In which Grandpa loses his towel

It was a long and slow hobble along the beach for Grandpa, Caleb and Beth and an even longer and slower climb back up the stairs. Grandpa ended up sitting down facing the beach and pushing himself up one step at a time with his arms and his one good foot. Tess saw them progressing over the grass at the top of the cliff and came out to see what was wrong. Grandpa had sent Beth ahead and told her to hide the ray-gun in the camper van as soon as she could. He had neglected to give her the keys, but she lay it on the grass under the front bumper, which was facing out to sea, hoping no one would see it there.

“What happened?” asked Tess.

“Some of the cliff gave way and landed on his foot,” explained Caleb.

“Bring him into the shop,” said Tess. “There is a chair he can sit on and we can call an ambulance.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” said Grandpa. “I’m sure it is just a sprain, or some bruising.”

“Hmm… I’m not so sure,” replied Tess noting the pain in Grandpa’s face. “Mrs McArthur is a nurse, let me get her over here to look at you.”

Of course, neither Grandpa nor Caleb had any idea who Mrs McArthur was, but they readily submitted to Tess’s suggestion.

A few minutes later, Tess returned with the lady from the shiny white caravan next to theirs, her daughter trailing behind.

“Let’s have a look at you then,” said the plump and cheerful lady.

She knelt down and lifted Grandpa’s foot off the ground. “We had better get this shoe off.” She undid the laces, loosened them generously and carefully wiggled Grandpa’s foot free. Grandpa’s face did a lot of grimacing.

“Can you feel this? And this? Does it hurt when I do this?” Grandpa winced at every question and Caleb wondered what the lady might have learned from this seemingly opaque mode of communication.

“I suspect it is broken. We’d better get you to the hospital. Mr McArthur can give you a lift in his car.”

That sounded marginally better to Grandpa than an ambulance. He didn’t like causing a fuss or being the centre of attention.

A few minutes later Caleb and Beth were waving at the back of Mr McArthur’s car. Their daughter Flora was beside them. Caleb’s Mum and Dad weren’t due back for another hour and Tess had told Grandpa she could look after the kids until then.

“Do you want to hang out in the shack for a bit?” Tess asked them.

“What’s the shack?” asked Caleb, thinking he hadn’t seen any sign of another building within a mile of here.

“The static caravan,” said Flora knowingly. “It’s where Tess stays.”

“Used to – when I was younger. It’s not really fit for sleeping in these days, but it’s still a good place to hang out. Come and see.”

She led the kids round the back of the museum and they walked carefully past the encroaching nettles to the caravan. The flimsy door wasn’t locked and, once open, it failed to stay in place against the side of the caravan, swinging haphazardly in the wind. “Oh dear, something else broken,” said Tess, looking at the remains of the clasp that was meant to hold it in place.

Tess led the way inside and did a quick check for cobwebs.

It was clear as soon as they entered that this was Tess’s space. There were drawings pinned up all around the walls, most of which had a decidedly macabre theme. There were candles and ornaments and fossils and bones and, of course, skulls galore. She plumped some cushions on the long brown bench seats arranged around three sides of one end of the caravan.

“Here you are, have a seat. Anyone for a drink?” She opened a small fridge that was packed with energy drinks in various ghoulish colours. A few of their old friends (now empty) were already hanging out on the windowsills and counter tops.

“It needs a bit of clean up doesn’t it. I haven’t spent much time in here lately – there is too much to do in the shop and museum.”

She set a selection of drinks down in front of them.

“I’d best go and close up the shop seeing as it’s nearly 5 o’clock. I’ll phone the B&B where your parents are and tell them about your Grandpa… and bring you back some snacks.”

She disappeared out of the door and closed it behind her. They were plunged into semi-darkness and could only just make out each other’s faces in the gloom.

“Shall I open a curtain?” suggested Beth.

“No, I like it like this,” said Flora. “It’s spooky!” She opened her eyes wide in dramatic fashion. Caleb got the impression she was one for melodrama.

“Have you been in here before?” asked Caleb, for something to say.

