CHAPTER TWO
‘I’m awfully sorry about that,’ said an embarrassed Laura, as she wiped the last of the freshly-regurgitated carrot and coriander quiche from the young man’s trainers. ‘I thought for one moment you were possessed by the devil and, having committed a series of grisly, axe murders around the town, you had come here to continue your orgy of macabre mayhem and Richie and I were to be your next victims. How silly of me not to notice the words TED HACKETT AND SON – FAMILY BUTCHERS which are so plainly visible on the side of your van.
‘Don’t mention it, miss. If you’ll just sign here for this delivery, I’ll be on my way!’ said the young man.
‘Oh great, it’s arrived at last!’ little Richie cried gleefully, as he came skipping down the garden path and caught sight of the large box which the youth was carrying.
As Richie was signing for his package Laura noticed a thin trickle of red liquid seeping from one corner.
‘You’re not up to one of your projects again, are you?’ she asked her brother suspiciously.
Richie was spared from answering by the arrival of yet another delivery vehicle. This time the sign on the side read ED’S ELECTRICAL – YOU WON’T BE SHOCKED BY OUR PRICES
‘Delivery for Mr Richie Fudge,’ grunted the grizzled, old driver, handing over another large and heavy package.
‘Brilliant!’ cried Richie. ‘Now I can really get to work!’
In that instant, Laura knew that her brother was definitely up to something!
Later that day, Laura tried to look on the bright side.
She told herself that she was very lucky not to be going to the end of term pyjama ’n’ snog party with Kent Broadacre. When she’d first asked him if he fancied going to the party he’d stared at his feet and mumbled something about having to stay in and ‘wash his hamster’. Laura thought this was rather odd. As far as she knew, Kent didn’t own a hamster. Nevertheless, she’d decided not to say any more about it. She didn’t want to upset him. He’d already been a bit offhand with her just lately. Nothing too drastic, just little things like holding his nose every time he kissed her and making her walk on the other side of the street when they were out together.
But I mustn’t start getting paranoid again, thought Laura. And it won’t hurt to stay at home for one night and look after my little brother.
Not that there was really any looking-after to do. Since the mysterious packages had arrived Richie had been in his room all the time. Apart from the occasional burst of maniacal laughter, agonised groan or crackle of static, she wouldn’t have known he was in there. She often wondered what went on in that room. No one, apart from Richie, had been in there for weeks. What on earth could he be up to? Probably nothing to worry about. He was more than likely practising a heart by-pass operation on one of his pet mice or building himself a super-computer out of matchsticks.
Laura sighed wistfully. My brother is such a clever little boy, she thought, but I really do wish he could be more like the other children in town with their innocent laughter, games of tag and gold-plated mountain bikes.
Perhaps if he was, they’d want to play with him instead of constantly trying to steal his bow tie. He was so anti-social as well. If any of the other children even tried to chat with him he would charge them a consultation fee! He was definitely a very unpopular little boy. His parents despaired of him. Laura had lost count of the number of times they’d told him to make himself a new friend.
As Laura stared moodily at the storm clouds which were gathering over Beelzebub Cottage, the telephone rang and her heart leapt. She rushed to answer it. Please let it be Kent! she prayed.
‘Hi Laura, it’s me!’ said a voice.
It was the elfinly pretty Kelly Jughope, Laura’s best friend and the current Miss Elvis Falls. She was obviously dying to tell Laura something.
‘Listen!’ said Kelly. ‘You’ll never guess who I saw at the pyjama ’n’ snog party tonight and you’ll never guess who he was with and you’ll never guess what they were holding and what they were doing with it!’
A cold shiver ran down Laura’s spine. She suddenly had a horrible premonition.
‘Yes!’ cried Kelly. ‘That’s exactly right, Laura. It was Kent and he was with Tamsin Tempest and they were holding his hamster.’
‘And what were they doing with it?’ gasped Laura choking back hot tears of pain and rage.
‘They were … shampooing it!’ sniggered Kelly.
So it was true. Kent was going out with Tamsin. And they were … petting!