by AD Hartley
‘Carlo, you haven’t just…’ Luigi heard his son’s feet pounding back up the stairs. ‘Ah, you have. Oh dear.’
Carlo walked past the vans waving up to Randy who was stood talking to Lumsden outside his office. Both men waved back as Carlo hopped through the hatch in the main doors. He noticed Ben, Norton and Abi’s bikes had already been taken and picked up his own to set off for home.
But as he kicked off through the gates someone appeared inches before him. Carlo pulled at his brakes as hard as he could but knew immediately that he was too late and closed his eyes expecting an impact at any second, but was stunned that somehow he managed to avoid a collision, coming to a standstill just a yard past the person who had stepped in front of him. But in his astonishment Carlo now found himself staring at a bus aimed directly at him having forgotten to look right as he left the gates. With no way of reversing in time, Carlo took the only option available to him and pedalled furiously. He sped up and raced along the road to the left, out of the way of the bus that now had room to overtake him. As the bus negotiated the young man’s bike, Carlo slowed to take a look at who he had miraculously missed, but as he turned his head another man appeared straight ahead of him and this time Carlo had his eyes wide open in shock as he rode directly through the person, who was screaming in alarm.
For the second time in just twenty yards Carlo slammed on the brakes, and jumped off the bike and onto the pavement as it slowed. The bike fell to the floor with a clatter and Carlo stumbled as he landed heavily and crumpled to the pavement, rolling over as his momentum took him straight into a lamppost. Next to him in the gutter his bike halted with its front wheel clicking softly as it continued to spin.
‘Oww!’ Carlo exclaimed as he gingerly pulled himself upright, leaning against the lamppost. He looked back down the road and saw the person he had somehow ridden through turn around looking just as shocked as Carlo.
‘Dad?’ he said, pulling himself up on the lamppost and standing shakily.
Luigi looked stunned, but realising what had happened he took a step towards his son, a look of deep concern on his face, but abruptly stopped as he became aware of his surroundings. ‘Oh dear.’ he said and disappeared as quickly as he had first appeared in front of Carlo.
‘What the…? Carlo started to limp towards the place his father had been, but stopped dead as he heard a voice next to his ear.
‘I’m still here. I’m still here!’
Becoming slightly more used to having a disembodied voice whispering around him, Carlo skipped the most obvious question, “where?” and plumped for the next most pressing, ‘Why?’ he asked.
‘I have no idea!’ Luigi hissed loudly. ‘What is going on? What if someone had seen me? I feel naked!’
An odd picture came to Carlo of his father stood covering his modesty, fully clothed in the evening sun. ‘I don’t know, but we can’t stay here. Can you follow me?’
‘God knows.’ Luigi said, sounding agitated. Sometimes I bounce back to the study, other times it’s you. This is preposterous!’
Carlo was also at a loss but knew that if he stood there seemingly talking to thin air he would be noticed eventually as they were still only yards from the factory. ‘OK, so if I ride away, you should bounce back to the study, right?’
‘Or you... who knows?’
‘Only one way to find out.’ Carlo said, noticing some people walking out of the factory behind them and not wanting to be seen lingering.
‘Hang on, why don’t I just walk along nex….’ Luigi began, but Carlo had already set off, shouting ‘Try and concentrate on the study, Dad!’ over his shoulder.
Trying to estimate the distance he would need to go to reach the comparable length of the factory, Carlo pedalled as fast as his sore leg would allow, hoping that once he reached that point his Father would immediately bounce back to the study behind him, but before he had gone even twenty meters Mr Leodoni appeared in front of him yet again looking thoroughly fed up and mouthing something to Carlo who, frustrated that it hadn’t worked, sped up to try again, riding straight through his father. But once more Luigi vanished behind him and materialised again inches ahead of his son.
Carlo ploughed through his father pulling the brakes and screeched to a halt five yards farther. He looked behind to see Luigi walking forlornly towards him.
‘It’s me isn’t it?’ Carlo said, breathing heavily. ‘You’re haunting me.’
