The Ruby Bottle

by Janet Reid

  ‘No need for that. Mrs Heggety learned to bake great cakes many years ago. Almost the same time Roger Heggety came to live with her and her husband.’ He tilted his tiny head to one side and added, ‘Though I don’t remember her ever actually burning cakes before. Not like this. Perhaps …’

  Jimell was silent for a moment as he looked out into the night.

  ‘Perhaps what?’ asked Amber.

  Jimell shrugged. ‘I don’t know. Just a feeling. Maybe we need to watch out for her.’

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  The clatter of cake tins woke Amber early the next morning. Mrs Heggety must be already baking, she thought, as she remembered it was fete day. And she was surprised that she felt a little bit excited. Or maybe she was just glad there was no netball today; Terry had managed to swing a bye. She jumped out of bed and headed downstairs for breakfast.

  ‘You could have at least filled it,’ she heard her mother saying as she reached the kitchen door.

  Her father had a bewildered look on his face as he gazed down at the empty sugar bowl in front of him. Amber would have owned up to taking it in the first place except she knew her mother would ask a million questions. As she slipped onto a chair, her father gave her a shrug and nodded towards the offending bowl.

  ‘Our disappearing bowl appears to have reappeared,’ he said, reaching for a piece of toast. ‘Excited about today?’

  ‘Excited or not, you’d both better get a move on if you’re going to help with the setting up,’ said her mother.

  Amber quickly spread some toast with butter and honey and gulped it down. Her mother frowned then glanced up at the clock.

  ‘I’ll clean up here,’ she said. ‘You two get going. I’ll see you there later.’

  As they arrived at school, Rachel called out to them, ‘Hello, Mr Daley. Hi, Amber.’ She walked towards them with an armful of jumble. Her hair was loose and it made her look friendlier somehow. ‘Ms Kruger has the room open so we can get our stall set up. Dad’s already down there putting up the shade.’

  ‘I’ll take that,’ said Mr Daley, reaching for the jumble in Rachel’s arms. ‘Why don’t you and Amber go and get more stuff?’

  ‘Come on, Amber,’ said Rachel. ‘There’s still a heap to shift. I’ve been here for ages. I was wondering when someone would come and help.’

  Here she goes again, thought Amber as she turned to follow her.

  By the time they’d moved all the boxes, there were people everywhere.

  ‘Go and have some fun with your friends,’ one of the mothers told her. Rachel had already left with a group of girls from their class. Amber wished they’d asked her as well, but they hadn’t. One of the girls had whispered something about “devil eyes” and the group had walked away quickly after that.

  Now, as she watched kids laughing with their friends, she thought of Bethany. If she were here …

  Just then she saw Ricco in the distance and felt a tingle of excitement. He’d come to the fete after all. Amber wondered if she should go and join him, but then he disappeared into the crowd. Anyway, he didn’t seem to mind being alone.

  She sighed, and sorted through another box of jumble.

  Time went quickly, and Amber was busy because lots of people came and bought things. Someone even bought the hideous figurine that she and Ricco had laughed about the day before.

  After a while Rachel’s mother, Mrs Higgins, came to help.

  ‘You should go off and have some fun,’ she told Amber.

  ‘I will soon,’ said Amber, rearranging some puzzles on the table just as Rachel appeared.

  ‘Hello, sweetie,’ her mother said. ‘All alone? Where are your friends?’

  ‘They had to go,’ said Rachel, running her hand along the table.

  ‘Marissa, too?’

  ‘No. I don’t know where she is. I don’t think she’s here yet.’

  ‘Well, why don’t you and Amber go off and do something? She needs a break. She’s been working here all day.’

  Mrs Higgins smiled down at Amber. ‘You know, you should come over for a visit sometime, Amber. You and Rachel could practise your goal shooting together.’

  Rachel looked at her mother in horror and opened her mouth to say something. But just then Marissa appeared, her face painted as a butterfly.

  ‘I’ve been looking everywhere for you,’ she said to Rachel. ‘Come on. You just have to get your face done. I think you’d look good as a cat.’

  The two girls linked arms and rushed away.

  Amber watched them leave, and thought again of Bethany. Mrs Higgins sighed and turned back to the jumble table.

  ‘I thought I might find you here,’ said a familiar voice.

