Alice-Miranda at Camp 10

by Jacqueline Harvey

  ‘Are you gonna outrun him, sir?’ Figgy yelled. Several of the boys roared with laughter.

  As the bus flew through the gates the police car sped past and skidded to a halt in front of it.

  Mr Plumpton stomped on the brake and his passengers were thrown forward. Fortunately they were held in by their seatbelts.

  ‘Steady on there, Plumpy! You’ll kill us all!’ Mr Lipp exploded as his head stopped just short of hitting the metal bar in front of him.

  A tall thin woman wearing navy trousers and a white shirt stepped out of the police car. She rapped sharply on the driver’s window and demanded that Mr Plumpton open the door.

  ‘What did you do, sir?’ Rufus Pemberley called. The children leapt up from their seats to see what was happening.

  ‘Sit down, everyone,’ Miss Reedy barked from the front of the vehicle. ‘Don’t move a muscle – or else.’

  The children reluctantly returned to their seats.

  Mr Plumpton pulled the lever and the bus door opened with a whoosh.

  The woman held up a shiny silver badge as she walked up the stairs and onto the bus.

  ‘Can you see what’s going on?’ Alice-Miranda asked as Millie craned her neck to try to get a better look at the officer.

  ‘I’m DS Freeman. You, you and you.’ She pointed at the three teachers. ‘Off the bus, please.’

  For the first time on the journey, you could have heard a pin drop.

  ‘I beg your pardon.’ Mr Lipp stood up. ‘What on earth’s going on? We could have been killed the way you pulled in front of us like a maniac.’

  DS Freeman pursed her lips. ‘You look fine to me.’

  ‘Well, what has Plumpton done wrong?’ Mr Lipp demanded. Tiny beads of perspiration sprang up along his moustache like dewdrops on a spring lawn.

  ‘Is this your vehicle?’ the policewoman asked Mr Plumpton.

  ‘No,’ he replied.

  ‘That’s all I needed to know. I am arresting you for being in possession of a stolen vehicle.’

  Mr Plumpton gasped. ‘Stolen?’

  ‘Yes, you heard me.’

  ‘Stolen!’ Rufus blurted. ‘Cool!’

  ‘Yeah, and they kidnapped us too,’ Figgy yelled, waving his hands in the air. ‘And they’re holding us against our will. We’re just a bunch of innocent kids. Please help us.’

  ‘Stop it, Figworth,’ Miss Reedy barked.

  DS Freeman looked up at the children. It was as if she hadn’t registered their presence at all until that moment. ‘What are they doing here?’ she asked, a look of uncertainty creeping across her face.

  ‘There must be a mistake, detective sergeant,’ Mr Plumpton said softly. ‘You see, we’re on a school trip. I hired the bus this morning.’

  ‘I can assure you I’ve checked, and you are driving stolen property,’ the woman said firmly. ‘Would you step outside, please?’

  Mr Plumpton and Miss Reedy hopped off the bus, followed by Mr Lipp.

  The officer took one last look at the children.

  Alice-Miranda shuffled past Millie and scurried towards the front of the bus. ‘Excuse me,’ she said as the woman was about to depart. ‘My name is Alice-Miranda Highton-Smith-Kennington-Jones and I’m very pleased to meet you. Mr Lipp was telling you the truth. We are on a school trip. In fact, we’re on a school trip because Queen Georgiana arranged it for us. George was just joking about us being kidnapped. He’s like that, always playing tricks.’ She glanced around at the boy, who had a smirk on his face. Some of the other children were looking daggers at the lad.

  DS Freeman gulped. ‘Queen Georgiana, you say?’

  Alice-Miranda nodded.

  The detective sergeant couldn’t imagine why the Queen would send children to camp in a stolen vehicle. ‘Stay right there.’ She hopped off the bus and joined the teachers outside. She had a bad feeling about this.

  Alice-Miranda followed her to the door.

  The children on the right side of the bus rushed into the aisle, eager to see what was happening.

  Mr Lipp’s arms were flying wildly in the air, just as they did when he was conducting, and Miss Reedy’s face was set in a scowl. Mr Plumpton cupped his hands to his cherry-red cheeks. Detective Sergeant Freeman wore a heavy frown.

  ‘I wonder what they’re saying,’ said Jacinta.

  ‘Look!’ Millie gasped.

  The detective sergeant produced a shiny pair of handcuffs and held them up at Mr Plumpton.

