The Salt-Stained Book (Strong Winds Trilogy 1)

by Julia Jones

  Donny’s stomach rumbled loudly.

  “Jim and his mother had a problem. An old sea captain called Billy Bones had come to live in their pub. At first they’d been quite pleased but now he’d stopped paying his bills. He got drunk a lot and sang loud songs and frightened the other customers. They didn’t know how they could get rid of him.”

  What had Anna said? Was it Luke and Liam’s dad who used to get drunk a lot? Donny hurried on.

  “Jim’s mum’s pub was on a lonely stretch of road near the coast. Not near here – somewhere else. Billy Bones had asked Jim to keep a lookout and tell him straightaway if he ever saw any other seafaring men, especially an old blind man with a stick called Pew or a one-legged man called Long John Silver. ‘They’ll be after my chest,’ he said.

  “One day an unknown seaman did arrive. But it wasn’t Blind Pew and it wasn’t Long John Silver, it was a man called Black Dog.”

  Granny had always made a big thing reading these names. You could even sign them like they were dramatic.

  “Jim couldn’t stop Black Dog meeting Billy Bones. But Black Dog didn’t say a word to the old sea captain. He just pressed something into his hand and went away. ‘The Black Spot! They’ve tipped me the Black Spot!’ Billy’s eyes were rolling and he was foaming at the mouth.”

  Donny tried acting up a bit. Luke and Liam had gone completely quiet. He was worried they were getting bored.

  “Then Billy Bones died and Jim prised open his dead hand. In his dead fingers he was clutching a scrap of paper called the Black Spot. On the back it said ‘We’re Coming Tonight’. Soon, it was the middle of the night and everything was quiet.”

  Donny paused. The vicarage was very quiet.

  So were Liam and Luke.

  “Jim heard a noise getting nearer and nearer. Tap, tap, tap.

  Tap, tap, tap. It was Blind Pew and he was getting closer. ‘Mum, we’ve got to go,’ said Jim. His mum had been at Billy Bones’s chest counting out the exact money that the old sea captain owed her. Jim was dragging at her to make her come. Then he grabbed another old piece of paper that was in there.

  “Jim and his mother hid under a bridge. They’d only just got out in time. Blind Pew was almost there and a gang of bad men. They broke into the pub and crashed about inside. It was as if they were looking for something and were angry because they couldn’t find it.

  “Then at last some soldiers came and chased the men away. Blind Pew was killed and it was safe for Jim and his mother to come out. Jim was holding a very old map. A map of an island. There was a cross on the map. ‘The treasure is here,’ it said.”

  Donny stopped. Luke was completely motionless and he couldn’t see Liam at all. Just a lump under the duvet. Maybe Treasure Island didn’t really work for them. Wrong generation?

  He was so hungry. Xanthe’d given them both some mint cake and a swig of water from the emergency box that she and Maggi had stowed in Lively Lady. She hadn’t wanted them to eat much and at the time he hadn’t minded.

  “Is that the end?” Luke asked.

  “Not really,” said Donny. “But it’s the end for tonight. I could tell you more tomorrow. If you wanted ...”

  “Yessssss!”

  Still nothing from Liam. Donny guessed he might have fallen asleep. “Night then,” he said to Luke.

  As he reached the door, the duvet was heaved further over the lump and a weepy voice came muffled, “Don’t like Blind Pew ... he gives me bad feelings!”

  What had he done? thought Donny. They were only little kids. “Hey, Liam,” he said, re-crossing the room. “It’s okay, honest. Blind Pew’s gone. He got killed. And all the other bad men ran away. And Jim went and found the doctor at an important man’s house where they were eating a really big supper. And he had supper. And his mum went to her friends in the village and she probably had supper too.”

  “Our mum’s dead,” said Luke. “We don’t usually think about her much.”

  “Shit!” thought Donny. He didn’t usually swear but he was so angry with himself. “I don’t know what happened to Jim’s mum but I’m sure she was okay. Then Jim sailed off on a ship called the Hispaniola and he had such adventures.”

  “Did Jim like football?” Liam’s head peeped cautiously out.

