Читать книгу Mr Humperdinck's Mysterious Manuscript - Wynand Louw - Страница 9

Miss Green and a Toad Named Henry

Pete’s first reaction was to duck and run, but Rose uttered a war cry and swiped his legs from under him with a lightning-fast karate kick. He fell flat on his back. Then she grabbed him by the ears and pulled him to his feet again. “Nobody breaks into my school and gets away with it,” she hissed.

Pete felt as if his ears would be torn from his head as she steered him to the door and down the staircase.

She cackled. “No need to call the police now, I’ll just keep you in the basement until morning. We’ll have some serious fun, you and I!”

In the dark main corridor she suddenly stopped and listened. Pete had heard it too: a soft but distinct plop. Another plop followed, and a moment later plop-plop-plop. Rose let go of Pete’s left ear and they turned their heads towards the sound. There was nothing to be seen, only the broken tiles of the corridor reflecting the faint light that filtered through the dirty windows.

Plop. Something came hopping towards them from a shadow in the corner. It was a toad. A giant monstrosity of a toad with skin like grey putty and warts the size of jawbreakers. For a moment Rose seemed to be somewhat at a loss: She needed to do something about this new intruder in her domain, but she didn’t dare let go of Pete’s right ear for fear of losing her prey.

When the toad hopped even closer, her problem was solved. She aimed a kick at the creature’s immense skull.

But just then Miss Green came charging around the corner, her high-heeled shoes clattering on the tiles. “DON’T!” she shouted, waving her hands.

Rose froze like a statue of a soccer player in action, impossibly balanced on the ball of her left foot, with her right foot millimetres from impact with the toad’s skull. To Pete’s utter amazement, she did not fall over. The toad hopped on as if nothing had happened, oblivious of its close brush with death by steel-tipped biker boot.

Miss Green strode past Pete and grabbed the toad. It was so big that both her hands could not encircle its abdomen.

“Stupid frog! Don’t ever do that again!” she chided, and then she turned to Pete. “Don’t just stand there, help me!”

Pete extracted his right ear from Rose’s grip.

Miss Green thrust the toad in his face. “You carry him.”

He took the cold slimy creature, and she turned and started to walk back the way she had come.

The toad promptly began to inflate itself. Soon it was the shape of a rugby ball, and then it was as round (and as big) as a soccer ball. It floated up like a helium balloon.

The Biology teacher stopped and looked over her shoulder. “You coming?”

When she saw the floating inflated amphibian, she came back and tried to grab it by a hind leg.

It had already floated beyond her reach. Instead she waved her finger at it. “Oh, stop that, H–” For a brief moment she seemed to choke. “Henry! You’re behaving like a spoiled child!”

The toad looked embarrassed. It burped a massive burp that made Pete’s eyes water, deflated to its normal size and hit the ground with a PLOP.

Miss Green picked it up and started walking down the corridor again. “Come!”

“What about Rose?” asked Pete, recovering from the toad’s breath. The caretaker still stood with her boot pointing at the ceiling.

“Leave her.”

Pete touched the immobilised woman. She fell over like a mannequin, her body rigid in the same position.

“But is she okay?” he asked as he followed Miss Green into the Biology classroom.

Miss Green placed the toad in a large glass tank. “She’ll wake in a few hours’ time with a bad headache. Won’t remember a thing about tonight.”

That was a relief.

Or was it? Miss Green was a teacher after all, and would have to report him to Schiz.

“I picked my new toad up at the airport tonight, and brought him to the school immediately. No space for him in my little flat. He’s come all the way from Venezuela.” She took a round-bellied flask from a shelf, filled it with water and placed it on a tripod. Then she lit a Bunsen burner under it. “Coffee?”

Pete nodded. There had to be some way to escape. The lab’s windows were barred and it had only one door. After seeing what she had done to Rose, Pete was sure she would zap him with magic before he could even reach it.

She sat down. “So, that explains my presence here. What’s your excuse?”

The rows of wooden benches, the hamsters and guinea pigs in the cages as well as the snake in the glass tank, the posters on the walls – nothing provided inspiration for a plan. He sat down on the stool she pushed in his direction.

“You don’t need to tell me. I can guess. You came to find your skateboard.”

Pete said nothing. A confession was worth a thousand suspicions.

