Hugo and the Bird

by Jeff Mills

  With the time spent messing about with the phone, Sue had failed to see that the officers had now finished their interview and were on their way out of the office. She did not have time to move away, as they would have seen her, so she bent down and made herself as small as she could. Without realising, in doing so, her bottom touched the top of the water in the puddle. As she crouched she became aware of a cold wetness creeping up her rear but she was too afraid to move. Silently swearing, she stood up as much as she dared, consoling herself that this was all in the game for getting the scoop of her career.

  At last, she estimated that the policemen were far enough away for her to stand up. As she did so, the water, soaked up by her trousers, ran down her legs, which brought out a further bought of silent cursing and shaking of her legs.

  With the policemen gone, she peered back into the office. The four people inside were gathered around the tiny figure, now sitting on the edge of a saucer on the table. They were whispering questions to the little person but Sue was unable to hear anything they were saying, so she decided that it was time to leave. The journey down the drive was an uncomfortable affair, with water squelching from her boot and making her trousers stick to her legs. It had even just started to rain, so that, by the time she unlocked her Fiat, she was looking like and felt like, a drowned rat. It was even worse when she sat down in the driver’s seat, as the whole of her soggy wet trousers were squeezed around her bottom and legs.

  It was over an hour later before she poured herself into her flat and was able to strip and have a really hot shower. The new boots were thrown unceremoniously into the waste bin, and the rest of her clothing into the washing machine. It wasn’t until the wash cycle had started that she realised that she had forgotten to take out of her pocket, what was left of her mobile phone. Throwing her arms high into the air and swearing again, but this time at the top of her voice, she kicked the washing machine, hurting her big toe in the process and left to try to put down on paper, everything that she had seen and heard that day.

  It wasn’t until she had finished writing her article and read it through, that she realised that, although she knew that what she had written was true, she had no proof. If she submitted this piece, she would be laughed out of the office. Proof, she needed proof. ‘If only I had my phone,’ she thought.

  The rest of the afternoon she curled up with several cups of coffee and planned what she could do to get the proof that would confirm her story, and give her the scoop that would make her career as a top flight journalist.

  Chapter 16

  Tintagel

  It was beginning to drizzle when Hugo and his family, plus Emma, left the café. Hugo, Emma and Mr Bennett had decided that, since they were in Cornwall, they would have to try a genuine Cornish pasty. They were huge and Emma was only able to finish half of hers. Nevertheless, Hugo and his father made it a matter of honour to finish theirs. Stephanie and her mother had prawn salads but Stephanie said that she was still hungry after hers and almost finished off the remaining part of Emma’s pasty.

  By the time they left they were feeling very full and with the rain, reluctant to wander the long steep path down to the castle, sea shore and Merlin’s cave. However, Hugo insisted, since the whole purpose of coming to Tintagel was to explore the castle and caves to see if he could find any reference to Excalibur, and more importantly, the talisman which he could feel warm in his trouser pocket.

  After a short discussion, Mrs Bennett and Stephanie decided to wander up the street and do some window -shopping. Mr Bennett commented that he doubted if it would be confined to the windows. The others turned and started off toward the castle and caves but not before stopping off in the carpark to pick up two umbrellas from the car, in case the rain became worse.

  Hugo was disappointed with the castle, as it was in a very dilapidated state, but its location, perched high on the edge of the cliff, did give it a very exciting atmosphere.

  The tide was in when they went to explore, so that they were unable to get access to the beach. Hugo regretted that he hadn’t checked the tide tables before arranging the visit. When they met up with Mrs Bennett and his sister, he was a little disheartened, as well as being wet. It was, therefore, very uplifting when Mrs Bennett announced that they had found an Arthurian centre at the top of the street, which might be worth a visit. Hugo and Emma didn’t waste a moment, and ignoring the rain, which had increased, they set off at a good pace up the high street.

  They arrived at the centre several minutes before the others and waited for them in the entrance to catch up. Only then did they realise how wet they had become.

  Hugo and Emma were enthralled as they wandered around the building, made to look like a mediaeval castle, studying the tapestries and many stained-glass windows, looking desperately for any pictures of Excalibur.

  “Why are you so interested in the sword?” Emma asked Hugo, as up to then he had not had time to show her the talisman and tell her the story that Bird had told him about it. Hugo looked around. Finding a quiet corner, he took his prized possession out of his pocket and showed it to her. Even in the dim light, the talisman seemed to glow, and Emma reached her hand out to examine it more closely but the moment she touched it she cried out and pulled her hand back as quickly as she could.

  “What’s up with you?” whispered Hugo.

