The Secrets of Ice Cream Success (30 page)

Ben, Abi, Norton and Newton
heard the explosion while still sat in Ben’s bedroom talking in
circles about Carlo, Herbert and at one point a brief mention of
the coming school year, although Newton had quickly been shot down
by his friends who weren’t willing to contemplate the looming
horror of school until the day itself.

On hearing the explosion, the
friends had rushed downstairs to ask Mr and Mrs Teesdale what they
thought it was, only to be hushed into silence by Mrs Teesdale who
had immediately turned on the radio. Mr Teesdale had rushed back
into the kitchen talking about an orange glow in the sky and a few
minutes later a breaking news story interrupted the normal
programme to confirm a large explosion at the Leodoni’s factory.
The four friends had raced out of the house before Mr Teesdale
could stop them and headed at top speed to the factory on their
bikes.

They were now sat on their
bikes watching in mute horror as flames lit up the sky. Ben was
frustrated he couldn’t get closer, but firemen had cordoned off the
street to the factory entrance and police were now guarding it and
keeping a special eye on the four kids who seemed ready to make a
break for a closer look at any point.

‘
I can’t
believe it.’ Abi said, a tear rolling down her face.

‘
It’s so big!’
Ben mumbled, almost awestruck by the size of the flames.

‘
Yes,
fascinating.’ Newton agreed.

Norton could only look on in
astonishment, uncertain whether he was witnessing something
dreadful or amazing. ‘Wow.’ he muttered.

‘
Do you think
Carlo knows?’ Ben asked, looking at his friends.

‘
He must have
heard the explosion.’ Newton said.

Abi shrugged. ‘I don’t know, he
was probably still at Herbert’s and that’s miles away.’

Newton nodded to the flames.
‘It was a big explosion.’

‘
Wow.’ Norton
said, still staring at the flames.

‘
I don’t think
he was at Herbert’s, guys.’ Ben said.

‘
Why?’ Abi
asked.

Ben pointed across the street
past the burning factory where another cordon had been placed.
Through the dust and haze from the fire the unmistakable shapes of
Mr Hill and Herbert could be seen watching the fire with other
onlookers, both stood in front of Mr Hill’s huge black car.

‘
If Carlo was
still with Herbert at the time then he would probably be here by
now.’ Ben said. ‘He must have gone home. He might not even
know.’

Abi looked dubious. ‘How could
he not know? It’s all over the radio and TV. And look, Lucy’s
here.’ she finished, pointing over to where Lucy could be seen
talking to the Fire and Police chiefs, occasionally pointing at the
factory. She looked shocked and it was clear she too had been
crying. ‘If Lucy’s here then someone must have called his house by
now.’

Ben looked at his sister and
shrugged. ‘We didn’t.’

In silent agreement, Ben Abi
and Newton jumped onto their bikes.

‘
Norton.’ Ben
said, waiting for his friend.

‘
Wow.’ Norton
repeated, still staring at the flames.

‘
Norton, come
on!’ Ben shouted, grabbing Norton’s t-shirt and spinning him.
‘We’re going. Come on.’

‘
Huh?’ Norton
said, still craning to look at the flames. ‘Oh, right.’ he said
finally as Ben pulled him forwards, seeing Abi and Newton already
pushing through the crowd on their bikes. ‘Right, I’m
coming.’

He followed Ben through the
onlookers and the four of them headed to Carlo’s house to make sure
he knew the worst.

Carlo stared
up at the ceiling beam above him, fearing the worst. The explosion
had knocked him down the stairs into the study, which had probably
saved his life. He had
been briefly
knocked unconscious by the blow but when he came around he could
see that much of the factory above was now in ruins through a large
hole in the ceiling, but the basement room had survived relatively
intact.

However the large metal beam
above him gave him cause for concern as it wobbled precariously,
hanging across the hole directly above Carlo; but as the seconds
ticked by it showed no signs of falling. Gathering himself, Carlo
tried to move to get away from the hole just in case, but his body
protested, feeling like one large, angry ache. Pushing with his
hands and heels he scrabbled from underneath the hole and made it
through the debris to the door of the study where he sat leaning
against the three steps which, along with the door seemed
remarkably undamaged.