  Amber turned. And started to laugh. Beside her was Ricco, wearing a bright green jumper, his face painted as the Incredible Hulk.

  ‘What’s so funny?’ asked Ricco.

  ‘Nothing.’ But somehow she just couldn’t imagine him as the Incredible Hulk. She bit her bottom lip to stop herself from laughing again. ‘You didn’t go to the farm after all,’ she said.

  ‘Nah. Dad says we’ll go up in the holidays instead. How come you haven’t had your face painted?’

  ‘She’s been too busy working here on the jumble stall,’ said Mrs Higgins. ‘She needs to go off and have some fun for a while.’

  ‘I’ll go with you,’ offered Ricco. ‘I don’t suppose you want to go on the giant slide as well?’

  Amber grinned. Would I ever!

  ‘Just let me get my purse,’ she said.

  No one was waiting when they got to the face-painting tent. Amber looked at a poster that showed all the choices. She couldn’t decide which one she wanted to be.

  ‘Why don’t you be an Incredible Hulk like me?’ Ricco suggested.

  ‘No,’ laughed Amber. One was enough.

  ‘How about this one, then?’ he said, pointing to a picture of an Arabian princess.

  Amber smiled as she ran a finger over the face. The veil that covered the nose and mouth looked almost real.

  ‘Yes. That’s the one I want,’ she said.

  A high school girl sat Amber down on a stool and pulled her hair back with a head band. Ricco sat down beside her.

  ‘Did you know,’ he said, ‘that Arabian princesses used to wear gold rings with bells on them, so that their subjects could hear them coming? Then they could all be ready to bow to them. Maybe we could find you some bells, Amber, and then everyone could bow to you as we walked around the fete.’

  ‘And you could be my bodyguard,’ laughed Amber. ‘You know, seeing how you’re the Incredible Hulk today.’

  ‘Keep still,’ warned the girl doing the face painting, ‘or you won’t be anything but a mess.’

  Amber’s eyes met Ricco’s. She kept her face still, but her eyes twinkled. Ricco put his fingers to his lips to keep them from twitching.

  When she’d been transformed into an Arabian princess, she and Ricco rushed off to the giant slide. They had to wait forever for their turn, but as they landed on the thick mat at the bottom, Ricco said, ‘Come on. Let’s do that again.’ And he grabbed Amber’s hand and dragged her back into the line.

  ‘Now, how about something to eat?’ Ricco suggested next.

  ‘Let’s have a sausage sizzle,’ said Amber, and as they walked towards the barbeque tent, she saw Mrs Heggety wearing an enormous apron and holding a long pair of tongs.

  ‘Look, Ricco. It’s Mrs Heggety. She’s my neighbour. Hello, Mrs Heggety,’ she called.

  Mrs Heggety turned around.

  ‘Oh, Amber. Is that you? I hardly recognised you with your face painted like that. Very pretty. And who’s this with you?’ She looked down at the green face. ‘Spider Man?’

  ‘No,’ laughed Amber. ‘This is the Incredible Hulk. Well, actually, it’s Ricco. He’s in my class at school.’

  ‘Well, I’m delighted to meet you, Ricco. Or should I call you Incredible?’ And she laughed at her own joke.

  ‘No, Ricco’s good,
’ he said, not sure how to take Mrs Heggety.

  ‘We’ve come for something to eat,’ said Amber. ‘We thought we’d have a sausage –’

  But just at that moment there was a tremendous WHOSH! Flames shot up from the barbeque plate and into the air as fat from the sausages caught on fire.

  Right behind Mrs Heggety.

  Before she had time to think, Amber grabbed Mrs Heggety’s arm and pulled her away. Mrs Heggety tripped and sprawled on the ground at her feet.

  Everyone was stunned for a moment. Then someone yelled, ‘Get that fire out.’ There was the sound of metal beating against metal, and the flames were smothered.

  But Amber was taking no notice. She was looking down at Mrs Heggety, horrified. ‘I’m … I’m sorry,’ she cried as she reached down to help her up. ‘I thought … I thought you were going to catch on fire.’

  ‘You were lucky, Mrs H,’ said one of the cooks, coming over to give Amber a hand. ‘Any closer and you would have gone up in flames, too.’

