CHAPTER 5
The rest of Saturday afternoon was spent on plans for the evening's adventure. James decided that they should wear camouflage, blacken their faces with coal dust and hide in the tree belt of Woodside Field.
However, no-one had any camouflage clothes. "Never mind, something dark will do," said James. "Coal dust is no problem, we've got loads of it in the cellar!"
The real problem was what to tell their mothers, who would be bound to disapprove of the venture. They thought the best idea was for James to say he was going to Rodney's, and Rodney to say he was spending the evening with James.
"You can say you're seeing Rowena," they told Mandy.
Mandy was regretting her rash decision to go along with James's crazy idea. "What if all the Mums talk to each other?" she asked.
"We'll worry about that if it happens," James reassured her.
She felt really worried, but was trapped in her decision. She didn't want to be called "chicken" by the boys.
Rodney went back home. He stayed to tea, then he told his mother he was going back to James's to play computer games.
"Why have you changed your clothes?" asked his mother, as he put on his dark school coat.
"These are more comfortable," he told her.
"You have always been quite happy in what you were wearing!"
"Not now", he said. "I fancied a change."
Puzzled, she watched him go down the lane in the gloom. Yes, he did turn in at James's gate. He was acting strangely these days. It seemed to be something to do with that James.
Rodney carried out stage two of the plan. He knocked on James's door. James's mother opened it.
"I've come for James", he said.
When James came down to meet Rodney, Anita was as surprised at his change of clothing as Rodney's mother had been.
"They were dirty," James replied to her question. "I put them in the basket."
A doubt arose in his mother's mind. James was not usually aware of being dirty. Something was up, what was it? She remembered Mandy putting on a black dress to go and see Rowena. Were they all up to something? She wished Derek had been there that evening.
The rendezvous was the field behind the houses, reached by a narrow path from the lane. Once they were all there, James produced a package from his pocket.
"Coal dust. We'll blacken up - well Rodney needn't, I suppose!"
Rodney used some anyway, just in case, and soon they could hardly see each other in the darkness. Satisfied, they trekked back into the lane, keeping their torches low so as not to be seen, and headed for Woodside Field.
"I hope we don't meet anyone we know while we look like this!" remarked Mandy, pulling her hood over her head.
James pulled his anorak hood further down over his face. Rodney didn't have a hood - his black hair was felt to be camouflage enough.
Fortunately they met no-one, and no cars came along before they reached Elchester Lane. Two or three cars passed them as they waited to cross to the field entrance.
"Did you see those three black children?" a passenger in one of the cars asked her husband. "I haven't seen two of them in Ravenshurst before, but I'm sure one of them was Rodney Omatola from Water Lane."
"P'raps the others've just moved in."
"I must find out tomorrow. They're bound to know in the Post Office!"
Meanwhile, the causes of this conversation crossed the road and settled themselves in the tree belt. Mandy soon decided she didn't like sitting in dark fields in the winter. The frost was coming down hard, glittering in the faint light from the crescent moon glancing through the trees.
"How long do we have to stay here?" she muttered through chattering teeth.
"Till we see something!" her brother told her.
"We could be here all night!"
"You agreed to come!"
"It was your stupid idea!"
"Be quiet, you two!" hissed Rodney. "If there is anyone about, they'll hear you!"
Silence fell. After what seemed hours, James whispered to Rodney.
"I've been thinking. 'Life and light eternal', the Abbot said."
"So?"
"Mandy's 'Secrets' book - there was a bit in that about lights they used to have that never went out."
"And?"
"Just that. Perhaps our Abbot found out how they did it. What a discovery! Think what it could be worth!"
"Yes," joined Mandy. "No more electricity bills!"
"If we found that, we could sell the secret ourselves and be rich!"
"I'd rather find heat right now!" shivered Mandy.
Far away, the Town Hall clock struck nine, wavering over the fields. A light went on in an upstairs window of the farmhouse on the horizon.
"I'm fed up," said Mandy, not bothering to whisper. "Let's go home!"
James was staring into the darkness in the direction of the factory estate. Suddenly he stiffened.
"Shush!" he hissed. "I think I can see something. There!"
They all froze, gazing into the gloom beyond the trees.
At first, no-one could see anything. Then they saw a faint light, as if someone was holding a shielded torch. It moved in their direction - came nearer. They became aware of a shape like a hooded figure behind it.
James got a sudden feeling that Mandy might be about to scream, so he grabbed her and put his hand over her mouth. She struggled furiously. "It's not the ghost!" he whispered in her ear. "Keep quiet and we may see who it is."
It was very difficult to keep still and wait. No-one wanted to breathe. They tried to shrink into the deeper shadow of the trees. The figure seemed to cast around in the dark. It retreated to the edge of the field to their left, and seemed to follow the tree belt on that side - towards them. James kept hold of Mandy as the shadow drew closer.
As it drew nearer, there was a snap as it trod on a twig. "Ghosts don't break sticks!" thought James. "'S not a ghost!" he hissed to his sister. He felt her nod of agreement, so he let go of her. She made no sound, as fascinated as the boys by the thought that soon they would know who was behind the ghost story.
It suddenly dawned on James that if the person (whoever it was) came among their trees, they would be seen, and what if he was dangerous? Oh well, too late now. Wait and see and hope for the best.
However, although the figure came very near, it turned and began to walk towards the right hand side of the field. So it would pass them - what a chance to see who it was! James stared and stared. No light could be seen now, the torch had been turned off, presumably because it was so close to the road.
A faint white oval was now visible, above the shadowy blur of a dark hooded coat or anorak. The moonlight was too faint to make out any details, but there was something familiar about the shape of that face. Another crack of a twig, and they could hear the man (for it was now obviously a man) take a sharp breath in annoyance. Then he passed directly in front of the trees where they were hiding.
They stared hard.
The anorak hood had slipped back a little, or been pushed back. James saw a pale long profile - yes, familiar, no doubt about it.
"Derek!" gasped Mandy under her breath. "Oh no!"
Fortunately a car passed as she said this, so the man did not overhear her. He continued on his way, and vanished into the woods to the right of the field.
When they were sure he was gone, the watchers stretched themselves - they had got very stiff staying still for so long - and slipped out of the field into the road.
James felt elated. He had been proved right! Derek was not all he seemed! He felt he had won his private war, and all he had to do was tell his mother and that would be the end of Derek's interference in his life. He was deep in thought about this as they walked down their own lane, when Mandy said, "I don't think Derek is the ghost, in spite of what we've just seen."
"How can you say that!" exploded James. "You saw him. We all did!"
"Maybe there's an explanation we don't know about."
"Maybe girls shouldn't go on investigations!" countered her brother.
"Stop it!" interrupted Rodney. "You don't know who may overhear yo! Anyway, we are nearly home. We've got to get cleaned up before we go back."
A bottle of water and some tissues had been left in Rodney's tree house, which could be reached through a gate at the end of Rodney's garden which opened onto the field behind the houses. The children slipped down the path between the houses, and waited in the field while Rodney crept into his garden to fetch it. When he came back, he was very agitated.
"What's the matter?" asked James.
"I'll tell you what is! Our kitchen light was on, and the curtains weren't drawn, and your Mum and my Mum are both in my kitchen. So that's the whistle blown on our adventure. We are in the soup!"
