Chapter 7

Despite my continuing worry, the expected grilling from Elize never seemed to materialise. In fact it was nearly a month until the next incident of note.

Elize had gone shopping with my parents, so I was taking the opportunity to do some more GCSE revision. Doing badly on the mock exams had shaken me: if I did as badly in the actual exams, it would severely restrict my future options. Since being found revising would be embarrassing and harm my image, I tried to do as much as I could covertly.

Being a slacker came naturally to me but it wouldn’t pay the bills, and I didn’t fancy trying to use the artefact to earn a living from little old ladies by finding their missing cats. I’d read about professional dowsers who could locate oil or water deep under ground, but for the artefact to work there was a requirement to be able to uniquely identify the object I was seeking. I suspected I wouldn’t be able to uniquely identify oil or water. Sunken treasure ships perhaps; now there was a thought.

The doorbell rang. I hadn’t expected anyone. When I answered the door, the person standing there was a complete surprise.

“Hi Shona,” I said. Shona wouldn’t normally give me the time of day and, given her views about my involvement with finding Justine’s missing coursework project, she probably despised me. But she was one of Elize’s friends so I had to be polite to her. “I’m here all alone. Elize has gone shopping with the parents and she won’t be back for a while. Would you like to leave a message for her?”

“Actually, Elize tipped me off that you’d be here on your own. It’s you I want to talk to.”

Was I allowed to invite one of Elize’s friends inside when I was alone? Elize must have thought so. “You’d better come in then.”

I directed Shona into the lounge. “Would you like something to drink? Tea? Coffee?”

“Coffee please.”

I made coffee to Shona’s prescription and thermohydrated a tea bag for myself.

“So, what do you want to talk to me about?” I asked, once we were both seated in the lounge with drinks in our hands. I was probably poking the tiger, but if Shona was here to berate me, better to get it over with as quickly as possible.

“I’m not sure whether you’re a world-class scam artist or whether you have a secret superpower,” admitted Shona. “Elize says she doesn’t know and Justine flatly refuses to discuss the issue.”

So Justine was keeping quiet. I now felt even lousier about not coming clean with her.

“Anyway,” continued Shona, “I need some help and, if you do have a secret superpower, you might be able to help me.”

I sat there silently while I pondered the ramifications.

“Tell me what you’d want in return,” said Shona. “Did you collect on that kiss from Justine? Whatever she did, I’d do the same.”

“No!” I insisted. “That was a stupid joke and I’ve regretted it from the moment I said it.”

“Oh.”

More silence.

“Well, I don’t know whether I can help or not unless you tell me the problem,” I said, “so you might as well tell me. After all, what’s the worst that can happen?”

Shona visibly relaxed, and I realised she’d been at least as worried about this encounter as I had. She even smiled a little. Like all of Elize’s nerd friends Shona was very good-looking, but it was greatly enhanced when she smiled.

“Okay,” said Shona, taking a deep breath. “My paternal grandparents came over on the Windrush. They were devout, faithful, married-for-life Christians. On the other hand, my dad’s a rebel. He’s never been married but he has kids with three different women, all white. He’s mostly an absentee father, but Grandma made a point of keeping in touch with all the mothers and their children. Over the years she’s been a big help to my mum, and she taught me about her family’s side of my heritage. She also made sure Dad remembered my birthdays and Christmases, and sent money to my mum when he was able.”