by RD Le Coeur
Jenny trudged back to the caravan. Every step got heavier the closer she got.
She had enjoyed her day of excitement and discovery. Those clues kept running around in her head but the answer would not come. Mother and father had returned from their own expedition and doubtless she thought, she would have to listen to them drone on about that blessed car.
She was greeted with some surprise that she had not been home when they had returned. How had her day gone? Where had she been? Who had she talked to?
It was like the Spanish Inquisition. Jen explained that she had got bored reading and as it was a nice day she thought that she would go for a walk. No, she had not gone into the sea, but she had explored the rocks and examined the rock pools for crabs.
She had met another girl, called Sonia and they had spent the rest of the day together. No, Jen did not know where her parents lived. No, she did not know what Sonia's parents did for a living or whether she would be seeing her again. Mother thought it was nice for her to make a friend so quickly and Dad wanted to know what car Sonia's father drove.
Mother told her all about their trip around the scrap yards and Dad had found a soul-mate in Aberriver, who thought the car was wonderful and turned out to be a mine of information on Morris Oxfords. Did Genevieve know that they were still made in India until a few years ago?
No, Genevieve did not and she did not really want that useless piece of information taking up any of her brain cells. Dad had got some salvage parts for the car and was as happy as a sand boy. He had taken the man's telephone number and would keep in touch with him. He had a mind that
if the car was ready before the end of the holiday, he would revisit the man in Aberriver.
God help the man in Aberriver, thought Jen.
If the weather turned out nice again tomorrow Mum was going to take Jen into town for some sightseeing and a little shopping. Dad would be busy with the car for a few days so they may as well make the most of it. Jen was bugged by this new piece of information as she had promised Sunny that she would meet him at nine. But all was not lost as Mum explained that she had to do Dad's packed lunch and clean the caravan before they could depart. Probably leave about tennish, if that was all right with Dad. He had nodded agreement.
Jen was up nice and early, everything in the caravan was hunky dory, and she told them she would be gone for half an hour. The weather was glorious and so that meant that the trip to town was on. She had placed the clues inside her reading book and had studied them hard last night but she had got no further with the answer.
Sunny had puzzled over them last night as well. He had pushed the ancient riddle to the back of his mind to concentrate on the new one. He could not see a pattern and it was frustrating him. They met as agreed at 9am in the usual spot on the beach.
Jen told him of the bad news that would prevent her spending the day with him.
Sunny was very disappointed, but optimistic, that the opportunity had now presented itself for her to produce the bogus treasure hunt leaflet
They went over the details again and Jen promised her best to get one run off at the Internet cafe. Sunny gave her directions again and they agreed that he would be here in this spot at 4 pm just in case she was back in time. Jen bemoaned the fact that mobile phones would have made their collusion much easier. Sunny assured her that from what he had heard, the reception here because of the mountains, was intermittent to say the least. It all depended on your signal provider.
Happy that she was not missing out and noticing the time she made her farewells and hoped to see him later or at 9 am the following morning. Sunny missed her the moment she had gone and was not particularly enamoured with the thought of spending all day on his own. There was a lot to be said for doing things in two's he thought.
Jen was back in plenty of time and helped her Mum finish off cleaning the caravan for a few minutes before it was time to set off down the road to the town. Dad estimated that it would take them twenty minutes if they did not dawdle. He was sure that there must be a pretty coastal path, maybe they could ask in the town and come back a different way. They could have asked at the camp office before they went, thought Jen, but that was far too easy for her parents.
The walk into town was pleasant enough, you saw much more on foot than you ever did from a car. The countryside was lush and green, and the mottled shadows cast on the road from the tree lined edges gave the whole road a magical effect. Jen did not know what to expect in the coastal town. She had assumed it would have plenty to look at, and maybe a shopping mall or two, to browse around. She was completely surprised at what she found. It was wall to wall guest houses, cafes, pubs and souvenir shops. No mall or anything that would resemble one. It was all very parochial and totally tourist orientated. They walked down the hill to the small picturesque harbour and idly watched the fishing boats. If they studied hard they could just about make out where the camp site was and also what looked suspiciously like a coastal path, that led all the way along the cliff-line for the whole visible coast. It looked busy with walkers from here, and of course was completely traffic free. Jen pointed this out to her Mother who had already noticed it.
The smell of chips and burgers filled the warm air and the air was alive with pesky wasps who dive-bombed you from all angles. The scene of everyone waving their arms around trying to bat wasps away struck Jen as very funny.
Trying to get away from Mother was going to be very hard. It was too small a place to just disappear and you could spot anyone from any vantage point with ease. It was all hills. Up down, Down up, and most of the shops had steps leading up to them.
It would be good place for monkeys to live she thought.
They continued their explorations all morning. Looking in this shop looking in that shop. The fashions were either for the holiday maker for the beach, or for aged matrons, who judging by the attire on show, must have been over a hundred years old.