  This sounded more promising. “Well, I didn’t ever meet him, so I don’t know. I expect he would have liked football except he never got much chance. First he was on the Hispaniola so there wasn’t space, and then he was on Treasure Island and there were mountains and jungles and things.”

  Liam was not convinced. “I’ve still got bad feelings. They’re not in my feet or my tummy any more but there’s still some in my head ...”

  “I’ve got something in my room,” said Donny, improvising desperately. “Something special. Stay still and I’ll fetch it for you.” He hurried to grab the dream-catcher Anna had made him. The younger boys lay still and silent. Only their eyes following him.

  “This is a magic thing that Anna made. My mum used to make lots. You have it in your room and if bad dreams fly in they get tangled up in the net so they can’t get to you. The good dreams can slip through the holes. Vicky’s got one and that’s why she’s not crying at night any more. You have mine for now and tomorrow we’ll make special ones of your own. You can think about how you’d like them to be.”

  “Do they sell Man U ones?”

  “Dunno. We could try and make a Man U one. What about you, Luke?”

  “Mmmmm thinking...”

  The voice sounded pretty sleepy. Donny didn’t reckon Luke’d be thinking for long. He turned to go again.

  “Vicky only cried at night because Anna woked her up.”

  Huh?

  “I’ve hung the catcher between your beds. It’ll stop anything bad getting in. Sleep well. See you in the morning.”

  “Promise?”

  “Promise.”

  Donny knew Luke was telling the truth. Anna’s pale figure on the landing. The feeling he’d been watched.

  Poor little Vicky! Woken. Then left on her own to cry until Gerald came lumbering up.

  So that was how Anna got her Internet time.

  But Anna was his friend. Vicky’s sister. She couldn’t have ...

  Anna was desperate. Anna was ruthless.

  Of course she could.

  Donny was so hungry. Okay, he wasn’t going to get any supper but if he could just have a hunk of bread and a glass of milk, or some of those bananas Gerald was always dishing out, he’d be asleep in seconds. He started downstairs again to ask.

  Rev. Wendy was coming out of her study. “That was Mrs Ribiero on the telephone,” she called loudly. “She wants us to take John out of school on the 25th. All day!” Her voice was outraged, as if June had suggested they take Donny to a strip club.

  “Why on earth would she want us to do something like that?” Gerald sounded bewildered. “She seemed such a sensible woman. She’s a JP you know.”

  “I know. It’s extraordinary. Her daughters have got some idea that this mythical great aunt of John’s is actually going to arrive! The boy is very plausible ...”

  “I was beginning to think he was rather a nice lad,” said Gerald, sadly.

  “Yes. Although there’s been a complaint at school about fighting. We must always remember him in our prayers. Denise Tune’s arranged a meeting for Tuesday morning to finalise the legal arrangements. They can’t extend the emergency order any further. He’ll have to go.”

  “They’re quite sure?”

  “Oh yes, they’ve checked everywhere. Inspector Flint took personal charge.”

  “And you told Mrs Ribiero this?”

  “Of course ... She just said that if the boy is convinced, we should listen to him.”

  “And when no-one arrives ... ” Gerald cut in, sounding angry. “Hasn’t Mrs Ribiero considered the trauma for the lad?”

  “She agreed it would be a deep disappointment and he’d need a lot of support. She even offered to rearrange her own diary
so she could spend Monday with him. At Shotley!”

  “Ridiculous,” snapped Gerald. “Who asked her to interfere? He’s much better off keeping busy at school. Poor boy. He’ll need quite enough support when they tell him what’s been arranged at next Tuesday’s meeting.”

  “Yes,” agreed Wendy. “Sandra’s going to take him out and explain what’s going to be decided. He certainly doesn’t need emotional disturbance on Monday as well.”

  Donny legs seemed to buckle. He sat on the stairs not caring whether anyone saw him or not. The hall lights were on. This felt like another act of the same bad play. Who needed nightmares when the adults behaved like this?

  “Denise isn’t inviting him to attend the meeting then? I wouldn’t mind taking him into Colchester with me ...”

  “No. I did ask her, but she’s assessed John as having a severe attitude problem towards authority. She doesn’t think he’d react well. And there’s no need for you to come, dear, I can represent us both.”