“I’d have done exactly the same thing, if I were in your position.” She took two cups and a jar of instant coffee from her drawer. “Mr Schulz had no right to take your skateboard. As far as I’m concerned, it’s theft.”

He brightened. “Do you really think so?” Maybe she was on his side. She did zap Rose, after all.

“Of course! When I was a kid in Schiz’s class, he confiscated my pet frog. I never saw it alive again. He’s a monster!”

Pete breathed just a bit easier. There was a definite possibility of an alliance here. “Could you …?” He paused, unsure if it was really safe to take the step.

“Help you get your skateboard back?” She raised her palms. “Sorry. I’m a teacher at this school. I can’t break the rules. In fact, I should report this little burglary on Monday morning.”

Pete’s shoulders slumped. It was worth a try.

“That doesn’t mean I’ll do it, though.”

“You won’t?”

Miss Green gave a secretive little smile. It made Pete uneasy right down to the seat of his pants. “Not if I don’t have to.” Then she changed the subject: “Tell me about your skateboard.”

Pete shrugged. “You know everything anyway.” He fiddled with the cuff of his sleeve, and when she said nothing, he continued, “I have this sort of brain link with it, and it can fly …”

She leaned forward in her chair, eager to hear more. “And?”

“Well … It can go uphill.”

“That’s all?”

Her disappointment further unsettled Pete. “There should be more?”

Miss Green sighed. “Old Humperdinck often did sloppy work.”

Pete felt a familiar little knot in his stomach. Someone saying bad things about his friend made him angry. “He did?”

“Can your skateboard telepenetrate?” she asked, and when she saw the confusion on Pete’s face, she elaborated, “Can it go from one place to another in a nanosecond, like that?” She snapped her fingers.

Pete shook his head.

“Does it speak, or grant wishes?”

“No, but …”

“See? Typical of the old man. Real third-rate job.”

Pete was stunned.

“Look, these are all standard features of an entry-level magic skateboard. I, for one, always include them when I make one.”

“You make magic skateboards?”

She smiled again. “You mean, would I make you a magic skateboard? It depends …”

The water was boiling. Her silver bangles tinkled as she busied herself with making the coffee.

“It’s an expensive business, making a magic skateboard.”

Mr Humperdinck had made his for free. He said nothing.

She changed the subject again. “Have you heard about the manuscript?”

Pete shook his head.

“It’s all over the Weave!” She switched on the computer on her desk. “You do know what the Fairyweave is, don’t you?”

“Nope.”

“Fairies can make magic,” she explained, “that extends their consciousness like threads into space. When two threads touch each other, there is exchange of knowledge. Millions of threads weave together and form the Fairyweave. It spans the globe.”

Pete was impressed. “Sounds like the internet!”

“Exactly!” said Miss Green. “For thousands of years, humans have tied into the Weave with various interfaces: crystal balls, bones, teacups, palm reading and so forth. Nowadays it’s much easier. I have a WaDI on my computer. A Weave Digital Interface.”

She started a programme, and the splash screen said SuperWaDI ©BrickWare. A moment later a bewildering stream of images exploded on the screen. Miss Green placed her hand on a crimson gem next to the keyboard and immediately the images slowed down and became more well behaved. There were views of Fairy, the world that few mortals have ever seen: sublime beings and nightmarish monsters, unearthly landscapes and weird gadgets. There was also an endless chattering of fairies about their neighbours, shopping, sport, body odour and almost everything else under the sun.

This gave Pete an idea. “Can you see the future with it?” he asked, thinking of the next week’s History test.

Miss Green shook her head. “No one can see the future. Why do you think casinos make money and fortune tellers are poor?”

A moment later an image of Mr Humperdinck appeared on the screen, and she hit the space bar. The screen froze, and then she scrolled through images and text that seemed to move randomly in all directions across the screen. “You see this? Old Humperdinck was on the verge of discovering a manuscript of great value and power just before he died. All the clues should be among his documents.”

Pete tried to read text that drifted diagonally across the screen, but it made him dizzy. “What’s this manuscript about?”

“We can only speculate, but everyone seems to be certain about the author. It was written by the great Hammurabi of Mesopotamia.” Miss Green turned to Pete and grabbed him by the arm, startling him with her sudden intensity. “We have to find this manuscript, you and I, Pete! It’s worth millions! All our dreams can come true!”

