by Duncan Ball
‘Why you —!’
Dan and Doug raced for the door but Emily was too smart for them. She’d already locked it.
‘I guess you’re my prisoners now,’ she said.
‘How did you get out?’ the men asked.
Emily tried to explain but the men looked puzzled.
‘But how did you see the broom in the next cell?’ Dan asked.
‘Oh, I forgot,’ Emily said, holding up her eyefinger. ‘I saw it with this.’
‘Heavens!’ Doug exclaimed. ‘We kidnapped a … a mutant!’
‘I’m not a mutant,’ Emily said. ‘I’m just a little girl who happened to be born with an eye on the end of her finger. Now are you going to give me that telephone so I can ring the police?’
‘Not on your life!’ Dan said.
‘Then you could be in for a long wait,’ Emily said. ‘Because I’m going to have to walk to town and it’s a long way.’
‘Okay, okay,’ Dan said, sliding the phone under the bars. ‘You win.’
And so it was that Emily phoned the police.
‘There’s only one thing I wanted to ask,’ Emily said as the two men were being taken away to a nicer, cleaner prison. ‘Why did you want two thousand, one hundred and forty-two dollars and thirty-five cents?’
‘Because that’s what we needed,’ Dan said.
‘What did you need it for?’ asked Emily.
‘To see our mum,’ Doug explained. ‘She lives overseas. We worked and worked to save the money but we only had enough for one airline ticket and we both wanted to see her.’
‘You only had half the money, is that it?’ Emily asked.
‘That’s right.’
‘Then why didn’t you send her the money so that she could have come to see you instead of you going to see her?’
Doug and Dan scratched their heads.
‘I guess we just didn’t think of that,’ Doug admitted.
‘Well, you should always use your brains before you do silly things like kidnapping people,’ Emily said. ‘I hope you’ve learned your lesson.’
‘We have,’ they both said. ‘We’re very sorry, Emily.’
‘And so you should be,’ Emily said.
She felt a little bit sorry for them because now they might not see their mother for a long time.
Emily got home before her parents and erased the message on the answering machine. She didn’t want them to know that she’d been kidnapped. It might worry them.
‘Let’s go for a walk, Emily,’ Mrs Eyefinger said when she returned. ‘You’ve been stuck in the house all day. You must have felt like you were in prison.’
‘I certainly did,’ Emily said, giving her mother a big hug.
And Emily smiled a big smile all to herself.
Some time later, Emily saw a story on the TV news about an old woman who came halfway around the world to see her sons, Doug and Dan. They were in prison but she visited them every day.
‘What a nice story,’ Emily thought. ‘She must be upset about her sons but she still loves them.’
5.
Emily and Oodles of Loot
One morning during the school holidays Emily came out of her room and found a man and a woman talking to her parents.
‘Is that her?’ the man whispered as she came in.
‘Yes,’ her mother said. ‘Emily, there are some important people here to see you.’
‘To see me?’ Emily said.
‘My name is Cassandra Cash and this is Basil Banks,’ the woman said. ‘We’re special government agents.’
Agent Cash shook Emily’s hand. Agent Banks was about to shake her hand but he quickly pulled his hand back. He gave her a little wave instead.
‘I’ll come right to the point,’ the woman said. ‘We need your help.’
‘What sort of help?’ Emily asked.
‘First you have to swear that you will never tell anyone about this secret mission.’
‘Secret mission?’ Emily said. ‘Is it a dangerous secret mission?’
‘Secret missions are always dangerous,’ Agent Cash said. ‘But this one isn’t very dangerous. Okay repeat after me: I, Emily Eyefinger.’
‘I, Emily Eyefinger,’ Emily repeated.
‘Do solemnly swear never to tell even my best friend about this secret mission or about any of the secrets I learn at the Mint.’
‘The mint? What mint?’
Emily immediately thought of peppermint, and then peppermint ice-cream, and even mint-flavoured sweets.
‘The Mint is where the government makes the money we use,’ Agent Cash explained. ‘It’s called a mint because it’s such a sweet place to be,’ she added with a laugh. ‘Get it? Sorry, just kidding. Now do you swear?’