  ‘Well, no harm done, thanks to young Amber here,’ Mrs Heggety said. ‘But I think it’s time I had a break from cooking. I might just go and get myself a strong cup of tea.’ She pulled off her apron and handed it to one of the fathers who had just arrived to help. ‘But first, let me buy these two young ones a sausage sizzle each.’

  ‘No, these are on the house,’ said the cook. ‘Sauce and onion for both of you?’

  Amber and Ricco found a quiet spot to eat, under a tree at the edge of the oval where they could watch the kids bouncing on the jumping castle. Amber had lost her appetite and was just nibbling at her sausage but Ricco finished his quickly.

  ‘That was amazing,’ he said as he licked some sauce that had dribbled down his arm.

  ‘What was?’ Amber watched as two kids bumped heads on the jumping castle.

  ‘Saving Mrs Heggety from the fire.’

  Amber bit her bottom lip. ‘I hope she’s alright,’ she said. ‘She’s really old, you know. I could have hurt her when I pulled her out of the way like that.’

  ‘Yeah, but if you hadn’t, she might have been burnt. Are you going to finish that?’ Ricco pointed to her sausage.

  ‘Ah, there you are, Amber,’ came a voice from behind them.

  They both looked around. Amber’s mother was walking towards them.

  ‘Have you been having a good time? And who’s this? The Incredible Hulk?’ Amber’s mother smiled at Ricco.

  ‘This is Ricco. He’s in my class. This is my mum, Ricco.’

  Ricco wiped his hand down the side of his jeans then offered it to Mrs Daley. ‘Pleased to meet you, Mrs Daley,’ he said.

  Amber had never seen a kid do that before. It was kind of … cute.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  ‘… and there was this giant slide,’ Amber said that night in bed, as she told Jimell all about the fete. ‘Ricco and I had two goes on it.’

  Jimell looked up into Amber’s face. It was still painted. She couldn’t bear to wash it off, even though she knew her mother would have a fit when she saw the mess on the pillow case.

  ‘What made you decide to be an Arabian princess?’ he asked.

  ‘That was Ricco’s idea,’ she said. ‘Did you know that Arabian princesses used to wear bells on their fingers? Ricco said it was to let everyone know when they were coming, so they could all bow down.’

  ‘He’s right,’ said Jimell, and he reached out his long arm and rested his hand on Amber’s cheek. ‘You know what I think?’ he said. ‘I think you are the most beautiful Arabian princess I have ever seen. And I have seen a few in my time.’ He traced the face painting with his fingers.

  ‘You like Ricco, don’t you?’ said Jimell.

  ‘Yeah. He’s fun, and he doesn’t mind if I’m a bit dumb sometimes …’

  Jimell clicked his tongue. ‘Amber, have you forgotten about your star for maths last week? And your Puppy Care report? The one your teacher said was good?’

  ‘Yeah, well, Dad helped me with that. That’s probably why.’

  ‘Yes, but he didn’t do it, did he? What was it I said? About shooting goals?’

  ‘Ahmm … something about having faith?’ she mumbled. ‘In myself?’

  ‘Exactly. Anyway, it sounds like this Ricco needs a friend just as much as you do.’

  Amber hadn’t thought about that. Ricco always seemed so contented. He seemed to like being by himself. Happy, even. But …

  ‘Hmmm. Maybe,’ she said.

  Jimell jumped up onto her shoulder. ‘I know another thing you’re good at,’ he said.

  ‘What?’ she asked.

  ‘Reading. Especially Roger Heggety’s diary. Come on. Read me some now.’

  Not long after the fire and the storm, we came to a port. Berk took me ashore and found me a ship that was sailing to Australia.

  I had family there. A nephew – Richard. I hoped to find him and perhaps stay a while. I was no longer young and was getting weary of travel.

  The ship Berk found for me was large and the accommodation was much to my liking. As I thanked him for all his help, he gave a chuckle, his fat belly bouncing up and down. ‘I am glad we were able to give you some excitement,’ he said, and as he took his leave, he called over his shoulder, ‘And may Jimell bring peace and good fortune to your world.’

  It took almost two weeks to make the voyage to Australia, and by the time we disembarked, my stomach had learned to deal with the rolling of the ship upon the ocean waves. Eager to complete my journey, I found a train that would take me to the other side of the continent. When I eventually arrived at Richard’s address, I found he had married. He and his young bride, Emily, made me welcome, fixing me a room at the end of their verandah. They had a small baby, a girl named Vera. I often helped by looking after her when Richard and Emily were busy.

