw up. Looking at him, Vapona could also see that this was in fact more than likely and immediately stepped to one side as Clancy made a dash for the restroom.

When Clancy finally made it to music class, everyone else was already in their places. Ruby, who was on xylophone, was sitting on the other side of the room from Clancy who was to be on kettledrum. She could see his face, all scrunched up with anxiety, and it was pretty obvious what he was thinking about.

Ruby tapped out a message in Morse code*:

-.-. .-.. .- -. -.-. -.-- --..-- / -.-. .... .. .-.. .-.. / --- ..- - / -- .- -. --..-- /

-.-- --- ..- / .-.. --- --- -.- / .-.. .. -.- . / -.-- --- ..- .----. .-. . / .- -... --- ..- - /

- --- / -.. .. .

Clancy looked up. He knew right away what she was saying and his reply was this:

- .... .- - .----. ... / -.-. --- ... / .. / .- -- / .- -... --- ..- - / - --- / -.. .. . --..-- /

- .... .. ... / ... .- - ..- .-. -.. .- -.-- / -- --- .-. -. .. -. --.

So Ruby tapped out another which went:

- .... . .-. . / .- .-. . / -. --- / ... .... .- .-. -.- ... / .. -. / - .-- .. -. ..-. --- .-. -.. /

-... .- -.--

And in return got this back from Clancy:

.--. .-. --- ...- . / .. -

Boy, was he ever the most stubborn kid she had ever met.

Mrs Courtenay-Clack rapped her conductor’s baton crossly on the side of her music stand.

‘When you are quite ready Ruby, Clancy – we are all waiting.’

Ruby looked around the room – it was true: everyone was waiting for her to lead into this rather modern piece by Fenton Schrieber.

She picked up her stick and banged out what were meant to be the first few notes of Elastic Movement in G, but was in fact another message for Clancy.

--. . . --.. --..-- / - .... . -.-- / -.-. .- .-.. .-.. / - .... .. ... / -- ..- ... .. -.-. ..--..

He smiled.

The teacher rapped her baton again.

‘Ms Redfort, will you please get with the programme!’

‘Sorry Mrs Courtenay-Clack,’ said Ruby, pretending to leaf through her music score. ‘I think I skipped a page.’