Taking an inventory he tested
every limb whilst sat on the floor. His arms and hands worked,
though his joints objected at the need. His back ached, but seemed
able to hold him upright, whilst his left leg was a picture of good
health. However, as Carlo carefully stood and put weight on his
right leg, he crumpled to the floor with a scream of pain, his
ankle unable to bear his weight as it collapsed beneath him.

‘
Damn.’ he
whispered, wiping away tears of pain and fear, making a small clean
spot on his dusty face.

Above him he could hear the
roar of the flames as they continued to burn, but further away
there was the unmistakable sound of sirens, and if there were
sirens there were people that could help him.

‘
Help! Help!’
Carlo shouted as loud as he could, but his voice sounded weak to
his own ears and he coughed violently in the dusty air. Above him
the floor beam dropped an inch or so showering more debris down
into the study. Carlo looked up into the smoke filled sky above the
hole. The fire was still raging above and it was unlikely anyone
would be able to reach the study at the far end of the factory
until it was out. But was the ceiling above able to hold that long?
Carlo doubted so.

‘
HELP!’ he
shouted again. ‘Help!’

He knew it would be impossible
for anyone to hear him above the noise of the fire, the crumbling
building and even the sirens outside and it suddenly occurred to
him that it was now late in the evening. The factory had been
closed and there would be no reason for those outside to suspect
that anyone would be inside.

‘
HELP!’ Carlo
tried again as his fear started to turn to panic. But he knew it
was useless. More tears fell and the full extent of his predicament
became clear. ‘OK… OK…’ he muttered, rubbing the tears and dirt
from his eyes. ‘OK...’

Carlo knew he had to let those
outside know he was there and get away from study before the
factory above collapsed into it, and that meant the stairs. Carlo
pulled himself up, grabbing the small rail next to the steps, and
stood on his left leg, hopping into position facing the doors. He
made his way up one step at a time, wincing with every hop as he
pulled himself up using the bannister and reached out to take the
door handle.

Carlo placed his palm on the
door to make sure there was no excessive heat behind. His hand
ached so he couldn’t be sure, but he was fairly certain if there
was a fire on the other side he would be able to feel it. He slowly
turned the door handle and opened the door just a crack. Nothing
happened. With a sigh of relief Carlo pulled open the door fully
allowing debris to scatter across the floor from the outside.
Hopping across the door step he looked up the stairwell but was
dismayed to see that wreckage from the factory above had collapsed
onto the stairs blocking the exit. Even in this gloom he could see
it would be extremely difficult to clear a path without bringing
the rubble down on top of him and with his bad leg he wasn’t even
sure he could make it up the stairs through the fallen masonry to
try.

With a grunt of effort he
braced himself against the walls on either side of the stairs and
hopped onto the first step but was surprised to hear the step groan
when landed. Carlo quickly hopped back down, but landed heavily and
fell to the floor, unable to steady himself with his right leg.

As he sat, the step in front of
him groaned again and through the darkness Carlo could just start
to make out the shape of an arm covered in dust and debris.

‘
Randy?’ Carlo
asked, reaching out to hold the arm. ‘Randy, is that
you?’

There was another groan as
Carlo gently squeezed the arm. He leant forward and felt his way
around the rubble trying to find bits he could safely move. After a
while Carlo had dislodged enough to reveal Randy’s head, shoulders
and left arm as he lay face down on the steps, his body and legs
covered in heavy masonry pointing up the stairway.

‘
Randy? Randy
it’s me. Can you hear me?’ Carlo asked. ‘Can you move?’ There was
no movement from his guardian and Carlo’s fear for himself was
replaced with fear for Randy who was clearly in more danger. Carlo
began to cry again as he delicately tried to remove as much dust
from Randy’s face as he could, clearing his mouth, nose and eyes.
Underneath the dirt his face seemed pale and cold in the half-light
of the stairwell and Carlo felt certain he would die soon unless
they were found.