  ‘Oh, I meant to tell you,’ said Amber, letting the diary drop into her lap. ‘It’s about Mrs Heggety. At the fete this afternoon …’

  Amber gave a shudder just thinking about it.

  ‘She was standing beside the barbeque and suddenly a huge flame shot up from the hot plate. I got a fright. I thought she was going to catch on fire and I pulled her away. It was awful, because I pulled too hard and she fell over, but a man there reckoned if I hadn’t done that, she might have been burnt.’

  ‘A fire?’ said Jimell. ‘You saved her from a fire?’

  ‘Well, I’m not sure … I suppose …’

  ‘But that can’t be right,’ said Jimell, his brow furrowed.

  ‘What’s the matter?’ Amber asked, suddenly alarmed.

  ‘Oh … nothing. It’s just that …’

  ‘What?’ cried Amber. ‘What are you thinking?’

  ‘Nothing. Really, it’s nothing. I’m just glad you were able to help her.’

  But Amber knew that something wasn’t right.

  ‘Tell me,’ she said.

  ‘I don’t know. It’s just that, well … it seemed that it was meant to be different.’

  ‘What do you mean, different …’ Then Amber stopped as a sudden realisation hit her. ‘You knew that was going to happen today, didn’t you?’ she cried. ‘That’s what you’ve been talking about all this time. It’s the reason you came here. To get me to save Mrs Heggety from those flames.’

  ‘Well, that’s what I thought, but you didn’t need my help after all.’ He shook his head. ‘I must be getting old. I was sure it was supposed to happen differently.’

  ‘How? How did you think it would happen?’

  Jimell sighed. ‘I don’t know. I just thought … maybe the cakes …’ He shrugged. ‘Look, I’m just an old djinn who’s been around for hundreds of years and stuck in a bottle for the last forty of those. I’m bound to get things mixed up sometimes. But you know,’ he said, reaching up to touch Amber’s cheek, ‘I’m so glad you saved Mrs Heggety. You’re a really good friend to her. Now, you look tired. You need to get some sleep.’

  Jimell stretched and gave himself a shake before diving into
his bottle, but before Amber could slip the stopper into place, he popped back out again.

  ‘Can I stay with you? Here, in the bed?’ he asked.

  ‘Why?’ Amber was puzzled. ‘Do you need to be warm?’

  ‘No. It’s not that,’ he said. ‘I just feel … I’d like to be near you.’

  ‘What if I roll on you? And break the bottle?’

  ‘You won’t.’ He didn’t wait for an answer, just slid down the neck of his bottle and disappeared.

  Before Amber slipped down under her doona, she lifted her curtain and looked out into the night. Her neighbour’s house was in darkness. She felt herself shiver and hoped Mrs Heggety was alright after her fall. As she snuggled down into bed, she rubbed the bottle gently with her thumb and thought about the fete, and Ricco, and Mrs Heggety and the fire …

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Something woke her, just minutes later it seemed. She listened. The house was silent. Then she felt it, searing her hand. She sat up and dropped her ruby bottle down on the doona. It was glowing. Brilliant red.

  Jimell! He’s in trouble. She knew she’d have to get the stopper out, but it was too hot to touch. Carefully she wrapped her sheet around the glass and pulled. The djinn exploded from the bottle.

  ‘The window! Quick!’ he called, as he tried to pull the curtain back.

  Amber lifted the curtain.

  That was when she saw the blaze. In Mrs Heggety’s kitchen.

  ‘Mrs Heggety … Jimell, there’s a fire. In Mrs Heggety’s house.’ Amber was shouting, fumbling with the lock on her window, her fingers shaking.

  ‘Leave it,’ called Jimell, already across the room at the door. ‘Come on, Amber.’

  Amber didn’t hesitate. She leapt from the bed, opened her door and rushed out into the hall, screaming, ‘Mum! Dad! Quick.’ She tripped over in the dark and sprawled across the carpet, grazing her cheek. But she jumped up again and ran down the stairs, shouting as she went. ‘Fire! There’s a fire in Mrs Heggety’s kitchen!’ A light came on somewhere, but she didn’t stop.