The Advent Calendar (17 page)

The crystal city grew upwards and outwards before them through the course of a whole day. They moved around to different vantage points, now zooming in, now pulling back. Sam and Alice witnessed every part with cries of wonder and delight. JB let them take the controls and they were able to swing the joystick to the right and then to the left. Sam and Alice grew practised at swooping and diving over the city.

They saw now a great river winding its way from the centre with mature trees lining its banks. They saw beautiful gardens and parks unfolding with towers and waterfalls, pleasant walks and every kind of flower and shrub. They saw spacious homes of every kind made ready and furnished: flats, mansions, terraces and squares. They saw what looked like fully stocked libraries and workshops, concert halls and galleries all prepared but standing empty. Within the city itself were vineyards and olive groves, allotments laid out and magnificent public squares. The city was now vast in size: ‘To walk across it now would be three days’ journey,’ said JB. ‘To explore its wonders is the work of many, many lifetimes.’

There were no artificial lights in the city, no streetlamps or lights within the buildings. As evening came, Alice saw that none were needed. The city itself was lit from within in some way she could not understand. There were no shadows or dark places, no corners for wicked things to hide.

This growing of the city went on throughout the night. Now the basic features were laid out, Sam saw, more and more attention was paid to the detail: the crystal walls and towers were etched with beautiful carvings showing scenes from great battles and stories of the past. The pearl gates were inlaid with writing in many different languages. JB explained that they were words of welcome and of truth and the names of ancient tribes. Fruit ripened on the trees and in the allotments the vegetables matured to be ready for harvest. In the middle watch of the night, they flew low over the city from east to west and looked at the twelve foundation stones of its walls, which were inscribed with a different twelve names, again in many languages: ‘Those who are honoured for all time,’ said their guide.

And then, as the sun rose again in the east, they climbed a little higher above the earth and their ears caught the sound of singing. Alice pointed as angels in vast numbers flew from the east, out of the rising sun and took up their positions at each of the gates and around the walls.

With the dawn, from north and south and east and west – from the whole earth JB told them later – came lines of pilgrims walking in orderly procession and singing as they came. Children and old people, helped along by those who were stronger. Husbands, wives and friends arm in arm. Groups of young people. Black and white, yellow and brown. To judge by their clothes and dress they were from every age and nation and tribe. The lines stretched back as far as the eye could see: a countless, countless host.

JB’s eyes were full of tears. ‘The pearl gates stand open to receive the pilgrims as they come singing to their eternal home,’ he said, slowly and with great passion. He intoned words which seemed as ancient as the hills:

‘No more shall there be in it an infant that lives but a few days or an old person who does not live out a lifetime. Death itself cannot come to this city. There is no war here, no hunger, pestilence or plague. Mourning and crying and pain will be no more.’

Above the sounds of the sea and the cries of the birds there rose now the song of the pilgrims as they entered the eternal city and were welcomed to their new homes. As each person passed the angels on the gates there came a moment, Alice saw, of looking and seeing: as the angel’s eyes met the eyes of a child, or woman or man, all was laid bare and they were welcomed through the gates. But from time to time, she saw, one person or another was not able to enter the city. They gathered in small groups on either side of the gate, their loved ones clinging to them and begging them to come in.

‘What’s happening there?’ Alice asked. ‘Can we go down and see?’

JB adjusted the controls and they swooped low over one of the gates in the Western Wall. Alice saw now that each of those who were asked to wait outside was carrying something: a suitcase or rucksack or carrier bag.

‘The people themselves are welcome,’ JB said to them. ‘But nothing unclean can enter the city. All falsehood and greed, uncleanness of every kind, must be left outside.’

Sam watched as a man urged and pleaded with his wife to leave a great suitcase in the small pile by the gateway and come inside with him. After some time she reluctantly set down what she was carrying, took her husband’s hand and walked through the gate. They disappeared down one of the golden streets. An elderly couple were seeking to reason with a young man about Sam’s age who could not be parted with a small black briefcase. In the end his mother tried to wrestle it from him and the young man ran away. Sadly, the couple let go and turned away into the city, joining their voices to the song of praise around them. Sam’s eyes followed the man as he crept away beyond the city wall.

‘What will happen to him and those like him?’ he asked.