‘Yes, I do. Hey, this is funny,’ Emily said. ‘You work at the Mint and your names are Cash and Banks. Cash is money and banks have money in them.’
‘Well, you’re no one to talk,’ Agent Cash snapped. ‘Your name is Eyefinger and you’ve got an eye on your finger.’
‘I didn’t mean it was funny funny,’ Emily said. ‘I just meant it was strange. Now what do you want me to do?’
‘First let me ask you this,’ Agent Cash said. ‘Do you like money?’
‘Yes, I guess I do,’ said Emily. ‘I think everyone likes money. I keep mine in my piggy bank.’
‘I mean would you like to have stacks and stacks of money?’
‘I guess so.’
‘Cash, currency, bucks, bread, loot, swag,’ Agent Cash said. ‘They’re all words for money. Bread, ways and means, wherewithal — I love it! There’s nothing better than looking at big stacks of money. I just love the feeling of coins dropping through my fingers! I love to pick up huge stacks of hundred dollar notes! I love the smell of it! I love —’
‘Excuse me, Agent Cash,’ Agent Banks interrupted, ‘but could you get to the point?’
‘Oh, yes, sorry. The point is that everyone likes money but someone at the Mint likes it too much.’
‘What do you mean?’ Emily asked.
‘Someone is stealing it. We don’t know who and we don’t know how.’
‘And you want me to help you catch them, is that it?’
‘You are a very intelligent girl,’ Agent Cash said. ‘We think that you can use that eye-thing of yours to nab the naughty one. Do you have it with you?’
‘Yes, of course,’ said Emily. ‘It’s always with me. It’s on my finger.’
Emily started to take her hand out of her pocket to show them.
‘No, no! Don’t!’ Agent Banks said, covering his eyes with one hand.
‘What’s wrong?’ Emily asked.
‘He’s a bit squeamish,’ Agent Cash explained.
‘It’s nothing to be scared of,’ said Emily.
‘Please don’t show it to me all at once!’ the man squealed. ‘Do it slowly.’
Emily pulled her hand very slowly out of her pocket. The man gradually opened his fingers.
‘Okay,’ he sighed. ‘I think I’m used to it now. You can put it away again.’
‘But it’s just an eye,’ Emily protested. ‘Everyone has eyes.’
‘I don’t care if it’s an ear or a nose or a head or a foot,’ Agent Banks said. ‘It’s in the wrong place. Eyes shouldn’t be on fingers. It freaks me out. Oh, sorry. I hope I didn’t hurt your feelings.’
‘No, it’s okay,’ said Emily. ‘But don’t you think it’s just a little bit silly to be afraid of something that can’t hurt you?’
‘Yes, you’re right,’ Agent Banks said. ‘Okay, now we’re going to give you a disguise and I’ll explain what we want you to do.’
For the next ten minutes, Agent Cash painted Emily’s face, putting dark circles under her eyes and a few lines on her forehead to make her look older. Then she put a wig on her. She even stuck some stuff on Emily’s face that made it look like she had wrinkles. As this was going on, Agent Banks explained Emily’s mission.
‘You’re going to be a sweeper. We’re making y
ou look like a grown-up because kids don’t work at the Mint. You’re short for a grown-up, of course, but some adults are very short.’
‘How about my voice?’ Emily asked. ‘I sound like a little girl — because that’s what I am.’
‘Just keep your mouth closed. If you have to say anything, grumble in a low voice. And keep your head down so no one can look at your face too closely.’
‘What will I be cleaning?’
‘You won’t be cleaning, you’ll be sweeping up the money that falls off the money-making machines.’
‘It doesn’t get thrown away, does it?’ Emily said.
‘Goodness no,’ Agent Cash exclaimed. ‘Someone will sort it out at the end of the day. But what we really want you to do is to keep an eye on everyone and tell us if you see anything suspicious.’
‘You can watch them with your eyefinger and nobody will know,’ Agent Banks said.
