The Locksmith by Jo Ullah

Author:Jo Ullah [Ullah, Jo]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kindle Press
Published: 2018-04-02T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

Ben and Audra’s voices carried through from the porch as Jude refilled the chrome finger-smeared kettle in the kitchen sink.

Ben sounded excited. Jude felt glad for him; being on the farm had done him good, she decided, but she felt tempted to remind him of the enormous fuss he had made about coming to stay at Blackmarsh. He’d argued and argued to be allowed to stay in Bristol with his friends, insisting that Nick had said he could stay at his house as long as he liked. A farm in the country would be so boring, he’d said over and over, and the teenage staple lament, It’s not fair.

It had been hard too to explain why Spider had disappeared. In the end she had relied on vague almost-lies about his having to rush off at the last minute, something to do with an old friend in need, and that he didn’t know how long he’d be. She hated keeping the truth from Ben about Spider’s attack, but she knew that Ben would never trust or forgive his stepfather if he found out about it, and she wanted to keep that door open, for now at least.

When Ben had protested about needing to finish work on the bike engine, she had put her foot down, saying no way was he to do anything on that hulk until Spider was there to help him. And, she had said in a moment of inspiration, he could consider the trip to Dorset a time for convalescing; there would be no temptation to go biking with his friends, and he could give his foot time to mend.

Now Ben had discovered a bonus in Dorset: a new engine to work on, and someone to show him how to drive it.

Ben strode into the kitchen, his limp still evident, but almost bouncing on the balls of his feet.

“I’m going to fix up Spider’s tree house,” he said to Jude and Immy.

“And how are you going to do that?” asked Jude, putting teabags into the three mugs she had lined up on the counter.

“Me and Audra made a list of all the stuff I’ll need,” Ben said as he came over to stand behind Immy’s chair. He took hold of the back of it and tipped it, making Immy throw out her arms and legs with a shout of surprise.

“Hi, little sister,” he said to Immy’s upturned face.

“Ben,” said Jude in a warning tone.

Ben reset the chair, and Immy jumped up and went to sit in the window seat. Ben sat down in her vacated chair.

“What’s for lunch?” he asked.

“Ploughman’s,” said Jude.

“Or some reheated rabbit stew from yesterday,” said Audra as she walked into the kitchen.

Ben swivelled round in his chair to answer her. “Yes, please.”

Jude took the mugs over to the sink to fish out the teabags. She could feel Audra come up behind her and heard the hum of the fridge as the door was opened. Something was taken out and banged on the counter.

“Could you get the milk out, please?” she asked and turned to take it from Audra’s outstretched hand.

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