The Spark (White Gates Adventures Book 4)

by Trevor Stubbs

  “They were mortified and sulked all the way home. Sharon protested that she didn’t like people shouting at her. She wasn’t ever going to come to the YAC again.”

  “But the following Sunday she was there as if nothing had happened,” said Abby.

  “Wearing this awful tight-fitting shocking-pink top and tatty jeans,” teased Bandi. “The sort of thing she wouldn’t mind being seen dead in, I guess.”

  “It sounds as though your Sharon changes the whole atmosphere of the group. Whatever happens, you have got to laugh,” said Shaun, smiling.

  “Exactly. She’s just herself. Sharon is Sharon. It never occurs to her to try and act differently from what she is… I like that,” said Abby.

  “Authentic,” said Shaun quietly, lying back on the sand.

  They were silent for a few minutes listening to the surf. Then Shaun asked, “What’s the exact translation of that French song?”

  “Oh. Sorry,” said Abby. “It translates, ‘The darkness is not darkness at all before you; the night, like the day, is light.’ It comes from the Bible – the psalms, I think.”

  “Psalm 139,” said Bandi.

  “Wow!” exclaimed his girlfriend. “You are on the ball. You’re amazing.”

  “The dark is not dark with You,” pondered Shaun. “The dark is not dark with You… and You are always present. How does it go – the tune?”

  Abby looked at Bandi and they struck up the song. They sang it a few times. “It just repeats. That’s how Taizé music works. Their songs are meditative.”

  The night, like the day, is full of light, thought Shaun. “Bandi, Abby, will you do something for me?”

  “Sure,” said Bandi. “If we can.”

  “Just pray that my nights may not be so dark – so I can sleep.”

  “No problem. You got it… Anything else?”

  “No. That’s all… I would like to have met Sharon.”

  “You might, one day. If the Creator provides you with a gate we will make sure you meet her.”

  “I doubt that will happen. Just tell her that she cheered me up.”

  “We will,” laughed Abby. “She’ll be impressed that what she did in that cave had an impact on someone the other side of the galaxy. I won’t tell her you know about the bad language, though. She might decide to keep using it.”

  “Just the singing,” smiled Shaun. “That’ll do. But don’t stop her being her.”

  “No worries,” said Bandi. “Nothing in all creation will stop Sharon from being Sharon.”

  That night Shaun gave thanks for Sharon and apologised to the Creator for being such a wuss. Maybe – just maybe – She would forgive him and let him have his gate back.

  But it didn’t happen like that. He knew he would be forgiven but when the time came for Bandi and Abby to leave, they passed through the hedge as if the gate wasn’t there. The Creator had plans for Shaun.

  17

  Once the dust had settled on the move back to the cottage and the family were getting back to something like normality, Kakko began longing for the next white gate. The old folk, as she sometimes referred to her parents as well as her nan, were not looking for any kind of adventure. They just felt they needed a long stretch without incident but for Kakko, life was growing tedious and predictable – she needed to get out of its stultifying sameness.

  You know, God, she prayed, what I’m really hoping for is an invitation to visit New England. When they had said goodbye to Zoe, Buck and the others after the adventure on Zilaka, none of them had felt that that would be the end of their association. She wondered how it was all going with Dah and John – not that there was any doubt that this was a friendship made in heaven and set to last as long as either of them was sharing the same four dimensions of space-time in the current universe. Kakko was due some holiday, and now would be a great time to go, she thought. She set about informing the Creator of her idea – and pressuring Her to deliver. Then, to her delight, one day – a few days after Bandi and Abby had called in – a white gate appeared for her and Tam.

  “It’s like Clapham Junction,” said Matilda with mild exasperation. Things were moving too fast for her these days. They had become aware that Clapham Junction was a place in London where you changed trains. “All the coming and going, I’m getting quite dizzy. You never know who’s where anymore.”

  “You cannot have been there much,” said Jack. “I can never remember you going that far when I was a kid.”

  “Where?”

  “Clapham Junction.”