  Figgy wrestled with one of the bus windows and slid it open so the children could hear what was going on.

  ‘This is an outrage!’ Mr Lipp was sputtering and spluttering. ‘You can’t be serious about arresting Mr Plumpton. I demand to speak to your superior.’

  ‘Plumpy’s being arrested!’ Figgy turned to the children and called out in horror. The boy barged his way to the front of the bus and leapt off. ‘No, no! I didn’t mean it. We’re not kidnapped. It was just a joke!’

  ‘Get back on that bus,’ the detective sergeant fumed.

  ‘But I … I just said that to be funny,’ Figgy pleaded.

  She glowered at the boy. ‘Well, you’re not.’

  ‘Look, this is ridiculous,’ said Miss Reedy. The teacher was shaking. ‘Call the hire company.’

  DS Freeman glanced back at the bus and the children sitting with their mouths open like a bowl of gasping goldfish. ‘All right, stay there.’ She glared at the three teachers and the boy with his mop of wild hair.

  Back in the police car, Fenella Freeman radioed through to the station.

  ‘Wilson, where are you?’ she barked into the handpiece.

  There was a crackle and an explosion of static.

  ‘Yes, DS,’ came the reply.

  ‘Where have you been? Oh, never mind. I need you to look up a registration for me.’ She spat out the sequence of letters and numbers. ‘Check the status of that vehicle, will you?’

  ‘It’s a white minibus, listed as stolen from Downsfordvale,’ Constable Wilson replied.

  ‘Good, thanks, that’s all I needed to know. I’ve just located it.’ Fenella smiled smugly to herself. She’d show that lot.

  She was just about to hop out of the car when the radio burst back to life.

  ‘Ah, DS Freeman?’ It was Wilson again.

  She rolled her eyes. ‘Yes, what is it? I haven’t got all day.’

  Wilson cleared his throat. ‘That bus was found and returned to its owners three days ago.’

  ‘What? How?’ She could feel her face going red. ‘Downsfordvale Station has been understaffed and so they sent some paperwork over for Barker and me and I just saw it on top of the pile,’ Wilson admitted.

  ‘And you haven’t done it? What on God’s earth have you been doing for the past three days? It’s not as if we’ve been overrun. Now I have to go and tell them it was all just a stupid mistake – and thanks to you, I’ll be doing it in front of a bus load of kids on their way to camp. I won’t half be a laughing stock!’ Fenella exploded.

  It was just as well she couldn’t see Wilson. Back in the station, he mimicked her perfectly, throwing his hands around and stomping his feet.

  ‘Don’t forget my coffee,’ he said cheerily. Then again, he thought, judging by how cross Freeman sounded, she’d probably put poison in it.

  Fenella slammed the car door. She took a deep breath, smoothed the front of her trousers and pushed back a rogue strand of hair.

  ‘Well, what’s going on?’ Miss Reedy demanded as the officer strode towards them.

  Fenella drew her shoulders back. ‘It seems there has been a mix-up.’

  ‘I knew it,’ Miss Reedy said as Mr Plumpton sighed, his shoulders slumping as if he’d just been pricked by a pin. ‘Mr Plumpton is not a criminal. He’s a fine upstanding citizen.’ She gave him a knowing smile, then reached out and grabbed his arm.

  ‘How did it happen?’ Mr Lipp asked, scowling.

  ‘Someone forgot to remove the vehicle from the police database. Rest assured they will be disc
iplined for their appalling oversight.’

  Harry Lipp eyeballed her. ‘An apology would be nice.’

  Fenella Freeman stared at his outfit. She wondered if he realised he was on school camp in Dunleavy, not on safari in Africa. He could shoot an elephant before she’d apologise. None of this was her fault.

  ‘What’s she saying?’ Rufus asked as the students strained to hear what was going on.

  ‘I think it’s all been a mix-up,’ Alice-Miranda called.

  Half of the occupants of the bus sighed with relief while the other half groaned with disappointment.

  ‘That’s boring,’ said one of the boys, curling his lip.

  ‘Can I have a ride in the police car?’ Figgy asked DS Freeman.

  Miss Reedy shot the boy a frosty stare, bettered only by the terrifying look on the detective’s face.

  ‘You’d better get the children off to wherever it is that you’re going. Enjoy your afternoon.’ Fenella didn’t look back as she stalked to the police car and hopped in. She revved the engine and spun the car around at speed, then roared out of the driveway.