‘There is a rubbish dump, a tip, a waste ground on the far side of the city,’ JB answered. ‘It is a place of filth and squalor. But it is the only place that such a man can live. There is no way back to the earth that was. And now come. Our journey is almost ended.’

Once more they ascended and flew around the walls, admiring again its majesty and greatness and the new life now teeming within it. Then their view changed, so they were looking down and, as if they were flying upwards to a great height, the city itself grew smaller and smaller. Alice saw the very contours of the earth had altered so that this land was now in the centre and all roads, lined with pilgrims, led to the city.

And then their chairs tilted back into the start position, the harnesses were released, their view was, as it seemed, simply a blue sky on a summer’s day, with streaks of cirrus cloud hanging low on the horizon. There, just behind them, was the shape of the mirror’s misty surface.

‘Thank you,’ said Alice to JB. Sam squeezed the great man’s hand.

JB helped them once more back through the mirror. The front room seemed small and cramped now after the vast expanses of space and the decorations seemed so dull after the beauty of the jewelled city. Only the calendar itself glowed with a new brightness. In the doorway for the sixteenth day, framed by crystal, Alice saw a gateway made of pearl, open and carved with words of truth and welcome.

17 December

After the vision of the dazzling city full of light and life and colour, Alice felt that somehow ordinary life was dull and grey and full of shadow. She could see more clearly the shabbiness of the wallpaper in her bedroom and the worn edges of the carpet. Somehow the mess and untidiness were much clearer as well. Even the breakfast cereal tasted grey.

The weather matched her mood exactly. The town was embraced by a damp fog which clung to everything. Only the calendar itself and the mirror stood out. The calendar seemed to light up the room now, to glow with life. The deep-brown frame of the mirror was vivid too against the dull patterned wallpaper in the front room.

Before she went to school, Alice made herself take another look at her reflection. She winced at what she saw, closed her eyes and then made herself open them again, peering through her fingers. According to the mirror, she was covered in filth from head to foot. The dirt was caked around her feet and ankles, up her legs and down her arms. Her clothes were nothing but filthy rags held together by a single piece of rope tied around her waist. Her hair was matted and full of dirt. Her shoes had fallen to pieces and rotted away. Her feet, she saw, were calloused and bruised.

Alice was so upset by the reflection that she went to find Sam only to remember he had left for work early that day. It was the office Christmas party. He’d not be home until very late that night and they had made arrangements for Sam to phone home the code that evening if it arrived.

‘Ready for school, darling?’ Alice couldn’t help noticing, even in the greyness of that morning, how much better her mum looked. She’d got back yesterday evening. Grandad was much better apparently and due home in the next couple of days. Andrew had been a real gentleman and Alice found herself warming to him. Megs had decided to invite the grandparents for Christmas Day instead of everyone going there and was now making grand plans for the dinner.

Suzie and Alex were full of the plans to disrupt biology. It was their very last chance before Christmas: school was due to finish the next day. Alice had forgotten all about the plot over the weekend: so much had happened at home. Alex proudly showed her the two corks he had made and the wire frames to hold them in place. ‘They exactly fit the fire hose,’ he said. ‘Took me ages to carve them. This one’s a spare.’

‘I can’t wait to see her face,’ said Suzie. ‘This is the moment.’

Alice had always had her doubts about the scheme and today they seemed bigger than ever. But the whole class was now in on the secret. For the first time that term, she and Suzie and Alex were accepted and part of the whole group. And she did absolutely hate the Newtron and so did the rest of the class. Maybe it would teach her a lesson.

English, French and Maths went very slowly but the class were on their best behaviour. After lunch, Alice and Suzie kept watch in the corridor as Alex crept into the biology lab and to the fire hose at the front of the room. He unhooked the hose, carefully pressed the cork into the end and fixed it securely in place with the wire frame. There was no sign of any teacher. Alice had discovered that there was some kind of drinks party in the staff room. The biggest challenge was keeping members of their own class out of the way.

Alex came out to report progress. ‘So far, so good,’ he said. ‘Now comes the really tricky part. I’m going to turn on the hose. Stand by to scarper.’

Alice started to say something but he was gone. She went back to her post and scanned the corridor. Alex positioned the end of the hose very carefully so that it was pointing at Miss Newton’s desk. Very gingerly he turned the wheel to release the water. He felt the pressure hose fill up and held his breath but the cork stayed in place.

