Chapter 11. The Work Demons' trap
The last day of semester and the testing day had come. I met Liz, Sunny and Tom in the school yard. Kids around us were sitting on benches or standing, leaning against trees and cramming in a bit of last-minute studying. Liz was explaining something to Sunny, pointing into her textbook. They had the science test. Tom was sitting on the same bench, scratching away in his endless sketchbook.
"Hi," I came up to them. "Ready?" I asked Tom, sitting down next to him and opening my textbook to repeat dates of battles.
"As ever," he grinned in reply.
A few minutes later Nick and Richelle joined us. They both look tired.
"Guys, we were right," Nick burst out. "Yesterday I examined the last piece of frame from all angles and found a cavity in it."
"Nick, did you prepare for the tests?" Liz asked him strictly.
Nick nodded impatiently. He pulled out the piece of frame from his bag and showed us a small cavity in its back side. We were excitingly inspecting it from all sides, when Mary Horsety came up to us.
"Hi," she said. "Are you ready to pass the tests?"
"As if you're caring about the tests," Tom laughed tactlessly. "You're wasting your time, Mary. Andrew will never fall in love with you. Even if you pass the tests for the whole school."
"Drop dead!" Horsety muttered, but didn't take further military actions. Instead, she rubbed her temples in a very dramatic manner. "I've already got a headache because of these tests," she complained.
"Take a pill," Tom advised.
"I don't take pills. Especially headache pills," Horse snapped.
"Why?" Tom asked with sincere astonishment.
"It's bad for my organism.
"I don't mind taking pills," Tom shrugged. "Why suffer from head if you can avoid it."
"I see," Horse snapped through gritted teeth.
"What do you see," Tom enquired, silly smiling.
"Now I see why you don't suffer from your head," Horse explained. "So?" she looked strictly around at us. "I can't see confidence in your eyes. Okay, I understand about Moysten. But you, Nick? Whence this irresponsibility?"
"Oh, come off it, we'll do it," Nick waved her off.
"I hope you will," Mary said threateningly.
Sunny snorted. It wasn't like Horsety to struggle for academic achievement. Mary glanced at her, but didn't say anything.
"We'd better go in," she commanded. "The bell will ring soon."
We went into school. Liz and Sunny hurried off upstairs to the science class. Richelle trudged to the English class. She had a literature test. Bad luck for her. Classical literature and writers aren't her strong side. Though considering her natural charm and luck, she's likely to get the easiest questions or her test accidently will have marks with answers for all questions.
Nick, Tom, Horsety and I pushed our way through the teeming corridor to the history class. Brent Howe, Simon Luper and Zane Quistok were standing near the door.
"There's no need to be in such a hurry," Howe laughed when we came up to them. "Mr Craven is busy. He's having a good time with a cool girl in the classroom."
"What?" Horsety stared at him.
"The representative of department of education," Simon explained. "She's going to help Mr Craven with the tests. She's young and beautiful. Fair body…Pretty face... Cool dress… Mmm..." he dreamily rolled his eyes.
"How can a representative of department of education have got a cool dress?" Horsety growled through gritted teeth. "I have got a cool dress, which was bought in a famous boutique in the city. This representative probably can afford clothes only from the shopping mall."
"Maybe you're right," Luper said with fake humility. "But all the same, Mr Craven seems to have a crush on her. He doesn't give a damn where her dress was bought – in a city boutique or in the shopping mall."
Horsety looked really worried now; rouge immediately went off her cheeks. She looked up at the glass in the door above our heads.
"Lift me, I want to see," she demanded in a hoarse voice.
"I'll raise you, Mary," bony Quistok instantly volunteered to help.
"It will be very stupid of you," Nick giggled.
"That's right," Howe laughed. "You and Mary are in completely different weight categories."
"What do you mean?" Horsety clenched her big fists.
"Nothing. I've only advised Zane not to lift weights," Howe grinned.
"Who is weights here?" Horsety hissed.
"Not Quistok apparently," Brent laughed.
"And not Elmo," Simon added.
Horse looked as though she was about to kill them both, but at that moment she needed them as an elevator, so she stifled her anger and commanded: "Guys, hoist me, please!"
"No problem," Brent shrugged. "There's no difference for me to lift you or a barbell."
"A good shoulder exercise," agreed Simon, who had been visiting the gym together with Brent for many years.
A minute later Horse flew up towards the window in the door on their shoulders.
"Bitch!" I heard her whisper from above. "Her dress definitely isn't from the shopping mall."
"What?" Tom was excitingly jumping around. "Mary! What have you seen there? Tests?"
"Oh yeah," Mary hissed from above. "One bitch is taking a test with Mr Craven there. Whispering something in his ear."