Emily slipped the sweeper’s clothes on over her own clothes. She looked in the mirror.
‘My goodness,’ she said, ‘I look as old as Mum! Ooops, sorry, Mum.’
‘That’s all right, dear,’ her mother said.
‘Okay,’ said Agent Banks. ‘Now let’s get cracking.’
The Mint was a big building with no windows. Agent Banks and Agent Cash showed Emily around. At every door they had to use secret code numbers and special plastic cards to get through.
Finally they came to a big machine.
‘What’s this?’ Emily asked.
‘This checks to see if anyone has money in their pockets,’ Agent Banks explained. ‘Every morning when the workers arrive, Agent Cash here turns on the machine and they all walk through. No one is allowed to have money on them when they come in. And she gets them to walk through it again at the end of the day.’
‘So no one could possibly be carrying the money out with them,’ Emily said.
‘It’s getting out somehow,’ Agent Cash said. ‘We hope you’ll see something that will give us a clue about how it’s happening.’
With this, Agent Cash handed Emily a broom and took her into where they were making the money.
All day Emily kept her head down as she swept coins and notes that fell from the money-making machines into a big pile. She held her hand on the broomstick so that she could look around at all the people. There were people running the machines. There were people driving forklift trucks around with the paper that would be made into bank notes. There were people who pulled trolleys filled with bags of coins. It was all very busy.
Whenever anyone said hello to Emily, she just kept her head down and said ‘Hello’ back as gruffly as she could.
A couple of times Agent Cash came to see if she’d seen anything suspicious.
‘Nope,’ Emily admitted.
‘Not to worry,’ Agent Cash said. ‘Isn’t it fun working with all this money around you?’
‘Not really,’ Emily said. ‘If you can’t spend it or put it in a piggy bank, it’s not much fun.’
But Emily could see from Agent Cash’s eyes that she liked it very much.
At the end of the day, everyone walked through the money-detecting machine and went home. Agent Cash stood behind it checking very carefully to see if anyone was hiding money under their clothes. No one was.
‘No clues?’ Agent Banks asked Emily.
‘Sorry,’ Emily said. ‘Of course I couldn’t watch everyone all the time. But I did my best.’
‘That’s all that matters,’ Agent Banks said. ‘We’ve lost a lot of money again today, I’m afraid. I guess we’re dealing with a very clever thief. But thanks for your help anyway. Can I give you a lift home?’
As she was talking to Agent Banks, Emily was secretly watching Agent Cash with her eyefinger. Agent Cash turned off the money-detecting machine. She was finished for the day. She walked out the door and down the footpath looking so happy that she was almost skipping.
‘No, I can walk home,’ Emily said to Agent Banks. ‘I need the exercise.’
‘Suit yourself.’
Emily followed Agent Cash down the street. She stayed a long way behind so that Agent Cash wouldn’t notice her. A couple of times the woman turned around and Emily had to quickly duck behind a tree.
Finally, she turned down a small street and then went into a house.
‘Hmm,’ Emily thought. ‘This must be where she lives.’
The house looked like all the other houses in the street but there was something suspicious about it.
‘I know what it is!’ Emily thought. ‘The curtains are closed even though the sun is still up. I wonder what she’s hiding?’
Suddenly Emily heard singing. It was coming from a room at the back of the house. She crept around and heard a strange whirring noise and lots of clinking. Agent Cash’s singing got louder and louder. And this is what she was singing:
I love money and money loves me
It’s money, by golly, that makes me feel jolly
And it’s money, by gummy, that tickles my tummy
It’s money, it’s money, it’s money for me!
Emily again put her eyefinger up to the window. The curtains were closed but there was a gap between them. Through it Emily saw the strangest sight she’d ever seen. There in the tiny back room Agent Cash was dancing all by herself. All around her were fans and they were blowing money like leaves in the wind. Every now and then Agent Cash bent down and picked up a handful of coins and threw them into the air.
‘So it’s her!’ Emily thought. ‘She’s the one who operates the money detecting machine but she doesn’t go through it herself. Every day she must walk out with stacks of money in her pockets.’