‘Yes!’ he whispered, punching the air, and walked back out into the corridor, keeping his eyes on the hose the whole time.

‘All set,’ he said. ‘All I need to do now is release the wire at the start of the lesson.’

‘How are you going to do that?’ Alice asked, hoping the whole plan would fail.

‘I’ll hide in the store cupboard when she comes in,’ Alex said. ‘I can just reach it from there if I creep out behind the blackboard. You’ll have to distract her at the right moment until I’m back at my desk.’

Alice and Suzie chose desks right in the back corner of the room. Suzie had smuggled in her mobile phone and was hoping to get some pictures or even a video. Alex saved a desk right at the front, nearest to the stock cupboard. For once, the whole class was there early, silent and attentive when Miss Newton came in.

Alice saw at once that she was not her normal self. ‘Open your books please at the section on photosynthesis. We need to go back over some of the material we looked at in the last lesson but two. I’ve now marked the assignments and it is clear that some of you haven’t grasped the basic principles.’

Suzie had put up her hand. ‘Please, miss, Alice Carroll just kicked me under the desk.’

Over the Newtron’s shoulder, Alice saw Alex creeping out, stretching his hand towards the wired cork.

‘Please, miss, she kicked me first,’ Alice protested.

‘Quiet, please,’ said Miss Newton, her eyes flashing with something like her customary fire. Suzie and Alice saw that Alex was now safely back in his seat. Then the teacher kind of deflated once again. ‘The Head will be joining us in a few moments’ time. He has a special announcement. Until then, please sit and read quietly.’

The knot in Alice’s stomach tightened further and she and Suzie exchanged glances and tried to catch Alex’s eye. It was too late. The trap was set. A minute went by. The tension mounted. The whole class were watching, waiting, half of them silently hoping that nothing would happen and half of them hoping it would.

And happen it did. All at once. The pressure was building in the pipe. The Head came through the door at exactly the wrong moment. With a loud ‘pop’ like a champagne bottle opening, the cork shot from the pipe followed by a jet of cold water. Alice watched the cork fly through the air and land squarely on the stunned head teacher’s forehead. The jet of water narrowly missed Miss Newton but soaked the first two rows before the end of the hose broke loose and pointed itself at the ceiling, spraying the entire lab in a fine drizzle. The whole class screamed and laughed and shouted to each other. Suzie calmly filmed the whole thing for her video diary. Some of the bolder members of the class danced on the desks in the drizzle coming from the hosepipe. Someone else switched on a ghetto blaster. Others ran out into the corridor.

A moment later, the automatic censor set the school fire alarms off and the whole school had to be evacuated. Teachers and pupils filled the corridors. Three fire engines arrived and the fire crews poured into the building. It didn’t take the fire officers long to discover the cork and the wire and realise what had happened. The whole class knew who the culprits were and it was only a matter of time before Alex, Suzie and Alice were identified.

And so Alice found herself at the end of the afternoon with Alex and Suzie sitting in silence in an empty classroom, guarded by Miss Newton, the Head (who had a small lump on his forehead) and a very large fireman, waiting for their parents. Suzie’s dad and Alex’s mum were already there when Megs arrived. Alice felt very small indeed.

The head teacher, normally a calm and rational man, had turned a bright shade of purple. The anger and embarrassment were swelling up within him, Alice thought, rather like – well, rather like a fire hose blocked with a champagne cork.

‘In over twenty years of teaching,’ he began, ‘in over twenty years of teaching I have never, ever seen a school descend into chaos as rapidly as this. The behaviour of these students today has been absolutely disgraceful.’

To everyone’s great surprise, Miss Newton had been looking extremely uncomfortable as if there was a struggle going on inside and now she interrupted.

‘Head teacher, Mr Clarkson, before we say anything to the young people, I would like to make a short statement in their defence.’

Suzie, Alex and Alice looked at each other in amazement.

Miss Newton’s face was as sour as ever but her tone of voice was less strident. ‘I think it is only fair to say,’ she said, ‘that I have not been the best of teachers over this last term and that the class may have been provoked. As I’ve now explained to the head teacher (and he was about to explain to the class) I have been under severe stress looking after my elderly parents. I recognise that this has made me very short tempered, much more so than I should have been. Whilst there can be no final excuse for the kind of prank we saw today’ (her eyes flashed with their normal fire at this point), ‘there is, I think, a mitigating circumstance. I therefore ask, head teacher, that these pupils be given a second chance.’

