Colin Meets an Emu (3 page)

“But, but..” Twin One was beginning to argue. A sharp thrust of M's foot soon made him stop.

“Thirdly, after all that is settled, you will both move far away to another town or even another country and you will never come back. Is that clear?
Never
.”

“Yes, yes, yes,” agreed the terrified Sanguinettis.

“And finally, you will become honest, hardworking men. If you do not, wherever you are I shall find you and you will once again become my helpless puppets just like you are now. Capisce?
[1]
”

Colin had spoken in the same quiet, low tone that the twins had earlier used on Olivia. The use of that last word hissed in their native Italian language was the last terrifying straw for them.

“Si, si, si,” they agreed and then they lay trembling and exhausted until M hoisted them one by one and put them on the remaining two brackets sticking out from Olivia's caravan roof. To Colin it almost seemed as if the bookmark was laughing. Was it enjoying all this as much as he was?

 

That same evening it was all arranged. The Sanguinetti's lawyers, summoned to Olivia's caravan, hurried there in their smart limousine. All the money transfers were done, and the twins, very worried, hardly speaking and looking haggard and years older, were last seen in their lawyers' car heading for the airport.

Olivia introduced Colin to her father, who beamed at him and welcomed him as a new friend of the family. Olivia said he looked much better already. Sammy as usual was everyone's favourite. Olivia kept looking admiringly at Colin, but he refused to answer just yet her questions about his strange powers. She would not have believed him, especially if he told her about a certain emu, who just happened to be invisible and who, without her realising it, was in the caravan with them, helping himself to whatever food and drink he could get in the small party that was now starting.

Olivia wanted to explain to Colin the reasons why she and her brothers had tried to steal money that evening. “Believe me, Colin,” she said. “We were absolutely desperate. Papa was so depressed and ill, worrying about the money he owed those gangsters. We did not know what else we could do.” To prove this Olivia had already gone with Colin and Sammy to the police van at the fairground and had returned all the purses and handbags her brothers had taken. She simply said that she had found the large carrier-bag and all its contents hidden behind a caravan. The police-woman in charge had been equally interested in Sammy, who generally had that sort of effect on people.

 

Earlier Kevin had lent Colin his mobile phone to ring Auntie Flo to let her know that her three guests, one nephew, one dog and one emu, would be arriving back at her house quite late. In fact, when they walked in, Jilly and Billy were already asleep in their rooms.

Auntie Flo merely remarked, “Did you have a good evening? And did M behave himself?”

“Oh, yes,” said Colin, and he winked at M. He could have sworn that the emu winked back at him.

“You can tell me all about it in the morning,” said Auntie Flo.

Colin said, “Oh, by the way, auntie, I'm bringing a young lady to see you tomorrow.” He glanced at his watch. It was 2 a.m. “Or rather this afternoon,” he added.

M was hopping up and down happily, and in fact Auntie Flo liked Olivia from the moment she first set eyes on her that afternoon, when she came to tea.

Of course it was Jilly who cheekily asked, “Are you really Colin's girl-friend?”

Surprised, Olivia replied, “Well, yes, I suppose I am. I hope so.”

Colin, equally surprised, said yes he supposed so too. He had never felt so happy before.

“In that case, Colin, I think we should introduce M to Olivia,” remarked Auntie Flo.

Colin was never quite sure what Auntie Flo did next, but suddenly Olivia rushed across the room and hugged M.

“Oh, isn't he cute!” she cried. M looked suitably pleased. Then Auntie Flo told Olivia all about him.

 

One day later, when Colin found himself once more in his armchair with Sammy, he was still clutching the headscarf that Olivia had given him to remind him of her and also as a kind of promise. Maybe she would join him in his next adventure. Then Colin noticed that there was something inside the headscarf. He unwrapped it and took out a small, silver-coloured blackberry handheld computer. There was a message on it from Auntie Flo, saying ‘Click here'.