There seemed to be nothing in between. Not living in a very hilly part of the country both Jen and her Mother's legs soon began to ache. Jen's Mum had spotted a nice old pub with a large beer garden that overlooked the bay and she said they deserved a treat, so lunch would be there. Jen was excited at the news. Not so much from the treat, more from the chance to sit down. The pub was packed as they made their way through the chip fat smoky lounge bar to the gardens. There were people of every shape size and nationality in the place and the garden was equally as busy.
Mother ordered two vegetarian specials at the bar, along with a bitter lemon with ice for Jen, and a very large gin and tonic for herself. She told the barman that they would be in the garden. They were given a large wooden spoon with a number handwritten on it so the waitress would know where they were sitting. The wasps from the harbour had invaded the beer garden as well. The place was alive with them. Jen's Mum searched desperately for a seat and the only thing available, was to share with a Mother and daughter sat on their own on the far side, on a four-seater bench table. Mother asked if they could share? and the woman, said "but of course." The daughter looked a year older than Jen and did not have one hair out of place. She was a painted doll. Perfect blonde hair. Perfect make up and what Jen had decided were false nails. She was covered in designer label clothes from head to toe and had a mobile phone glued to her ear and another in her hand, which was busy texting someone. Jen's Mum introduced Genevieve and the lady introduced the painted doll as Rhiannon. Rhiannon hardly looked up as her name was mentioned and continued texting. Mother passed the time of day with the lady and it transpired that they had a holiday cottage in the area. She had one of those frightfully nice voices that oozed wealth, and the ability to impress on you how much better off she was than most. She was most definitely not Jen's Mum's cup of tea, but she smiled as she listened to the lady chunter on about all the things they owned and smiled approvingly in all the right places.
Rhiannon had stopped texting and Jen forced herself to make conversation.
"Hi, I'm, Jen," she said.
&
nbsp; "Do you think this tone of eye-shadow suits me? I think the pearlised silver looked better, but Mother thinks this dusky pink is more the real me."
Jen agreed with Rhiannon, although she really did not give a fig. Air headed self-centred prigs were not really her thing. The mobile beeped again. Rhiannon explained that you had to have two mobile phones these days. One was for girlfriends and one was for boyfriends.
Jen explained that she did not have one any more as she had read somewhere that your head would explode with huge cancerous bugs eating your brain away if you used one a lot.
Jen's biting bit of satire did not register on the doll-like face of Rhiannon.
The food came and it was edible but not wonderful. Jen was sure that she had consumed the same dish in a cafe near home. Given today's microwave technology she was probably right. The lady had talked almost non-stop since they sat down and showed no sign of even stopping to catch her breath. Jen had decided that her book was of more interest than talking to air head, who was still texting. Jen brought the book out and her Mother looked horrified, but taking a glance at Rhiannon thought it best to say nothing.
The clues for the riddle were still inside. She stared hard at them hard, looking for inspiration, but found none. Jen was concentrating so hard on the riddle that she said aloud "What's in Four once?" Rhiannon replied "g” absent mindedly. Jen was startled by her response and repeated the
second line. "What's in seven thrice?" 'r' came the response. Jen grabbed Rhiannon’s hand to get her full attention. "How do you know that?" she almost shouted at her.
"Doesn't everyone who can't use predictive text know that. Are you dumb or something? Duh!"
"Yes,' said Jen. "I guess I'm very dumb when it comes to mobile phones. Can I borrow yours to get to know it better? I won't actually dial anyone. Rhiannon was only too pleased to show off her phone. Jen got a pen out of her bag and very quickly completed the riddle. GRT OAK. Must really be Great Oak? So they would have to go to the great oak at night wherever that was. She hoped and prayed that Sunny knew where the great oak was. Rhiannon and her Mum got ready to leave and offered to give Jen and her Mum a lift in their brand new Mercedes convertible. Jen's Mum declined, saying that they really wanted to take the coastal path as they needed to walk off lunch. Jen would have liked to have seen her father's face when they drew up in a brand new Merc.
They said their goodbyes, and Rhiannon and her Mother left.
"What an absolutely dreadful woman,” said her Mum who never normally criticised anyone. "I'm going to treat myself to another drink before we go, would you like another bitter lemon dear?"
"No thanks, Mum. If you are all right for a few minutes I wouldn't mind nipping into the Internet café and running off a 'multimap' of the area. We could spot some interesting places to visit."
"I'll be fine out here in the garden, but don't be long. I don't think it very ladylike for a woman to be sat in a beer garden on her own. It could give people the wrong impression."
"I'll be as quick as a flash, Mum."
Jen ran as fast as she could, remembering Sunny's directions. As the weather was so good it was nearly empty and she got access to a pc in two minutes flat. She ran off a copy of the bogus leaflet in no time, using the preloaded software on the computer and she also ran off a copy of the ‘multimap’ for the area as cover for her other activities. She paid the man for the prints and ran all the way back to the beer garden.
Mother was still sat there gazing out to sea. There were two more bottles of tonic water there since she had left, but she had decided to say nothing.
"You ready, Dear?" she enquired when Jen appeared.
"Yes, Mum. I've got the map. We'll have a good look when we get back to the van."
