Chapter 4: Escaping School

“This is about Sherlock Holmes and that sky ship, ain’t it?” Mr. MacDougall asked in a whisper while buttering his toast. He didn’t want Mrs. MacDougall, who was in the next room hemming a dress, to hear them discussing a case.

Emma and Jimmy were asking their father for help. The twins needed to figure out a way to get out of their home that morning, and Mrs. MacDougall never let them leave school early, unless their dad had a task for them.

“Dad, you’ve got to help us,” Emma begged.

“Mr. Holmes needs our help. All of London is in danger,” added Jimmy. “Come on, Dad!”

“Okay, okay, if Mr. Holmes needs your help, then I’ll send Laurence over to fetch you. But you’d better stay caught up on your school work,” Mr. MacDougall sternly stated.

The twins promised, and Mr. MacDougall said goodbye, then headed out to clean the city chimneys.

Emma and Jimmy were schooled at home by their mother. Most of the children in London worked either in factories or in businesses, even if they were only five years old. Some went away to live at school. Mrs. MacDougall did not want her children working, and she did not want them away from home for a very long time. She taught the twins in their home in the morning, and she had them run errands for her in the afternoon.

This morning Jimmy was working on his math skills, called arithmetic, and Emma was learning about the history of the earth, when giant animals known as dinosaurs ruled the land. Most girls only learned how to sit up straight, sew, and have good manners. Mrs. MacDougall made sure that Emma had the same schooling as Jimmy. She thought it was a waste for girls to not have the same options as boys. In fact, Emma was even smarter than Jimmy.

Jimmy finished up his math booklet, and Emma paused to check his work. It gave the twins a chance to talk without their mother knowing they were investigating the airship mystery.

“You solved most of the problems correctly, but you made errors solving some fraction problems,” Emma explained. “Do numbers four, five, and nine again.”

Jimmy frowned and snatched his book back. “The only thing I need to solve is this airship mystery.”

“Do you think Laurence will have heard from anyone?” asked Emma.

Laurence was a chimney sweep who worked with Mr. MacDougall. That morning, Jimmy had his dad give Laurence a message to send telegrams to the twins’ friends. Messages were sent to Steve the steel worker, Sally the seamstress, Nolan the newspaper boy, and Thomas the tailor to see if they knew anything about the airship. Once the friends received the message, word would spread, and soon all the children in London would be looking for airship clues.

“I bet he did. I mean, that ship was the size of a flying herd of elephants. Everyone should have seen it.”

Surprisingly, there was no news of the airship in the morning paper.

Just then, there came a knock on the door. “Now, who could that be?” Mrs. MacDougall said, while getting up from her sewing. Mrs. MacDougall was a seamstress who hemmed, mended, and made clothes for a job. She worked at home, so she could also teach Jimmy and Emma.

The twins heard their mother answer the door and have a brief conversation. “He needs them now! Really, Laurence, you tell Nedley not to bother the children until afternoon, after their school work is completed.” There was another brief talk, and then Mrs. MacDougall said, “All right! All right! They can go now!”

Mrs. MacDougall called to the twins to come to the door. “Children, your father needs your help this morning. One of his chimney sweeps is sick, and Emma, he needs your help understanding a bill he has received. Both of you will go with Laurence, but Laurence will make sure you return as soon as you can. You will need to make up all of your missed time from school this afternoon. The sooner you return, the better. School is too important to miss. You will finish your lessons today, even if you finish at midnight.”

“Yes Mom,” the twins agreed. Laurence thanked Mrs. MacDougall, and the three were off into the city streets.

Laurence was huffing and puffing a bit as they walked together. He was a plump old man, who Emma would have said looked a bit like Father Christmas, except he was covered in black soot from head to toe. He left a strange trail of dark footprints behind him as he waddled along.

“You can slow down a bit,” Jimmy assured Laurence, who was wheezing from running to the MacDougall house. “Any responses to our telegrams?”

“Just one,” Laurence wheezed. “From…(huff).. Nolan.” Laurence caught his breath, and he wiped the sweat from his brow. The chimney sweep then continued. “There doesn’t seem to be much news about a flying boat, or what have you. Now, I’ve got to dash back to work. Your dad wanted me to tell you to stay out of trouble. No sense in that though. If you’re chasing flying boats, I know you’ll get up to some kind of mischief.”

“It’s an airship,” Emma explained. “It scared a whole crowd of people. I don’t know why no one is talking about it!”

“Baah!” Laurence said, with a dismissing wave of his arm. “Next you’ll be seeing the Ghost of Christmas Past. Oh! Look at the time!” Laurence added, looking at his pocket watch. “I have to get back to work!” He said goodbye and ran down the street as fast as he could. Jimmy thought, from behind, he looked like a penguin scampering away.

“Just Nolan,” Emma said. “Only Nolan has news. That’s strange. That ship caused quite a stir on Baker Street. More of London must have seen it. Why didn’t anyone else report anything? Why just Nolan?”

“Well, Nolan is the newspaper boy,” Jimmy joked. “He should have news for us.”