‘I’m not haunting anyone.’ Luigi answered, irritated at the suggestion. ‘I just don’t get it.’
‘Well, we can’t stay here and it doesn’t seem like we have a choice right now. Looks like you’re coming home with me.’ Carlo said, a slight smile forming on his face. ‘Want to have some fun?’
Luigi gave his son a look that suggested that right now fun was the last thing he wanted, but Carlo just winked.
‘Hang on.’ he said setting off again at full speed.
‘Oh no!’ Luigi said realising what was coming next.
Meters down the road Carlo sped on and, just as he hoped, Luigi reappeared directly in front of him with a panicked expression. Carlo braced himself instinctively but continued pedalling straight through his father who, too late, had raised his arms automatically. Carlo continued on down the road turning left at the post office and straight through his father once more, who now looked extremely angry.
By the time they reached Carlo’s school Luigi had begun to re-appear wearing a disapproving scowl and wagging his finger down upon his son who continued to shoot directly through his father, whooping with joy each time.
As they neared home fifteen “re-appearances” later, Luigi realised his son was having far too much fun to stop so had given up trying to reprimand Carlo, instead appearing each time pulling a variety of silly faces and, as they skidded into his street, Luigi mimed riding his own bicycle as Carlo whipped past him.
Carlo came to a screeching stop outside Randy’s house just as Luigi appeared for the final time, sat in a perfect yoga position, crossed legged on the pavement. Carlo’s front wheel came to a halt resting two inches inside Luigi’s stomach. Luigi looked up in mimicked shock. ‘How rude!’ he said, with mock offense.
Carlo joined in laughing as he dumped his bike unceremoniously in the garage and opened the front door. He beckoned his father in as he walked straight up stairs and into his bedroom. Carlo stepped aside as his father walked into a room that could be generously described as “lived in”.
‘Welcome to my room.’ Carlo said as Luigi took in the unmade bed, remote control cars and various pieces of homework scattered around the floor, old crisp packets and cans surrounding his computer and an entire wardrobe of clothes littering every surface available.
‘You never tidy your bloody room!’ Luigi exclaimed, inadvertently reverting to his parental norm.
‘I’ll tidy it tomorrow!’ Carlo replied.
‘That’s what you always say!’
Carlo ignored him and dumped his bag on the table, taking out his notebook and the diary.
‘Ah, Carlo, I wanted to talk to you about that.’ Luigi said, as Carlo placed the books on the table. ‘You see, diaries are a very private thing and there may be some personal thoughts in there that I’m not quite sure I want to share.’
This took Carlo thoroughly by surprise. He knew perfectly well how protective people can be regarding their diaries having witnessed Abi once pummel Norton for a full five minutes after he attempted to read aloud to the gang the first entry in her diary before she rugby tackled him, but it never occurred to him that his father would feel the same way, after all, the diary had been in Carlo’s possession for some time now, though admittedly it remained mostly unread. Suddenly something occurred to him.
‘Wait a minute, is that why you kept stopping us from reading it?’
‘Well, of course.’ Luigi answered as if this was the most obvious thing in the world.
Carlo was torn. His brief glimpses thus far had shown him that the diary contained s
ome fascinating ideas for the factory and there was a part of him that was sure that death was a fairly definitive termination to claims on property, no matter how personal. Yet his father was very definitely here in spirit, if not in body, asking him not to read the diary.
‘Well, I guess it is yours.’ Carlo said, a little disappointed. ‘OK. I won’t read it.’
‘Thank you son, I know…’ But Luigi stopped mid-sentence as the doorbell rang and with an anxious look at Carlo, disappeared.
Carlo rolled his eyes. ‘It’ll just be the milkman collecting money.’ he said walking past his now invisible Dad. ‘You remember Lilliput? She was nervous every time she heard a noise too!’ he called back from the stairs.
‘I am nothing like that cat! She was nuts!’ his father’s voice shouted back down.
Carlo opened the door to find four identical fixed grins staring back at him. The owners of the grins were stood looking rather uneasy as if they knew they shouldn’t be there but couldn’t help themselves. Understanding slowly dawned on Carlo as he saw Norton struggling to contain himself and eventually open his mouth to say something.
