| "Andy's Quest" |
| Copyright Francis Blow, 1996. |
| CHAPTER 8 |
| Andy opened his eyes. It was morning, and he was alone in his bedroom. Neither of the twins had come in as they usually did. He got out of bed and tiptoed to their room, where their door was still open. May was lying on her back, arms, legs and blankets everywhere. Chrissy was curled into a ball, with only her hair and the top half of her face showing. |
| Working gently, so as not to disturb her, Andy rearranged the covers over May, so she would not get cold. Satisfied both girls were comfortable, Andy settled to the floor between the beds and waited. Ignoring the cool air, he listened to the soft breathing from either side of him. |
| Chrissy was the first to stir, so Andy moved closer to the side of her bed, to watch her face. Her eyes opened slowly, and Andy was there smiling a welcome for her. Chrissy put her hand out to touch his arm. "Thought you were part of a dream." She mumbled, sleepily. |
| "Were you dreaming of me?" He grinned at her. |
| "Can't remember now." She sat up yawning and stretching and rubbing her eyes. "May still snoring?" |
| "I didn't hear any snores. She's asleep, anyway." |
| Chrissy rolled out of the bed, brushing Andy with her bony knees, and crossed to May's bed, where she joined her sister under the covers. Andy watched Chrissy cuddle against May's back for a moment, before he returned to his room. He did not hear Chrissy call quietly to him. By the time everyone was awake, Andy was dressed for church. |
| As usual, Gail was the last one ready, though she stepped into Andy's room for a few seconds after her shower, to apologise for leaving the game unfinished. "Cory rang, and we had so much to say. He's invited me to go on a car rally after mass! He wants me to be his navigator. Me! And Cory's the most gorgeous hunk!" |
| "That's great..." Andy started to say. |
| "You should see him! He's got huge muscles, and the cutest bum!" Gail waffled on about Cory, who did not hold any interest for Andy at all. He listened to be polite. |
| It was almost a relief for Andy to get to the church, just so he did not have to hear any more about Gail's new boyfriend. It got to the stage where Andy could not stand to hear Cory's name. While the service was said, Andy began imagining disturbing scenes with Gail and her boyfriend kissing and cuddling in a fancy sports car. Andy could not understand why the images upset him, but they made him very fidgety. |
| It was not until after the Lord's prayer, when everyone exchanged handshakes, that Andy again started feeling as if he was becoming part of the family. Rod and Carol each hugged him, and the girls smiled warmly as they said "Peace be with you." |
| Home once more, Andy helped Carol with the breakfast. A knock came at the front door and Andy heard Gail run to open it. "Mum! Cory's come to pick me up. See you later!" |
| "Wait! What about breakfast?" Carol called back. "Here, Andy, take this apple to her before she goes." |
| Andy dashed outside to where Gail and her boyfriend were getting into an old Toyota sedan. It was a real heap as far as Andy was concerned. Andy passed the apple through the open door. "Gail, your mum wants you to have this." |
| "Thanks. Cory, this is Andy. Andy, meet Cory." |
| "G'day mate." Cory said, nodding at Andy. |
| "Hi. Nice car." Andy tried to be friendly, for Gail's sake. |
| Seconds later, the Toyota was gone with a puff of smoke, while Gail waved at Andy through the window. Breakfast was on the table when Andy returned inside. |
| "What do you think of Cory, Andy?" Carol asked, once Andy was seated. |
| "He was not what I expected." Andy answered carefully. "Gail must see him differently to me." |
| Carol laughed, and Rod almost choked on his coffee. |
| "Oh, Andy!" Carol exclaimed. "You can be so diplomatic. Cory's a dag!" |
| It was Andy's turn to laugh. "I didn't know if you liked him or not." |
| "Everyone speaks their mind in this family, Andy, and that includes you." Rod told him. "You'll only make things harder for yourself if you don't let people know how you really feel." |
| "Okay. " Andy grinned. "Cory looks dirty and he has a rust-bucket for a car. And I think that Gail must be pretty hard up if she has to go out with blokes like him." |
| May and Chrissy were laughing then, and Chrissy said, "Don't tell Gail that, or she'll never speak to you again!" |
| "Yes she will. Who else will she play chess with?" Andy declared. |
| Everyone left the table in very good moods. Andy suggested to the girls that they go and explore the old, fallen house with torches, after they had changed. The day promised to be clear and warm. |
