The Search for the Red Dragon - James A. Owen [11]
“Wait!” John shouted after him. “We only want to speak with you!”
“It’s no use,” said Charles. “We’ve frightened him off.”
Laura Glue planted both her feet and flung out her arms. “Jamie!” she shouted. “Jamie, please don’t go!”
And abruptly, the man stopped in his tracks.
Slowly he turned around and looked at them. Then, just as slowly, he walked back toward the four companions, his cane tapping gently on the cobblestones and the dog trailing obediently behind.
Several feet away, he stopped and considered them one by one, before finally looking down at Laura Glue.
“It’s been a very, very long time since anyone has called me Jamie,” he said slowly, “and it’s not something I allow many people to do. So you must tell me, if you can, who you are and why you call me by that name.”
The little girl’s eyes began to well up. “Don’t you remember me? The last time we met, you gave me a kiss.” She showed him the thimble, and he knelt down in front of her.
“My dear, I am an old man, and in all my years, many, many children have seen that play, and they know that a thimble is a kiss, and a kiss a thimble. And please forgive my aged memory, but I can’t have been the one who gave this to you, because I haven’t done that sort of thing since long before you were born.”
“But, but,” she stammered, confused, “you must be Jamie. Otherwise it wouldn’t have worked.”
“What wouldn’t have worked, my dear?”
“This,” said Laura Glue, pulling the Compass Rose out of her tunic. In the presence of four Caretakers, it shone as brightly as a beacon.
The expression on Jamie’s face changed rapidly from surprise, to disbelief, to, strangely, gratitude. “Put that away,” he said gently. “And let me see your kiss again.”
Laura Glue tucked the parchment flower back in a pocket and handed him the thimble.
“Hurm,” he rumbled as he examined the kiss, “I see it now. I’m sorry I didn’t recognize it before. I wasn’t expecting anyone like you in Kensington Gardens. Not again, anyway.”
He put his arm around the girl and drew her close. “Do you know, this kiss is one of the only items ever removed from the treasure trove of the great dragon Samaranth?”
“For really and truly?” said Laura Glue.
“Yes,” Barrie replied, winking at John as he spoke. “It was acquired in an adventure of great peril, and my best friend and I barely escaped with our lives.”
“Whatever else has gone on,” John whispered to Charles, “it’s obvious why he was chosen as a Caretaker.”
“Yes,” said Charles, nodding.
Laura Glue clapped her hands. “I know that story! I know it! That was before you got old again, and became his enemy.”
A pained expression flashed over Jamie’s face before he smiled and kissed Laura Glue on the forehead. “It was the best of my failures, my dear girl. Now, who’s for some Leprechaun crackers in front of a fire? The sun has set, and it’s obvious the fairies are going to be about in Kensington Gardens tonight.”
“…someone is always listening…and someone always comes.”
CHAPTER THREE
The Lost Boys
True to his word, back at Jamie’s home he had an ample supply of Leprechaun crackers, as well as an assortment of other biscuits, teas, jams, jellies, and chocolate.
“I find it useful to be prepared,” Jamie said as he settled into an overstuffed chair with a cup of tea, “for even the most unexpected of visitors. Particularly the youthful ones.”
“Thif if wuderful,” mumbled Laura Glue through a mouthful of crackers and chocolate. “Fank hu.”
“You’re quite welcome, my dear,” he said as he placed a saucer of cream and crackers on the floor for the great Saint Bernard, who was lounging comfortably before the fire.
“Aramis likes treats as well, but that’s more often than not just an excuse to indulge in a nibble myself. And now,” Jamie continued, turning to the three men, “can you tell me what’s brought three gentlemen and a child of the Archipelago to Kensington Gardens, just to have tea with an old playwright?”
When they had finished eating to everyone’s satisfaction, Laura Glue repeated the message she had been