Chapter 5. Tom's idea
After classes we met at the school gates. Constantly hungry Tom immediately announced: "I'm hungry!"
"You're always hungry," Nick snapped. "Why didn't you eat in the canteen?"
"I did," Tom replied. "But now I'm hungry again."
I turned my back on them, smiling secretly. Tom's organism demanded almost twenty-four-hour feeding. We went through the school gates and slowly walked down Craigend Road. On the way Tom dropped into a shop and in a few minutes went out, holding a packet of chips and two apples in his hands. He shoved one apple into his pocket and immediately sank his teeth into the other.
"Yuck! It's dirty!" Richelle shivered.
"Come off it," Tom waved her off, wiping the apple with his sleeve. "See? It's clean now. Besides, the shop assistant said that these apples were pollutant-free."
"Pollutant-free and just dirty are completely different things," I pointed out sententiously. I wanted to tell him about microbes, which could be on unwashed fruits, but Liz quickly interfered.
"We should decide what we are going to do," she said, sternly looking at me and making me shut up.
"Well, I've got one thought," Tom mumbled with his mouth full.
"Oh, we're lucky that you still have got at least one thought," Nick reacted instantly. "After such adventures with Mr Shakespeare someone else wouldn't be able to think at all."
"Get off my back with your Shakespeare, Kontellis," Tom pouted.
"He's rather yours than mine," Nick retorted.
"Shakespeare belongs to the whole humanity," I muttered.
"Right, Elmo," Sunny giggled. "You think globally."
"Will you listen to me or not?" Tom threw the apple core into a garbage bin and pulled the second apple out of his pocket.
"Guys, let's listen to him," Nick said with fake respect. "Otherwise this one and only thought will go away from Tom. What will we do then!?"
"Speak, Tom!" Liz demanded. "We're listening to you."
"That guy, who nearly drowned yesterday," Tom said importantly. "We thought that he might be connected with the thieves, didn't we? So why don't we visit him in the hospital?"
"We'll visit him," I nodded. "But to tell the truth I don't know what we'll get from this visit."
"I can tell you what we'll get, Elmo. Black eyes," Nick lifted one eyebrow. "The "nearly drowned man" is likely to punch us in the face. That's all what we'll get."
"If we ask him probing questions, he might remember what happened to him that night," Liz objected. "I heard a lot of such stories."
"I think Tom's right," said Sunny. "The only thing we can do now is to visit this man. First of all, his memory might have come back already. And second of all, it's just polite."
"Let's not be in a hurry," Richelle frowned sulkily. "I agree with Nick. Before visiting him we should find out how this man feels and whether he's as aggressive as he was yesterday."
"That's easy, Richelle," Tom grinned. "You'll come over to him and we'll see whether he'll punch you or not."
"How funny," Richelle pouted.
"It's very, very bad, young man," Nick drawled in a mournful voice, winking at Richelle. "When you're dyi-ing, you'll remember how you lau-ughed at your frie-ends. And you'll be ve-ery very so-orry for that, but it will be too-oo late."
Richelle and I burst out laughing. The others stared at us in bewilderment.
"What?" Sunny said suspiciously.
"It's Howshedied," grinned Nick. "Mrs France's sister."
"Howshedied?" Liz re-asked. "Who is it? Is she from Arabia?"
"From Timbuktu!" Nick barked, probably getting sick of explaining about Miss Howshedied. "She dances African folk funeral dances all days long!"
"Really?" Tom gaped at him.
"Almost," I grinned and told them about Matilda Geraldine.
"You mean that her second name's Geraldine?" Tom exclaimed.
"Tangerine is her second name!" Richelle giggled.
"Hey, it sounds not bad," Sunny laughed. "Matilda Tangerine Howshedied. Arabian citizen."
"What's her real surname, by the way?" I looked at Nick and Richelle.
"Oh, her surname isn't better," Nick drawled. "Zeitunyan-Belous."
"Wow," Tom breathed out in fascination. "It's even funnier than our Drisk-Haskell!"
"Of course it's funnier," Nick nodded. "Drisk-Haskell got her surname from her husband. But Howshedied's been living with this surname since her birth."
Speaking, we reached the coast and trudged along the tide line.
"Listen, guys, I wonder" Tom said in a grim, lugubrious voice, "our only witness ha-asn't died yet?"
"Oh, remember how he was drowning!?" Nick drawled.
"He was choking, but they kept holding his head under the water!" Tom added with an evil grin.
"Not bad," Sunny giggled.
"I know!" Tom laughed.
"Oh, by the way, did you see the Work Demons today?" all of a sudden Liz asked. "I wonder what they are doing."
"I bet Henshaw hit Nutter on the head because he hadn't found the picture yet," Nick drawled in a tragic voice. "Now the rest of them are hiding, while Nutter is lying in his bed and dy-ying!"
We burst out laughing, screaming and clutching at each other. Bending double with laughter, Tom tripped over a stone and nearly fell flat on his face.
"If someone mentions about Matilda Tangerine Howshedied, I will die!" Sunny groaned.
"Guys! Be serious!" Richelle moaned, trying to stop herself from laughing. "If you still want to find the picture before the Work Demons, of course."
"Oh, and there they are!" Liz exclaimed, pointing at the bay.
We looked in the direction she was pointing. All six of them were swimming in the cold water, diving from time to time.
"They really seem to think that the picture is there at the bottom," Sunny snorted.
"Yeah. It will be funny if they find it there," I said.
"It's so cold," Liz shivered. "They shouldn't swim in so cold water. They easily can catch pneumonia or something even worse."
"Guys, look! Henshaw is in a diving suit," Richelle giggled.
"The way things are going, he will find a scuba by tomorrow," Tom muttered.
"If he finds a scuba," snorted Nick, "he'll dwell down there in the ocean."
"Okay, listen," I said quietly. "The Demons won't be looking for the painting in the ocean forever. Even they aren't so stupid. Probably they will be disappointed in their idea already today and will think of something new. So. It means that we should use the time when they're diving as usefully as possible."
"I'm telling you, let's visit the nearly-drowned guy," Tom repeated.
"He's right," Sunny agreed. "Maybe he'll clarify something. And I think that we should check the coast again after that. It'll be low tide. Who knows, maybe we'll find the fourth fragment of the picture frame."
"But we can't visit Mr Adaskey empty-handed," Liz said doubtfully. "Let's buy a bunch of flowers."
"What for!?" Tom snorted in disgust.
"What "what for"? Liz turned to him.
"Why spend money for such rubbish," Tom waved his hand. "I suggest buying a chocolate bar or something tasty."
"Typical of Tom," Nick snorted.
"Typical or not, I agree with him," I supported Tom. "I think this guy will be more pleased to get something tasty than flowers."