Intrigued, Colin did so. Suddenly he saw M standing on the other side of the room with a saxophone hanging from a sling around his neck! It was absolutely, incredibly absurd! Sammy woofed happily. Colin's eyes were drawn to another message flashing on the blackberry's small screen. ‘Thank you for looking after M. I have sent him to you for the remainder of the school holidays. I feel you will need him on your next two adventures. He really likes you. Don't let him do anything too silly though. You can send him back to me by sending ‘M' as a one-letter message to me. Thanks again, Colin. Love to you and Sammy. Auntie Flo.'

“Oh no!” thought Colin. Now the neighbours are going to be complaining, asking me why I am playing the saxophone so badly!

A second horrible thought occurred to him. “Oh no! What would Mr. Jellysox think if M caused trouble at the library? But then he thought, “So what?” The bookmark glowed reassuringly. Maybe after all that was another story. No, maybe it was two stories!

 

 

 

Colin had not intended to go into space, but his book, his special book, took him there faster than into any of his other adventures. His special bookmark was throbbing faster than ever before and he was suddenly aware that he was sitting at a table. Sammy was underneath it on a plush red carpet, lying contentedly in a comfortable-looking transparent box, which was labelled as a ‘Doggy Home'. Colin looked around. He appeared to be in a luxurious dining-room, rather like the ones he had seen on film of transatlantic liners in the 1930s or even the ill-fated Titanic of an earlier date. Was it 1912? He couldn't remember. He also noticed there were no windows.

A waiter appeared at his table. “Would you like to order, sir?” he said.

Colin dithered, as he was still getting his bearings. “No,” he said. “I haven't looked at the menu yet.” As he picked it up from the beautiful white tablecloth, he noticed two things. One – he was wearing a smart, white dinner jacket or tuxedo – and two – the name of the vessel he was apparently travelling in, printed stylishly on the menu, was the Spaceline Empress Express. He felt a surge of relief. So he wasn't on the Titanic then, but was he really hurtling through space? He looked round him again and saw that the restaurant was quite crowded and the people were all elegantly dressed. He also noticed his new friend M, the emu, standing unnoticed by everyone else – i.e. unnoticed because M was indeed invisible to them.

The waiter interrupted his thoughts. “Will the young lady be joining you for dinner, sir?”

Colin realised that he was sitting at a table for two and there was a wine glass just like his own sparkling under the lights and a full set of gleaming cutlery just like his own all set in front of a chair opposite him. His heart leapt. Was Olivia here with him too? And there she was, walking into the room and smiling at him, and looking absolutely stunning with her long black hair contrasting with her long silver dress. The waiter politely held her chair, as she sat down. “I'll come back in a minute or two, when you have decided,” he said.

Olivia greeted her three friends. “Hi, Colin. Hi, Sammy. Hi, M.”

Sammy woofed happily, whilst M lowered his head so that Olivia could gently scratch the top of it. Colin put his hand over Olivia's on the snow white tablecloth.

“I wonder where we're going,” he said, “and I've no idea what year it is.”

Olivia looked thoughtful. Then she said, “I overheard someone say, as I came in, that this trip to Planet Holiday is better value than the Easy-Space one last year in 2105.”

“Oh, oh!” said Colin. “That means I should be about 125 years old and you must be a sprightly 119 or so!”

“We're looking pretty good for our age then, aren't we?” grinned Olivia. She glanced down at their hands. “It looks as if we must have got married.” She pointed to the rings on the fourth finger of their left hands. Hers was inscribed with ‘To O from C' and his with ‘To C from O'. Suddenly she laughed. “I wonder if we have any children?”

“I think we'd remember that,” said Colin, still trying to understand that Olivia was his wife. “If we have got any, they must also be over 100 years old!”

