The Race

by Ian Berry

  I had to tell Melanie something. “It was taken just as the gun went off. Perhaps Rio jumped and the camera jerked.”

  “Yeah. That must be it. Why only in the middle though?”

  I thought quickly. “I think it’s the autofocus getting confused as the camera moves quickly.” I knew it wasn’t that, Rio didn’t use autofocus, she did it ‘properly’ - her word, not mine.”

  “Must be it,” said Melanie. Thankfully, she left it at that.

  What’s DNU mean, Twin?” asked Saskia.

  “Not sure. Text Rio and see what she says. You’re better at this texting lark than I’ll ever be. She’ll call us when she gets the message.”

  She grinned but did as asked. Next job was to call on James.

  “Hi Amanda. Boss in?”

  “Yes he is. Not going to beat him up are you? I’ve heard about you Saskia Chandler - seen you too.”

  “Did you hear about the helicopter pilot a while ago? That was Saskia,” I said.

  “You’re both as bad as each other. Go on in. If I hear cries for help or suspicious thumps, I’m calling Security.”

  “Knock, knock. Hello, Boss. Only us.”

  “Come in and shut the door. I suppose you’re here to tell me off about the interview yesterday?”

  “Lack of interview James, lack of interview,” said Saskia. “Come to say thank you, saved us running away and hiding.”

  “Hm. About what I thought, which is why I did it. Am I forgiven?”

  I spoke in an aside to Saskia, perfectly audible to James of course, “Think he wants a kiss?”

  “Reckon he might do.”

  “Has he earned a hug as well?”

  “It’s a distinct possibility.”

  “Shall we?”

  “Let’s.”

  We ran to him quickly. One each side with our arms round him, we each kissed a cheek. Then just as quickly we ran back to where we’d been. You never knew who might walk in.

  “Er, we do have a slight problem,” I said.

  “Which is?”

  “Rio got a picture at the moment Saskia caught the bullet. There’s just a blur where her arm moved.”

  “Can’t you just delete it?”

  “Too many people have already seen it - including Melanie,” said Saskia.

  “Ok. You need to see what Rio herself thinks it is. If she has an explanation - however wrong it is - then that’s the official line.”

  “We’re asking her as we speak,” said Saskia. “Have to wait for Break at school before she can talk to us.”

  “Of course. I forget she’s still at school,” said James.

  “Should think you’d have been used to that after two years of us - well - me anyway,” laughed Saskia.

  “Ah. But you didn’t work for me then. Rio does - sort of. It’s different.”

  “Ok, James. We’ll keep you posted. By the way, you’ll get a call from Ellie the Fixer. We told her about your party invite. She’s going to fix it.”

  “Look forward to it. Now, don’t you have something to do? Drink hot chocolate or something?”

  “We know when we’re not wanted,” grinned Saskia. “See you later, James.”

  Midmorning, Saskia’s mobile phone rang. She fished it out of her bag. “Rio.” She pressed ‘accept’. “Hi Rio. How’re you?”

  I turned up my super hearing to listen to both sides.

  “Hi Saskia. I feel like a pop star after yesterday. Everybody saw me on the TV news.”

  “Which means that anybody who thought you’d just blagged a day off are now converted believers,” laughed Saskia.

  “Oh yes. Thanks a million times for everything.”

  “Everything so far, dear. So far.”

  “That’s what I meant really. Ok. DNU stands for Do Not Use. I’m ashamed to say I left the Anti-shake function switched on. It’s supposed to make pictures sharper by being more stable? Anyway, I thought it’d be useful for composing shots quickly. It was - until that awful man fired the gun!. Then I jumped about a mile into the air. The Anti-shake managed most of the picture but apparently not the middle. I left it in in case you wanted to look at it, you can chuck it if you want.”

  “Ok. We wondered, that’s all.”