  ‘She didn’t look very happy,’ Alice-Miranda said to Millie as the teachers and Figgy hopped back on the bus.

  ‘I’d say someone’s going to cop it when she gets back to the station,’ Sep said, a smile creeping across his face.

  ‘Oh, that’s lame.’ Sloane shook her head.

  Mr Plumpton turned the key in the ignition and the bus sputtered back to life.

  ‘Well, I’m glad that ridiculous little fiasco is over,’ Mr Lipp tutted.

  ‘Yes, and I’ll be happy not to meet another police officer for a very long time,’ Mr Plumpton agreed.

  Mr Plumpton manoeuvred the minibus around the circular driveway just as the coaches were pulling out to leave. The children unpacked their belongings and carried them to a large quadrangle behind the manor. Miss Wall was barking orders into a loudhailer, and for the moment Miss Reedy was more than happy to let her. According to the schedule, the children needed to be put into their groups, deposit their belongings in their dormitories and complete their first activities before dinner was served at 6 pm.

  ‘I can’t wait to find out what we’re doing first,’ Alice-Miranda said to Millie as they left their bags and ran to join the rest of the students.

  Benitha Wall wasn’t at all shy about using her loudhailer. ‘Good afternoon, everyone. So glad that you could make it, Mr Plumpton,’ Benitha Wall said into the loudhailer. She’d seen the minibus pulling into the driveway some time ago and wondered what was keeping them, until she spied the police car. ‘Hope there wasn’t any trouble getting here.’ She couldn’t wait to hear that story in the teachers’ lounge after the children went to bed.

  Josiah Plumpton’s nose glowed and he took a sudden interest in his shoes.

  Livinia Reedy walked to the front of the group to join Miss Wall. She whispered something to the PE teacher, who handed her the loudhailer.

  ‘Good afternoon, everyone.’ Miss Reedy spoke into the mouthpiece, which squawked loudly. She recoiled and Miss Wall indicated for her not to hold it so close.

  ‘Goo-ood af-ter-noo-oon, Miss Ree-eedy,’ the children chorused.

  ‘As you are aware, we are on this camp because Queen Georgiana is introducing a new award for children your age. In order to achieve the first level of the award, you will need to complete a number of tasks, which will show your resilience, cooperation, ability to learn, friendship, application, courage, creativity and resourcefulness. Each time you complete a task to the standard required, the teacher in charge of your group will make a note that you have passed. Only those students who have passed a sufficient number of tasks will receive the Queen’s Blue award. But as far as Miss Grimm and Professor Winterbottom are concerned, you must all earn your Blue. On top of that, we teachers will also be noting your attitude, ability and cooperative skills and nominating one Queen’s Blue winner to receive a special medal from Queen Georgiana herself,’ Miss Reedy explained.

  Millie glanced over at Caprice, who had a very superior look on her face. Millie nudged Alice-Miranda and motioned towards Caprice. ‘Three guesses who thinks she’s going to win the medal.’

  Alice-Miranda kept her eyes forward. ‘It could be anyone,’ she said emphatically. ‘It could be you.’

  Miss Reedy shuffled the papers in front of her. ‘There will be a team competition too. Your rewards will be far less exciting but I imagine they will go down well all the same.’ She pulled a packet of chocolate frogs from her bag.

  A loud cheer went up around the quadrangle and Miss Reedy smiled. She motioned for Miss Wall to take the loudhailer back again.

  ‘Would you read the camp groups please, Benitha? I think I’m required over there for a moment.’ Miss Reedy nodded towards a huddle of uniformed camp instructors, where a young woman was waving.

  ‘Okay, everyone.’ Miss Wall scanned the list on the clipboard. ‘I’ve got your camp groups and your sleeping groups. Generally they will be the same, except of course that the boys will have their own accommodation.’

  The girls began to speculate about which group they would be in, grabbing the arms of friends as if that could magically change the list Miss Wall had in front of her.

  ‘Settle down. There will be a camp instructor for each group and a teacher assigned to you as well. You need to make sure that you listen to the adults and do all that they ask of you. It’s critical that you’re in the right place at the right time doing the right thing. A camp timetable is posted in each dormitory and you’ll all be given a smaller version to keep in your day pack,’ Miss Wall explained. ‘So without further delay, these are your camp groups.’

