“No!” said Jackie, tearfully, driving back and speaking on her (hands-free) phone. “They don’t know!”
“Well, how can that be?” said Stewart.
“I don’t know!”
“Well, look, darling, I’ve called the farm.”
“And?”
“And, er … well, they don’t know where he is either …”
“Oh! Oh!” said Jackie.
“But: the very nice man there said they think he must just have missed the bus, because he went out playing in the fields or something and forgot the time. They’re going to look for him now.”
Jackie, by this time, had reached Kendal Road and was parking the car.
“He offered me some free cheese too,” said Stewart. “Sounded quite nice.”
“NEVER MIND FREE ********56 CHEESE,” said Jackie. “I think we should call the police!”
“No … darling. Let’s just wait and see. They’ve said it’s happened before, a kid missing the bus.”
“Well …” said Jackie, slamming the car door and opening the front gate, “OK. But if they get back to us and say they can’t find him, then I’m phoning 999 straight away, and – OOOOOOOHHH!!”
“What is it?”
“Come outside. Quickly!!”