  “Er, I told Mum about Dan, like you said, everything - including what you said to me. She thinks it’s good - providing I take my time and he waits patiently, which is basically what you and Saskia said. She gave me a big hug. I think it’s going to be fine.”

  “We’re happy for you. Anything you need, give us a call. See you tomorrow? Got to do the day job even though you’re on the Royal Rota now.”

  “No problem. I’ll be waiting.”

  Saskia pressed ‘end’. “You listened?”

  “Yeah. What she said is now official Saskia Policy. I’ll tell Melanie first chance I get.”

  That was sooner than I’d thought. Melanie was in Jeff’s office with the latest edition of the local paper spread all over the desk. She called us in.

  “Didn’t Mr. Spencer bother sending a photographer? I’m sure all these are Rio’s.”

  There were quite a few. I checked the by-line. It said ‘Pictures by Rio Ashworth’. No mention of Dan at all. Perhaps none of his had been used. I thought Rio would be pleased with that, not that Dan’s pictures hadn’t been used, but that her name was in the paper.

  With the mystery of the blurred picture now ‘solved’, I moved it into its own folder. I didn’t delete it, I didn’t know if it’d every be useful but I had a feeling it might be one day, don’t ask me why.

  Saskia and I spent the rest of the day tidying up after yesterday, putting the boardroom back together and making sure BT didn’t leave a mess behind. Nobody seemed to mind when we skipped off a little early again.

  “I think a little house cleaning,” said Saskia when arrived home. “Been neglecting that recently.”

  “Good idea, I feel like taking my brain out for a little while.”

  We did the chores, quite slowly - for us. I didn’t even mind the time it took to use the hoover.

  “Not organised the jet engine powered hoover yet I see,” laughed Saskia.

  “No. Aside from anything else, I don’t know where to get a jet engine from.”

  “That bit’s easy. The Airforce have any number of ‘em - mostly inside aeroplanes, but we could deal with that”

  “What you mean like ‘borrow’ one?”

  “Mm. Be interesting the next day when they tried to start the plane or whatever they do.”

  “Yes. Imagine. ‘Won’t start, sir’. ‘Why not?’ ‘No engine, sir’.”

  Saskia laughed, “Not this weekend anyway. You’ll have to shove the ordinary hoover around as normal.”

  After tea, we watched the TV News. We were on it again. The gist of the item was that the gunman had been questioned and had turned out to be a terrorist. How he’d got through all Jack’s security checks wasn’t mentioned. The pictures used were from yesterday, mostly around the actual assassination attempt. I watched myself beat the man up again.

  The rest of the evening was spent catering to Rob’s happiness - something else we’d been neglecting. At one point Saskia and I both whispered “Prime Directive” at the exactly same time. Made us both smile.

  Saturday. Rio was collected and driven to the garage as was now becoming usual. She had things to tell us.

  “Dan called round last night. He brought a copy of the paper. Mum and Dad were very proud of me, my name on the by-line and everything. None of Dan’s stuff was used. That’s why his name wasn’t there, only mine. He said he didn’t mind, they were my pictures so I got the credit. I gave him a kiss, just a small one.”

  “What did your mum and dad think of their daughter appearing on
TV working hard?”

  Rio laughed. “Dad cheered and Mum burst into tears. They were a bit worried when it got to the bit with the gunman, perhaps they thought I might get shot. They thought you were wonderful, Saskia.”

  “Sixty four thousand dollar question,” said Saskia. “What did they think of Dan?”

  “They quite like him I think. They got on well at any rate. I have a good feeling about it actually.”

  “Well remember - slowly,” I said.

  “Listen who’s talking!” whispered Saskia.

  “Shut up you or you’ll get a thump later.”

  If Rio wondered what Saskia and I were smiling at, I assume she put it down to what she’d just told us.

  Rio’s mum was providing lunch when we got back from Eddie’s garage. Rio could sort pictures and send them just as easily from her computer as ours back at home. The reason for doing it that way involved a certain promise to make sure Rio caught up on work missed by being at the plant on Thursday. With a little Saskia help, the work was polished off in short order.

