by Anne Digby
There was nobody at home.
TWO
AN UNCOMFORTABLE FEELING
Having managed to get into the back garden, Rebecca spent the night in her great aunt's greenhouse. There was nothing else for it. At least it was warm.
She stayed awake for a long time, waiting for the old lady to come home. Darkness had fallen now but she thought that Great Aunt Ivy might be round at some old crony's house, gossiping and drinking tea. She kept watch, hoping and expecting to see some lights go on at the back of the house, signalling her return. But they never did.
So Rebecca moved some potted plants and stretched herself out on a wide, low shelf. She tried to go to sleep, but the shelf was dreadfully uncomfortable.
She slept very little until the early morning, when the sun came up and filtered through the walls of glass, cocooning her in a humid, heavy–scented warmth. She fell into a deep sleep and awoke with a start at about nine o'clock.
Rat-att-tatt-att-tatt.
Round at the front of the house, someone was insistently knocking at the door.
Rebecca got round to the front door just in time to see a red postal van disappearing down the quiet street. There was a slip of paper sticking out of the letter-box. She prised it out carefully and looked at it.
It was a docket explaining that the post office had been trying to deliver an overseas cable at this address, without success, and it now awaited collection at the main post office.
'It's the cable about me!' Rebecca realized. 'She's never received it.'
'Miss Mason's away,' said a voice suddenly.
Rebecca stuffed the docket in her jeans and spun round. A middle-aged lady was walking her dog past the house.
'Are you sure?' she asked disbelievingly. Great Aunt Ivy never went anywhere!
'What does it look like?' sniffed the passer-by and started to move on.
'Hey!' Rebecca hurried after her. 'Do you know when she's coming back!'
The neighbour stopped and looked Rebecca up and down.
'Three weeks, I heard. She's gone to Canada. It's none of my business, but that's what somebody told me. Her sister offered to pay her fare and she suddenly decided to go. That's what I heard. You'll have to call again another time.'
'Yes,' said Rebecca, dumbfounded. 'Yes, of course.'
As soon as the woman had passed round the corner out of sight she squeezed through the gap in the side fence, got back into the garden and recovered her small suitcase from the greenhouse. She just couldn't think what she was going to do.
'I'm starving hungry,' she thought.
Before she left the garden she helped herself to some ripe strawberries and a handful of raspberries. There were some early plums ready on a tree and she put half a dozen in her suitcase. She was sure Great Aunt Ivy wouldn't mind.
Then – perhaps it was the sight of her birthday presents that did it – she was seized by a horrible feeling of being alone in the world.
Her parents were far away and suddenly she couldn't remember what their faces looked like. Her room at Court House was stripped bare and empty – in fact it wasn't even her room any longer. The house in London was locked up. Of course, the summer camp was going on at Trebizon, but she wasn't supposed to be on it. There wouldn't be room for her there.
She didn't belong anywhere! She had nowhere to go!
She'd had the feeling once before when, as a tiny child, she'd got separated from her mother in a big crowd of people.
She sat on her suitcase in the deserted garden, trembling slightly, fighting down the feeling.
It soon subsided and she began to think sensibly again. She could telephone Nanny in Scotland . . . she could ring Claire or Amanda, her friends when she used to go to school in London . . . there were some kind people her grandmother knew in Gloucestershire . . .
Soon she was inside a public phone box and at the third attempt she got through to Nanny MacDonald, way up in the Scottish borders.
It was good to hear that firm, kind Scottish voice!
'What d'ye mean, ye silly girl, ye dinna ken what to do? Just go straight back to yon school. D'ye have the money for the train fare? Guid. Off ye go then. They'll look after ye a wee while longer.'
With a great lightening of the spirits, Rebecca retraced her route to the railway station and asked the ticket office for a single to Trebizon. She was glad she was still a half - fare!
Soon she was in the sunny train, with just enough money left to buy a hot cup of coffee. She sipped it slowly and watched the fields rushing by.
She was on her way back to Trebizon!
The feeling of being alone in the world had now completely gone. But while it had lasted it had been most uncomfortable. Now, sitting in the train, she forgot all about it. Later, she would remember it.