There was a greedy glint in her eyes that scared Pete and ignited his flight instinct. He pulled his arm away. “Mr Humperdinck left all his documents to the Snowman. I don’t think …”

“No, Pete, do think! Think about that magic skateboard! We’ll split everything fifty-fifty.”

Pete got up. “I have to go. If my dad finds out that I’m not in bed, there’ll be trouble.”

“Your father,” she said softly. “Think of your father. Think how you could help him if you suddenly made a fortune …” She smiled.

“My dad’s okay! He’s starting a new job and he’s going to earn loads of money.”

She smiled again, barely moving the edges of her mouth. Her eyes remained hard and cold. “Ask your dad tomorrow how much he’ll be earning, and then think about my offer, Patchwork Pete.” She steered him towards the door.

Mannie Mouton had been calling him “Patchwork Pete” since the day he came to school with a patch on the seat of his pants. He had always ignored it, but the way Miss Green said it, was like a blow to the guts. He ran down the corridor and was out of the building in a flash.

“Psst … Pete!” Freddy’s loud whisper caught his attention. His friend was in the deep shadows of the alley where they planned to meet if things went wrong.

“Did you get my skateboard?”

“No, I think it was locked in one of the cupboards. When Rose nabbed you, I escaped through the window and slid down the gutter. What happened?”

The disappointment was overwhelming. “Dammit, Freddy, couldn’t you have tried a bit harder? You were right there!”

“Don’t shout, okay! I said it was locked away. Tell me, did she call the police? Did she torture you?”

Pete didn’t feel like talking. He was angry and suddenly bone-tired. He wanted to be in bed. “Nothing happened. I got away.”

He left Freddy in the alley and walked home alone.

Pete felt like chewing gum stretched between a shoe and a hot road. Miss Green had an aura of mystery and cold power. She was scary. At the same time she intrigued and attracted him. Somehow she had awakened a new emotion in him. Life had taught him not to want anything, because it usually ended in disappointment. He had always been okay with what he had, and happy when he received something unexpected. But a skateboard that could telepenetrate and grant wishes …

He wanted it.

And he didn’t want to be “Patchwork Pete” anymore.

The sun was rising when he finally climbed through the window of their flat. He made sure that his dad was still asleep, and quietly slipped into bed. He was asleep in an instant. When Peter Smith came back from church later that morning, he tried to wake Pete. Pete mumbled something about a headache, turned over and slept again.

On Monday morning, Pete woke with a ton of bricks in his stomach. If he could have avoided going to school he would have, but he couldn’t find an excuse. And he had to know.

The weather was foul; the clouds burst on his way to school. The children shuffled into the hall for Monday morning assembly in their wet raincoats and sat in little puddles on the polished wooden floor. Schiz was in a particularly bad mood. There had been a burglary in the office over the weekend. Of course he knew who the guilty party was, but since he was a compassionate and merciful man, he would give the culprit a chance to redeem himself by confessing. Pete sighed with relief. Miss Green hadn’t given him away. Yet.

Biology was the third period of the day. Miss Green kept bragging about her new herpetological wonder: her toad from South America. Henry could breathe through his skin, see? That’s why he was so slimy, so the oxygen could dissolve and diffuse into the blood. Wasn’t that something? Pete thought he would puke and avoided making eye contact with her at all cost. When the bell finally rang, Miss Green called him to her desk.

“Have you thought about my little proposition?” she asked when they were alone.

“Not really …”

“You know that the petty cash box disappeared from the office?”

Pete drew a deep breath. “It wasn’t me! I would never do that!”

She smiled. “If you say so, Pete. Apparently poor Rose was assaulted. She has a big bump on the head and amnesia to show for it. The police will never know who did it, unless …”

He watched the rainwater run in small rivulets down the windowpanes. Beyond that was grey city against grey sky. “Unless?”

“Well, she could regain her memory, you know. I know a few incantations and concoctions that are quite effective for curing amnesia. They say juvenile detention can be hell …” She reached into her drawer and handed Pete a photograph of a brand new skateboard, obviously top of the range and very expensive, with a carbon fibre composite deck and titanium alloy trucks. “Partners?”

Pete nodded, then walked slowly to Miss Peach’s classroom for History.