  “It burnt my hand,” she complained. Hugo opened his hand and examined the object, running his fingers over its contours.

  “There’s nothing wrong with it. Look, see!” And he held it out again for Emma to touch. Cautiously she put out one finger to touch it, but again as soon as she made contact she winced and withdrew her hand sharply.

  “It burns!” she screeched.

  “Is everything all right with you two?” came a voice from behind as Mr Bennett sauntered up to them. Hugo quickly folded his hand over the talisman and pushed it back into his pocket.

  “Everything’s fine,” piped up Hugo and glowered at Emma so that she would not say what had happened. She was still a little upset and clenched and rubbed her fingers which had not stopped stinging, but she went along with him and kept quiet.

  “Come and see this,” his father said directing them into the main hall. With a triumphant, “Ta Dah!” he spread his arms out and before them was a reproduction of the famous ‘Round Table’. They walked round and admired it, looking at the names of the knights engraved along the edge.

  “Look at me!” Stephanie’s voice echoed down the hall and they looked up, to see her sitting on a replica throne alongside her mother.

  “Hold it there!” Mr Bennett called, walking briskly over to them. Pulling out his phone, he took a photo of them. While he was busy, Hugo told Emma to keep quiet about the Talisman and he would explain more about it when they returned home.

  As they passed through the small shop on their way out, the curator asked them if they had enjoyed their visit. Hugo used this opportunity to ask him about Excalibur and if he knew of any references to the scabbard. The man was quite helpful but did not know anything more about it than that which Bird had related.

  The rain had thankfully stopped when they exited and the sun was coming out so, on the way back to the car, they indulged in a Cornish ice cream, which went down very well, despite them still feeling full after lunch.

  The drive back home was uneventful and somewhat subdued. By the time they arrived, Emma and Stephanie were asleep and had to be woken up. Even Hugo’s eyes were feeling heavy.

  After a light tea, Hugo told his parents that he was going to his room to do some research on the internet about where they had been. Emma said that she would help him, and so they both went upstairs. They had only been in the room for a few seconds when Bird materialised through the wall, looking very excited.

  “I’ve been waiting all day for you to come home because I need that talisman of yours, urgently. Oh, and a loaf of bread.” He looked e
xpectantly at Hugo who thrust his hand into his trouser pocket and pulled out the object and at the same time thought about why Bird would want a loaf of bread.

  ‘I bet he plans on becoming invisible for a long time,’ Hugo thought but let the question drop.

  Bird leant forward and went to pick up the ornament with his beak when suddenly he threw back his head in pain.

  “What’s up?” the children sang out.

  “That thing’s red hot,” squealed Bird and rubbed his beak with his wing.

  “No it’s not,” responded Hugo and tossed it up in both hands to prove it.

  “The same thing happened to me when I tried to pick it up when we were at Tintagel,” interrupted Emma, who rubbed her fingers again, though they had stopped hurting hours before.

  “I have an idea,” Bird said thoughtfully. “Let me hold it with my wings.” He held them out, to let Hugo pass the object across. This time Bird did not cry out.

  “I was right.” he announced grinning, or with as much of a grin as his beak would allow. “I am now absolutely sure that this find of yours, Hugo, is the genuine amulet that adorned the scabbard of Excalibur. What is more, it is the prize that the witches have been seeking all this time. It gives the owner special powers of invincibility but what is even more significant is that it can only be touched, without pain, by a direct descendant of King Arthur himself. For everyone else it will burn them.” Bird was now obviously extremely excited. “Do you know what this means?” he went on and looked intently at Hugo.

  “What!” the young boy spluttered, looking totally confused. It was Emma who cottoned on first, almost screaming before she realised that she had to keep her voice down.

  “It means that you are a direct descendant of King Arthur, because you can hold it with bare hands and not get burned.”

  “But Bird, you held it last night when I showed it to you and you didn’t get burned then, so that’s the end of that theory,” Hugo replied, not knowing whether to look happy or sad.

  “If you remember,” continued Bird, “when I held it last night and just now, I did so with my wings which are covered in feathers, so that it did not touch my bare flesh, but when I tried to touch it with my beak, then there were no feathers to insulate me, and so I felt its full force.”

  Emma and Hugo flopped down on the bed and looked utterly confused, not knowing whether to be happy or worried. Their thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a shout from downstairs from Mrs Bennett, informing Emma that her mother had arrived to take her home.

  Jumping from the bed, Emma apologised to Bird and Hugo that she had to leave but she made them both promise, that whatever happened, they had to keep her informed of everything, however trivial. With a wave, she left the room. A few minutes later, they heard two doors slam and the sound of a car driving off.