Olivia laughed again, and just at that moment there was a tuneful, tinkling sound. It seemed to be coming from the top pocket of Colin's tuxedo, where the bookmark nestled so snugly. He pushed his fingers into the pocket and there next to the glowing bookmark he felt a small solid object. He pulled it out. It was some sort of mobile phone, but more modern and neat than any other he had seen. It was the same dark blue colour as the bookmark, and when he opened it, the screen flashed red, also like the bookmark. He pressed the green key and the red of the screen was replaced by the face of someone he thought he recognised. It was not an old face and was framed by long black hair.

“Hello, Mum. Hello, Dad. It's me, Charlie.” It was not a man's voice. Charlie? Was this a young grandson? No. For the first time in his life he had been called Dad! Well, the face did not look young either. Colin angled the phone, so that Olivia could see the screen . At once she seemed to twig what was going on
and
to know the person calling.

“Hi, Charlotte,” she said.

“Where are you?” asked Charlotte, who was obviously her daughter and had her mother's beautiful dark eyes.

“Well, we seem to be on our way to Planet Holiday for a short break.”

“Oh, when will you be back then?”

“Not sure. Maybe a couple of days. This was a surprise thing, spur of the moment, you know. You know what your Dad's like. He always does the most amazing things. This spaceship has its own gravity field. I thought we'd be floating all over the place absolutely weightless. It's incredibly grand in here and we're in a marvellous restaurant at the moment.”

“And is M with you?”

“Yes.”

“That's good then. Oh, the reason I'm ringing is that the others and me, we thought we ought to celebrate your 100
th
Wedding Anniversary in style next year. Is that O.K. with you?”

“Yes. Of course. Surprise us.”

“O.K., Mum. I'll ring off now to tell the others. ‘Bye, Mum. ‘Bye, Dad.”

 

Colin sat stunned. First it was news to him that he was married to the marvellous Olivia and also who were the others Charlotte had mentioned? Just how many children did they have? And goodness knows, how many grandchildren? And little Sammy must be nearly 1,000 years old in doggie years!

His thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of the waiter, who asked, “Are you ready to order now?”

Olivia murmured to Colin, “We mustn't forget Sammy and M.” To the waiter she said,” One Doggy Dinz and two large ice-cream sundaes.”

Colin added, “For me the Space Special and a bottle of the Martian Red.”

Olivia decided to have the same as Colin and just as the waiter was leaving she asked him, “What time do we arrive at Planet H?”

“Since we are travelling by Micro-Wave Black Hole Time Warp Speed 2, we will be there in about 45 Earthminutes. Just time to enjoy your meal, madam.” He snapped his fingers and a younger waiter brought the food to their table.

Of course M, unseen by nearly all, soon finished off his two huge ice-creams. He had taken a great liking to them since pinching some at the fair recently. Or was it 100 years ago?

 

It seemed like in less than no time they had landed on Planet H, as everyone called it, and they were being escorted off the gigantic, dark blue space-ferry. Colin had often wondered what it would feel like to set foot on another world. Now he was about to do just that. In his right hand he was carrying a slim, lightweight case made of some futuristic silver material. Olivia was carrying Sammy. M slipped on ahead. Hand in hand Colin and Olivia stepped onto the new world. The ground under their feet was just like that on Earth. The bookmark glowed in Colin's pocket, as they walked about 80 metres to a low-slung hover-vehicle, which was made of sparkling fibre-glass. It was like sitting in a large travelling window, as they sped across the beautiful landscape that shone with a tinge of pink. Olivia felt herself unable to resist taking lots of pictures and video clips on the mobile phone.

There was no driver on board the fully computer-operated hover-vehicle, but every so often a recorded voice told the passengers what they were passing. “On your right you can see the beautiful Needlepoint Mountains. They look just like snow-covered needles, don't they? In fact they are nearly 3,000 metres higher than our own Mount Everest. Look to your left and you will see an incredible view of the sparkling pink waters of the equally beautiful Tingle Lake. See how the mountains are reflected in it. The lake is named after the Anglo-Australian explorer Sir John Nightingale. Everybody calls him by his nickname Tingle, so he said it was O.K. for the lake to be called that as well.”