Princess Phoebe

by Scilla James

  Oh no. More trouble. Jan throws me a sympathetic look as I leave the classroom, and I know I’m in for it when I see Mum waiting at the top of the corridor with a policeman.

  Strangely, the headmaster smiles at me.

  ‘Come in, all of you,’ he says, waving us in to his office. ‘Ellie, this is Police Constable Deeping, and he wants to talk to you. Your mother asked if he could see you here rather than at your house, so you won’t miss too much of your class work.’

  Well he’s got that wrong, I think. Mum would have been bothered about the neighbours seeing, that’s all.

  The headmaster leaves us and we sit down. The policeman asks me loads about the hare coursing, then about the day before, what had happened in Frank’s van and afterwards at the river. He writes it all down so slowly that I think he’ll never finish. The headmaster must feel the same as he begins sticking his head round the door every few minutes and smiling at us hopefully. Mum doesn’t help as she keeps interrupting and asking PC Deeping what he’s put. She keeps on about someone needing to sort Frank Skally out.

  ‘He should be locked away,’ she says, ‘and the key thrown in the river, never mind him throwing Ellie in there.’

  ‘Did he throw you in the river?’ asks the policeman, turning back to his notes.

  ‘No,’ I answer.

  ‘But he’s a menace in this town,’ Mum goes on, ‘and you want to do something about his money lending. He frightens people you know.’

  ‘Yes, yes,’ says PC Deeping. ‘We’re looking into that, too. But it’s the hare coursing that Ellie witnessed, and also the two incidents yesterday she can help with. If you don’t mind, I’d rather stick with those things.’

  Mum looks as if she’d like to go on and on about Frank, but the policeman finally draws a wobbly line under his writing and asks her to read and sign it as a record of what I’ve said. Then he stands up.

  ‘Thank you, Mrs Wood, and thank you, Ellie,’ he says, ‘for being so helpful. I may call on you again, but until then I have something else to tell you. We’ve been trying to pin down Mr Skally for a long time. And yesterday, thanks to your call, we managed to catch him and get a warrant to search his flat before he had time to tidy it up, if you see what I mean. We found quite a lot of evidence, and with what you’ve had to say today, I’m confident that we’ll have him at last.’

  He smiles at me and goes on: ‘My sergeant has asked me to tell you that a reward was offered some months ago by a number of local farmers who are tired of having to chase the hare coursers from their land. Between them, they put up £2,000, to be awarded to anyone who could provide evidence leading to the break-up of the ring of men who are involved in the illegal blood sport. You’ve provided some of that evidence.’

  I’m alarmed. Will I have to go to court? I worry. I don’t want to do that! And what about my brother? He’d been at the hare coursing too – I can’t get Nick into trouble.

  ‘I’m not sure,’ I say instead.

  The PC must guess what I’m thinking. ‘Don’t worry,’ he says, ‘you won’t have to do more than give this statement. And we know about your brother. He’s just one of the people Mr Skally’s got in his debt who are more or less forced to work for him. We intend to take a sympathetic view, on this occasion.’

  Two thousand pounds? That would be enough to get Dad out of trouble with the rent! It might even help Nick pay for his van. It makes up my mind. ‘OK,’ I say.

  Mum gives my hand a squeeze as I’m sent back to my class. She looks as if she’s really pleased with me, but I’m scared too. One day Frank might find out what I’ve done and come and get me. I open the door to my classroom with a picture in my head of Frank’s scar glowing red and his piggy eyes staring at me. Then Jan winks at me and the rest of my friends look up as if to say, What was all that about? And I realise that there’s no need for me to be scared: I’ve dealt with Frank once and I can deal with him again.

  I know I should start listening to Mr Hanford when I get back to my seat, but I can’t stop thinking about the last hour in the headmaster’s study. Mum was really great, sticking up for me and saying how worried she’d been. It begins to dawn on me that I have a great family, good friends, and maybe even a wonderful dog, if I can just get her home again.

  ‘Ellie,’ says Mr Hanford, breaking in to my thoughts, ‘I’d like you to concentrate now.’

  ‘Yes, Mr Hanford.’

  I look up at the board where he’s written out a list of spellings:

  River

  Flood

  Lightning

  Soaked

  He’s spookily up to date. Then I have another thought: maybe I’ll learn them for once, and do my essay – surprise them all. I might start working and doing my homework since they all seem so keen on it. Mum might be pleased. Perhaps she’s been noticing me more than I realised?

  I relax back in to my seat, but little do I know the day’s surprises aren’t over yet.

  Jan and I go back to my house when the end of school bell goes. I want to change quickly so we can take the dogs out to the park. We expect everybody to be out but there’s a car I don’t know parked by our gate. I open the back door feeling worried again. What now?

  Then Mum calls out, ‘Ellie? There’s someone here wants to see you.’

  She’s smiling as I come through the door, and I soon see why. The ‘someone’ stands up slowly from Dad’s chair and turns to face me. Granddad! He comes across and gives me a hug.

  ‘Well Ellie,’ he says, ‘you’ve had an exciting time! But where’s this dog I’ve heard so much about?’

  ‘At Jan’s,’ I say, trying to get used to the idea that Granddad is really here, in our house.

  ‘This is Jan.’ I push my friend forward and they shake hands.

  ‘Have you come to see Dad?’ I ask.

  Granddad laughs, ‘I’ve come to see all of you! I’ve been talking to Nick, and it sounds as if you need someone with a bit of sense around the place. So I’ve invited myself to tea.’