"What? Is she already taking the test?" Tom gaped at her. "Why are we standing here then? Let's go in!"
"This girl is taking another test, I suppose," Brent understood Horsety's words much better than Tom.
"Another test? But it's a history classroom," Tom turned to him.
"Tom, another history is going on in this class," Simon winked at him. "Only Mary, poor naive girl, still can't accept it."
"You… You…" Horse glared down at Brent's and Simon's heads.
"She's still waiting for her prince to come to her on a white horse," Brent didn't feel the threat in her voice.
The next second he paid for this. Mary kicked him in his ear with all her might. Almost straightaway the same fate befell Simon. The boys howled with pain and surprise, and rocked. To prevent themselves from falling, they clutched the door. But right at that moment Mr Craven sharply opened it. Simon and Brent both completely lost their balance and fell. Brent crushed onto Tom and me; Simon fell on Quistok. But the most damaged person was Mr Craven. Horse with an ear-splitting scream "Help me!" landed straight onto him. Though she took this falling as a big luck and wasn't going to let go of Mr Craven.
"Horsety! Stop that!" the teacher tried to disentangle himself from her passionate embrace.
"Oh, Mr Craven!" Horse was exclaiming, clasping her hands around the teacher's neck. "Mr Craven! You've saved my life!"
"Can I ask what is going on here?" suddenly we heard a strict voice from behind.
We all looked back. Mr Frangelli was standing behind us, eyeing us with his hands on his hips. His appearance was so unexpected that Mr Craven froze in Horse's embrace.
"Er…" he mumbled. "The girl fell onto me… From above."
"Fell from above? Through the ceiling?" Mr Frangelli's eyes widened in horror. He raised his eyes at the ceiling, and sighed with visible relief. The ceiling wasn't broken. "Are you saying that she fell down onto you from above?"
"She slipped," Tom put in.
"Slipped on the ceiling?" the principal turned to him.
"No, she slipped on Brent and Simon," Tom explained.
"Brent and Simon were on the ceiling?" Mr Frangelli desperately was trying to understand what had happened.
"No, we were standing on the floor," Brent said indignantly.
Luckily for us the bell rang at that moment. Mr Frangelli, realised that everything was more or less fine, wished us good luck and went further.
"Go in. Quick!" Mr Craven commanded. "And be serious, please. It's an important testing, not a joke."
"Oh, Mr Craven, we're ready to give even our lives for you!" Horse breathed out passionately.
"I don't need your lives," he replied, avoiding Mary's amorous eyes. "I just want you all to pass the tests successfully."
We came into the classroom and sat down at our desks. Mr Craven handed out blanks with questions and cards for answers. Then he introduced us to the representative of department of education. Her name was Adelaide Kohlberg. She was a young, pretty, well-dressed woman. Judging from the way she was looking at Mr Craven, you could easily say that she liked him a lot. Horse also noticed that, of course.
"Nice to meet you," she growled through gritted teeth.
"Horsety!" Mr Craven scowled.
"Oh, never mind, Mr Craven," Miss Kohlberg cooed. "I'm not offended. Kids are tense because of the tests. Plus this difficult age, hormones and all that stuff. And the girl is a bit big…"
"Unlike some sprat-looking," Horse hissed.
"Sit down here, Miss Kohlberg," Mr Craven said loudly, trying to muffle Horse's voice.
"Mary, you're second name should be Othella," Tom shouted gleefully.
The rest of the class burst out laughing. Even Mr Craven bent down his head, trying to stifle a smile.
"Othella is in a rage!" Simon Luper grinned. "Someone is going to be strangled."
"Othella" really looked as though she was about to strangle them. Her eyes darted from Tom, who was sitting in the right part of the class, to Simon, who was in the left part. She jumped to her feet, intending to punch at least one of them, but Mr Craven quickly interfered.
"That's enough," he banged his fist on the table. "Have you forgotten where you are? Horsety, sit down. Right now!"
Horse reluctantly lowered down on her seat and grabbed her list of questions, from time to time casting disdainful glances at Miss Kohlberg. The rest of the class also went quiet and deepened into tests.
###
Testing lasted all that day long. The school, as Tom put it, "was buzzing like a beehive". We hardly had time to say a couple of words to each other, let alone discuss the frame and hiding place.
At the very last this day finished and we were allowed to leave the school for two weeks. Squeezed like a lemon, we trudged along the school yard. But as soon as we walked through the gates, our mood changed. Now we felt free and happy.
"I suggest taking some food and going to the harbour," Liz said.
It was a good idea. We went into the nearest café, bought some food and drinks to go and set off for the bay. There we settled down on the sand and started eating, looking out at the sea. At this time of day the sea was very beautiful. Only cold breeze was spoiling our relaxed mood.
