The Reluctant Time Traveller by Janis Mackay

Author:Janis Mackay [Janis Mackay]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781782501459
Publisher: Floris Books
Published: 2014-11-22T16:00:00+00:00

21

Later that morning, Mrs Buchan, back from the market, rang a bell. We rushed down and had to line up by the back door. The housekeeper eyed us sternly. Especially me. “Elsie, get the needle and thread out and put a few stitches in that old suit of your brother’s. We can’t have Blackie looking a disgrace.”

I could feel my cheeks turning beetroot under the grime and soot. She was right. I was a mess. My jeans were black. My good T-shirt was all torn and stained.

“Yes, Mrs Buchan,” Elsie chanted.

“We all need to smarten up around here. For apparently,” she said, with a sigh, “this place is a hotel now. I told you about the foreign guest. Well, I’m told, he will be arriving in a few days – and has requested peace and quiet.” She seemed pretty tight-lipped and disapproving about it all. “There’s to be no sleeping on the job.” She eyed Frank. “And no coughing and spluttering in public.” She turned her beady eye on Elsie. “On no account must you disturb the guest. And remember, be neither seen nor heard. Now,” she clapped her hands, “off to work.” Then she marched off, leaving us to hurry back to the kitchen.

“It’s happened,” said Elsie, lowering herself onto the bench. “Gaunt was always going on and on about making this place a hotel. We thought it wis a joke, didn’t we, Frank? We thought he was pie-in-the-sky about guests. But, oh Lord above, one’s coming.” She looked ready to burst into tears and had a coughing fit instead. “That’ll be the last straw for Mrs Buchan. She’ll leave, and we’ll have to do even more work.”

Frank patted her on the back and gave her a hug. Poor Elsie. She was probably suffering from malnutrition. Her legs were like pins. You could see the bones in her face. Maybe she was older than ten? Suddenly I remembered that leaflet I had seen about magnificent views and peace and quiet. “Tweedside Hotel,” I mumbled.

“Whit you on about?” Frank stared at me. So did Elsie.

“This place,” I said. “I saw a leaflet. Gaunt is calling this house ‘Tweedside Hotel’.”

Frank snorted at that and Elsie frowned. “Whit’s a – a leaflet?” she asked.

I was getting ready to explain about leaflets and brochures and stuff when Mrs Buchan came bustling into the kitchen. She had Frank’s old suit in her arms and set it down on the table in front of Elsie. “Patch up the elbows,” she ordered then turned and glared at me. “We’ll need you decent for when the guest arrives. Meanwhile, Blackie, set fires in the rooms on the second floor. That’s where the important guest is to be put up.”

So, after throwing more coals onto the master’s fire, I went upstairs. There was bustle up and down the second-floor hallway with Mrs Buchan busy changing the bed and airing out rooms. She barked at me to start clearing the fireplace and sweep the floor in the room at the far end.

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