  Mum says, ‘They’ve got Frank. PC Deeping phoned and told me. They’ve got him down at the police station and that’s where he’ll be staying for now.’

  I feel a big wave of relief.

  ‘Now,’ says Granddad, ‘I need to talk to Pearl. So why don’t you go and fetch your famous greyhound, and by the time you get back I’ll be able to listen to your story. I hear you’ve been quite the heroine.’

  ‘Not really,’ I say, trying not to look too pleased with myself. But as Jan and I go out, I give a great whoop of joy. We race off up the road and reach her house in record time.

  ‘Oh Princess, you can come home at last,’ I tell my beautiful greyhound as she breaks the rule about jumping up. She licks my neck and then shoots off with Jade, skidding around on Jan’s kitchen floor and up on to the sofa, while Jan tries to get the two of them to calm down. But animals know their owners’ moods and the two dogs guess that good things are happening, and that celebrations are in order.

  I stroke Princess’s soft ears and say to Jan, ‘Let’s all go back to mine for tea.’

  ‘Your granddad’s lovely,’ says Jan, ‘but I think I’d better get up to the allotment to see Gran. She’ll want to hear all about what’s happened. You two go, and I’ll see you tomorrow.’

  ‘OK,’ I say, ‘but just think, Jan. If I’ve got Princess back and Frank’s gone, we can get back to normal: walks in the park, picnics, and all that ...’

  ‘You mean freezing cold mornings and dark nights,’ she says. ‘Have you forgotten the autumn’s coming? But we can sit by Gran’s fire, It’ll still be great!’

  Happy, I set off for home with Princess.

  ‘So this is the world-famous Princess Phoebe is it?’ asks Granddad, as Princess gives his hands a quick wash.

  ‘That name saved her life,’ I tell him.

  ‘Come and help me carry some things in from the car, Ellie. I’ve got some apples for your mum.’

  But as soon as we’re out of Mum’s hear
ing, Granddad turns to me: ‘D’you remember what we talked about yesterday?’ he asks.

  I look at him blankly.

  ‘Really Ellie!’ he says, ‘I mean about your father’s work?’

  ‘Oh yes,’ I say quickly, ‘Can you do anything?’ With all the stuff that’s happened to me I’ve forgotten everyone else’s troubles.

  ‘But guess what?’ I say quickly, remembering, ‘the police are giving me a reward for helping them catch Frank. Two thousand pounds! So I’m going to give Dad the money he needs for the rent and you won’t have to lend it.’

  ‘Ellie, you’re a good girl,’ says Granddad. ‘But I mean about the job. I rang up my farmer friend as I promised, but before I could say how good your dad would be and how they should take him on, he told me they’d just sent Charlie an offer. He was streets ahead of the others at the interviews apparently; why it took them so long to decide I don’t know ...

  ‘You and I must keep quiet about our discussion, though. Your dad’s such a proud man, he’ll be furious if he thinks we’ve interfered. And, as it happens, in the end we haven’t even needed to.’

  ‘Sure,’ I agree.

  ‘And why don’t you offer just to lend your dad the reward money? He’ll say no if you tell him it’s a present, you know what he’s like. Of course, if he accepts the job he won’t need anyone’s money, and if the council hears that he’s got a job they’ll give him more time to catch up with the rent.’

  ‘Sure,’ I say again.

  ‘Your dad’s a good gamekeeper,’ says Granddad, ‘and he’ll be much happier looking after someone’s pheasants again, rather than trying to poach them. I’d got it all wrong Ellie, until you told me. I thought Charlie was hanging around with Frank and his dogs, so thank you for setting the picture straight.’

  We go in the back door as Dad comes in at the front. You can tell straightaway that something is different. He’s smiling in a way I haven’t seen him smile in a long time, and he goes straight to Mum and gives her a big kiss. Granddad squeezes my hand and we both concentrate on looking surprised as Dad tells Mum about the job he’s been offered. Mum bursts in to tears.

  Through the chaos that follows – with Mum handing me one small brother after another to feed or look after; and the twins, who arrive just after Dad, telling him about the terrible day they’ve had at school; and Dad telling them about the great day he’s had with his job offer; and Granddad shaking hands with Dad and everyone smiling at once – I ask Granddad about Mrs Henderson.

  ‘Did you fix her window?’

  ‘Yes, I did. She’s a lovely lady, Ellie. And she’s very fond of you, considering all the trouble you’ve caused her.’ He’s smiling as he says this, so I don’t feel too cross. ‘She’s a great gardening expert, so we’re going to be working together on our veg next spring. It’s hard to believe, but she seems to know more about beans than I do.’

  Granddad goes on, ‘So when you all come over to mine we can ask her to join us, don’t you think?’

  ‘That would be great!’ I say. I think of Mrs Henderson’s cheery kitchen too. Visiting her will be something else to look forward to; almost be like me having a gran of my own. Maybe Mrs Henderson would like to meet Jan’s gran too, so that, with Granddad there as well, they can go on about beans for ever, if they want.

  Then the back door slams and Nick comes in.

  ‘What’s this?’ he asks. He glances round the room at us all, smiling. His bruises are going purple but he still looks great. I plan to get him on his own later so I can ask if he wants my reward money for his van, now Dad won’t be needing it.

  Then from my corner of the sofa, with one hand resting on Princess who lies on the carpet next to me, I look around the room at everyone. Dad and Mum, Nick, Sam and David, Jack and Patrick, Granddad, Tag and me. And, wonderfully, Princess Phoebe is right here, safe at home. My perfect family.

  The End