The TV Time Travellers (16 page)

Harriet gazed round at the woman waiting for her and then turned to Wally. ‘I hope Zac can stay now.’ He didn’t answer. Indeed, he seemed to be acting as if she’d already left. Harriet got to her feet and shrugged her shoulders. ‘So that’s it, I’m out of here.’ She nodded at the woman. ‘It’s all right, I’ll come quietly. You won’t need any tranquillizer darts. Best of luck, everyone.’

We all called out to Harriet, ‘See you soon’ and ‘Good luck.’ And then she was gone. I remember watching a pantomime once where this character suddenly disappeared down a trap door. It really horrified me. And now I felt as if that’s what had just happened to Harriet
.

Leo raised his hand
.

‘Yes, what is it?’ snapped Wally
.

‘Excuse me raising this question with you, your great eminence,’ said Leo, ‘but
I
’d just like to know why you have very sneakily been bugging our rooms?’

I thought Wally might really be angered by this question and Leo’s sarky tone, but strangely he didn’t seem to be. Instead he said smoothly, ‘Because we wanted to get something completely natural and capture some very honest moments. This we have certainly achieved, and we believe the results justify our very minor subterfuge.’ Before any of us could reply he went on, his voice absolutely brimming with authority now. ‘Tomorrow, one new person will be joining
Strictly Evacuees.
There may well be others. For now, I am trusting you two’ – he nodded at Leo and me – ‘to go straight back to the farm and have your tea. I will join you there shortly and tell you about tomorrow’s very special group challenge. For now, though, you are dismissed.’

‘What about Zac?’ called out Leo
.

‘I’ll be all right,’ whispered Zac. ‘You go.’

‘Zac is not your concern,’ snapped Wally. ‘Leave him to Miss Weed and
me
.’ As Wally said this he glanced across at her. Normally Miss Weed gazed up adoringly at him as he spoke. But today she was standing very still and looking straight ahead. Then Wally went on in quite a gentle voice (for him), ‘I shouldn’t tell you this, but I will. The viewers’ response to both of you has been extremely strong. And, in fact, you two have an extremely good chance . . . well, I wouldn’t be surprised if either of you won this show.’

I stared at him in stunned disbelief, and then burst out, ‘You’re joking.’

To my great surprise Wally’s mouth started twitching about. And he wasn’t having a stroke. No, he was trying to smile. I had a feeling cheeriness didn’t come very easily to him
.

‘No, you really could win this show, Isobel,’ he said, still in a kindly tone. ‘Or you, Leo. I just thought you’d like to know that.’ He was struggling to smile again now, while the shock of what he’d just said exploded inside me
.

I REALLY COULD WIN THIS SHOW
.

Well, if I did – that would be the greatest moment of my life, without
question
. And right then I started picturing it: me stepping out of the farm; no doubt there’d be fireworks exploding everywhere and people cheering and waving banners with my name on
.

And then Mum would rush up to me, looking so proud and happy. And I’d hand her the tickets for our holiday in the sun – maybe they’d be in a gold envelope. Yeah, I bet they would be. I’d give Mum the gold envelope and tell her that the good times were coming our way at last. This was the start of a total change in our fortunes now. And soon we’d be sun-tanned and rich and famous and
 . . .

I tell you, I was so busy picturing it all, I have no memory of leaving the classroom at all. I must have just floated out of it. The next thing I actually do remember is me walking back to the farm with Leo. And even then I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t, I was still so dazed and entranced by me winning
Strictly Evacuees.

And then Leo stopped walking. ‘Hey, what just happened in there?’

‘What?’ I murmured, slowly and reluctantly coming back to earth
.

‘I mean, did we just walk out of there without a word?’ he asked
.

‘We must have.’

‘So did old Wally put a spell on us with his weird eyes?’

‘He said six magic words,’ I replied
. ‘You really could win this show.
You started imagining it too, didn’t you?’

‘For a few wacky seconds, yeah,’ said Leo. He sounded ashamed. ‘But we still don’t know what’s going to happen to Zac. We just abandoned him: our mate.’ He stared at me. ‘I think we should go back.’

I looked away
.

‘You think we should stroll off and leave him?’ he persisted
.

‘No, no, no . . . well, yes.’ Then I half whispered, ‘This could be our time.’

‘Yes, it could,’ mocked Leo. ‘Oh, this is our time to be famous. Wow and wow again.’

‘You can laugh, but I absolutely hate not having any money . . . and my mum’s really struggling . . .’

‘So you’re winning this show for your dear old mum,’ cried Leo
.

‘Partly, yes.’

He smiled. ‘I really do believe you.’

‘But I am.’

‘First of all,’ he said, ‘when Wally tells us we might win this show, smiling like a snake as he does so, do we believe him? Or do we think it’s yet another of his little tricks?’ Without waiting for me to answer he went on, ‘And secondly, OK, you win. But this show is pretty much nuts. So you won’t even be famous for fifteen minutes – more like fifteen seconds, if you’re lucky. Still, the bad times you’ve had mean you’re entitled to be famous. That’s the deal, isn’t it?’

‘All right, Leo,’ I said tightly
.

‘No, keep going, as you’ll probably win a holiday. Not even
Strictly Evacuees
could lie about that. So, go back to the farmhouse. I might even vote for you myself.’

I heard myself swallow hard
.

