As they sat round the fire eating, Piers asked, ‘What do you think they did with your plane?’
‘I don’t know. I wish I did. Look I’m shattered Piers, I have to sleep. Can we finish the food and sleep on it.' Hamish said.
After they had finished eating, Hamish shared out the blankets, piled more wood on the fire and pushed the table in front of the door.
'I think we should tie one of our ankles together with some rope. Just as a precaution, I would rather not be left here alone,' Hamish said.
'I would rather be here with Polly,' Piers said with a grin. 'But, at a push, better you than no one.'
Hamish knew how Polly felt about this lad. I wouldn't mind having him as a brother-in-law, and his sister Gemma is cute. And with that thought, he joined Piers in dreamland.
Après the hotel lunch
It was late when Alison followed Polly down to the kitchen, where she was making toast for breakfast.
'Where did you get to, Polly? Everyone was very concerned.' Alison sounded upset, and she was. 'It was embarrassing and sort of spoilt the dinner party.'
'Sorry Ali. Barbara was getting on my nerves. She is so stupid, talking about Piers, she knows I still like him. Anyway, it was great I did. I met the major investor, and he liked me. And guess who rang me?'
'Who?'
'Piers.'
'You're kidding.'
'No. He rang me, and I said we should meet in the cottage. But when I got there, the film crew and Mr Rekrap was there. I nearly died.'
'Really? And what did Piers say to that? He was probably hoping to be alone with you.'
'Well, he was, and when he saw the crew, he threw the biggest tantrum and walked out… as if it was my fault.'
'Did you say anything to him?'
'No, he didn't give me a chance. Anyway, the film is more important to me than he is.'
'You liar,' Alison said. 'Polly, admit it, you are in love with him. Otherwise, you would go off with Brad.'
'Get real. If Brad were the last man alive, I wouldn't be seen dead with him.'
'Except on the silver screen,' Alison replied, and they both dissolved into peals of laughter.
'Yes you're right, Ali. More toast?' And the giggles started again.
Brad the baby
Brad considered himself to be the unluckiest man alive when Harry the Hand dragged him to Polly's party in the cottage. And then that ghastly hand made him play Romeo to Polly, and he thought Piers was going to punch him on the nose. And then to add insult to near injury, he was dragged up a none-too-clean chimney, and then dumped back in the cold, wet ditch, where the hand had probably thrown him. It took him ages to get back home and clean up. And he didn't stop crying for ages, so he had swollen eyes and had to wear sunglasses for days. Everyone, it seemed, was cross with him, so he was sulking as well. The phone rang, and he reluctantly answered it.
'Brad, I don't know what happened to you, but get over it.' It was Steve. 'That bloody investor and Hamish are getting on my nerves. They both want a part in the movie. Rekrap, the clown, follows me around like a lovesick dog. I think he has fallen in love with me, or the movie industry or both. Besides that, where the bloody hell have you been?'
'You don't want to know.'
'Yes I do,' Steve snapped back.
'Okay, don't be angry with me. What time are you going to be at the studio? I will be there, and when I explain, you will probably apologise.'
'Brad, if you're bleeding from a thousand cuts or in a wheelchair with no legs, I still wouldn't apologise. And you had better show, or you'll be one or both of those. Within an hour, Brad.'
'I'll be there, I promise.'
'You had better be.' And Steve slammed the phone down.
'You will be sorry one day, Steve Almighty Smith,' Brad said. 'Today, I am going to ask Polly to marry me, and that will get me in Zack and Knox's good books. I will also ask if I can become a full Rebel. I'm not going to be pushed around anymore. Also, I will promise Commander Rekrap a big part in the movie and get him to sack Stevie baby. I can direct and star in this movie. It's a cinch. What can go wrong? Nothing.' And he started to sing, 'Lucky, lucky, lucky in love.'
It was lucky no one was within earshot, as he sounded like a cat drowning, and that would have spoilt his image. He looked at the clock. 'Oh dear! I'm going to be late, and Steve will kill me!' He was nearly in tears again!
He was out of dreamland and back to his usual cowardly self. He had to do something, so he scurried out to his Ferrari and drove like the wind to the film studio.
Byzantine Crescent etc, etc.
