It was still quite early, and being a Sunday morning, Rothiemuir hadn’t yet woken up. The six children stood in the car park staring round at the streets that radiated from the little town’s central square, while Professor Jamieson and Mr McFee stood talking by the van.
‘Well,’ said Charlie, ‘I suppose we should fan out and . . .’ His voice trailed off uncertainly.
Finn had seen something.
‘Look!’ he said furiously, pointing to a big, brightly coloured poster in a shop window. It showed Tom Henderson in his football strip leaping up to kick a ball – only, instead of the ball, there was a balloon, and hundreds more were floating round his head.
Grand Opening of our Fabulous New Superstore! the huge black letters spelled out. Mass balloon release by Tom Henderson, Monday 3 p.m.!
Finn was already halfway to the shop.
‘We’ll start right here,’ he called back to the others. ‘We’ll stick our poster over . . .’
A horrible thought struck him, and he stopped so abruptly in his tracks that Jas, who had been following close behind, nearly ran into him. She smiled knowingly.
‘You forgot to bring any sticky tape, didn’t you? Don’t worry. I’ve got lots of it. And scissors too.’
She couldn’t help looking smug.
A few minutes later, Kyla’s poster was taped to the outside of the window, covering up the middle of the supermarket’s much bigger one, which was stuck on the inside. The children stepped back to admire it.
‘I don’t know,’ began Kyla. ‘It looks – well – not very good somehow.’
‘Stop talking rubbish – it’s brilliant!’ said Jas encouragingly.
The others were running on down Rothiemuir’s empty high street, looking from side to side to see where they could stick their posters on the grey granite walls and dusty shop windows.
‘There’s another one!’ shouted Amir, pointing along the street to the post office.
The others hared after him.
They were sticking a poster to the window of a cafe when the owner came boiling out of it.
‘Oi!’ he was shouting. ‘What do you kids think you’re doing? This is vandalism, this is. Get out of here!’
Professor Jamieson and Mr McFee had had difficulty keeping up with the children. They came puffing along just as the cafe owner reached for Kyla’s poster to tear it down.
‘May I explain?’ the professor said politely.
‘No!’ exploded the cafe owner. ‘Are you in charge of these wee hooligans? You can clear out too.’
Professor Jamieson lifted his head and sniffed.
‘Coffee,’ he said. ‘And fresh bread.’ He took Mr McFee’s arm. ‘Perhaps my friend and I could come in and have some breakfast? I think, when you’ve heard our story, you might just change your mind.’
The cafe owner hesitated, but the prospect of two customers on a slack Sunday morning was too good to pass up. He stepped aside and let them in.
Finn was already heading off along the high street. Professor Jamieson stepped back outside and called after the running children, ‘Stick together! Don’t be too long, and be careful!’
The high street of Rothiemuir was slowly coming to life. Quite a few people were waiting at the bus station. Jas was about to stick a poster on the window of the ticket office when the glare of an inspector standing nearby sent her scurrying away.
A trickle of people were coming out of the church on the corner, and the minister, his white robes billowing around him in the morning breeze, was shaking them all by the hand.
Kyla went up to him. She was used to church. Her mother took her and Dougie to Sunday School sometimes at the chapel on the far side of Rothiemuir.
‘Please can I stick this poster up on your noticeboard?’ she asked the minister.
‘What, my dear? What’s it about?’ said the minister, dropping the hand of the old lady who was telling him about her bad back.
‘It’s about the balloon release by the supermarket tomorrow afternoon,’ said Kyla shyly.
The minister frowned.
‘No thank you. We don’t allow advertising on our noticeboard.’
‘It’s not advertising,’ said Finn, running up. ‘It’s about saving the dolphins. The balloons are going to kill them. It’s so awful. We’ve got to stop it!’
He was feeling too much to get the words out properly.
The minister took the poster and read it.
‘Who made these posters?’
‘I did,’ said Kyla. ‘At least, I drew the picture.’
‘It’s excellent!’ said the minister, smiling at her. ‘Can you spare a few more? I’ll show them to the congregation at our other services today and see if anyone will stick them up in their windows. Good for you. A fine community effort. Now why don’t you come along to our youth service? Lots of fun, stories, singing – all that kind of thing.’
‘Sorry, no time!’ said Finn, thrusting a few posters into the minister’s hands.
The others had raced off and were already round the corner and halfway down the road that led to the train station. Finn was chasing them when he became aware of heavy feet running after him.
‘You, boy! Stop!’ a man was shouting.
Finn looked over his shoulder. A couple of men were on his heels, and they didn’t look friendly. Finn put on a burst of speed, but he’d only just rounded the corner when a heavy hand grabbed his shoulder. The man spun him round and pinned him roughly against the wall. Finn’s heart pounded with fright. Both men had bullet-like shaven heads and were dressed in black bomber jackets. They looked tough.