  “Saskias,” said Rio. “I need your thoughts on something.”

  “Should we actually have any of these ‘thoughts’ you refer to, then you’re welcome to them,” grinned Saskia.

  “No, be serious. It’s to do with my pictures, what did you call it? My portfolio?”

  “Sorry,” I said. “Don’t mind Saskia. How can we help?”

  “Not sure you can. What I want to do is take some pictures of stuff moving quickly.”

  “Ah. Speed shots, background out of focus, motion blur, that sort of stuff?”

  “Mm, that’s it. I can’t think how to do it. I tried ordinary traffic but it doesn’t go quickly enough.”

  “It turns out you’re speaking to exactly the right department,” said Saskia. “I shall put my best girl on it immediately.” She turned to me with a smile.

  I thought about it for a moment. “Hm. We might be able to persuade Kyra and Katya to whiz about for you. But perhaps ... what about racing cars? On a circuit? Much more fun for all of us.”

  “Yes! That’d be brilliant!”

  “Thought you’d like it. Want us to fix it?”

  “Can you?” She answered her own question. “‘Course you can. Saskias can fix anything.”

  Saskia laughed. “Your faith in our abilities is touching but possibly misplaced. We shall see what might be done. Ah, Saskia’s got the phone out already.”

  I used said phone to ring Barry Grenville at the race circuit.

  “Saskia! How nice to hear from you. How are you?”

  “I’m very well thank you, Mr. Grenville - Barry.”

  “What can I do for you?”

  “I need a favour, don’t worry, it won’t cost you money.”

  “Trust you to need to qualify a statement like that. What do you need?”

  I explained about Rio. “You might have seen her pictures in our local paper. She wants to practise shooting stuff going fast. Can we come and watch a trackday?”

  Barry didn’t answer at once. I could almost hear the cogs going round in his heard.

  “Will you do me a favour at the same time.”

  “The nature of this favour?”

  “It’s quiet at the moment, not many people on the trackdays. Will you and Saskia come and race each other again? And would you object if we advertised it?”

  “Ok. Would you like the ‘event’ to be reported in the paper? With pictures?”

  “Can you arrange that? Silly of me, of course you can. Change the question. Will you arrange that? Please?”

  “Ah-ha. The magic ‘P’ word. It’ll be our pleasure. When?”

  “Next weekend? Sunday?”

  “You’re on.”

  There were a couple of extra details to sort out, then I ended the call.

  “You listened?” I whispered.

  “Yep.”

  “You ok with it?”

  “Yep.”

  I turned to Rio. “Next Sunday. That ok?”

  “Brilliant.”

  “A condition,” I said.

  “Condition?”

  “You have to arrange for it to appear in the paper. Saskia and I have to race each other again. Barry at the circuit is going to advertise it. I want you and Dan to see that it gets in the paper on Monday.”

  “Does that mean Dan can come as well?”

  “Yes dear. Not strictly a date, you’ll be sort of working but better than nothing.”

  Rio threw her arms around me and hugged me tight. “What have I done to deserve friends like you two?” Then she hugged Saskia as well for good measure.

  We left Rio trying to explain to her mum and dad what it was she wanted to try to do. The easy bit was telling them what we’d arranged for her. Anyway, I was sure she’d succeed in the end.

  Rob had decided he couldn’t be bothered with the kitchen thank you very much. He’d decided that we couldn’t be bothered either. He chased us upstairs to get changed into ‘something suitable’ so he could take us out for a meal, only to the nice restaurant round the corner but a change nevertheless.

  ‘Something suitable’ involved dresses as usual. Negotiations were quickly concluded. Saskia had obviously decided to let me lead in such discussions as much as possible. I chose what we should wear from items we’d already ‘used’ so to speak. Two dresses in pretty pastel colours which we’d made appear a couple of months ago for something or other.