Sreip and Selim decided it was time to visit Lord Knightly. As they approached, their feelings were running high, they were hoping their sons Piers and Miles would be there.
'Welcome, welcome! What a lovely surprise.' Lord Knightly stood and hugged the Freeflyers.
The first thing Sreip noticed his son Piers was absent.
'Come and join us. I know you love my breakfasts.'
'It's good to be here,' Sreip said. 'But where is Piers?'
'Well, he phoned Miles last night and said he was going to spend some time with Polly. So he's probably still with her.'
'I'm a tad worried,' Miles butted in. 'He hasn't answered his phone. It's very unlike him to be off the air for so long.'
'Right Miles,' said his father, Selim. 'We are going to check out Byzantine Crescent as soon as breakfast is over.'
'Mind if I come too?' Miles asked.
'Not a problem,' Selim said. And they got stuck in the greatest breakfast in the world.
'Uncle, may we borrow your car? I came on my motorbike.'
'Of course. Let me finish my coffee, and I'll see you to the door.'
It felt strange for the Freeflyers to travel by car when they could have flown to Byzantine Crescent in seconds of earth time.
They walked up the steps, and Miles knocked on the door. It opened outwards once again, nearly knocking Miles over.
'I think this door has something against me.' Miles laughed. 'It's always trying to knock me over.'
'Alison, Polly, Hamish, anyone home?' Miles called.
'Hi Miles. Come on in!' Alison's voice came from the kitchen.
'I have two friends with me,' Miles said and followed by Sreip and Selim, he walked in.
The girls ran over and gave Miles a kiss on each cheek. Polly had all her fingers crossed. 'Is Piers with you Miles?'
'No, that's why we're here. He didn't come home last night. He phoned and said he was coming here.'
'Oh dear. He did, but he walked out because some of the film crew and the investor were here,' Polly said. 'Anyway, Miles, are you going to introduce your friends?'
'Oh sorry. Polly and Alison, this is Mr Sreip and Mr Selim.'
'Hello welcome. Miles, you must be related to Mr Selim, you are the image of him.' Polly felt she knew these friends of Miles. 'Have we met before?' Polly asked.
Miles looked at Selim, who shrugged his shoulders. 'Maybe Polly, and as to Miles looking like me, I should be so lucky. It must be the light,' Selim added and tried to laugh it off.
'I'm sorry we can't stay,' Sreip said. 'We need to go to the studio. But before we do, did Piers actually come into the house?'
'Yes, he walked through. I suggested we meet in the cottage, and we did. But as I told you, when he saw the film crew, he walked out. He was furious.'
'Would you mind if we looked in the cottage?' Sreip asked.
'Of course,' Polly said. 'I'll show your friends the cottage, Miles, and perhaps you and Ali can make the coffee?' She winked at Miles conspiratorially.
'That's an excellent idea,' Miles said. 'I'm sure we all would love a cup of coffee.'
Polly and the two Freeflyers walked down to the Crypt, leaving Miles and Alison alone. Perfectly organised, Polly thought. They walked into the garden, and it immediately sprung to life. Leaves and blossoms covered the trees, flowers opened their petals, and butterflies and dragonflies seemed to appear from nowher
e.
'Follow the path,' Polly called. 'The film crew could still be in there.' And she picked some flowers as she walked behind them.
As the two Freeflyers walked towards the cottage, they felt a strange energy.
'Rebels have been here recently,' they said in unison.
'And they must have captured Piers,' Sreip added.
Not wanting to scare Polly, the Freeflyers did not change their pace and still walked down the path, although maybe a little faster.
'Come on Miss Polly,' Sreip said, and Polly ran ahead and opened the door.
'Minx! Manx! What are you doing in here, you little devils?' Polly exclaimed. 'You must have a secret way of getting in.'
Sreip and Selim rushed in to see Polly cuddling what they knew as lie detectors that belonged to Zack. Selim yelled. 'Polly, stay away from them! They're dangerous!'
Polly picked up Minx. 'Dangerous? Don't be silly. They wandered into our kitchen the other day, and we have sort of adopted them. This is Minx, and that is Manx. Why do you think they're dangerous? Do you know what they are?'