‘This is what we think of you and your muck,’ one of them snarled, grabbing the posters that Finn was carrying. Slowly and deliberately he began to tear them up, dropping the pieces into the gutter.
‘Stop it! Stop!’ yelled Finn. ‘You can’t do that! We’ve got to save the dolphins, and the birds, and the – the seals!’
‘Says who, yer wee criminal?’ said the first man. ‘Someone put you up to this. Animal rights, eh? Animal terrorists, more like. Sabotage against a legitimate business, that’s what this is. There’s laws against it. We’ll get you done. Youth custody, that’s where you’re heading.’
In the distance, Finn heard Charlie shout, ‘Hey, Finn’s in trouble! Come on!’ Then there was the sound of racing footsteps as the five other children came running up.
‘That’s handy,’ one of the men said with a laugh. ‘All of them together. Get the posters off them, Nige.’
There was a brief scrum as the two men tore the remaining posters out of the hands of the others. Then, as the children watched helplessly, they ripped them all to shreds. Soon, only a mound of torn paper lay on the pavement.
‘And don’t think we’ve missed any around town,’ Nigel jeered. ‘We’ve been following you. We’ve taken down every one. You think you’re going to stop the new supermarket, you’ve got another think coming. We’ve got jobs lined up there. Good pay, too. We’re in charge of security. Know what that means? It means we’ve been trained to deal with troublemakers. We know what to do with kiddie criminals, don’t we, Barry?’
‘Aye, so we do,’ said the other. ‘Damned anarchists, that’s what you are. Out of order. Come on, Nige.’
Laughing, they sauntered off.
Finn’s face was red with rage. He wanted to run after them and pummel their retreating backs with his fists, but before he could move, Charlie and Amir had each grabbed one of his arms to stop him.
‘Give it up, Finn,’ said Amir. ‘They’re just too strong.’
‘They’re . . . they’re disgusting,’ said Kyla. Her eyes were brimming over with tears. ‘My lovely posters!’
Dougie had retreated and was hiding in a doorway. Jas saw him peeping out.
‘I want to go home, Jas,’ he whispered.
‘It’s all right. They’ve gone,’ said Jas. ‘Come on. We’d better go back to the cafe and tell my dad and Mr McFee. I’m so sorry, Finn. We tried.’
‘And we’re not giving up!’ Finn said savagely. ‘We’ve got to think of something else, that’s all.’
All the way along the high street, the posters they had so carefully put up had been ripped down and were lying trampled and torn on the pavement. But as they crossed the road, with the cafe straight in front of them, Kyla let out a cry.
‘Look! In the window!’
The supermarket’s poster had gone from inside the cafe window, and Kyla’s was now in its place.
The children hurried inside. Professor Jamieson and Mr McFee were sitting at a table with empty cups and plates in front of them, and the cafe owner was leaning against the counter, smiling.
‘Here they come!’ he said, watching as they all trooped in. ‘Eco-warriors! Good for you, kids. I’ve heard all about it from these gentlemen, and it’s a right shame, so it is.’
‘Dad!’ burst out Jas. ‘Two men were following us and they ripped all the posters down and nearly beat up Finn!’
‘Ha,’ said the cafe owner. ‘I know those two. Couple of bullies. Always causing trouble round town. I heard they’d been hired by the new place. They tried to take your poster down from my window, but I sent them packing.’
‘What’s that?’ said Mr McFee, starting up from his seat. ‘Where are they? Bullying the kids? I’ll . . .’
He subsided again as Professor Jamieson put a hand on his sleeve.
‘Is everyone OK?’ said the professor, throwing a searching look round the group of children. ‘Did they hurt any of you?’
‘No, honestly, Dad,’ said Jas. ‘We’re fine.’
Her father got to his feet.
‘It’s time we got going, anyway,’ he said, shaking the cafe owner’s hand. ‘Thank you. An excellent breakfast.’
‘Come on, come on,’ Finn was saying impatiently, leading the way to the car park. ‘We’ve got to get back to Stromhead and make another plan. We must!’
The others ran after him – all except Jas, who had dropped the sticky tape and had stopped to pick it up. She overheard her father say, ‘Well, Mr McFee, have you ever thought of working in property maintenance? Having been at sea, I guess you’re a practical man. There are some rather urgent matters that need seeing to around the lighthouse.’
Jas put on a spurt and caught up with Finn.
‘I think my dad’s just offered your dad a job,’ she said breathlessly.
Finn’s jaw dropped, but then he shook his head.
‘He can’t have. Nobody ever would.’
The thought of his father going off to work was too weird to take in. He put it out of his mind, and his brows creased again as he racked his brains, trying to think of another way to stop the balloon release.