‘No it wasn’t…’ Carlo said, jumping in before Norton could speak, taking him by surprise.
‘No it wasn’t what?’
‘You were about to blame Ben.’
‘What?’ Ben said.
‘I was not!’ Norton butted in.
‘Yes you were.’ Carlo said turning to Abi and Newton. ‘It was him wasn’t it?’ he asked, waving a finger at Norton.
Abi and Newton half-heartedly shook their heads along with Norton next to them who sported a satisfied smile, which vanished as they both withered under Carlo’s stare and began to nod in agreement. Norton groaned as Carlo turned his stare on him.
‘I will never tell you anything ever again!” he said in disgust, as Newton strained to see him past him into the house.
‘Where is he?’ he asked excitedly. ‘At the factory?’
‘No, he’s in my room.’
His four friends bounded past him up the stairs. ‘But he won’t show himself.’ he added in resignation.
Carlo followed and found them stood in his bedroom looking around at the walls. Newton looked thoroughly disappointed. ‘Told you.’ Carlo said throwing himself down on the bed. The others took up their usual places lounging around the room.
‘You’ve tidied up.’ Abi noted.
‘Yeah, last month.’ Carlo said with a shrug. He heard a definite sniff of disapproval from the wall behind him.
Carlo sighed and said to the room in general. ‘Dad. They all know now. Not much use hiding.’
‘I’m not hiding.’ said the wall. ‘I was checking out Randy’s house. He’s painted his bedroom.’
Abi, Newton and even Norton sprang to their feet in surprise. Norton got down on all fours and looked under the bed.
‘How did he even get here?’ Ben asked, looking around the room to try and work out where Luigi’s voice was coming from. ‘I thought he couldn’t float too far from the study.’
‘So did we.’ Carlo said, indicating the wall behind him, ‘but when I left work he sort of “bounced” after me.’
‘Bounced?’ asked Abi sitting back down with a wary glance at the wall.
Carlo explained bouncing and the experiments he, Ben and his father had undertaken that morning and continued to tell them about the journey home. Ben, Abi and Norton looked unconcerned at this turn of events; who were they to figure out the strange happenings of ghosts; but Newton looked fascinated.
‘Something changed,’ he said excitedly, ‘or you did something different.’
‘Nup.’ Carlo shook his head. ‘Just picked up my stuff and left on my bike as normal.’ he finished, indicating his bag and the books on the desk.
‘The diary?’ Newton exclaimed, looking at the desk. ‘You’ve never brought that home before have you?’ he asked.
‘Well, no, but…’
‘That’s what’s different.’ he shouted excitedly, reaching over to grab it.
‘Ahem!’ Luigi’s voice rang out rather pointedly. Newton paused mid-grasp, whilst Norton and Abi jumped up again, looking uncomfortable.
‘What?’ Newton asked looking at Carlo.
‘We can’t read it.’ Carlo answered with another shrug, suggesting this was not his idea.
‘Why not?’ Ben asked. ‘I’ve been dying to know what’s in there for ages.’
Abi laughed, suggesting it highly unlikely her brother had ever wanted to know the contents of any book. Newton pulled his hand back but still continued to throw the diary longing looks. Unlike Ben he had opened every book he had ever come across and being denied one was a new experience for him.
Carlo looked at Abi. ‘Would you want people to read your diary?’
She shot an accusatory glare across at Norton. ‘No!’ she replied.
‘Well it’s the same thing. It’s my Dad’s diary and he doesn’t want us to read it.’
‘But he’s dead!’ Norton countered in the whiney voice he knew his parents eventually gave in to, though it rarely worked with the rest of the gang.
‘No.’ Carlo said firmly. ‘It’s his diary and it’s important to him.’
Norton frowned and started looking around the room again. ‘Boring.’ he muttered under his breath.
But unexpectedly Newton hopped up onto his knees, a big smile on his face. ‘I’ve got it!’ he said.