  Getting changed simply involved changing to be wearing the dresses with hair brushed and shiny and makeup already done. Saskia still liked to check I’d made a suitable job and as usual this made me feel warm and wanted inside. I gave her a kiss, then had to watch as she had to change again to get rid of the lipstick marks.

  “What’s the occasion, Dad?”

  “Does there need to be an occasion or reason? Our household is a co-operative effort, I just felt we should enjoy ourselves tonight. You take me out just as much, if not more.”

  “Ah. That’s because we love you and want to make you happy.”

  “Funny you should say that. That’s exactly the same reason I’d have used.”

  As was becoming normal for such occasions, Rob drank wine and other alcoholic beverages while we Saskias stuck to soft drinks. He never got what I’d call potted, but as usual I drove home just in case. We had a really nice evening - which in turn meant that the Saskia Magic arranged for everybody else in the restaurant to have a nice evening as well.

  Sunday. A lazy day with nothing planned. I mentioned as much to Saskia. I got the reply I’d expected.

  “Last Sunday was a lazy day with nothing planned and look what happened. We ended up in Australia - in the future no less.”

  “Ok. Let’s plan something, see if that’ll work.”

  There was silence for a few minutes. After the last couple of weeks a lazy day with nothing planned was really what we needed most.

  “I vote we just stay here and do nothing,” I said.

  “I can get my head round that.”

  After clearing away breakfast and waving Rob off as he went to terrorise the garage, we sat around idly talking.

  “For some reason I was just thinking about Angharad, you know, the girl from the school who might be Prime Minister one day?” said Saskia.

  “I remember. What about her?”

  “Voice said she’s going to make decisions about how we use energy. I was just wondering what they might be.”

  “Could be anything. There’ve been all sorts of plans made and junked. There was even one to put solar collectors in orbit and beam energy down from space.”

  “Sound like science fiction to me. Cost a fortune, especially as NASA are about to stop using the Shuttle.”

>   “I know. A shame really. Trouble is, as well as the cost, if anything happens it’s very high profile. Look at the one you and I had to deal with. Could have been very nasty.”

  “Yeah. Like the Challenger disaster in January 1986.”

  “Before your time really. How come you know about it, the date and all.”

  “Hm. You know that before I met you I always wanted to be a super girl? One of the reasons was that I originally wanted to be an astronaut. I learned about the Challenger thing because one of the first women to go into space was on its crew, Christa McAullife. She was killed. I had the thought that if I was a super girl that couldn’t happen to me. Don’t forget, I was having these thoughts when I was only about eight or nine.”

  “I actually remember that,” I said, in one of my rare references to the fact I was some years older than Saskia. “Sad really.”

  “What made it worse was the fact she wasn’t really an astronaut, she was a teacher, from somewhere in New Hampshire. She was what I wanted to be when I was little.”

  We were quiet for a moment, each thinking her own thoughts. I broke the silence.

  “Wonder if we’ll ever go walk on the Moon again?”

  “At least you didn’t say ‘in our lifetime’,” grinned Saskia. “I think we probably will, one day.”

  “Well I think NASA or whoever should go and clear up all the mess they left behind.”

  “Mess, Twin?”

  “Well yeah. There were six missions that actually landed so there’s all the Lunar Lander bits that were left behind. There’s three Lunar Rovers up there as well.”

  “Hm. Right set of litter bugs those NASA guys. Three Rovers for six missions?”

  “Only Apollos 15, 16 and 17 took Rovers, before that the guys had to walk.”

  “I wonder what they look like? How long have they been there?”

  “The missions were in 1971 and 1972, so it’s been nearly forty years.”

  “Blimey. That long. Might have fallen apart by now.”

  “Shouldn’t think so. No air so they should be pretty well preserved.”

  Then the idea. “We could go and look,” I said.

  Saskia got all excited. “We could, couldn’t we!”

  “Small snag - two snags actually.”