The Head looked as surprised as the three children but her confession had taken the force from his temper and he was back in control. He thanked Miss Newton and spoke to the three culprits. ‘Normally, I would have no choice but to exclude you from school for this kind of offence,’ he said. ‘However, I do accept what Miss Newton has said. I also believe that all three of you are fundamentally decent young people. Provided you apologise to Mr Clarkson and Miss Newton, your punishment will be six detentions to be served on Monday evenings next term, which Miss Newton has offered to supervise. Let it never happen again!’

Alice, Suzie and Alex mumbled their apologies and thanked Miss Newton. Megs, Alice saw, was wiping her eyes and biting her bottom lip.

‘I suggest you go home for the rest of the day now and return for the last day of term tomorrow.’

Megs and Alice walked to the car without speaking. Megs had parked a little way away from the school. As soon as they were inside the car, Alice burst into tears. ‘Mum, I’m so sorry. I should never have got involved. It’s been a kind of game all term planning something like this. Suddenly they were serious about it and I couldn’t get out of it. I am so sorry.’

Megs gave her a big hug. ‘It’s OK, Alice. It’s OK. You’ve learned your lesson, I think, haven’t you?’

Alice nodded through her tears.

‘Let’s go home. I need to drop this old linen tablecloth into the dry-cleaner’s on the way home for Christmas Day. Someone popped a card through the door for a new while-you-wait cleaning service just this morning. It’s ever so reasonable.’

They parked near the shopping mall, busy as ever. To Alice’s surprise, the new dry-cleaner’s was exactly where the Christmas Preparation Shop had been two days before. There was a new sign above the door. ‘Mum,’ she started to say, ‘this isn’t…’

‘This is the one,’ Megs said and stepped inside.

The shop looked very different. There was a low counter now running along the front, just like any dry-cleaner’s really, and a curtain leading to the back of the shop.

A smartly dressed man in a bowler hat came from behind the curtain as the door closed behind them.

‘Mr Gabriel,’ he said, lifting his cap and winking at Alice, ever so briefly. ‘How can I help, ma’am?’

‘It’s this tablecloth,’ Megs said. ‘It’s very old and I haven’t used it in years. I wondered if you could get it clean for Christmas?’

‘Let me see,’ said Mr Gabriel. He took the cloth out of the bag and spread it out on the table top.

‘I know it’s very stained,’ said Megs.

Alice saw that the cloth was made of very fine linen but it was rather discoloured with age. As Megs spread it out for Mr Gabriel to see she saw different coloured stains all over it. There was a particularly large red wine stain in one corner.

‘New Year’s Eve five years ago,’ said Megs, pointing at the stain. ‘My husband wanted to throw it away after that but it’s been in the family for a long time. Can you do anything?’

‘I think so, madam,’ said Mr Gabriel. ‘Come this way.’ He lifted up the counter and held it open for Megs who went through. Alice was about to protest but he held his finger to his lips and winked again. The room at the back of the shop was a laundry containing an enormous chrome washing machine.

‘My assistant, ma’am,’ said Mr Gabriel. Alice smiled as the large, familiar figure turned towards them. He took the tablecloth, examined it carefully and placed it inside the large silver machine.

‘Have a seat, ma’am,’ said Mr Gabriel. ‘This will only take a few minutes. A cup of tea?’

‘No, thank you,’ said Megs. ‘This is a new kind of laundry.’

‘Unique, ma’am, I think you will find. A very special service, is it not, JB?’

Alice watched as the old cloth spun round inside the machine and went through the wash and spin routine. The cycle seemed very rapid. In a matter of ten minutes, it seemed, JB was removing it from the drum almost dry. Without speaking, he took it into the corner and pressed it with an enormous steam iron.

‘Is that to madam’s satisfaction?’ said Mr Gabriel proudly, as JB held up the cloth.

‘Amazing,’ said Megs, feeling the edge of the linen. ‘It’s like new. Better than new!’

‘Thank you, madam,’ said Mr Gabriel, tipping his hat and showing them back through the curtain. ‘And of course it’s free of charge. Introductory offer.’ JB followed with the linen cloth carefully wrapped in brown paper and tied with string. ‘Do call again if you need us.’