Tom took out his sketchbook from his bag and began drawing without ceasing to chew his hamburger.
"I wonder where the Work Demons might be," Liz said, looking around. "They aren't swimming anymore."
"Probably they froze," I uttered lazily, watching outlines of the landscape appearing in Tom's sketchbook and shivering as the cold wind blew into my face.
"Or they gave up," Richelle added, inspecting her fingernails.
"I think they found an old shoe at the bottom and now are examining it, looking for a connection with the stolen picture," Nick jeered.
"No, you're mistaken," Tom objected. "The Work Demons are working out a new stage of underwater expedition."
But as it turned out we all were wrong. The Work Demons were busy with totally different things. We found it out when we came home that evening. Somehow the Work Demons found out that we had visited Mr Adaskey in the hospital and decided to do the same. Unluckily for us, their visit coincided with our second visit. They saw us running away, then they enquired the nurse from the reception desk and spoke with the doctor. After that they went to the police station and reported that we were a gang of young hooligans, who got into the hospital, using fake names; turned everything upside down in Mr Adaskey's room and then returned again, getting in through the window in order to steal something. We frightened Mr Adaskey and attacked the doctor when he tried to catch us.
The police couldn't ignore this report. They visited our parents. When I came home, my dad met me, looking very serious. He made me sit down at the table and told me what the police had said about us. I had to explain. My father usually understands me very well and this time wasn't an exception. I told him what really happened and we both laughed at this absurd situation.
Sunny's mother didn't take seriously this story either. Liz's and Richelle's parents listened to their daughters' explanations and phoned to the hospital to apologize.
But Tom didn't get away with it so easily. Brian was in a rage. He accused Tom of being an irresponsible troublemaker, who sullied his good name and his reputation of a teacher. He forbade Tom to hang out with us until he cleaned his room and pulled all weeds in their garden as a punishment.
Also, this time the Work Demons managed to cause serious troubles for Nick. The Kontellis family is a respectable, well-known family in Raven Hill and his parents demand appropriate behaviour from Nick. That night their friends Mr and Mrs Terzis, and Mr Hampson came to Nick's parents. The police's visit coincided with this little party. By the time Nick returned home, the police had already gone, but their visit had extremely dramatic consequences. As Nick told us later, it was an uneven contest, because as soon as he opened the door and stepped inside, his furious dad, mum, Mr and Mrs Terzis immediately rushed at him with questions. Mr Hampson was putting in advices in an exhortative voice.
At first they interrogated Nick why we went to see the poor man in the hospital two times. Nick replied that the first time we, like any polite people, decided to visit and cheer up Mr Adaskey, who was completely alone in the hospital.
"By the way," Nick told his parents, "Mr Palmer senior also visited him that day. It's not our fault that the guy was beside himself. You should blame those, who tried to drown him."
"Who tried to drown him?" Mrs Terzis asked.
"No one knows it," Nick spread his arms.
"But why did you go there again," Nick's mother exclaimed. "Why did you get into the room through the window like thieves?"
"We didn't get inside through the window!" Nick resented. "Someone else did. We only came up to the window, when we heard Mr Adaskey scream and then this guy in the balaclava leaped out. Tom climbed into the window to see what had happened there and was caught by the doctor. He decided that it was we who frightened Mr Adaskey. Tom got free and we ran away. Of course! What else could we do? We were scared!"
"Who was that Egyptian-Mexican boy with you?" Nick's father demanded. "Where did you find him?"
"There were no Egyptian-Mexican boys with us!" Nick exclaimed. "It was Tom. The receptionist only thought that Tom was an Egyptian. That's all!"
The interrogation lasted till late in the evening. Nick also ended up being punished, but not like Tom. Unlike Brian, Nick's parents knew that weeding or cleaning wouldn't help in this situation. They called other parents and arranged a sort of meeting. Nick's father said that household chores wouldn't distract us from investigating this case. In his opinion we all the same would find a way to continue this investigation. My father and Sunny's mother objected that there was nothing wrong if we found the picture and got the reward, after all we had a great experience in it. But Mrs Free, Mr Brinkley and Tom's mother agreed with Mr Kontellis. They considered this case was too dangerous and thought that we'd better stay away from it. In the end they worked out an extensive cultural program for the rest of the holidays, which included visiting museums, theatres and exhibitions, reading books with further discussion and watching classical films with family. In their opinion it would keep us busy and we wouldn't have time to think about the stolen picture. Mr Brinkley volunteered to lead the first cultural event of this cultural program.
"We'll go to the city tomorrow," he said. "I heard a new exhibition of private collections is holding at the Fine Art museum. I think it will be useful for the kids to visit it."
Other parents supported him. Even my father and Mrs Chan agreed that it was better than running after criminals, asking for troubles.