Chapter 29

And then suddenly there was a strange buzzing noise.

‘What on earth was that?’ said Dad, looking round anxiously. ‘It sounded like a hornet.’

‘Only my mobile!’ said Jess, pulling it out of her pocket.

‘I thought you said your mobile needed charging,’ said Dad.

‘Bizarre, isn’t it?’ said Jess. ‘It’s a new one, it keeps surprising me. Now please, Dad – excuse me!’

She ran to the far end of the studio. Her dad smiled, and performed a kind of mime to do with making a cup of tea. Then he went away downstairs.

‘Hello!’ said Fred. ‘Behold, it is me, the Angel of the Lord, or at least a sort of cut-price low-budget version, which is all that’s available nowadays.’

‘Oh Frederika!’ said Jess. Although her dad was out of earshot, she still kind of liked calling Fred that.

‘Why am I Frederika today?’ asked Fred.

‘Because I told Dad you were one of my very best girlfriends,’ said Jess carefully. She didn’t want to blow her cover in case Dad could hear what she was saying.

‘Oh no!’ said Fred. ‘Why??’

‘Kittens! How sweet! I’m so jealous!’ said Jess, sure that Dad could hear.

‘You haven’t told him I exist, then? In my admittedly loathsome masculine guise? You haven’t told your mum, either. Ashamed of me?’

‘What, more new shoes! Frederika, you could shop for England! Just make sure you don’t step on the kittens. It would ruin your shoes!’

‘Oh, never mind,’ said Fred. ‘Listen, for I have a task for you, which you must enact promptly in order to save the Kingdom of Fred from ruin and decay.’

‘What?’

‘Do you remember once you promised to get a birthday present for my mum and somehow you never got around to it?’

‘You promised never to mention that again! Anyway, I did have a good excuse – the house was flooded.’

‘Yeah, yeah, so you said. Never mind. Listen. My mum knows St Ives, and there’s a special kind of brooch she wants from a certain shop, and I was wondering if you’d mind going there and seeing if they’ve got any.’

‘Of course!’ said Jess. ‘Where is it?’

‘It’s kind of hard to explain, but if you just go out into the town I can sort of talk you down. She gave me this old map of St Ives. I could navigate you like air traffic control.’

‘OK – just let me tell my dad. I’ll ring you right back,’ said Jess.

She went back downstairs. Her dad was sitting at the kitchen table drinking tea.

‘I can’t tell you how pleased I am that you came a day early,’ he said.

Jess stood behind his chair and put her arms round his neck.

‘I’m pleased, too,’ she said. ‘But listen, I’ve got to nip out for a few minutes because Frederika wants me to get something for her mum from one of the shops in St Ives.’

‘OK,’ said Dad. ‘It’s time for my geriatric little afternoon nap, anyway. Got enough money?’ He pulled out his wallet and gave her a twenty-pound note.

‘Oh my goodness! Thanks, Dad!’ cried Jess, startled by this unaccustomed dosh.

‘Is that too much?’ said Dad. He was so clueless when it came to parenthood.

‘Not at all!’ said Jess, skipping mischievously towards the door. ‘It’s terrific, it’s just what I’ve always wanted! See you later! Enjoy your sleep!’

‘I’ll leave the key to the front door under the ceramic toad by the doorstep!’ said Dad, as if it were the most normal place in the world to leave a key. This kind of primitive security arrangement would not last two minutes in the city. But somehow it just proved to Jess the magic of St Ives.

Out in the street, she rang Fred back.

‘At last! That was an eternity,’ said Fred. ‘Now tell me, what’s the name of the street where you are?’

Jess looked around. ‘Hang on a minute,’ she said, running along Dad’s narrow street and turning into a slightly broader lane. ‘Ah, this one’s Back Road West.’

‘OK, great,’ said Fred. ‘Go down it in a northerly direction.’

‘What’s northerly?’ asked Jess.

‘For goodness’ sake, woman! You come from a nation of great explorers! Is the sun in your eyes?’

‘No,’ said Jess. ‘It’s sort of on my left.’

‘That’s OK, then, isn’t it, Einstein?’ said Fred. ‘When you get to Bunker’s Hill on your left, go down there.’

‘OK . . . I’m going down it now,’ said Jess, venturing down a steep narrow lane with ancient houses on both sides bedecked with hanging baskets. ‘It’s almost illegally picturesque.’

‘When you come out at the bottom of Bunker’s Hill,’ said Fred, ‘you should be by the Old Post Office.’

She was glad her dad had given her twenty quid. She’d be able to buy Fred’s mum a really lovely brooch. Only a few moments later she found herself coming out down by the harbour. There was the post office, on her left.

‘Now turn left, then look to the right, and tell me what you see,’ said Fred. ‘On the corner.’

‘It’s a sort of gallery, I think,’ said Jess. ‘I don’t know whether they sell brooches. I think it’s mostly paintings and cards and stuff.’

‘You haven’t got to the right place yet,’ said Fred. ‘Look beyond it. Go round the corner, to the other side.’

‘What do you mean, beyond it?’ asked Jess. ‘Beyond it is just the harbour . . .’ Jess went round the corner. And then, she couldn’t believe her eyes. She shrieked.

There was Fred! Right here in St Ives. Leaning against a railing, grinning all over his face and still holding his mobile phone to his ear. All the waves in the harbour dancing and glinting behind him.

‘Fred!’ yelled Jess, so loudly that several dogs barked, gulls screamed and startled babies burst into tears. She hurtled across the intervening cobbles and threw herself into his arms. ‘What! How on earth?!’ She grinned up at him. ‘What in the world are you doing here?’

‘Well, I just fancied a little trip to St Ives,’ said Fred. ‘But if it causes you undue dismay, I will, of course, go home immediately.’

‘How amazing! How amazing! How amazing!’ said Jess, over and over. She simply couldn’t believe it. ‘This is the most fabulous surprise I’ve ever had in my life.’

‘I am informed by my astrologer that Neptune is in cahoots with Carbohydrate,’ said Fred, ‘so you may find that there are even more amazing surprises just around the corner.’

Not even Fred, however, could possibly have guessed how many.