THREE
TOGETHER AGAIN!
As Rebecca came round the side of Juniper House, she saw the brightly coloured tents dotted amongst the trees and heard a babble of voices. She smelt wood smoke and the delicious aroma of sizzling bacon and sausages.
Sausages!
It was twenty-four hours since she'd eaten properly. With no money to pay for a taxi, or even to phone the school, she'd walked all the way from Trebizon station with her suitcase getting heavier every minute. She'd never felt so hungry in her life!
Now she dropped her case down on the ground and ran towards the camp site.
The summer camp was already in full swing. The children had all arrived safely, and the tents had been pitched. In a big grassy clearing, well away from the tents and only a few yards from the little gate that led on to the sand dunes, a huge brick barbecue had been constructed. It was from here that all the delicious smells were emanating.
A tall girl in a white Trebizon tee shirt was walking along the path ahead of her, holding by the hand a miniature edition of herself with frizzy hair and dark skin.
'Margot!' cried Rebecca.
Margot Lawrence spun round and stared.
'Rebecca!' she shrieked. She let go of the small girl's hand and rushed forward and hugged her. 'I'm dreaming!'
'You're not – you're not!' laughed Rebecca. Margot was cupping her hands to her mouth, yelling towards the barbecue. 'Rebecca 's back!'
Tish, helping to serve out hot food on to plates, nearly dropped a sausage in the fire. 'Where?' she cried joyfully.
The little black girl did a cartwheel on the grass and ran off to join a group of small friends who were just finishing their lunch under a tree.
'Rebecca!' That was Sue. 'Mara, it's Rebecca!'
Then they were all jumping on her and thumping her on the back – Tish, Sue, Margot and Mara. Elf didn't seem to be around. They were full of breathless questions –
'What's happened? What are you doing back?'
'Where've you been?'
'You look as though you've slept out all night!'
'I have!' said Rebecca.
'What has happened, Rebecca?' asked Mara looking at her worriedly with her soulful eyes. 'Has something terrible happened?'
'Yes, I'm starving!' exclaimed Rebecca. 'Food! Oh, Tish, are there any of those sausages left? I must have food!'
They found a plate, bread and butter, bacon and sausages and heaps of tomato sauce. Rebecca sat on a log and ate very fast and very hungrily. 'Oh, that's better!' she cried, crunching some bacon. In between mouthfuls she told them what had happened.
'You'll have to stay on the camp!' exclaimed Tish in delight.
'D'you think I'll be allowed?' asked Rebecca, wiping up the remains of the sausage gravy and tomato sauce with her last crust of bread. She'd cleared the plate in record time! 'I mean –the camp's full up!'
'Of course you'll be allowed!' they cried, almost in unison.
'Come on!' said Tish, pulling Rebecca to her feet. 'Let's go and see Miss Morgan –'
They started to steer her up the path through the copse, away from the camp and towards Juniper House.
'Hey!' called a voice. 'You – the girl wit
h dark hair – you're supposed to be helping dish out –'
Tish turned round. A tall woman in a white overall, over by the barbecue, was signalling to her.
'It's all right, Miss Peabody!' It was Moyra Milton's voice. 'I'll take over from Tish a minute.'
Laughing, the four friends continued to push and tug Rebecca along the path. 'Come on, what are you waiting for?'
'Who was that,' asked Rebecca, letting herself be tugged along and beginning to laugh with excitement herself by now, 'shouting at Tish?'
'Miss Peabody. She's in charge of the camp,' exclaimed Margot.
'Commander-in-chief,' added Sue.
'One of the head social workers from the Borough of somewhere or other,' said Tish. 'But never mind about her. Let's see Miss Morgan!'
Miss Morgan had permanent living quarters in the junior boarding house, a big red–brick building at the back of the main school buildings. It was known as Juniper House. She was the house mistress in charge of all the First and Second Years during term time. Although the rest of the school was now shut up for the holidays, part of Juniper House was being kept open so that the campers could use the washing facilities there, as well as the common rooms and kitchens if the weather turned very cold or wet. At the moment the weather was glorious.
