Breakthrough

by Lynne Roberts

  Chapter 7. Market Day

  A crowded market met their eyes. Ben and Tessa took advantage of Jamie’s temporary bemusement to slip away between a row of market stalls.

  There were stalls of all shapes and sizes selling everything from freshly cut bunches of asparagus to brightly painted wooden zebras. Stained glass mobiles turned and glinted in the sunshine and the smell of fried onions and sausages made Ben’s moth water.

  ‘We can’t hope to get away here,’ said Ben. ‘You can’t run fast with a puppy and a pram.’

  ‘If we stick to the crowds, Jamie won’t dare touch us,’ Tessa encouraged him.

  One blessing was that at least they weren’t out of place. There were small children hanging on to their mother’s skirts and babies calling fretfully from strollers. Many of the stallholders wore bright clothes in rich embroidered velvets and shiny satin. Molly’s outfit did not look at all peculiar here. A large hairy dog lay chained to the side of a stall selling badges and buckles. It wagged a lazy tail as the puppy ran over to it then sighed deeply and closed its eyes.

  ‘Look at those dresses,’ exclaimed Tessa. ‘They are so cute. Let’s get one for Molly.’

  ‘No,’ howled Ben dragging her on. ‘Females,’ he muttered in disgust.

  They wandered through the market. A large man with a flowing beard exhorted them to buy his homemade fudge, which lay in bags and baskets in a dozen or more varieties in front of him. Tessa stopped at a stall draped in tie dyed sheets, where a young woman in peculiar woven clothing was seriously explaining the virtues of her vegetarian soap. The noise was indescribable. The shouts of stallholders mingled with the wailing of babies and loud conversations where a group of elderly women compared their purchases and commented loudly on their bargains. Among the customers were teenage girls giggling over carved bone jewellery and resigned men carrying their wives plant purchases. Small boys dodged around chewing large toffee apples and the strong smell of sheep permeated a stall holding knitted garments in all shades of grey, white and brown.

  Molly waved her arms in excitement at a row of painted wooden trolleys full of blocks but, after a horrified glance at the price tag, Tessa pushed her hastily past.

  A stall of enticing computer games that he would have liked to investigate caught Ben’s attention, but Tessa dragged him on.

  ‘There’s that music again,’ she exclaimed as a tinkle of bells chimed in the distance.

  As they turned the corner past a stall decorated in hand made candles, they saw Jamie waiting for them with an unpleasant grin on his face.

  ‘Got you at last Ben Patterson,’ he growled.

  Before he could reach over and begin tearing Ben from limb to limb, Molly provided a distraction.

  ‘Bloon,’ she called. ‘Bloon, Ben, bloon.

  ‘Bloon,’ she insisted again as Tessa and Ben looked around them in bewilderment. ‘Oh she means balloon,’ said Tessa spotting a large bunch of helium filled balloons decorating a stall selling china plates and ornaments.

  ‘Ah, would the little one like a balloon?’ smiled the stallholder, a large woman with a round rosy face.

  ‘How much are they?’ asked Ben politely. He had reached the stage of fear where he seemed to be lightheaded. He knew Jamie was going to beat him up and the knowledge of certain pain combined with the relief of being caught was doing strange things to his mind.

  ‘Only a dollar,’ beamed the woman. ‘Which balloon would you like sweetheart?’ she asked Molly.

  Molly pointed to the largest of the balloons that was shining gold as it hung above her. The woman chuckled and handed Molly the balloon while Tessa handed over a dollar from her pocket.

  Jamie advanced towards Ben.

  ‘I am going to kill you right now,’ he threatened.

  ‘Here, hold this,’ said Ben and thrust the balloon in Jamie’s arms as he turned to run.

  Jamie staggered back against the stall and as he touched the balloon it burst with a large bang.

  ‘Bloon,’ wailed Molly as a cloud of orange stars surrounded Jamie. There was a strong smell of oranges as before Ben’s horrified gaze Jamie began to shrink.

  ‘Do you think he’s turning into a baby as well,’ whispered Tessa, but Jamie did not appear to be getting younger. He looked accusingly at Ben as he grew smaller and smaller. The last of the stars winked out and there was an empty space where Jamie had been.

  ‘He’s disappeared,’ croaked Ben in disbelief.

  Tessa looked around wildly.

  ‘He can’t have,’ she whispered. ‘He must be here somewhere.’

  The puppy distracted her. Barking excitedly it snuffled and pawed at the ground beside the stall. Ben bent down to see what the commotion was about then straightened up and held out his hand to Tessa.

  ‘Look,’ he said dismally. There on his open palm was a very tiny Jamie, waving his fists in anger.

  ‘Were you wanting to buy something else?’ asked the stallholder, whose beaming smile had turned to an annoyed frown.

  ‘No thank you,’ replied Tessa hastily and turned away.

  Molly was howling for her broken balloon, and by now her screams was beginning to attract attention. Tessa and Ben found an empty space in behind a caravan selling candyfloss and dragged the pram in with them.

  ‘I can’t keep holding Jamie,’ complained Ben. ‘He’s so small I could easily squash him, and he keeps waving around.’

  ‘Why not put him in your schoolbag?’ suggested Tessa sensibly.

  Ben hastily slipped his schoolbag off his back. Retrieving his pencil case he dumped the contents in with his books then thrust the tiny Jamie inside. Tessa added a crumpled paper tissue, which she assured Ben was clean.

  ‘Now we really are in a mess,’ he muttered. ‘We have a mad woman turned into a baby, a living china dog and a boy the size of my little finger. Let’s get out of here before something else goes wrong.’ Desperately he pushed the pram through the market place, a shaken Tessa at his side. They heard the sound of bells chiming, as squeezing through a gap between two stalls, they found themselves standing on the footpath beside a craft shop. Windchimes hung from the doorway and a strong smell of incense wafted out in sweet smelling gusts.

  ‘This is appalling,’ said Ben. ‘I have no idea what to do now.’

  ‘Why don’t we go to the park?’ suggested Tessa. ‘It’s right around the corner from here. You can let the puppy run round there and Molly too. She must be awfully sick of sitting in that pram. And you can put Jamie down on a leaf or something.’

  ‘Like a flaming pixie,’ said Ben then the funny side of it hit him. He and Tessa howled with laughter as they pushed the pram to the park. Tessa bought them each a hot dog, including one for the puppy who received it with tail wagging delight. Ben put the pencil case carefully down on the edge of a picnic table. He held out a dollop of tomato sauce on the end of his finger but Jamie recoiled in horror.

  ‘He doesn’t look very happy,’ said Tessa as she watched Jamie climb out of the pencil case and begin stamping around the table.

  ‘I don’t care,’ said Ben. ‘He’s been picking on me for years. Do him good to see what it’s like to be small and helpless for a change. Now we really must decide what to do.’

  ‘I’ve been thinking about that,’ replied Tessa. ‘How about if you stay here with Molly and Jamie and the puppy while I go back to the elevator? I’ll go up in it by myself and bring back a golden ball and we can break it to see if it changes everything back.’

  ‘It might work,’ conceded Ben. ‘But don’t be too long. I don’t want to be stuck here all day. I’d die of embarrassment if any of my friends saw me.’

  ‘Your friends are not likely to come here,’ Tessa reassured him. This park is for little kids, remember?’

  ‘Well we sometimes come here,’ mumbled Ben in embarrassment then resignedly popped Molly into a swing where she squealed with delight.

  ‘Don’t be too long,’ he told Tessa

  ‘I won’t
,’ she promised. ‘See you soon.’