  “No, of course I haven’t been there. It’s not a place people go to from Persham… It’s just a saying. And if it lives up to its reputation, it’s not a place I would ever want to visit.”

  “I would,” said Kakko. “It sounds interesting…”

  “Well, then, you never know. This white gate might take you right onto one of the platforms…”

  But it didn’t. To Kakko’s delight it was indeed New London, Connecticut.

  “So God does answer prayer. She knew I wanted an adventure here.”

  “I’m not so sure it works quite like that,” said Tam carefully. “You can’t tell God what to do.”

  “Oh. You can!” Then she added, softly, “But you’re right. You’re not supposed to tell Her exactly. But, if you don’t ask, you won’t get. The Creator wants you to put in your polite requests.”

  “That is true, I suppose. It’s just that some of us seem to have more cheek than others.”

  “It’s not cheek, it’s just being honest. Anyway, God can always say no, can’t She?” Then she added, half to herself, “She often does… Come on, Tam, let’s get inside. It’s not so warm this time.”

  “It must be their winter… Shouldn’t we knock?”

  But Kakko had already pushed open the door and was shouting, “Hi…! Hi… Anyone at home?”

  “In the office,” came a voice from around the corner. “I’ll be with you in a minute…”

  Kakko followed the voice. Amy was with a girl who was just getting to her feet.

  “Oh, sorry,” said Kakko quickly. “I hope we haven’t interrupted you…”

  “Why, hello! No. Mary was just leaving… That’s alright, Mary. It’s all booked. Glad you got your place…”

  “Thanks,” said Mary. And then, “Hi,” to Kakko and Tam as she left.

  “So. The travellers have reappeared!” smiled Amy Merton. “What adventures have you had lately?”

  “Not so very many,” said Tam. “Sorry to barge in but—”

  “That’s fine. Come into the dining room and let me get you both a soda.”

  They followed Amy through into the dining hall.

  “So, nothing painful to report,” said Amy as she pulled open the fridge. “Coke?”

  “Fine,” said Kakko, fascinated by the colourful cans that seemed so commonplace on Planet Earth.

  “Thanks… Nothing but exams,” sighed Tam. “It’s Kakko who has the exciting job. You know she’s working on engines for spacecraft.”

  “No. Tell me about it… Only I don’t know the first thing about engines except that they can be found beneath the hood, need gas and go brum-brum.”

  “No, my sort are not that kind. They’re what you might call rocket engines… only without all that flame and smoke pouring out of them like the ones you use on Planet Earth.”

  “I’ve seen videos of automobiles with engines here which don’t need petroleum. Some don’t even need drivers,” said Tam.

  “You’re right. I can’t imagine having an automobile that I can’t control,” said Amy, with a troubled look. “It sounds both weird and dangerous. I like the idea of moving away from fossil fuel, though… But I doubt silent cars will catch on – not among men anyhow.”

  “They will,” assured Kakko. “They’ll just suddenly become cool… like lots of things.”

  “We need something to. Something that steers us away from air pollution, noise, piles of old rotting cars, greenhouse gases, and more.”
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  “Planet Earth is in trouble, isn’t it? Abby and Bandi have told me all about it. In my opinion you can’t get rid of your oil-guzzlers quick enough…”

  “I see you haven’t changed, Kakko. You’ve done the British Prime Minister; is it the US President next?”

  “If that’s what God wants, then I’m up for it. Take me to see him.”

  “I’ll let you know when he next pops by… Talking of meeting people, Zoe’s due back this afternoon. Make yourself comfortable. Dinner’s on its way… I have one or two things to finish up, then I will join you.”

  ***

  After a lunch of soup and salad, in which Kakko tried not to let her exuberance for life overflow too much, Zoe came in and rushed across the room to greet her friends.

  “Kakko, Tam! Amy texted me to say you were here. It’s so great to see you.”

  It turned out that John and Dah were in California, which, Zoe explained, “is about as far as you can go and still be on mainland USA”. They were doing really well, although Dah missed her people some of the time.

