Sky Lights (25 page)

‘I really should be mad with you pirates for stealing the fairy dust in the first place, but I think I can forgive you. That fireworks display was a sight worth waiting a life time for. Cock a doodle doo!’ He winked at Noddler and taking him by the hand they rose up to the castle ramparts where the others were waiting. ‘We’d better hurry before the police get here,’ he said. ‘That was some disturbance of the peace just now.’

A moment later seven figures took to the skies and, heading for the second star on the left, they went straight on until morning. Yet another string of Christmas lights crossed the Edinburgh skyline.

Meanwhile, almost fifty miles away, Mrs Jamison, of Bearsden in Glasgow, was about to close her bedroom curtains when she noticed, by the light from the street lamp, what looked like an old heap of rags, covered in something red, lying in the middle of her front garden.

‘Aaaaarchie,’ she shouted. ‘Somebody’s left a pile of junk on our lawn. Tut, tut, tut. It must have been these teenagers from the next street. Be a dear Archie and go and put it in the bin. It’s letting down the tone of the neighbourhood.’

She watched from the window as her hen-pecked husband shuffled out the door and approached the mole hill of ‘rubbish’. It was then she saw it move. She rubbed her eyes and looked again. Yes it was definitely moving. The heap of rubbish was trying to stand up.

‘How disgusting,’ she thought. ‘How did that drunken old tramp land up here?’

Mrs Jamison would never guess if she lived to be one hundred.

The three families strolled towards the bus stop discussing the happenings of the last few days, parents in one group, and children in another in front.

‘I can’t wait to tell Jody all about this week. She’ll think Peter is so cool,’ said Amy. ‘I wonder if we’ll ever see him again. He was such fun.’

‘He was a bit of a show off,’ said Jack. ‘Always boasting about what he could do. And he could have got us in a lot of trouble if you ask me.’

‘Well I didn’t ask you, did I?’ replied Amy. ‘What do you say about fact and fiction now then Jack?’

‘I don’t care what Amy says,’ said Shelley. ‘I think you were awesome, Jack. I don’t know how we would have coped without you.’

‘It was nothing,’ said Jack, blushing at Shelley’s admiration for him and trying to change the focus of attention. ‘If we are talking about bravery, I think Wendy deserves an award for what she went through. You must have been so scared, Wendy,’ he said.

‘Well, I can’t say it was easy. There were times when I thought I would never see my dad or my friends again. I think it must have been worse for my father though. He’d no idea where I was, or even if I was still alive. And he didn’t know with any certainty if he could do what these villains expected of him. But look at the positive effect the whole experience has had on him. He’s really smartened himself up and is already spending more time with me. Thank goodness the scary part is over, at least for now. But if you ask my opinion we haven’t seen the last of Peter Pan.’

As they reached the bus station the number 33 was getting ready to leave. ‘That’s our bus,’ said Beth. ‘We’d better say goodbye John and Wendy, but we’ll see you tomorrow. Merry Christmas, Wendy.’ Beth hugged her new-found niece. After several more goodbyes, and shouts of ‘Merry Christmas’, the McGregors and the Patons stepped on the bus.

‘Are you working tomorrow Dad?’ asked Wendy, as she waved goodbye to her cousins.

‘Not tomorrow my dear. I am going to spend the whole day with you. We’ll have a lazy breakfast while we open our presents. We’ll go for a slap up lunch in the best restaurant in Edinburgh….I already asked Maggie to book it for us. And in the evening we are invited to your cousins’ house for a game of charades,’ answered John Dante.

‘But if it is all right with you,’ he added, almost as an afterthought, ‘I might go into the lab on Boxing Day. There is a technique I have to perfect and I know just the person to perfect it on.’

When the Patons and McGregors reached their gates, the men and children went on up their respective paths and opened their doors while Beth turned to Yvonne, and said, ‘Why don’t you three join us for a game of charades tomorrow evening?’

‘Is that the game that you play without saying anything? You have to stay silent and not even utter a grunt? The one where you are in two teams, and each team makes a list of books or films, and then you have to make signs to show how many syllables there are, and you have to act it out to your own side, and you only get so many minutes to do it, and they have to guess without you telling them, and you keep scores, and the team with the highest score……

‘Yes that’s the one,’ interrupted Beth, shivering, as the first snow of the winter began to fall.

‘Thanks very much, we’d love to come. I’m sure Rob and Shelley will join in, but to tell you the truth I’m not very good at games like that. Good night then Beth, and Merry Christmas. See you tomorrow.’

As Yvonne closed the front door at number 32 she overheard Shelley saying, ‘Dad….do you think you might be related to another Rob McGregor? Rob Roy McGregor? That would be so cool. I think I’ll ask Mrs Paton to help me research my family tree.’

Beth went inside and for once her two children were not arguing. She hoped this might be a sign of things to come especially after they received their new laptops in the morning. Jack and Doug were making hot drinks for them all and Amy was looking out the window.

‘Don’t tell me you are still looking for Peter Pan,’ said Beth.

‘No, I’m not,’ said Amy. ‘It’s Christmas Eve. I am looking for Santa Claus of course.’

Jack and Doug looked at each other and smiled.

‘Just kidding,’ said Amy. ‘I’m almost eleven. I’ve watched for Santa every single year I can remember, but I’ve never seen him yet. I don’t think I’ll ever see him.’

‘What
are
you looking for then?’ said Jack.

‘Actually I was watching the snow beginning to fall. Don’t you think the flakes look like lights floating from the sky? Sky lights….millions and millions of little sky lights.’

The young man lay quite still on the bed and although he looked deathly pale all his vital signs seemed to be normal. ‘It shouldn’t be much longer,’ thought the doctor packing away some of his instruments. He looked more closely at the sleeping figure on the bed and yes he could see rapid eye movement or REM as they called it. His patient was dreaming, and that was a good sign. Normal brain activity was resuming. It was time to bring in the people who were outside the room.

He opened the door and nodded to the middle aged couple and the two young men who were anxiously waiting in the corridor. ‘You can see him now. Please come in.’

The woman choked back tears as she stroked the patient’s forehead, while the man shook hands with the doctor. ‘We don’t know how to thank you doctor,’ he said.

‘There’s no need,’ said the doctor. ‘No need for thanks. I am happy to be able to do my job.’

The patient began to stir. His eyelids fluttered. Jake and Will moved forward. ‘He’s waking up. Look! He’s waking up,’ said Jake.

‘Where am I? What happened?’ the young man asked sleepily, looking from one to another.

‘A crocodile happened. That’s what, man. We thought we’d lost you to a crocodile,’ said Will.

‘You gave us quite a scare, Ian,’ said Jake.

Professor John Dante smiled. He knew what it meant to be scared.

All rights reserved

Copyright © Barclay Baker, 2012

Barclay Baker is hereby identified as author of this work in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

The book cover picture is copyright to Barclay Baker

ISBN: 978-1-78148-041-0 in epub format

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Grosvenor House Publishing Ltd

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www.grosvenorhousepublishing.co.uk

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