‘
Help!
Somebody help us!’ he shouted through the tears, but there was no
answer.

‘
Carlo?
Randy?’ Abi shouted, banging on the front door, but the house was
silent.

‘
Well if he’s
not here, where could he be?’ Norton asked, still out of breath
from the ride. ‘I’m not going riding around half the town looking
for him. I’m knackered.’

‘
He’s probably
just asleep.’ Ben said stepping forward to bang on the door.
‘Carlo! Your factory has exploded, time to wake up!’ he shouted,
thumping the front door, but his final knock went straight through
a face that had appeared suddenly through the door.

‘
Argh!’ Ben
shouted jumping backwards.

‘
The factory
has what?’ Luigi shouted.

‘
Do you have
to do that?’ Ben grumbled as Norton chuckled behind him.

‘
What’s
happened at the factory?’ Luigi asked, ignoring him.

‘
It’s
exploded.’ Abi answered. ‘Can you let us in, we need to tell
Carlo.’

‘
Carlo’s not
here.’ Luigi said, a look of shock on his ghostly face. His head
pulled back through the door and after a second or two there was a
click and the door swung open. Ben flew up the stairs calling for
Carlo without waiting for an invite, as the others followed him
into the house. Mr Leodoni floated up through the ceiling to meet
them in Carlo’s room.

‘
I told you,
he’s not here.’

‘
Then where is
he?’ Abi asked, beginning to get concerned.

‘
I have no
idea.’ Luigi answered. ‘What did you say about my
factory?’

‘
There’s been
an explosion. It’s gone. Well, mostly gone.’ she answered. ‘Lucy’s
there now with the police, but we haven’t seen Carlo so we don’t
know if he knows yet.’

‘
When was the
last time you saw him?’ Luigi asked, sounding very
worried.

‘
He was going
to talk to Herbert about something.’ Ben supplied, sitting on the
bed. ‘But we saw Herbert at the factory too. If Carlo was with
Herbert when the explosion happened he would be at the factory by
now, but no one has seen him so we thought he’d be
here.’

Luigi shook his head.

‘
Jump to him!’
Norton said, suddenly.

‘
What?’ Ben
asked.

‘
Mr Leodoni
can jump to him. We’ve seen it before. He can jump to Carlo when he
gets too far away. He can go and find him, wherever he is, and tell
him.’

‘
I don’t think
it works like that.’ Luigi answered, sadly. ‘I am connected to
either the diary or Carlo, whichever is nearest to me but I can’t
just choose which one unless they are both in the same
room.’

‘
So you are
stuck wherever the book is?’ Norton asked.

‘
I think so.’
Mr Leodoni replied.

The room fell silent. Newton
flicked through a book, while the others tried not to focus on the
most dreadful assumption.

Eventually Norton cracked.
‘What if…?’ he began, but Abi cut him off.

‘
We know
Norton, we know.’ she said, patting him on the shoulder.

‘
What are we
going to do?’ Norton asked, starting to look genuinely
scared.

‘
I don’t
know.’ Abi said.

‘
But he could
be d…’

‘
Yes.’

The gang fell back into silence
until Newton eventually cleared his throat as he put down the book
he had been browsing. ‘Mr Leodoni? You have a strong emotional
connection with both the diary and Carlo.’ he said, indicating the
book he had been reading. Abi realised it was the diary. ‘So your
presence here is dictated by your proximity to them, yes?’ he
asked.

Ben and Norton looked confused
and even Mr Leodoni was momentarily stumped. ‘Err… yes. I think
so.’

‘
So what would
happen if there was only one of them? Carlo, for example? You would
automatically relocate to him?’

‘
I have no
idea. I may just disappear completely, or, as you say, relocate.
Where are you going with this?’ Luigi finished, sounding a little
frustrated.

‘
I have an
idea. Ben, grab the diary.’ Newton said, running out the door
shouting. ‘Follow me!’