Jenny Nimmo - Midnight for Charlie Bone

She didn’t wait for an answer, but plunged it into a bag marked INGLEDEW’S BOOKS. Handing the bag to Charlie, she said, ‘You can pop the dog in as well, there’s just enough room.’

The bag was unbelievably heavy. Charlie carefully placed the dog, in its box, on top of the metal case. Then he trundled to the door, wondering how on earth he would manage to heave the bag all the way home.

Julia Ingledew helped him up the step and opened the shop door, which gave another melodious ring.

‘I hope you don’t mind my asking,’ said Charlie, ‘but what’s in the case?’

The answer was rather surprising. ‘I don’t know,’ said Miss Ingledew. ‘And I’m not sure I want to. Dr Tolly exchanged it for his baby. Whatever it is, it can’t be worth as much as a baby, can it?’

‘N-no,’ said Charlie. He put the bag on the ground.

‘Please take it, Charlie. You look just the right person. I’ve got to get it out of the house, you see.’ She lowered her voice and darted a quick look down the street. ‘And can I ask you to keep it a secret, for now?’

‘That’s a bit difficult,’ said Charlie, even more reluctant to take the strange case. ‘Can’t I even tell my best friend?’

‘Tell no one who you wouldn’t trust with your life,’ said Miss Ingledew.

The inventor’s case

Before Charlie could think of anything to say, the bookseller gave him a brief wave and then closed her door. He was alone in the shadowy street with something that had been exchanged for a baby.

Why hadn’t Miss Ingledew opened the case? What could be inside? Charlie began to talk to himself as he struggled over the cobbles and several people glanced at him suspiciously. Perhaps they thought he had stolen the bag. He turned a sharp corner and nearly fell over a big, shaggy dog.

‘Look out!’ cried Charlie, dropping the bag. ‘Runner Bean, it’s you!’

Runner Bean jumped on the bag and licked Charlie’s face.

‘Get off!’ said Charlie. ‘That’s valuable.’

Benjamin came hurrying up to them. ‘Sorry,’ he panted. ‘I couldn’t stop him.’

‘Were you following me?’ asked Charlie, who was quite pleased to see Benjamin.

‘Not really. I was just taking Runner for a walk. I think he must have got your scent.’ Benjamin stared at the impressive black bag. ‘What’s in there?’

‘Your birthday present,’ said Charlie, ‘but you’ll have to help me carry the bag. It weights a ton.’

‘Wow. What? No I mustn’t ask,’ said Benjamin shyly.

Charlie had to confess that there was a mysterious something else in the bag, but after a quick peek, Benjamin said he didn’t mind at all that he was going to get the small cardboard box, instead of the large metal case.

‘It’s a funny place to come for a present,’ Benjamin remarked, with a backward glance at the looming cathedral.

‘I didn’t know I would find one,’ said Charlie. ‘I came here to look for Runner Bean’s photo.’ He told Benjamin about the strange lady bookseller, and the mysterious case the lazy inventor had sent her.

Taking a handle each, the boys began to carry the black bag home. They didn’t notice that they were being followed. If they had looked behind them, they might have seen that a weasly red-haired boy, badly disguised as an old man, was hiding in doorways and then creeping up on them.

Runner Bean growled softly and nudged the bag, trying to hurry the boys. It was very troubling to the dog. There was something behind him, and something in the bag, that wasn’t right.

As Charlie and Benjamin turned into Filbert Street, Runner Bean whirled round and ran towards the stalker, barking furiously. The red-haired boy jumped away from him and fled up the street.

‘What was that all about?’ said Benjamin as the dog came bounding back.

Runner Bean couldn’t explain.

When they reached Benjamin’s house, Charlie asked his friend if he would take the bag inside with him. He didn’t want Maisie or Grandma Bone poking their noses into it.

Benjamin looked dubious. ‘I don’t know. Where will I put it?’

‘Under the bed or something. Please, Benjamin. My grandmas are always in my room, but no one seems to hassle you.’

‘OK,’ he said.

‘Don’t open your present until I come back,’ he told Benjamin. ‘I’d better go home now, or there’ll be trouble.’

Charlie was about to turn away when he heard a hollow knocking from inside the bag. Benjamin looked up, rather scared, but Charlie pretended he hadn’t heard and ran down the steps. He walked into the kitchen where his two grandmothers were arguing fiercely. When Charlie appeared they glared at him.

‘Charlie Bone!’ screamed Maisie. ‘How could you? You awful boy. How did this happen?’ She pointed at the row of dead mice. Charlie had completely forgotten them.

He explained how Mr Onimous and the cats had leapt into the house before he could stop them. ‘And then I had to rush out and exchange the photo,’ he waved the orange envelope. ‘I’m sorry I forgot about the mice.’

‘Yellow cats, red cats?’ said Grandma Bone, with a catch in her voice. Charlie could have sworn that she was afraid.

‘Well, I suppose they did a good job,’ said Maisie, beginning to forgive Charlie. ‘I’d better tidy the little bodies.’

Grandma Bone was not in a forgiving mood. ‘I knew it,’ she muttered angrily. ‘You brought them here, you wretched boy. You’re like a magnet. Bad blood mixed with endowed. It never works. I shan’t rest easy until you’re shut up in Bloor’s.’

‘Shut up? You mean I won’t be coming out?’

‘Weekends,’ snapped Grandma Bone. ‘Unfortunately.’ Out she swept, her black boots rapping on the floor like drumsticks.

‘I didn’t know that I would be shut up,’ cried Charlie.

‘Nor did I, love,’ puffed Maisie, busily disinfecting the floor. ‘What do I know of these fancy schools? Your mother shouldn’t bring home so much fruit and veg. Beats me how the Pest Control knew about it. I never told them.’

‘The cats,’ said Charlie. ‘They knew.’

‘You’ll be telling me next that cats can fly,’ muttered Maisie.

Perhaps those cats can, thought Charlie. Aries, Leo and Sagittarius were not ordinary cats, that was for sure. And Charlie had a suspicion that Grandma Bone knew this. But why was she afraid of them?

He went to his room to make the birthday card. But he found it hard to concentrate. The card went crooked, he left the ‘h’ out of birthday, and then the speech-balloon slipped over Runner Bean’s ear. Charlie flung down the scissors. Ever since he’d discovered he could hear photographs, his world had been turned upside down. If only he’d been able to keep quiet about the voices, he wouldn’t have had to go to a horrible school where he’d be imprisoned for weeks at a time, with a lot of weird children who did peculiar things.

He heard his mother come in and call to Maisie. If only she would take his side and fight the Yewbeams. But she seemed to be afraid of them. Somehow, Charlie would have to fight them himself.

Maisie had cooked vegetable spaghetti for lunch. Charlie wondered about the mice in the larder, but kept his thoughts to himself. His mother had brought him a sapphire blue cape, which she made him try on as soon as the spaghetti was finished. The cape reached almost to Charlie’s knees. It had slits at the sides for his arms and a soft hood hung down the back.

‘I’m not going to wear a cape in the street,’ said Charlie, ‘and that’s final. Everyone’ll laugh at me.’

‘But Charlie, there’ll be other children wearing them,’ said his mother. ‘And some will be in purple or green.’

‘Not in our part of town,’ said Charlie, pulling off the cape. ‘They’ll all be from the Heights.’