‘Got what?’ Abi asked.
‘The reason Mr Leodoni bounced between the study and Carlo, but has now followed him here. Carlo said it earlier. It’s obvious!’
As usual Newton was answered with blank stares and silence. Above Carlo on the wall a translucent face appeared looking down at Newton with curiosity.
‘The diary is important to Mr Leodoni and obviously Carlo is important to Mr Leodoni.’ Newton explained slowly. ‘Therefore, given the results of the experiments you have undertaken and the events of your journey home, Carlo, it seems clear that spirits are linked to objects or places that they feel most strongly connected too and will be drawn back to the closest one if they move out of range. It makes perfect sense!’
‘Does it? Carlo asked, lost.
‘Yes, think about every ghost story you’ve ever heard. They’re always haunting places they used to live or work or were killed in. Places with a strong emotional connection. I mean, if I was a ghost I would visit the world and see all the things I didn’t see in life. But perhaps ghosts don’t have that option. They are linked to things that meant a lot to them before they died, in this case the diary and you.’ Newton finished with a smile at Carlo, who nodded with a small smile of his own, until they all jumped up in fright as Abi screamed loudly having seen Mr Leodoni’s face staring at them, who then screamed in return and vanished backwards through the wall.
The Evidence
Ben and Norton skidded around the open doors to the factory floor and came to a thudding halt against the railings before creeping slowly back to peer around the edge of the door into the courtyard and main gates beyond, Norton wheezing slightly having had all the wind knocked out of him.
‘What on earth are they up to?’ Carlo said aloud, looking up from the back of the factory where he was listening to Lumsden’s confirmation that all but one small sample of the tainted ice cream had been destroyed, with Carlo deciding the final sample should be stored as evidence in case the culprit was apprehended.
Both Ben and Norton were pushing each other to try and get a view from behind the doors without being noticed by someone unknown to Carlo. Abruptly they fell over each other in an attempt to run the other way, obviously having spotted whoever it was they were hiding from.
Carlo shook his head, handed the clipboard back to Lumsden and bounded up the stairs at the back of the factory to the office level just as Ben came tearing up the stairs at the opposite end of the row running towards Carlo with a panicked expression, followed at a slightly slower pace by Norton.
‘Whoa! What’s
going on?’ Carlo asked, holding his hands out to try and slow Ben’s passage.
Ben slid to a standstill breathing heavily and as Norton caught them up he took a quick look over his shoulder towards the doors and then pulled Carlo into one of the unused offices at the far end from the main entrance.
‘What?’ Carlo asked again.
Ben just pointed towards the door, too breathless to speak. Carlo walked over and gently peered around the edge of the door down to the factory gates where he saw Lucy talking to someone just outside, but the bright sunshine was obscuring the view of who it was. As Carlo looked he realised there was something familiar about the rather large shadow that was being cast through the factory door by the other person. The hefty round shadow was bobbing up and down as it talked to Lucy and gave the impression that she was speaking to an animated beach ball in a top hat.
Carlo turned back to Norton and Ben. ‘What’s Hill doing here?’ he asked in an accusatory whisper having realised who the talking beach ball must be.
‘I have absolutely no idea.’ Norton answered, even less convincingly than normal.
Ben sighed, peaked out the door himself and then turned back with guilt all over his face. ‘He’s looking for us.’
‘Why?’
‘We think someone saw us earlier.’ Ben said.
Carlo had a feeling he knew where this was going. ‘What were you doing?’ he asked in amused exasperation.
‘Work! Detecting!’ Norton answered with a note of defiance. ‘Looking for evil-doers!’
Carlo sighed and turned to Ben. ‘What exactly were you doing?’ he asked.
‘We hopped the wall and were listening at his office window coz he was talking to Prime Suspect Number One!’ Ben admitted, before adding, ‘Herbert.’ when Carlo looked confused. ‘Anyway, then this one’ Ben digged Norton in the ribs with his elbow, ‘fell off the crate we were stood on and screamed like a little girl when someone came round the corner to see what the noise was.’