  “I guess that goes with the territory if you fall in love with someone from a different planet… A different country is bad enough,” she said, wistfully.

  “So you haven’t got over Dev, then?” said Kakko, wistfully.

  “Nah. I was really keen on Dev. I thought at one time he was interested, too, but then he just cooled. I don’t know why.”

  “You were keen on Dev!” said Tam with some alarm in his tone. “But I thought… you said… You gave us your philosophy of life and said there were people like you who didn’t want to settle into a relationship… I remember it clearly…”

  “Yeah, I said that. I said it to keep Buck off the scent. He can be a pain with his ‘Zo-lo this’ and ‘Zo-lo that’…”

  “I knew you didn’t mean it,” laughed Kakko. “That was obvious but I didn’t know how serious— Tam, you OK? You’ve gone all red.”

  “What the hell did you say it for, if you didn’t mean it?”

  “It was quite obvious she didn’t mean it, Tam,” said Kakko. “People say lots of things like that – you just have to read between the lines. You men, you’re so slow at times.”

  “Well, if you say so. So slow that I couldn’t see any space between the lines… and neither did Dev.”

  “How do you mean, ‘neither did Dev’? You were talking to him about Zoe?”

  “Look, he asked me a straight question, and I gave him a straight answer.”

  “What—?”

  “He asked me if I thought Zoe would welcome his advances. And I—”

  “… told him to back off?” finished Kakko.

  “I told him what I’d heard. I said that Zoe had explained that she wasn’t interested in relationships – any relationships. And not to take it personally.”

  The girls stared at him.

  “What was I supposed to think? He asked me, right? I told him what I heard.”

  “But you didn’t have to be so thick to believe it!” Kakko almost shouted.

  “Stop it, you two,” pleaded Zoe. “Arguing about it ain’t worth it.” And she started to cry.

  “Oh, dear,” sighed Kakko. “We’ve come from the stars just to upset you.” She put her arms around her friend and gave Tam a cutting glare.

  “No. It ain’t you. It’s been there, coming out for months… Actually, it’s quite nice to think he actually did like me…”

  Tam felt awful. He wanted to go into a corner and disappear. Why were girls so complicated? If you couldn’t believe what they said, how was he to know? They kind of communicated by some telepathic signals that his mind didn’t possess the capacity to pick up… But what his mind did do instinctively was to try and think of a strategy to rectify the situation. Strategic thinking. That’s what was needed.

  “There might be a way—” he began speaking deliberately.

  “Tam, don’t you think you have done quite enough interfering?” said Kakko sharply.

  “Kakko, he’s only trying to help—”

  “Like he did last time!”

  “Kakko, you’re too hard on him… Tam, I don’t blame you. My mouth was too full of my ‘philosophy of life’. I got what was coming to me… I want to hear about this way you’re thinking of.”

  “Well, he could, kind of, like, find out that I was wrong…”

  “How. Texting him? It won’t work,” sighed Kakko, exasperated.

  “We men can say things straight out to each other – we don’t have to be over-subtle. But I wasn’t thinking of texting but I could if—”

  “What were you thinking, Tam?” interrupted Zoe.

  “Well, I mean, you could kind of be passing by and drop in to see him…”

  “Tam, he’s in India! Which is, like, the other side of the planet to where we are!” blurted Kakko with a rising inflection. “How is Zoe supposed to be just ‘passing’?”

  “She could go on a holiday.”

  “On her own? That’s subtle,” said Kakko, sarcastically.

  “Don’t be down on him, Kakko. The lad’s trying, right. He’s not the sort of person you want to upset. You’ve got a good one there.”

  “It’s OK, Zoe. Kakko says lots but I’ve learned not to take it to heart. She’s good for me… But we do have to find a way for you and Dev. That could be why the Creator has brought us here.”

  Just then, the room filled with other YWCA volunteers and their conversation was curtailed. People were excited to meet Kakko and Tam. Some of them had heard of the Europa/Zilaka adventure. Many hadn’t believed it but Zoe’s account was now ratified by Tam and Kakko – a fact which cheered her immensely.

