The Salt-Stained Book by Julia Jones

Author:Julia Jones [Jones, Julia]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Tags: Action & Adventure, Childrens, Fiction, Social Issues
ISBN: 9781899262045
Google: gR7CT0T-wvcC
Amazon: B005SJ0TWC
Publisher: Golden Duck UK Ltd
Published: 2011-06-14T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Low Water

Wednesday, September 20th

Donny didn’t see Anna in school at all that day and failed to meet up again with Maggi or Xanthe. At lunchtime he checked the Port of Felixstowe website. No less than four of the twelve container ships scheduled to arrive on Monday 25th could have called at Shanghai. Or so it seemed. He didn’t have Anna’s confidence in cross-checking his searches. Maybe other routes linked in?

This wasn’t good. Great Aunt Ellen – or Gold Dragon as he now preferred to think of her – could arrive at almost any time of that day or night. He didn’t know how soon she’d be able to leave the ship. Would she wait for a crane to lift off Strong Winds? And would that take hours or days?

He found a list of the ships’ departure dates. Some were going to stay in Felixstowe for the best part of a week, others only twenty-four hours or less. Maybe he should compile some sort of table?

Stop there.

Maybe this wasn’t his problem. The point of her message was to ask them to be waiting for her on that Monday – presumably at Shotley which was where she’d said in the first place. There was a foot ferry from Felixstowe that ran three times a day via Harwich to Shotley, connecting the two sides of the harbour. She could come across on that. In her own time.

“Keep sharp lookout.”

That was his problem. Because now there was only him, not Skye, he was going to have to bunk off school again. Maybe for the whole twenty-four hours. Nobody was going to give him permission to spend the day in Shotley because nobody, except his friends – and possibly his enemies – believed Gold Dragon was going to come. He should have wrestled Flint for that scrap of paper.

The vision made him laugh.

Seriously, what was he going to do? It wasn’t only that he needed Great Aunt Ellen: she might need him. If Flint really believed that she was involved in some smuggling operation or Chinese Triad or something, he’d be the person waiting. Probably in his bloated Range Rover or foul shark-boat. Gold Dragon was old. Being bullied by the fat policeman might make her have a stroke or something – like Granny had.

“Keep sharp lookout.”

He must get there first and warn her.

None of the Allies were around after school and there was only Vicky and Gerald in the vicarage. Gerald was in the living room trying to do paper work while Vicky was pulling herself up around the furniture. There was an atmosphere of suppressed irritation.

Donny played with Vicky for a while. He let her grab his fingers with her strong little hands and encouraged her to lean on him and take toddly steps. It was quite fun but Gerald kept sighing at the noise. Donny needed to get out.

“Could I maybe take her for a walk? In a pushchair or something?”

He wasn’t sure he could manage Gerald’s hearty backpack but he’d seen plenty of people pushing kids around in buggies.

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