| "Let me go in first." Andy offered. "I'll chase any snakes and spiders away." |
| "Don't forget the rats." May grinned at him. |
| "Rats? Great. Let's go, then." Andy sighed; he had prepared himself for snakes and spiders, without considering other, unwelcome creatures. In single file, they crawled across the dirty floor to the leaning door. Andy held the torch in one hand, and carried a stick in the other to clear cobwebs or chase away vermin. Beyond the door was a narrow hall. Fallen roof beams presented an awkward maze to the three of them, before they could reach other rooms. The girls followed so close to Andy, that Chrissy, who was second, often bumped his feet and legs. |
| Andy made good use of his stick; the webs were so thick he was sure no one had passed through the house in very many years. Scurrying, scratching and thumping noises in the walls and low ceiling proved that the three humans were not completely alone. The first door off the hall was jammed shut, and marks around the door indicated other people had tried, without success, to open it. |
| "I wonder what's in there?" Chrissy thought aloud, when she was kneeling shoulder to shoulder with Andy. They moved on to the next room, opposite the closed door. A bathroom, it had a cast-iron tub; only the sink held the ceiling up. There was nothing of interest there for them, though it did provide a cleaner sitting area than anywhere else. |
| "There's nothing more on this end of the house." Andy said. "Let's head the other way." |
| They crawled through the partly blocked hall, past the closed door, then the door which led out. There were three more doors. Two led to a laundry and a kitchen, while the third opened up on a living or dining room. Someone in the past had attempted to break the fireplace loose with a pick, and broken the handle; the pick head lay on the floor, near the half wrecked fireplace. |
| From the living room, there was the front door and two bedrooms, but the roof was almost flat to the floor in there. There was nothing valuable anywhere. Andy and the girls were almost touching the ceiling with their heads, where they kneeled side by side, whispering. |
| "I wish we could get into that closed room." May said. |
| "Maybe we can get an axe to chop through the door?" Chrissy suggested. |
| "I've got a better idea!" Andy exclaimed. He slid out his hand and lifted the heavy steel pick head. Red rust powdered his hand. |
| "Yeah!" May almost shouted, then she spun around and led the way to the mysterious room, followed by Chrissy and Andy. There was little room to swing the pick, and the door was much tougher than it appeared. Andy could barely scratch it. |
| "Let me have a go." May told him, when Andy stopped for breath. They squeezed past each other, and May tried using the pick as a crowbar. Like Andy she had no success, so she changed places with Chrissy, who lay on her back and tried bashing at the hinges. All Chrissy managed to do was fill her mouth with dust. As Chrissy spat and tried to clear her eyes, Andy and May dragged her towards them by her legs. |
| "There's gotta be a way." May was frustrated. |
| "I've got another idea." Andy said. "Let's get into the room next door, and try to get through the wall." |
| A minute later, the point of the pick sank effortlessly into plaster. In less than another minute, Andy had made a hole big enough for them to get through. He shone his torch inside. The air coming out of the hole in the wall smelled dry and stale. Andy's torch light revealed a room cluttered with furniture and strange shapes. He gasped, "Wow!" |
| "Let me see!" May pulled at his pants to make him back away. They took turns looking inside. |
| "It's a treasure house!" Chrissy announced. She crawled in through the hole before Andy or May could get hold of her dress. She called to them, "Come on!" |
| There was barely space to move between the things that crowded the room. A few small ornaments lay on the floor, and had to be stepped over or lifted on top of something else. Newspapers and magazines littered the floor. Andy picked up a dusty cover and read what it said under his torch. "Modern Mechanics, June, 1961. It's so old!" |
| "I found money!" Chrissy squealed. "Heaps of it!" |
| Two beams of yellow light converged on where she sat with a cracked leather bag between her legs. In her hands were several weird looking notes. |
| "What kind of money is that?" Andy asked. |
| "It says five pounds, ten pounds and one pound. There's lots of funny coins, too. No dollars. I guess it's no good, huh?" |