"I just want to pop and get some nice mints on the way and we'll be off. You know how your father likes strong mints."
Jen was really excited. She had cracked the clues and all because of airhead. What were the odds on that? She wondered how Sunny had got on, and what he was up to.
She couldn't wait to get back and show him how clever she was. Should she tell him that the airhead had cracked it for her, or pretend that she had worked it all out on her own? No, she would tell him the whole story she decided. He probably had not been able to work it out, as he had no mobile phone, so he wouldn't get the patterns. These riddles were so easy when you knew the answers. It was infuriating.
Mother dawdled all the way home along the coastal path. They had an excellent view all along the coast and Jen could see where Sunny and she had gone yesterday to the cave. There were plenty of people on the beach today, as it was the first day of the holidays proper and all the rabble, as her father put it, had now arrived by the bus full.
Mother remained strangely quiet and they walked along at a snail's pace in total silence.
Time was pushing on and Jen was becoming extremely worried that she would miss the deadline of four pm and she so wanted to tell Sunny the answers to the riddle. It was building up in her like a shaken bottle of pop. She thought she would explode if they did not get back in time.
Jen's father was busy at work. He had his 'all in one' blue mechanics overalls on and those stupid rubber gloves on to protect him from the oil stains that used to ingrain his skin.
There were car parts carefully laid out on a groundsheet and a little tin bath with cleaning fluid and a toothbrush for getting into the deeper parts that needed cleaning.
"Have a nice excursion, ladies?" he asked.
Mother said, "yes” and proffered the bag of Welsh humbugs for his approval.
"Yum," he said "I'll have one later, when I'm clean. Any chance of a nice cup of tea?"
"Genevieve will make you one, won't you dear? I have a bit of a headache coming on and I need a bit of a lie down."
"Probably too much sun when you're not used to it." said Dad.
Probably too much gin thought Jen. She hurriedly kept one eye on the clock and realised that if this was the quickest cup of tea in history, then she would be able to see Sunny. She made the cup of tea in the cup and not in the teapot that was normally the only permissible way to make tea in their household. She put in the two sugars and handed it to her Dad.
"Thank you dear, do you want to watch me?"
"No thanks, Dad, I'm going to see if Sonia is around. I'll be back in time for tea."
Jen tried not to run down to the beach so as not to look as if she couldn't wait to get away from her Dad. She arrived slightly breathless on the dot of four 'o' clock.
Sunny was waiting for her, and judging by the huge smile on his face he was very glad to see her.
"Been here long?" she asked.
"Since Three Thirty, just in case you got back early."
"It's nice to feel wanted” she said, "have you worked out the riddle?"
"Nah! - Want to beach comb and see if we can find another message?"
"No need. What have you been up to today?" She had every intention of drawing this out for as long as she could.
"Chores mostly. Bit of wood chopping, fed the goat and chickens and helped Mother make some more candles. They go well round here in the tourist season."
"Where's the great oak?"
"Over in Parson's woods. Been there since forever, they say it's over a thousand years old. Hang on a minute. What do you mean there's no need and why this sudden interest in the great oak? As a holiday maker there is no way you could know about the great oak."
"I've solved the riddle, with a little help from a friend?"
"What friend? I thought we were in this together."
"Just an airhead I met in town. There is no way we would have solved this riddle, as neither of us has a mobile phone. The patterns you were seeking are the numbers of presses you need to make on a mobile phone in order to text someone."
"Dogs droppings! I would never have worked that out if I lived to be a hundred. Nice one Jen, not just a pretty face are you?"
Jen was a little taken aback by th
is comment. Many people had said a lot of things about Jen, but no-one had ever accused her of having a pretty face. She blushed ever so slightly.
She composed herself quickly and said "Great Oak, Moonlights shadow shows the way."
"It's got to be the reflections from the tree, in moonlight. So we have to have a clear bright night in order to see where the shadows are cast, and then I suppose we will find the treasure or yet another clue."
"I hope it's the treasure." she lied. She had rather enjoyed this voyage of clues and discoveries, and if they found the treasure it would all be over.
"From what we have discovered so far, I think it will be more clues. Whoever laid this trail knew this area well. Mainly the locals would have known of the cave, and definitely only the locals know, of the great Oak. It was not as if it's in the tourist guide or on any map I've ever seen."
"Promise me that you won't sneak off and do the next bit on your own. It's not my fault my weirdos won't let me out like your weirdos do."
"True. I promise we will do this together, Jen. Any luck with the leaflet?"
Jen had almost forgotten the bogus treasure hunt leaflet. She rummaged in the back pocket of her jeans and produced the folded up copy of the leaflet and handed it to Sunny. He took it and slowly opened the paper. He read it carefully once and tutted.
"What's wrong?" she said a bit concerted.
"There's no Welsh on it. Everything round here from the council has to be printed in Welsh and English. It's my fault I should have told you. Still you could say that you got an English only version if your parents notice it."
"That's really nit-picking, Sunny. My parents wouldn't have a clue, so it'll have to do, and there's an end to it. By the way, I told my parents you were a girl and your name was Sonia."
"WHAT?"