  The children listened carefully. The groups were all named after birds. The new year three students, collectively called the Robins, were staying together to do a modified program, as they had only just come out of infants school and started at Winchesterfield-Downsfordvale. The older students, including the boys, were in mixed-age groups.

  Alice-Miranda’s name was the first to be read out for the Barn Owls. She squeezed Millie’s hand nervously. Millie’s was the next name called. Then came Sloane and Jacinta, Susannah, Lucas, Sep, Figgy and Rufus. Millie clenched her fist and hissed ‘yesss’ when she realised Caprice wasn’t in their group. Their camp leader was a smiling, sandy-haired young woman called Beth, and their teacher was Mr Plumpton.

  Miss Wall finished the announcements and a hand went up in the crowd. ‘Yes?’

  ‘I don’t have a group, miss,’ Caprice said sadly.

  ‘Oh dear me, I am sorry about that,’ the teacher apologised. ‘What’s your name?’

  ‘Caprice Radford.’

  ‘Oh, that’s right. Your mother’s Venetia Baldini. Sweet Things is one of my favourite shows,’ Miss Wall babbled.

  ‘Yes, yes, let’s not make a fuss.’ Miss Reedy hurried back over and scanned the lists. ‘I was thinking about where to put her,’ she whispered to Miss Wall. ‘Sorry I hadn’t written it down. She’s a Barn Owl.’

  Miss Wall nodded and turned back to the students. ‘Here you are, Caprice. You’re a Barn Owl.’

  Millie’s stomach flipped. She turned around and stared at Caprice, whose perfect face was now sporting the most perfect sneer.

  The children began to fidget and chatter.

  ‘Settle down, everyone. Before you go anywhere I need to tell you where you’ll be sleeping. The girls’ rooms are on the first and second floors of Bagley Hall and all of the boys are up in the attic. Gather up your belongings and head upstairs. And don’t leave anything behind. You need to be back here in ten minutes with a water bottle and a jacket, ready for your first activities.’

  Millie and Alice-Miranda turned around to get their things. Caprice had already disappeared.

  ‘Hey, where’s my sleeping bag?’ Millie asked with a frown. She looked up and down.

  ‘Perhaps someone picked it up by accident,’ Alice-Miranda said. ‘Don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll fin
d it.’

  Millie knew she’d left it right on top of her backpack. She and Alice-Miranda darted between the other students, searching, but had no luck.

  ‘Come on, Millie, we’d better get upstairs.’ Alice-Miranda grabbed her backpack and Millie followed. By the time they got to the second floor and found the barn owl on the door, the other girls were already there and had claimed their beds. The room had three sets of bunk beds and Sloane, Caprice and Jacinta were all sitting on top of them. Susannah was sitting on the bed under Caprice’s.

  ‘Hey, not fair,’ Millie said. ‘We should have flipped a coin for the top bunks.’

  ‘You snooze, you lose,’ said Caprice. ‘I’m going to the toilet.’ She grabbed her water bottle and jacket and leapt down from the top bunk.

  The enormous room was sparsely furnished with three chests of drawers, three sets of bunks and a small lounge setting. And while the furniture was as plain as an arrowroot biscuit, the building itself was beautiful, with high ceilings, patterned cornices and rich, honey-coloured timber floors.

  ‘Did anyone see my sleeping bag? It was on my backpack one minute and the next it was gone,’ Millie explained.

  The other girls shook their heads. A loud thump on the doorframe made them jump. Miss Wall stuck her head in and boomed, ‘Downstairs in two minutes.’

  The girls grabbed their water bottles and jackets from their bags and joined the throng of students rushing back to the quadrangle.

  The groups lined up in front of their leaders, ready to hear the next set of instructions.

  Miss Reedy walked to the podium and picked up the loudhailer.

  ‘Goodness me, I am disappointed already,’ she said, shaking her head. ‘What did Miss Wall tell you about taking everything with you? When I came back outside, what did I find right there in the middle of the quadrangle, as plain as the nose on my face?’

  Millie’s chest felt tight.

  Miss Reedy picked up the offending item and held it aloft for all to see.

  ‘Millicent, come and get this, please. And if I find any more of your things lying about, you’ll be on camp clean-up for the rest of the week,’ the woman growled.

  Millie’s freckles were on fire as she skulked to the front and took the sleeping bag from Miss Reedy’s hand.