“Yes, many times,” said Flora. It wasn’t strictly true. She had stood on the threshold a few times, when bothering Tess for something in years gone by, but as a rule Tess didn’t invite people into her space. Now she was older and had a place to stay in the village she was less protective of it.

“Have you been coming here long?”

“Yes, every year since I can remember.”

“Really?” asked Caleb, who thought it would be rather boring to come to the same place for your holiday every year.

“My parents like it – and so do I. It has everything we need, so why go somewhere else?” She might have been repeating something she’d heard an adult say before.

Beth had found a switch that turned on a dull wall light and was now busy studying all the pictures on the walls. She liked drawing too and was attracted to the strong shapes and dramatic style. Even so, many of the pictures gave her goosebumps and she knew her Mum wouldn’t have approved.

“It smells funny in here” said Caleb, returning to his seat with a drink in his hand.

“It’s a normal caravan smell,” stated Flora with the voice of experience.

“It smells damp to me,” said Caleb, not wishing to be rude. He ran his hand over the brown upholstery covering the foam slabs. Bits of plastic trim were coming away in places.

Just then Tess returned with some crisps and chocolate bars. The bright sunlight from the open door made them blink.

“On the house,” she said.

“Thanks,” said Beth. “Did you do all these?”

“Yes, there’s years of work in here! All getting a bit mouldy. I should take my favourites home before they get ruined.”

“Did you sleep here on your own?” asked Beth. She couldn’t quite imagine having the courage to sleep there alone.

“Yes, every summer since I was eight. My Mum would send me here for the whole summer holiday so I’d be out of the way and could earn some money.”

Caleb and Beth looked at her with sympathy and commiseration.

“I liked it! It was a relief to get away from my Mum and to have some freedom. My Mum was bad tempered and we weren’t very well off. We had a tiny flat and I had to share a room with her. It was hell. Old Slippers wasn’t much better, but at least he left me to my own devices most of the time.”

“Old Slippers?” asked Caleb, hoping it wasn’t nosey.

“Slippers?! He’s the owner. Old Slippers we call him – my boyfriend Jake started it – because he used to walk down here in his slippers! Edward Dalgleish is his real name. Lives in the cottage you pass on the road before turning into the drive. He’s very old. Hardly ever comes down here now, which is a relief. I have to go to him to get my pay.”

“You’ve worked here since you were eight…” said Beth, more as a thought than a question. She was ten now, but couldn’t quite imagine working a summer job in such a remote place, far away from her family.

“Yes. Didn’t have much choice. Slippers is a relation of some sort, though I have never been quite sure what. Possibly my Mum’s Uncle. Mum tried to get me to call him uncle, but it really didn’t suit him. He was too old and strict.  It doesn’t quite make sense though…” she said thoughtfully, more to herself than anyone. “He must be well over 80 and my Mum is only just 40, so it feels like there is a generation missing somewhere. Your Grandpa looks much younger and is much more spritely – or at least he was until his foot got squashed.”

Mention of Grandpa and his unfortunate foot reminded Beth of the ray-gun. She had forgotten all about it! She looked at Caleb, wondering how to get his attention. He was looking at Tess who sat opposite him on another bench seat.

“Do you work here all year?” asked Caleb.

“No, we’re only open from Easter till the September half term.”

Beth shifted to a different seat and tried to get Caleb to look at her.

“What do you do the rest of the year?” he asked Tess.

“Lie in bed and daydream mostly… Imagining what I would do with the place if it was mine! No, I do still come to work, someone needs to check things over and there is always cleaning and maintenance to do. It’s Old Slippers who gets to lie in bed all day, while I make his money for him!”

Beth gave up on trying to get Caleb’s attention discreetly.

“We should probably go back to the camper van,” said Beth abruptly. “Mum and Dad will be back soon and they won’t know where we are.”

“Good thought,” said Tess. “Yes, off you go. Don’t worry about your Grandpa, I’m sure he’ll be fine.”

Beth left quickly and as soon as Caleb was clear of the caravan, she lent towards him and muttered earnestly, “the ray-gun, I had to put it on the ground ’cos the caravan was locked!”