  “The world is full of doubters. Conspiracy theories abound on this planet. But Dah’s trumpet had got them all beat,” she told them when they were seated at a table.

  “What about a guitar? Has she got a new one?”

  “Yeah. John’s folks took her to choose the best that money could buy. She’s a winner all round. And so are we when she plays it. We tried to get her to enter America’s Got Talent but she wouldn’t.”

  “I think she had her fill of talent shows on her own planet. If she’s happy, then that’s everything.”

  “She’s not short of audiences, that’s for sure,” said Zoe.

  ***

  “Where’re the Himalayas?” asked Tam as he, Kakko and Zoe were seated over a cup of cocoa before bedtime.

  “I dunno. Planet Earth, I guess.”

  “Yes but where? Are they near India?”

  “Northern India,” murmured Zoe. “They are the highest mountains in the world. They form the border with Tibet. Why?”

  “This leaflet. It’s about trekking in the Himalayas to raise money for charity. You could join it, Zoe. It’ll be near Dev.”

  “How can she go on holiday on her own?” scowled Kakko. “She’d look stupid. It’d look as if she was chasing him. That’s, like, so—”

  “No. Don’t you see? It’s not a holiday. It’s fundraising. Lots of these people would be doing it on their own.”

  “Let me look at that.” Kakko took the leaflet and checked it out. As she read, her expression gradually changed from disapproval to real interest. “Zoe, I think Tam has actually come up with something here… If you went on this, you could tell Dev that you are passing through. Then, when you have met up with him, in his own land, if you wanted to, you could kind of show him you fancied him; be a bit bold…”

  “Thanks, Tam. But it’s too late. His parents were going to find him a bride. They might already have done so. By the time I get there, if I were to go, that is, he would most probably be married.”

  “Yeah. To some complete stranger. That’s just gross,” exhaled Kakko.

  “It’s their custom. It’s quite normal in India,” said Zoe, resigned.

  “That doesn’t make it right,” said Kakko forcibly.

  “It’s worked for thousands of years,” said Zoe. “In the US there are millions of people who are not hap
pily married even though they got to choose… You could argue that the Indian way is better.”

  “Maybe but not for Dev,” put in Tam. “He’s met the girl he wants to date. Anyone else is going to be second best.”

  “She’s almost certainly going to be pretty and definitely sweeter than me,” sighed Zoe. “He’ll get over it.”

  “But I guess Dev doesn’t want sweet,” said Tam. “Some of us go for girls with strong personalities…”

  “I get you. You mean loud, opinionated, outspoken…”

  Kakko laughed. “Tam would be hopeless with someone delicate and gentle.”

  “Yeah, I want someone bold,” Tam agreed. “And I want a friend – someone I can talk to; not someone I have to look after all the time. I wouldn’t want a girl who, like, looks up to me. I guess that’s what appeals to Dev, too.”

  The doors to the lounge where they were sitting exploded as Buck burst into the room.

  “I heard you were back. Great! Are we going on another adventure? Which planet this time?”

  “Hiya, Buck,” said Tam. “So far we’re just visiting.”

  “Hey, Buck. How are you?” Kakko gave him a hug. She was still clutching the trek leaflet.

  “I’m fine. Except for the ridiculous amount of stuff they set me to do at school. Each teacher seems to think that their subject is the only one we’re studying.”

  “That’s a common experience,” smiled Tam. “Same on Planet Joh.”

  “No. Not everywhere in the world. People in Britain, for example, don’t have to do anywhere near as much as we do in the US.”

  “That’s not what Bandi and Abby tell us,” said Kakko. “Some days, even though they live in the same house, they hardly get to meet. They text each other from their bedrooms across the landing.”

  “What’s this?” said Buck, spotting the leaflet. “You going to the mountains?”

  “We were just—”

  Buck yanked the literature out of Kakko’s hand. “But this is perfect for you, Zoe. Look, you could have a holiday like everyone says you should. You wouldn’t have to find someone to go with. And you can raise funds for the YWCA at the same time… Perfect.”