| "Let's ask your dad." Andy suggested. "Someone might want it. Don't people collect old stamps? I'd bet they collect old money, too." |
| Chrissy put all except one of the notes back in the bag, keeping a twenty pound bill in her pocket. She looked around her. It would take ages and ages to search everything in that room! May found a bookshelf that was full of old books. Andy opened a twisted cupboard to reveal almost prehistoric clothes; not even the Salvos or the Smith Family would take them as donations. Chrissy found a box of tools, while May uncovered a strange looking radio. |
| It was Andy, though, who found something very special. |
| A beautiful chess set. The board was formed into a box to house the pieces in velvet hollows. Each piece, even the pawns, were carved with amazing detail. The knights were in full armor on magnificent horses, and no two were alike. The black king was in the form of a Shah, though Andy was not to know that, and the black queen was covered in black robes, hiding all but her eyes. The white king and queen were styled from ancient England and the Round Table. |
| "Wake up, Andy." May poked his back. "We have to go home. It must be close to lunch time." |
| "Right." Andy closed the box, and thought for the briefest instant about leaving it there. |
| He took it with him instead. On their ride back, Andy sat behind Chrissy, holding her around the waist with one arm, while clutching the heavy chess set to his body with the other. At every bump and corner, Andy worried he would drop the box. His grip never failed to keep it safe, though Chrissy did say he was squeezing her too tightly. The bikes and helmets were put away in the garage; Andy left the chess set there too, until after he could clean it up. He followed the girls towards the house, and past their mother, who was hanging sheets on the clothes line. |
| "Stop right there!" Carol ordered. "Look at the state of those clothes!" |
| "Oops." Chrissy giggled. Andy and the twins were grey with dust, from head to toe. The only clean parts of them were their white eyes and teeth. |
| "You three are putrid! What am I going to do with you?" |
| "I bags first shower!" Chrissy yelled, as she raced into the laundry, dress already over her head. |
| "Chrissy! Where's your modesty?" Carol demanded. |
| "It's getting fixed, Mum!" Chrissy called back. |
| Andy could not help himself. He burst out laughing, as did Carol a few seconds later. While her mother was shaking her head with exasperation, May followed her sister's example, with the words "Mine's broken, too" and was gone wearing only her red underwear. |
| "You're thirteen, Andy." Carol turned to him. "I hope you're going to act in a proper manner?" |
| "I promise. I'll wait till they're out of the shower." |
| "I give up... Lunch in fifteen minutes." |
| Andy stripped to his underpants in the laundry, and waited at the bathroom door. He heard the twins talking inside, and it sounded as if they were sharing the shower. He knocked on the door. "Hurry up, you guys. I want a shower too!" |
| "Hang in there, Andy!" It sounded like May yelling back. After the water stopped, there were a few more minutes before the girls came out, wrapped in towels, and Andy took their place. Once he was clean, he put his towel around his waist and got dressed in his room. |
| Andy was ready just in time for toasted salmon sandwiches. |
| "When I put your clothes in the washer, Chrissy, I found this. Where did you get it?" Carol held up the twenty pound note. |
| "We found it in that old house. Is it worth anything?" |
| "Probably. What do you think we should do with it, Rod?" |
| "Get it valued, I suppose. Even if it's only worth face value, that's fourty dollars. It can go in her bank account." |
| "There's more there, and we all found it." May told them, spluttering around a mouthful of food. |
| "No talking with food in your mouth. Look, you spat all over the table." Rod scolded her. "We'll see about it. If it's been there this long, it's not going anywhere. Right now, eat your lunch." |
| "Is it finders keepers, Daddy?" Chrissy asked. |
| "Probably. No one's claimed that place in twenty years or more." |
| Andy listened. He was chewing slowly, because he was thinking about that special chess set. |
| When lunch had been cleared away, Andy took a cleaning rag and made the chess set spotless. Once that was done, he took the set to his room, where he set it up on his bed. |
| There was a light knock at his door. |
| "Who's there?" Andy called, while throwing his damp towel over the chess set. |