Emily was just thinking all these thoughts and not paying attention when someone grabbed her by the hair and turned her head around.
‘All right, I’ve caught you, you little spy!’ Agent Cash said.
‘And I caught you too,’ Emily said. ‘You’re the money thief, aren’t you? You only pretended that you wanted me to catch the thief so no one would suspect you.’
Agent Cash gave Emily a long hard look.
‘You’re right, I am the money thief,’ she said. ‘Now what am I going to do with you?’
‘You’re not going to do anything,’ a voice said.
Agent Banks stepped out of the bushes. He had his mobile phone up to his ear.
‘The police are on their way,’ he said. ‘Let the little girl go.’
Agent Cash shrugged and let Emily go.
‘What are you doing here?’ Emily asked Agent Banks.
‘When I saw you following Agent Cash, I followed you. I thought you might be onto something.’
‘And you were right,’ Emily said. ‘But I didn’t even notice you following me.’
‘That’s because agents are very clever people,’ he said. ‘Well, some of us are.’
With this he looked at Agent Cash.
‘You’re right. I was stupid,’ she said. ‘I knew I’d be caught sooner or later. Did you see me putting money in my pockets with that eyefinger thing of yours, Emily?’
‘No,’ Emily said. ‘All I saw was a person who loved money.’
‘But everyone loves money,’ Agent Cash said.
‘That’s where you’re wrong,’ Emily said. ‘Most of us just like money because we can buy things with it. We don’t love it. Loving money isn’t good.’
‘I guess you’re right,’ Agent Cash said. ‘Oh, well. You win some and you lose some. And I guess I just lost this one.’
‘You certainly did!’ Emily said.
And that was the end of Emily’s big money adventure.
6.
Emily and the Black Volcano
Emily and her parents went on a holiday to an island in the Pacific Ocean. They stayed in a tiny house that was made of bamboo and palm leaves. The house was next to a sandy beach and across the bay was a volcano sticking right up out of the sea. The top of the volcano was all black and rocky but around the bottom, next to the sea, it was gr
een with trees and other plants.
‘That looks really scary,’ Emily said. ‘There’s even smoke coming out of the top.’
‘I’m sure there’s nothing to worry about,’ Mrs Eyefinger said. ‘Some volcanoes just smoke and smoke for hundreds of years and no lava ever comes out of them.’
The Eyefingers went swimming together in the clear, warm water. Emily’s parents had face masks and snorkels so they could look down at the coral reef. Emily swam and floated with her face up but, using her eyefinger, she could look down at the reef too. She kept the plastic bubble over it so that she could see just as well as her parents. There were beautiful fish swimming everywhere.
Suddenly Emily saw a dark shape swimming in and out of the coral. It gave her a real start. As it came towards her, she saw that it was a girl. She swam right up next to Emily.
‘Hello,’ the girl said. ‘Do you mind if I ask you what that round thing is on your finger?’
‘I don’t mind at all,’ said Emily. ‘Here, I’ll show you.’
Emily brought her hand up and was about to take off the bubble to show the girl her eyefinger.
‘My goodness!’ the girl said. ‘There is an eye in there! You have an eye on the end of your finger! What is that doing there?’
‘I don’t know why it’s there,’ Emily said. ‘It just is. I was born with it.’
‘Does it see?’
‘Yes, I can see with it,’ Emily said, taking off the bubble and pointing her eyefinger towards the girl’s face.
The girl put a hand over her mouth and giggled.
‘That is so strange,’ she said. ‘Oh, I am sorry to say that.’
‘But it’s true. It is very strange. I think I’m the only person in the whole world who has one.’
‘Well, I think it is …’ the girl started. ‘I think it is good to have one. What is your name?’
‘Emily. Emily Eyefinger.’
‘Your name is just like you. It is Eyefinger and you have an eye on your finger,’ the girl said with a giggle.
‘Yes,’ said Emily. ‘And what’s your name?’
‘My name is Unaisi. But call me Una.’
‘Does Unaisi mean something?’