  It was several minutes before what Bird had said sank into Hugo’s mind, but again his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of his parents switching off the downstairs lights and coming up the stairs to bed.

  “Quick, give me the amulet,” Bird insisted. “I will tell you more tomorrow but I must have it tonight if we are to save the gnomes.”

  This stirred Hugo out of his dreams. Taking some tissues out of the box on the dressing table, he carefully wrapped the precious item in it. Gingerly, but reluctantly, he passed it over to Bird who fitted it into a small fold of skin under his wing. Without further ado, he melted into the wall only moments before Mr Bennett opened the door and told Hugo that it was time for bed. The bedroom door had been closed for just a split second when Bird re-emerged. Hugo was taken aback as he had not expected such a rapid return.

  “I forgot. I really do need that bread,” Bird whispered apologetically. Hugo, recovering from the rapid reappearance, was about to ask why it was so important but could hear his parents still moving around in their bedroom next to his, so thought better of it.

  Slowly he opened his bedroom door and, after checking that the coast was clear, he stealthily moved downstairs to see what he could find. It was a few minutes later that he returned carrying a thick-sliced loaf of granary bread which appeared strangely white.

  “I’m sorry,” apologised Hugo, “but we were almost out of fresh bread so I raided the freezer. I hope that this is OK. If you leave it for an hour or so it should be fine.”

  “Perfect,” Bird whispered and without any further ado, took the loaf and disappeared, leaving Hugo very perplexed.

  Almost in a dream, he prepared himself for bed and it was only minutes after his head touched the pillow that he was fast asleep but with his mind back in the days of King Arthur, dreaming of what he might have done had he lived in those times.

  Chapter 17

  The Boyfriend

  The noise of her landline phone seemed distant and with half-closed eyes Sue glanced automatically at her bedside clock. 11.30.

  ‘What! That can’t be right,’ she thought, and was about to roll over to go back to sleep when the phone’s shrill ringing brought her into full consciousness. She looked at the clock again. Yes, it really did say 11.30. She grabbed the phone, knocking the handset onto the floor. Cursing out loud, she rolled over to grab it and fell off the side of her bed and landed on top of it with a thump. A pain seared down her leg as it jabbed into the side of her thigh. She could hear her boyfriend, Allan, screaming down the line for her to pick the phone up and answer it. At last she managed to extricate herself from the coiled cord and with a loud sigh picked up the receiver.

  “Where the hell have you been?” a frustrated and angry voice bellowed down the line. “We were supposed to be going to the theatre this evening and I’ve been calling you for the last three hours.”

  “None of your business!” Sue shouted back, not wishing to admit to him, or really herself, that she had fallen asleep and had not only missed the theatre but also the dinner that she and Allan were supposed to be having before the performance. To rub this in even further her stomach gave a loud gurgle and she felt the first pangs of hunger. She realised that, with the excitement at the gnome reserve and the frustration of losing her phone, getting soaked and having falling asleep, she had not eaten anything since breakfast.

  “Well! Be like that!” retorted the voice and was about to slam the phone down when Sue’s brain finally kicked in, and she apologised. She tried to explain that she had been involved in, what could be the scoop of her career, and had to work late to get more details and information. When Allan asked what this scoop was about Sue clammed shut as, if she told him what she had seen, he would have branded her as a complete idiot. Since she was already in his bad books, she did not want to make anything worse.

  “Look,” she said, as consolatory as she could, “I’m really sorry, but I dropped my phone in a puddle and it got soaked and fried,” which wasn’t a lie after all, “so I wasn’t able to call you. How about you come round now and we can go out for a late night pizza?”

  “You don’t deserve it but I’m starving, so see you in ten.” There was a loud ‘click’ and the line went dead.

  Sue looked at herself in the mirror and realised that she looked a complete mess. Her hair was standing out at odd angles and her earlier shower had washed away all her make up. She hunted through her wardrobe, grabbing the first things she could find and quickly dressed. She dragged a comb through the tangles of her hair, swearing at the pain as the comb forced its way through knot after knot. In the nick of time she ran down the stairs from her flat, just as Allan pulled up in his crimson MGB GT, which was his pride and joy and onto which he lavished most of his attention, much to the annoyance of Sue.

  Opening the door of the low sports car, she eased herself in, banging her head on the top of the door-frame as she did so. She let out a loud cry, which was responded to with the command,

  “Don’t damage my car!” which added even more to her frustration and bad mood.

  T
hroughout their time at the pizza restaurant, Allan kept pumping her for more information on this big scoop of hers but she was determined to keep everything under wraps until she could be sure of her facts, and most importantly get proof.