| "Chrissy. I heard you in there, and I've never seen you with the door closed in the middle of the day. Can I come in?" |
| "Okay. Close the door." |
| She did as he said, and watched him uncover the chess board, where most of the pieces had fallen over. Andy began setting it in order again. |
| "Can I see them?" She kneeled on the bed beside him and bent for a closer look. Andy nodded and gave her the pawn he had in his hand. "Gosh! You can even see their faces. He's got a mustache and a scar on his cheek. Even fingernails!" |
| "Have a look at the white bishop. The book he's holding has the words Holy Bible on the front. The black bishop's a magician or something." Every piece they examined brought to light some new secret of design. |
| "Do you think we might find more treasure in that room, Andy?" |
| "I don't know, but I sure would like to find out." He was excited by the thought. "Will you be going there during the week?" |
| "Are you kidding? Mum'd kill me if I got my clothes that dirty after school!" |
| "Oh. Yeah." Andy absently packed the pieces away, as he considered how best to explore the secret room. "What about next Saturday? Do you have any swimming costumes?" |
| "Swimming costumes? Of course I have. What's that got to do with anything?" |
| "Here's my plan." He began to explain, while Chrissy listened in growing eagerness. Later that night she would talk over Andy's plan with May. The rest of the afternoon, passed quickly, and Andy was very disappointed when Gail did not return in time to see him off. |
| "I'm sure there's a very good reason why she's missed you." Carol said, when Andy was in his seatbelt. "It's not like her to do anything like this." |
| "It doesn't matter." Andy smiled at her. Inside, though, he was unhappy about not having Gail there. He would have liked to show her the chess set, which was now safely hidden in Chrissy's toy box. Carol leaned inside the car and kissed Andy on the cheek. Andy brightened. "Thanks ever so much for having me." |
| "Andy, I love having you here. Now you be good, and study hard at school, okay?" |
| "I promise. See you on Friday." |
| It was half past six that night, when Andy was told there was a phone call for him. He went to the office and took the call. It was Gail. "Oh, Andy, I'm so sorry I was late. I really wanted to see you before you left, but that nerd, Cory, decided to have a party after the rally, didn't he! Then he got drunk and couldn't drive, and I had to find someone sober to get me home from the middle of nowhere." |
| "It's okay, Gail. Don't worry about it. Oh, hey. I've got a surprise to show you next Friday night." |
| "What is it?" |
| "I'm not telling. Wait till Friday." He grinned at the curiosity in her voice. |
| "You're a tease, Andy! All right, I can wait, if you can. Did you have a good day?" |
| "Excellent! We... Never mind, it would take too long to tell. What did you do on the rally?" |
| "All I had to do was read instructions to the idiot, telling him where to find clues. When we got the clues, that gave us the answer to a riddle. It's a good thing I'm good at riddles, because he missed lots of clues." |
| "What was the riddle?" |
| "We were to find the location of a butcher shop near Mosman. Nothing spectacular, and it was closed when we got there." |
| "Umm. It doesn't sound very interesting." Andy ventured. |
| "The first hour wasn't too bad, but after that it got boring. Anyway, that's my day. Oh! Did I tell you that the guy who drove me back is an absolute dish? What a spunk!" |
| Andy had to laugh. "Gail, you're man-crazy!" |
| "Don't I love it, too!" She laughed with him. "I'll see you on Friday, for that surprise." |
| "Good bye, Gail." |
| "Bye, Andy. Love you." |
| Andy stared at the phone. She loved him. That was what she said! Gail loved him! |
| Sleep came easily to Andy that night. Monday morning, back in the home routine, was made bearable by the fact he would be returning to the family on Friday. Apart from doing his normal studies, Andy virtually memorised a book on chess, to get ideas on how to move the pieces. Another book, this time on photography, took his interest, and he studied that, also. Each night Andy went to bed with an exhausted brain, yet he woke fresh and eager for the new day, knowing he was that much closer to Friday. When he remembered that he would need swimming costumes for Saturday, Andy searched high and low, until he found a pair that fit him. The only problem with them was that they were pretty daggy looking. They were all he had, so they would have to do. |
| What mysterious, ancient treasure would he and the twins uncover on Saturday? |
