Chapter 2

"Hey, Lynda!" A figure plonked themselves onto Lynda's desk and since there was only one American in the newsroom, Lynda rightly guessed the owner of the voice without looking up from her work.

"Not now, Spike," she said, automatically.

"Okay!" Spike sprung up from the desk and made to leave.

"Where are you going?" Lynda asked in surprise. Spike was never this easy to get rid of.

"You said 'not now'. So I figured you didn't want to hear about the American war veteran who's visiting Norbridge this week and is happy to be interviewed. No problem. I'll tell him we're busy." Spike leaned over Kenny's desk and picked up the phone. Lynda pressed the receiver button down before he could dial.

"Okay, Spike, you win. Tell me about this American. Who is he?"

Spike flopped into Kenny's chair which fortunately was not occupied by Kenny at the time and swung his feet up onto the desk.

"He's an uncle of mine," he replied.

"Not Crazy Eddie, I hope?" asked Lynda, half-jokingly. Spike chuckled.

"No, not Crazy Eddie. Uncle Charles. Actually, he's my great uncle. Dad's father's brother, if you care. He fought in the Battle of Britain – fighter pilot. Pretty cool, huh?"

"I'll say!" replied Lynda, eyes gleaming with the possibilities. "And he's happy to be interviewed?"

"Sure," replied Spike.

"Great! Well done, Spike. Seriously."

Spike basked in the rare light of Lynda's praise. "You can come meet him too, if you want. He won't mind. And he's an interesting guy."

Lynda considered. "Sure, why not."

"Great. I'll get it organised." Spike pushed himself out of Kenny's chair and sauntered over to his desk. Lynda watched him for longer than was strictly necessary before returning to her work.

Kenny, meanwhile, was handing out duty rosters for the upcoming week.

"There you go, Tiddler," he said.

"Thanks, Kenny," she replied. As he turned to pass one over to Kevin, he heard her turn to Kate and whisper "Strawberry!"

"That's it!" Kenny turned back to Tiddler and slapped the rest of the duty rosters down on her desk. This action would have looked aggressive if performed by anyone else, but only Kenny could make it look mildly fed-up. Still, Tiddler raised her eyebrows in surprise, and it caught the attention of people in the immediate area.

"Err, sorry, Tids," Kenny gathered up the duty rosters again, feeling a little embarrassed. "But I keep hearing this 'Strawberry' everywhere I go. Mostly from younger girls. What's it all about?"

"Kenny, it's nothing bad," said Tiddler. "In fact, it's really quite complimentary."

"Really? I can't say being compared to something red and spotty is very complimentary," replied Kenny.

"It's just the latest craze at school," Tiddler explained. "It's comparing boys to milkshakes."

"Milkshakes?" Kenny was extremely confused. He never pretended to understand girls, particularly younger ones, but this was particularly baffling.

"It's just a silly girl thing to describe the boys. A vanilla milkshake means a guy is nice but maybe a bit boring. A chocolate milkshake is a bit naughty and desirable. You get the picture."

"And what's strawberry?" asked Kenny, warily.

"Sweet," smiled Tiddler. "Very sweet."

Kenny mulled over this for a moment.

"What's Frazz?" he asked.

"Chocolate. Definitely."

"And Kevin?"

"Vanilla."

"And I suppose Spike's chocolate too?"

"Oh, no," Tiddler grinned. "Spike's one of those posh exotic milkshakes like a Mars Bar."

"Of course," replied Kenny. Looking up, he nodded in the direction of the CM Enterprises office. "And what about Colin?"

Tiddler exploded into giggles. "Banana!"