The Golden Acorn - Catherine Cooper [58]
‘Here he goes,’ the older woman said and nudged the younger one in the ribs.
Camelin shuffled along the window ledge performing a kind of jerky dance. He nodded his head and hunched his wings up and down. After a bit of bobbing he lifted one leg then the other. Eventually he flew back and joined Jack on the roof.
‘Any minute now,’ he said excitedly. ‘But be careful, the chips are usually red hot!’
They didn’t have to wait long before the back door opened. The younger women brought out a polystyrene tray piled high with chips and slid it onto the roof.
‘There you go,’ she said kindly. ‘Brought your lady friend out for lunch have you?’
Camelin strutted around and gave the woman a display of his gratitude by doing a few one legged twirls then promptly tucked in to his reward. Jack was ravenous. He managed to grab a few chips before Camelin could eat them all.
‘Do they always feed you?’ he asked when the tray was empty.
‘Oh yes, and they always call me a crow. Now you know the kind of indignities I have to put up with.’
‘Well at least they don’t think you’re a female!’ laughed Jack. ‘But it was worth it. Those chips were great.’
‘Not a word when we get back,’ warned Camelin. ‘If they think we’ve eaten we won’t be allowed any lunch and it’s a roast today with apple pie for afters.’
‘Not a word,’ Jack promised.
‘Come on, time to go. We’ve got someone to see.’
Camelin took off and Jack followed. He circled around the top of the church tower before landing on a parapet which ran around the bottom of the belfry. Once he’d landed and looked around Jack gasped; the view was amazing. He could see the whole area. Glasruhen Hill loomed high above them. He could see the Forest where he’d met Arrana and Newton Gill further along. Below was Ewell House. It wasn’t hard for Jack to understand why Peabody had climbed the bell tower to spy on him.
‘Won’t they be worried about us. We’ve been gone a long time now?’
‘That’s why I’ve brought us up here, so we’ve got an excuse when we get back. We’re visiting!’
Jack looked around but couldn’t see anyone.
Camelin threw his head back. ‘Timmery,’ he shouted as loudly as he could.
There was a movement from the ceiling of the belfry. A sleepy face peered down at them from the far corner. As soon as Timmery realised who’d called he got really excited and flittered down.
‘Hello, hello, this is an unexpected pleasure. So good of you to drop in.’
‘Just being sociable,’ Camelin said sarcastically. ‘And I’ve got a message for you from Nora.’
Camelin seemed disappointed that the tiny bat wasn’t annoyed. He didn’t seem to mind being woken up in daylight and looked genuinely pleased to have visitors.
‘Does this mean you can fly now Jack Brenin?’ he fussed. ‘You’ll be as good a flyer as Camelin in no time, just you wait and see.’
Camelin coughed loudly and frowned at Timmery.
‘Jack’s going home this afternoon and Nora says you’re to keep a watch over his house tonight. Orin’s going to be with him too… but most importantly, I don’t need you to report anything to me at all unless there’s a really big problem… understand?’
Timmery nodded vigorously until Camelin was satisfied that he’d understood.
‘Well, we mustn’t disturb your sleep. It’s about time we got back.’
‘Oh dear,’ piped Timmery. ‘Aren’t you going to stay a bit longer?’
‘Nope,’ replied Camelin. ‘Just a flying visit.’
‘Oh do come again,’ Timmery fussed. ‘I love visitors, any time, night or day.’
‘Well I only have visitors during the day,’ Camelin grumbled, ‘so there’s no need for you to come calling on me in the middle of the night.’
He took off before Timmery could say anything else.
‘Goodbye,’ said Jack politely. ‘Must fly!’
As Jack flew over the hedge of Ewell House he saw Nora on the patio with her arms folded looking crossly at Camelin. He could hear her telling him off. He landed on the grass and hopped over to them.
‘You were supposed to have stayed in the grounds. What would you have done if you’d had a problem?’
‘I only took