She was taking joint responsibility for the smooth running of the camp with Miss Peabody from Social Services and was in charge of the twenty Trebizon girls who were acting as camp assistants.
'Do – do you think she'll let me stay?' asked Rebecca, suddenly overcome with fear and trepidation as the five of them walked into Juniper.
'She'll have to!' said Tish indignantly.
'I mean – well, on the camp? Do you think there'll be room? Do you think I'll be allowed to be a camp assistant?'
'Why don't we just find out,' said Sue quietly, with a touch of nerves herself.
But they needn't have worried.
As Rebecca told her story to Miss Morgan, the junior house mistress surveyed her thoughtfully. She was thinking back to her first meeting with Rebecca, two years before, on the London to Trebizon train – how dishevelled she'd looked, and how lost! Rebecca's appearance right now was rather reminiscent of that first meeting.
'So – please – I was wondering, can I stay on the camp with the others?' finished Rebecca anxiously, wondering what Miss Morgan was thinking about.
'I don't see why not,' said the house mistress. She spoke to Rebecca kindly. 'I'll get in touch with your parents and explain everything straight away so they know where to find you when they get back to England! I'm sure Miss Peabody can squeeze you in somehow. I'll come down and see her in a minute.'
She gave Rebecca a reassuring smile.
'We've got a fair number of homeless children out there already, you know. I think we can make room for one more.'
It was a lovely way of putting it.
'Thanks!' said Rebecca joyfully. She felt weak with relief. 'Oh, thanks, Miss Morgan!'
Whooping happily the five of them raced back to the camp.
'It's your birthday on Sunday!' Tish remembered. 'You'll be here for your birthday!'
Rebecca took a high running leap and caught hold of an over-hanging branch, swinging backwards and forwards in mid-air. 'I know!' she cried.
'Hey!' said Margot. 'Is that your case back there?'
Rebecca dropped down on to the grass and then ran back up the path to get it.
It was great. They were all together again. But where was Elf?
Miss Peabody told Rebecca that she looked very scruffy, as indeed she did, and sent her back to Juniper House to have a shower and change into some regulation camp kit. Miss Morgan had a stock of it. All the Trebizon volunteers were wearing the same uniform – white school tee shirts and blue shorts – so that the young visitors could pick them out easily and get to know them.
Rebecca was greatly refreshed by her hot shower and hurried back to the camp, pleased to be in the proper gear. She was now, officially, a camp assistant!
She found that the other four had taken a party of children down to the sands to play rounders, but Miss Peabody wanted to see her to sort out some sleeping arrangements and to tell her the camp rules.
The previous night the Trebizon volunteers, having got all the tents pitched, ready for the children's arrival in the morning, had been able to sleep where they wanted. But tonight they'd each be allocated a tent containing two children.
'They're three-man tents, one assistant and two kids to a tent. Each assistant will be responsible for her two kids at night – see they get to bed at the proper time, don't wander off anywhere in the dark and so forth. These are city kids and most of them don't know the first thing about being outdoors.'
'So I'll have two children to look after, then?' Rebecca said with interest.
'Not exactly,' frowned Miss Peabody, checking down a long list with a pencil. 'You're not meant to be here, remember. You could come in my tent with me –'
Rebecca's heart almost stopped for a moment as the supervisor nodded towards a rather grand tent nearby. It was blue and almost square, with plastic windows, rather like a proper little house. It had at least two or three rooms inside, with simple furniture.
'– that's me, over there.'
'Yes?' prompted Rebecca, willing Miss Peabody to have a better suggestion.
'The only other possibility . . . let me see . . . we've had a kid drop out. Marcus Roberts – he's gone down with chicken pox – so Tommy Carter will have a tent to himself. With one of your girls in charge of him, of course. He's a handful, is Tommy.'
'So I could go in the same tent – if the tents sleep three – I could help look after him!' said Rebecca, trying not to sound too eager.
The woman seemed slightly put out. But then she nodded.