It is an unwritten rule that unless the situation is dire, a Freeflyer should not tell a blatant lie. Selim knew the creature Polly was cuddling was a lie detector. They had only one option - diversion.
'Look at the time,' Sreip said. 'We're going to be late, Selim.'
'You're right. Come on, Polly. Let's go back to the house and have that cup of coffee before we have to dash.'
'You go ahead. I'll stay here with Minx and Manx for a while.'
'Okay, see you soon I hope.'
The Freeflyers did not want to leave Polly with the two Liddles, heaven knows what trouble they would get up to. But they had no valid excuse to get her out of the cottage. Before they dragged her out kicking and screaming, she said, 'would you mind asking Alison to bring out some coffee and a treat for our pets please? Are you sure you won't stay and have coffee?'
'Yes, of course, we'll ask Alison to bring out your coffee. She can have it here with you. And no, as much as we would like to, we must go.' Sreip smiled convivially. 'So… get Miles to ring us when Piers gets home, and we can all meet for lunch.'
'I would love that,' Polly said as she hugged the two Liddles. 'See you soon,' she added and sounded a lot happier than she was.
Rekrap's movie
Filming in the studio was finally starting to move forward. Stars and extras knew their lines, and the crew was on high alert to start filming. Brad arrived at the film studio within the hour as promised. But Steve was still fuming. Where was Polly?
'Brad this is getting out of hand. Where is that stupid girl?'
'That stupid girl is here and has been here for some time. I just kept out of your way, Mr Smith,' Polly said sarcastically, 'whilst waiting for Mr Capriole the star to appear.'
Brad rushed over to Polly. 'Sorry Polly, I've had a dreadful time.'
'Really? I haven't seen you since the party, Romeo.' Polly's sarcasm had not waned. 'I'll be back in a moment - a girl thing.'
'Yes, of course. Take your time,' Brad bleated.
'Cut out the small talk Brad.' Steve walked to the center of the set. 'Third scene, places everyone. Silence on set.'
Silence ensued whilst everyone, breath held, waited for the director to say the word: 'Action.'
'Ouch, and look out you'll knock over that vase', and various other loud noises came from the back of the set, and everyone stopped and looked round. Steve would have happily cut out the tongues and shot the offenders that had disturbed his filming.
'Sorry I'm late.' Commander Rekrap suddenly appeared.
Brad looked towards the noise, saw who it was and wished the ground would open up and swallow him. 'Mr Rekrap, we were not expecting you.'
'Well, I wanted to come and see how my money was being spent, and to learn my lines. Bean, for Hell's sake stop dragging my stuff around, lift it man, lift it. Find me a chair, and get me a cup of tea. I'm exhausted.' Without drawing breath, Commander Rekrap turned to Brad. 'Brad, when are you going to introduce me to your eminent director? Umm, I seem to have forgotten his name.'
Steve was livid. 'What is going on Brad?' he said, trying to hold onto his temper. 'And who the hell are these people?'
Amazingly, Brad regained some of his composure. 'This is our investor Mr Rekrap and his assistant Mr Bean. Mr Rekrap, this is Steve Smith, our Director.'
Steve ignored Mr Rekrap's extended hand, waved his own to the exit and said. 'Get them out of here, before I lose my temper.'
And the mild-mannered Mr Rekrap grew to his full size as the nasty Commander Rekrap, warrior extraordinaire - in his own mind anyway. 'What's that you said?' he asked between gritted teeth, and before Steve could repeat, 'get them out of here,' Steve Smith had disappeared.
'Now, Brad,' a satisfied Mr Rekrap said, 'let's get down to business. Where is that delightful Polly? And where are my lines? I have never been so excited. I've never been in a movie before. I've even put taking over the world on hold till later.'
Brad should have been used to what Commander Rekrap was like, but he wasn't. 'What have you done to Steve?' he asked, fear in his trembling voice.
'Him? Oh, I've sent him somewhere where he can cool off.' The Commander laughed till tears ran down his face, and as usual, he went into a coughing fit. Captain Bean slapped him on the back a little harder than necessary.
'That's enough, Bean. You are hurting me, again,' he spluttered.
~
Polly walked back into the studio just in time to see Commander Rekrap talking conspiratorially to Brad. 'Hello. Nice to see you again, Mr Rekrap.' Polly extended her hand.