‘Go on, I’ll look out for Zac. It doesn’t need two of us.’

Without another word I ran all the way to the farmhouse. And I know exactly what you’re thinking: that girl is so
wrapped
up in herself, she’d even dump her mates just to win a show. I know, because it’s exactly what I was thinking too
.

I carried on going until I reached the door of the farmhouse. And then I stopped. It was as if I’d hit some invisible force field which was preventing me moving any further. I suppose you could say that my conscience finally stirred into action
.

And after that my legs could only move one way: back to Leo. I called out his name in a funny, ragged voice I hardly recognized as belonging to me
.

He whirled round
.

‘Wait for me,’ I croaked
.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

A Shock Announcement

Izzy

LEO AND I
tore back into that classroom. It seemed even darker than before
.

‘What is the meaning of this?’ demanded Wally, his face stiff with shock. ‘You were told to return immediately to the farmhouse.’

Our bravery melted away just a bit then. And we both shuffled back a few steps. Then I noticed that Zac was standing up. He looked like a prisoner waiting to be sentenced. ‘We just wondered,’ I said, ‘if Zac was staying on.’

‘That’s no business of yours,’ said Wally and I didn’t think he was going to say
anything
else. But then he went on very quietly, ‘Zac will be leaving the farmhouse now, but he may be returning tomorrow. It is up to the public to decide. If enough viewers call up and support him he’ll be allowed back – won’t you, Zac?’

Zac nodded slowly. He looked tired and very confused and that’s exactly how
Strictly Evacuees
wanted it, of course. No doubt, at this very moment, thousands of people were going, ‘Aaah, poor lad,’ and then stampeding to their phones to save Zac – while also making
Strictly Evacuees
tons and tons of dosh
.

‘Couldn’t Zac wait for the viewers’ verdict here with us?’ asked Leo
.

And then, quite unexpectedly, Miss Weed, who’d been standing very still beside Wally, came to life. ‘Actually, that might work, mightn’t it?’ she said brightly, hopefully. And I realized she really didn’t want Zac to have to go away either
.

But Wally shot her such a furious glare and snapped, ‘I have already decided
this
. Zac must wait for the viewers’ vote away from the farmhouse.’

Of course he must, I thought. That’s much nastier for Zac – and so will get far more viewers ringing up
.

Suddenly I felt very wise, very disillusioned – and very, very angry. This just isn’t right, I thought. And then to my surprise I realized I’d said that aloud:
‘This just isn’t right.’
More words burst out of me then, my voice crackling with fury. ‘This isn’t a show about time travel at all. No, it’s a mad roller-coaster ride where you play horrible mind games with us every second of the day; like secretly bugging our rooms, and bringing in actors to deliberately annoy us and putting Zac through—’

‘Enough,’ roared Wally. ‘Leave the classroom now – or you will receive a third warning and be evicted.’

‘I don’t care,’ I cried, my face burning with anger. ‘I’m not leaving until Zac goes back to the farmhouse.’ And I sat down in a real I-shall-not-be-moved way. Then I looked at Leo, who’d been watching me, open-mouthed
.

‘I’d like to agree with everything my esteemed evacuee has just said,’ he stated. ‘With great big brass knobs on. And just add that this whole show stinks worse than a Christmas dinner fart.’

For a few seconds after that it was so quiet you could have heard a snail cough. I think they call it dead air, on the radio. And it’s not supposed to be very good
.

But Wally just went on gaping at us, his eyes bulging in a confused sort of way. It was as if we’d started babbling away in a language he didn’t understand. He really hadn’t expected that outburst at all. And he was stuck now. He really was. His moustache kept rising and falling, as if it was being moved by a tiny invisible string. And there was a mad gleam in his eye, showing he’d slipped over completely to the crazed side. Anything could happen now
.

He got up suddenly and slammed across the room towards Leo and me like a mad bull. What he was about to do to us we’ll never know, because he was in
such
a state he tripped over his gown, didn’t he?

He went on to perform one of the finest backward flips I’ve ever seen. He soared right up into the air and then landed with a mighty thud against the bookcase. Ancient books shot into the air and started dive-bombing Wally in a mad aggressive way, as if they too were disgusted with him, while a heavy trail of dust began to settle onto him too: he looked as if he was being covered in very elderly snow
.

And it all happened so fast I couldn’t even laugh, not then anyway. Miss Weed tore over to him, but he brushed her offer of help aside. He stumbled to his feet, furiously shaking his gown, his face grey with shock and fury
.

Then the door suddenly burst open. And there was Farmer Benson – with Harriet. But she was supposed to have left ages ago. What was going on now?

‘I’ve just been talking to this young lady,’ said Farmer Benson. ‘And I have a few questions for you about this show which need answering urgently.’

But then Wally raised a weary hand and cried, ‘No more questions . . .’ And then he roared the last words at us:
‘Strictly Evacuees
is suspended until further notice!’

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

‘This Is All Your Fault’

Izzy

THE NEXT FEW
hours were the maddest of all
.

After Wally’s incredible announcement, Zac, Leo, Harriet and I were told by Farmer Benson to have our tea at the farmhouse. I think Harriet was a bit annoyed at being lumped with us kids – she was seventeen, after all. But she came with us, while Miss Weed, Farmer Benson and a still very dishevelled-looking Wally went into a huddle
.