  “Oh,” said Gerald, sounding disappointed. “By the way, dear, I’ve noticed that the boy prefers to be called Donny, not John.”

  “Oh,” said Wendy. “Well, it’s not for much longer is it? Were you planning to watch the News?”

  Donny took several deep breaths. Got up from the stairs and marched into the kitchen.

  He found the cling-filmed remains of the wholemeal pasta they’d had for supper and ate all of that. Then he made some thick slices of toast, opened a can of baked beans to tip over them and fried himself two large eggs. He had a mug of tea as well. With sugar. Research had showed that hot sweet drinks were particularly damaging to dental hygiene – so Gerald said.

  He’d finished everything and was wondering about taking an apple and biscuits upstairs, when Wendy came into the kitchen carrying a tray. She was so startled she almost dropped it.

  “John! I mean ... Donny. Whatever are you doing?”

  “I’m eating. What does it look like?” He spoke rudely. His voice had got a bit deeper.

  “But what? Why?”

  “Whatever I could find and because I was hungry. Is that a problem?”

  She backed out and he heard her calling to Gerald. “Did you give permission for John to be in the kitchen helping himself to food, dear?”

  Donny stood up and dumped his mug and plate in the sink with the pans he’d dirtied.

  “No, he didn’t. And I didn’t ask. I’m tired now so I’ll leave the washing-up. I don’t suppose you’ll do it. You’ve got too much to pray about.”

  He lifted the protective cover from the fruit bowl on the clean Formica table and chose two apples to take with him up to bed. Plus a banana that he didn’t really want and a whole handful of biscuits. The SS were coming to tip him the Black Spot but he wasn’t going to drop dead like Billy Bones. He was well-hard now.

  He saw Gerald coming blearily out of the living room so he chucked the banana at him. Good shot.

  “Choke on that then!”

  He got Wendy a direct hit with the spare apple and went to bed feeling considerably better. Granny had always told him that it was wrong to waste food and he knew that he hadn’t.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Going AWOL

  Friday, September 22nd

  He wondered in the night whether they’d call Flint or Toxic to take him away. He wondered about legging it back down to Lively Lady. But there was the alarm system and his promise to Luke. He heaved an empty chest of drawers across the door instead. Then he went to sleep.

  It was stand-off time at breakfast the next morning. Gerald and Wendy were evidently uncertain how much Donny had overheard and he wasn’t planning to tell them.

  Everyone else was rather cheery. Liam and Luke alternately said “tap, tap, tap,” to one another in their most sinister voices, then fell off their chairs and rolled around on the floor with their soya milk substitute frothing out of their mouths. Vicky banged her spoon and said “doh ... doh” while Anna, who had pulled the high chair up close to the table, and was sitting next to her sister, tried to encourage her to turn doh into Donny.

  Hypocrite, thought Donny.

  He felt fed up with Anna as well. A bit.

  “It’s not me she’s looking at,” he said eventually. “It’s Luke. She started saying that when he was pretending to be a dog. She thinks he’s funny and he’s going to help look after her when I’m not here, aren’t you, Lukey?”

  “Our Treasure,” said Luke.

  Anna didn’t say anything but she didn’t totally freeze Luke out. And, when Liam started asking her about making Man U dream nets, she managed a muttered “maybe” before leaving the table to collect her school bag. Vicky began to yell when she saw Anna going but Luke pretended he had fleas under his collar so she laughed instead.

  He was going to miss them.

  Even Anna. Even now he knew what she’d been doing to Vicky to get Wendy and Gerald out of her way at night. He understood how living in the system began to change you. Made you hard and angry.

  Okay, be honest. Donny was going to miss Anna most of everyone. Whatever she’d done.

  He didn’t know where he’d be if Gold Dragon didn’t show up on Monday but it wasn’t going to be here and it wasn’t going to be anywhere arranged by anyone else’s meeting. He’d rather live rough. Camp out behind The Cedars maybe?

  “I’d like to speak with you before you leave, John.” Rev. Wendy was standing near the kitchen door, finishing her coffee.