'If you want,' she shrugged. 'It'll probably take two of you to keep Tommy in order. He's only eight, but he's got more nuisance value than the rest of the kids put together.' She consulted her list again. 'He's already decided who he wants in his tent. The plump one – Sally Elphinstone, isn't it'
'Oh!' Rebecca hid her glee with great difficulty. 'Elf – I mean, Sally. She really loves children! I expect that's why Tommy's taken a liking to her.'
'Doubt it,' said Miss Peabody briskly. 'I expect she looks easy-going. That's what he'd take a liking to. Right, it's all settled then.'
'Where – where is Elf?' asked Rebecca, realizing that she still hadn't seen her. 'The plump one. Is she with Tommy now?'
'Correct. All the early lunchers – that's the kids whose surnames come in the first half of the alphabet – have been taken for a walk to Mulberry Cove. You'll meet Tommy soon enough. They should be back at any moment.'
'Is there anything you'd like me to do?' Rebecca asked politely.
Miss Peabody pointed to the camp fire where some Fifth Years were heating a cauldron of water; which had been filled from a nearby stand-pipe. A young man in a blue denim suit was laughing and chatting to them.
'Ask Donald. He's my assistant and sorts out everyone's jobs. He could probably use you on the washing up.'
So, up to her elbows in soapy water as she washed the dinner plates, Rebecca watched out eagerly for Elf and her party to arrive back. She was looking forward to meeting Tommy Carter!
But the party turned up, rather late. Tommy had given them the slip, it seemed, and they'd all got fed up with looking for him. Elf had gone back to Mulberry Cove, just in case he was hiding in one of the caves.
FOUR
THE WAIF AND THE STRAY
'He's a little menace,' complained Virginia Slade, who'd been one of the escorts on the walk. 'He was hanging round the bulldozer down there and pestering this man. When I called him back, he just swore at me. Then when Elf went to find him, he'd disappeared.'
'He'll turn up,' said Miss Peabody philosophically.
'The rest of the children are such angels!' added Virginia. A small girl tugged at her arm. 'Yes, Sharon?'
'Please, mis
s, I got my shoes wet.'
Rebecca smiled as she stacked the last of the enamel plates and shook her arms dry in the sun. It looked as though she and Elf were going to have their hands full. But right now Tommy Carter and his misdeeds gave her an excuse to get to the beach. 'I'll go and help Elf find him!' she called across to Miss Peabody. 'He can't have gone far.'
The supervisor nodded and Rebecca shot off. She ran out through the little wicket gate and scrambled up the nearest sand dune, pausing at the top. Beyond, on the flat sands, an exciting game of rounders was in progress. A tall, skinny boy of ten had just skyed the ball and Tish, with an astonishing burst of speed, had raced across the beach and caught him out one-handed before crashing to the ground.
Everybody clapped, including Rebecca.
'Rebecca!' cried Sue, turning round and catching sight of her. 'Coming to join us?'
'Going round to Mulberry to find Elf!' shouted Rebecca exuberantly. 'How did Tish get on at the County Sports?'
'She won. Just over two minutes.'
'Wow!' gasped Rebecca.
Joyfully she ran down the steep side of the sand dune then cut across Trebizon Bay diagonally, away from the game of rounders, in the direction of the headland and Mulberry Cove. It was lovely to feel the breeze rushing into her face and hair and to smell the tang of the sea! There were some more sailing boats out today, she noticed.
She was thinking about Virginia Slade's mention of the bulldozer. It was back in the cove then – presumably clearing more boulders, ready for the Roman dig to start again tomorrow. The thought made her tingle a little with excitement.
'I wonder if Lottie and her party have arrived yet?' she thought, craning her neck as she ran round the end of the headland. She could just glimpse Mulberry Castle perched high up on a grassy-hill, overlooking the cove. It belonged to the National Trust but apparently the tenants, the Willoughby family, always put Mrs Lazarus and Co. up when they came down to excavate the cove. According to Mrs Lazarus, the Willoughbys were great friends of her son, Charles. 'It must be fun staying in a castle.' Rebecca mused, as she gazed dreamily up at the old buildings. Suddenly she realized that her feet were getting wet.