Caleb looked at her in alarm. He had assumed it was safely inside.

“Quick!”

They ran the rest of the way with Flora following more slowly behind.

“Under the front bumper,” said Beth.

They squeezed past the folding table and chairs and arrived at the front of the campervan. They looked down in anticipation. The grass was where it should have been, but the ray gun wasn’t. There was altogether much more grass than they wanted to be able to see at that moment, a whole uninterrupted swathe of it, from one wheel to the other.

“It’s gone!” gasped Beth.

“What has?” asked Flora, who had just arrived beside them.

“Oh, nothing,” said Caleb casually. “Just my Grandpa’s towel from the beach.”

Flora looked at him suspiciously. She obviously didn’t believe him.

“His towel?”

“Yes, an orange one. Gosh, we left our towels on the beach too. We had better go and get them.”

They left Flora where she stood and rushed off to retrieve their towels, their hearts racing. What had happened to the Resurrection Ray-gun?

*

“She seems a nice girl,” said Mum as they waited to see Grandpa at the hospital later that evening.

“Who?” asked Caleb.

“The girl from the next-door caravan. She came and told us where you were when we got back. And her parents too – so kind to bring Grandpa to hospital. I don’t know how we’ll repay them.”

Caleb hadn’t quite made up his mind about them, so said nothing. Mum continued:

“Poor Grandpa, what a thing to happen, first day of the holiday too. He said on the phone that it was broken in three places.”

A nurse approached them.

“You’re here to see Mr Sansom? Follow me.”

They got up and followed obediently. They passed the nurses’ workstation and followed her past curtained off cubicles until, with a flourish, she pulled back a curtain to reveal Grandpa sitting in a hospital bed, looking rather sheepish. His foot was elevated above the bed in some kind of hoist. It was enveloped in a thick bandage.

“Grandpa!” said Caleb. “How are you?”

“Fine really, just bored.”

“I brought your magazine and some food,” said Mum.

“Where are Beth and your Dad?”

“Driving round the hospital so they don’t have to pay to park. You know what Dad is like.”

Grandpa nodded, though more out sympathy than judgement – he would have done the same. “They are going to keep me in overnight as they can’t do the cast until the morning. Then I should be OK to leave.”

“No more fossil hunting for you!” said the nurse when she returned. “Crosswords and books for the rest of the holiday. I’ll get the doctor to put it on the prescription…”

Mum was laying out some sandwiches and fruit on the bed, neither of which Grandpa was particularly keen on. “I’m sorry, it was all I could get. I’ll see if I can find you some tea.”

She got up and wandered off – and Caleb seized his moment.

“Grandpa! The ray-gone, its gun!”

“You what?” asked Grandpa, puzzled.

“The ray-gun, someone has taken the ray-gun!”

Grandpa closed his eyes – it was the last thing he wanted to hear.

“I’m sorry. The van was locked so Beth had no choice but to hide it out of sight. Tess gave us drinks and snacks and when we came back it had gone. She’s really upset – that’s why she hasn’t come.”

“Oh, dear. Tell her not to worry. I can make a replacement. Let’s just hope whoever’s taken it won’t realise what it does. The battery won’t last long anyway, and it isn’t one they will be able to charge.”

Caleb wasn’t sure if Grandpa could take any more bad news, but thought it was better to get it over with. “Your towel has gone too.”

“Ah pity,” said Grandpa, “I was rather fond of that one.”

*

Lying in his bed in the campervan that night, Caleb felt certain it must have been those same troublemakers that Tess had talked about. He should find out where they lived and get the police to search the house. He wanted to get up there and then and start looking for clues, but Dad was snoring away in the other bed. Beth had gone to stay with Mum at the B&B, and Dad had reluctantly agreed to stay in the campervan, though he had a good moan about it first.  If only they could tell Tess about the ray-gun he felt sure she would understand how serious it was and help them find it. But he knew he couldn’t take that step without Grandpa’s agreement. With Grandpa stuck in hospital it was all down to him, but what should he do?