  “No,” said Donny. He stood up and realised that he was almost as tall as she was. Gerald was much taller but he wasn’t scared of Gerald.

  Rev. Wendy was blocking his exit. “You have school to attend and it’s important that you go forth in peace,” she said. “We forgive you your behaviour last night.”

  “Nope.” It was all he could think of to say.

  Anna was on the other side of Wendy, waiting for him. She held his rucksack up to show she had it. But he couldn’t quite bring himself to push past. Not with the younger ones watching.

  “I need to go,” he said, “or I’ll miss the bus. I’m posting another picture to my mum. I don’t want your forgiveness but I’ll take a stamp.” Wendy didn’t move. She didn’t look as if she understood. “If you don’t give me one – two or three would be even better – I’ll either steal or send it without and then the hospital will have to pay.”

  “Hrrrrrp ... ” Gerald was trying to catch his wife’s attention. He pointed to Anna. Anna had opened the study door – threatening to go in.

  Wendy turned to defend her sanctum. And Donny ran.

  He and Anna both ran. But only as far as the road. Their carers weren’t the types to come hammering after them all the way to the bus stop.

  “Did you get any stamps?”

  “No, sorry. You were too quick.”

  “I’ll have to nick one later. Seems I’m set for a life of crime.”

  “Like I said, join the club. What were you being forgiven for anyway?”

  She took it really badly. He told her all he’d heard last night: how Flint and Toxic were still lying to the carers; how Rev. Wendy wouldn’t let the Ribieros help; about the meeting that had been fixed for Tuesday; the decisions that had already been made.

  “So if your great aunt doesn’t come on Monday ...”

  “Or she doesn’t like me ...”

  “You’re going to steal the Ribieros’ dinghy and go AWOL?”

  “What’s AWOL?”

  “Absent Without Leave. It’s what they say about deserters.”

  “That is so unfair! Think about it! What else can I do? Whatever Toxic’s got worked out for me will be foul. I’m not allowed to go to the meeting because of my attitude problem and the only other person who might be on my side is Mr Mac and he says he only goes if he has a chance of making a difference. And if he doesn’t and I haven’t, it’s too late, they’ve got me.”

  “But that is thieving. Taking a dinghy’s not like taking a stamp. And they trust you. The Ri
bieros. They’re kind people.”

  “Okay,” he snapped at her. The bus was coming. “I’ll go without Lady if that’ll make you feel better. I just won’t have any shelter or anywhere to keep things and I’ll get caught much quicker. But if that’s what you want . . .”

  They didn’t speak again or sit together. The bus was quite crowded and when Xanthe got on with her cello the driver made everyone stay in their places while he got out, unlocked the luggage compartment and stowed it in there. Muttering about regulations and abusing the contract. He grumbled about its weight as well.

  Maggi was carrying a small sail bag, which she passed to Donny.

  “It’s a bosun’s bag. It’s from Dad. Loads of bits of rope and different sized cod-line, and pulleys and shackles and whipping twine and a sailmaker’s needle. I don’t reckon he thinks you’ve got anything else to do except practise splicing and Fisherman’s Bends.”

  “I’ve put the flags in there too,” she told Anna, once the bus had arrived at the school, and they were waiting for the driver to finish complaining and give Xanthe back her cello. “They’re not totally finished. The parentals are picking us up from here to drive straight to Rutland Water. We’re racing tomorrow and we’ll be back late. I mean, we’ll be around at the club on Sunday. Dad’s got some meeting but we weren’t sure if we could get them to you in time.”

  “Believe me I did try to help but I sew like a squid on a slab,” said Xanthe, joining them. “So I added about twenty metres of cod line to the bosun’s bag and a knife with a marlinspike. The Hispaniola’s signal halyards looked okay but I couldn’t properly see. If they’re not, you need to tie something heavy to the end of the line and heave it over her lower cross-trees.”

  “Like John did with the lantern and the lookout pine,” said Donny. “Xanthe, Maggi, your mother rang Rev. Wendy last night. How much do your parents know?”

  The sisters looked at each other. “Don’t blow us out, Donny- man,” said Xanthe. “We though it was worth a try. Mum and Dad like you – they like both of you – they want to help.”