Lauren Child - Feel the Fear

‘So who on earth should we invite at this short notice?’ said Sabina.

‘Ask Elaine Lemon,’ said Brant.

‘Good idea,’ said Mrs Digby. ‘She’d scare the pants off any ghoul going.’

At which point the telephone rang.

Ruby left the table and answered the phone. ‘Hello Clance,’ she said. He often phoned during supper: he couldn’t seem to get the hang of the fact that not everyone ate at the exact same time as his family.

‘Hey, how’d you know it was me?’ said Clancy.

‘Because I’m midway through dinner and you often call when I’m midway through dinner,’ replied Ruby. ‘It’s a probability thing. The likelihood is it will be you – you or Mrs Lemon.’

‘Is that so?’

‘Yes.’

‘Do you want me to hang up?’

‘Not now you’ve already interfered with my whole digestive process.’

‘Oh, OK.’

‘So why did you call?’

‘I wondered if you had got my message?’

‘What message?’

‘The one I left in the tree.’

‘What did it say?’

‘Call me immediately.’

‘So obviously not.’

‘That’s what I thought.’

‘So why did you want me to call?’

‘To see if you might wanna meet up, no big deal or anything.’

‘Why didn’t you leave a message on my answer machine?’

‘I’m not sure.’ Pause. ‘Force of habit?’

‘Ruby honey,’ called her mother, ‘could you maybe replace the receiver and come back to the table. It’s such a shame when the family dinner is interrupted by the telephone. And it plays crazy potatoes with one’s digestion.’

‘You hear that Clance, now you’ve upset my mom’s digestive process too.’

‘Extend my apologies,’ said Clancy.

‘You can extend them yourself if you wanna come over?’

‘Nah, I feel like sitting up a tree.’

‘Look, how about I see you in twenty minutes on Amster Green. I need to get out, stretch my legs and get some decent conversation.’

‘I thought your folks wouldn’t let you out on your own?’ said Clancy.

‘I’ll bring Bug,’ said Ruby. ‘You know what they say, you’re never alone with a husky at your side.’

‘Who says that ?’ muttered Clancy as he hung up the phone.

Ruby sat down at the table.

‘What’s that on your face?’ asked her mother. She was peering at her now, fork in hand, studying her daughter’s face. ‘Is it a bruise?’

‘Probably dirt,’ said Ruby. ‘I might go take a shower.’

But Sabina reached out her hand and began rubbing at Ruby’s cheek.

‘Ow,’ cried Ruby.

‘That’s not dirt,’ confirmed Sabina. ‘You’re probably anaemic, people bruise easily when they’re anaemic – and they become anaemic when their body is under stress.’

‘OK, OK, I promise I’ll stop being anaemic if you lay off rubbing my face,’ said Ruby.

‘A good healthy diet is what you need young lady. Plenty of. . . what’s it called, Brant.’

‘Iron,’ said Ruby.

‘I’ll order some in,’ said Sabina dropping her napkin and leaving the table. ‘Tomorrow is the Scarlet Pagoda costume benefit and I don’t want you looking like one of the exhibits.’

RUBY WAS RIGHT – her parents did agree to let her take a stroll with Bug at her side. It was of course ‘down to that dog’ that Ruby was alive at all.

If he hadn’t come running back to alert the fire crew to her plight then she wouldn’t be lying here today with a broken arm, injured foot and badly singed hair. Sabina had told all her friends the story of their hero dog. This account of Ruby’s rescue was true, of course, minus a few key details.

Ruby and her ever-loyal husky set off down Cedarwood Drive and at the corner turned right and joined Amster Street. On her way to the green, Ruby dropped by Marty’s minimart to pick up some bubblegum. Ordinarily she would carry a pack with her, but she had been unusually careless and her dad had found her stash of Hubble-Yum under the couch while she was in hospital getting her arm fixed up and had disposed of it. Her father was waging a one-man war against bubblegum.

Ruby came out of the minimart and noticed some kid with a styled-unstyled look – he was standing there with two other boys but he sort of looked like he might be waiting for someone. When she passed him he half turned around like he might say something to her, but he didn’t. Instead he jumped on his skateboard and grabbed the bumper of a passing truck and was carried off into the traffic.

It was kind of impressive – dangerous, sure – but practical in a cool sort of way. Skitching was something she needed to try.

When Ruby reached the green she looked up at the old oak and searched for some sign of Clancy. She could see the bike that had once been hers and was now his, but he was not visible. She whistled – two short, one long – and immediately the whistle came back, one long two short. He was already up high in the tree’s branches.

Bug lay down on the grass – he knew the deal – and he waited patiently while Ruby set about climbing. It took longer than usual, what with her arm trouble, but she was a good climber so she made it OK.

Ruby and Clancy Crew sat side by side on the old oak’s highest sitting branch. From here they looked down on Amster Green and its surrounding shops. The leaves were so plentiful that no one could see them from the sidewalk. The two of them used the tree not only for hanging out in, but also as a good place to hide coded messages for one another. Even if someone was smart enough to find the origami notes in the knots of the tree’s bark, they certainly wouldn’t be smart enough to decipher the ciphers.

The sun was still hot considering the time of day, so the foliage provided welcome shade. Though school summer vacation was nearly over, there was no sign of summer’s end or of fall’s beginning anywhere on the horizon – not a frost-curled leaf or a gusty breeze. Certainly no one yet believed that it was ever going to be any different, any cooler. It seemed no Twinforder could remember back to when the weather had been anything less than 30 degrees. It had been a remarkable summer. The best of it had meant beach time and barbecues and long social evenings, swimming in garden pools and hanging out late into the night, but no one could deny that this had come at a cost – the heat-wave had exhausted the city and left forests ravaged by fire. The fire services had been on red alert and crime had been a little higher too, something to do with the temperature boiling people’s minds, or so the psychologists said.

‘My mom doesn’t think the weather’s ever gonna break,’ said Clancy.

‘Yeah, well, your mom’s wrong,’ said Ruby.

‘Well, duh, of course I know that. I’m just making the point that it’s hard to imagine, it just seems so normal, being hot all the time, never having to remember a sweater, for instance.’

‘Yeah,’ said Ruby, ‘but any day now it’s gonna break and when it does, you’ll be needing more than a sweater.’ She itched her broken arm by sliding the yellow pencil under the cast and moving it from side to side.

‘I can’t wait that long,’ said Clancy.

‘Chew on some ice or something,’ suggested Ruby. ‘Oh boy, will I ever be glad to get this cast removed.’

‘When are they hacking it off?’ asked Clancy, who was hoping to be there when the nurse cut through the plaster with the electric saw thing.

‘Tomorrow,’ said Ruby. ‘They warned me when I had it put on that my arm might be all withered and hairy and not the same as the other one.’