Sandraker (Sam Applewhite Book 3) by Heide Goody & Iain Grant

Author:Heide Goody & Iain Grant [Goody, Heide]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Pigeon Park Press
Published: 2021-07-14T00:00:00+00:00

44

Ragnar heard raised voices and went to investigate. He found Freyella and her uncle, Ogendus poring over a laptop screen and shouting at each other.

“I didn’t set you up on Instagram so that you could undermine our entire campaign!” Freyella said with a shake of her head.

“Tha should have some respect, lass! Who’s in charge around here, eh?”

Freyella ignored the question and pressed more buttons. “You’ve posted regularly, which maintains engagement. That part is good.”

Ragnar recognised the sound of a ‘but’ travelling towards the conversation, like an approaching storm cloud. He decided he wanted to know what was going on.

“What’s all t’shouting?” he asked.

Ogendus turned to him. “Young Freyella is taking exception to me helping with social media. Seems to think she’s queen of t’internet or summat.”

“That’s not it,” Freyella said. “Helping with social media would mean sticking to the narrative, but your posts are off-brand.”

“Off-brand?”

“Let’s take a look, shall we?”

She brought up a picture that showed Ogendus sitting astride a motorbike wearing a horned helmet.

“Nice picture of you, that,” said Ragnar.

“See!” said Ogendus triumphantly. “Yer grandad thinks it’s a good ’un!”

“It’s not the picture that’s a problem,” said Freyella. “It’s the caption.”

Ragnar leaned in. “‘If it was a turban, it would be fine’,” he read. “That one?”

“Yes, that one.”

“Now lass,” said Ragnar. “I can help out here. Runesplicer hisself said those very words, dint he? Why shouldn’t Ogendus say so on yer blummin’ social media?”

Freyella pulled a face that Ragnar wasn’t sure was respectful. Did the lass just roll her eyes at him? “Runesplicer mentioned Sikhs and their turbans as an example of indirect discrimination,” said Freyella.

“Indirect—?” How a little girl knew such words was beyond him.

“In other words, making it compulsory to wear a crash helmet would discriminate indirectly against Sikhs, because it’s an important part of their faith to always be seen in a turban.”

“Aye, that’s what it says,” said Ogendus, waving his arm at the screen, confused.

“No! It doesn’t,” said Freyella. “It sounds like you’re having a pop at Sikhs because they’re allowed and you’re not. The tone is sulky at best, but most people would read it as racist.”

“Oh. Well, I can mebbe change the words around a bit,” said Ogendus.

“It’s not the only problem, dad. You’ve mentioned robbing, creating cut ’n’ shut cars and loads of other things that will turn public sympathy away from our cause.”

Ogendus pouted. “But look! I’ve got all these followers!”

Freyella gave him a frank look. “That’s because everyone loves to watch a car crash on social media.”

There was the splash of tyres in puddles over by the compound entrance. Ragnar looked up to see Sam Applewhite’s little van.

“What’s she want now?” he muttered.

He started to walk over, but Freyella grabbed the tails of his leather jerkin.

“This is an opportunity to demonstrate some of those ‘respected Viking qualities’ Runesplicer talked about.”

“Why? Is he still filming us?”

The girl huffed. “We need to be the kind of Vikings that deserve to get their ship back. Uncle Ogendus, you could even do a bit of video, and we’ll see what’s worth putting on social media later.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.