He took her hand, kissed it and held on to it a little longer than he should have. It gave her the creeps. 'It’s good to see you again Polly. We were discussing what my part was going to be. Now you have arrived, I suggest we dismiss all the crew, and you and I, and, of course, your leading man Brad, can go and have lunch.'
'I would love that,' Polly said, her eyes shining. 'There's a lovely little café next door. Shall we go there?'
'Your wish is my command, my dear.' And waving Brad and Bean to follow, he tucked Polly's arm in his and, chatting merrily away, followed her lead to the Brown Sugar Café.
Brad did not like what he saw. I have to move fast, he thought. That old goat prefers Polly to me. I could lose my part if Polly suggests it to him. And what the hell has he done with Steve? I bet that dreadful Harry the Hand's got him. And where are Zack and Knox? They are never around when I need them.
Chapter 8
Send in the Clowns
Something fell through the roof of the shack in the snow and crashed to the floor, bits of wood and dust flying everywhere. Piers and Hamish woke with a start and jumped up. They had forgotten they were tied by the ankle, and they both fell in a heap.
After struggling across the floor, dragging Hamish behind him, Piers got to the interloper before he realised what had happened. 'Hamish, grab his legs!' Piers yelled. 'I've got him by the throat.'
'Get off me!' A terrified voice was heard, as whatever had fallen through the roof tried to pull Piers arm from round his throat. 'Christ! You're strangling me.' And after struggling and losing badly, he decided to lie limp so he might not get hurt as much.
'I've got him, Hamish! Light the candle.' Piers tightened his grip on the man's throat. 'Who are you? And no tricks!'
As the hut lit up, Hamish said, 'it's Steve Smith.'
'Yes it is!' Steve yelled. 'And get this oaf off me.'
'What,' Piers said, his anger rising, and he exploded. 'An oaf am I? Well, old son, it's you and me, get on your feet so I can knock you down again.' Piers stood fists ready. Then he realised who it was - Steve Smith, the uppity director of the movie. 'Steve, how the bloody hell did you get here?'
'I could ask you the same question,' Steve shot back.
'Hey, settle down guys,' Hamish said. 'We are all here against our wishes, so let's swap stories, and perhaps we can work out how we can get back
home.' Hamish looked at Steve. 'He's no match for you, Piers. He's no match for me, and that's saying something.'
'Would you two mind not talking about me as if I'm not here please?' interrupted Steve.
'Okay. You tell us how you got here, and we'll work it out from there. But first let's clean up the mess from the roof. We can use one of the sacks over there in the corner to cover the hole in the roof.' Hamish was on a roll. 'Piers, you are the biggest and strongest, so up you go and do your best. Steve, you can help him.'
'Why not you?' said Piers impishly.
'Firstly, I'm the eldest. Second, I was here first and last…' He hesitated.
'There is no last, you're just frightened of heights.' Piers grinned.
'You're right, and someone has to make the tea.'
Piers, with Steve getting in the way, fixed the roof the best way he could while Hamish amazingly got together a pretty good meal.
'Someday you'll make someone a good wife, Hamish,' Piers said.
'Any more of your cheek and I'll set Steve on you,' Hamish replied.
After they had more or less finished the meal, Hamish said. 'Now down to business. Steve, how did you get here?'
Steve, as uppity as he was, still knew what side his bread was buttered on and decided to co-operate. 'Well, we were on the set about to shoot scene three when Rekrap turned up, making as much noise as a herd of elephants. I told him to get out, and the next thing I remember is falling through the roof.'
'That's similar to me,' Piers butted in. 'I went to the cottage to meet Polly to sort things out, and some men were in there. Polly said they were the film crew. One of them a strange looking man - I couldn't see him clearly - objected to me being there. Well that got me even angrier. I wanted to tell Polly I was sorry I had behaved badly, but not with an audience. I was about to walk out, and one of them - the strange looking one - asked me where I would like to be. I said as far away from here as possible. Next thing I was standing knee-deep in snow, freezing to death. I saw this hut in the distance, and luckily I managed to get here. What about you, Hamish?'
~
Polly Pippin and The Tunnel of Death Page 10
