Page 36 of Right Place, Right Time
‘Still doesn’t sound hollow, does it?’ I say, pressing my ear to the wall.
‘What are you doing?’ a voice asks from the doorway of Adam’s shop. ‘I thought I was hearing ghosts with all the knocking. Either that or the builders were back.’
‘Barney, hi,’ I say, feeling a tad awkward. ‘We were … were …’
Adams fills in for me. ‘Seeing if the walls were hollow. Hi, Barney – we haven’t met yet. I’m Adam.’
Adam goes over to Barney, who is still on the other side of the doorway, and holds out his hand. Barney reaches up and shakes it.
‘I’d come in, but you’ve got a little step,’ Barney says, looking down at Adam’s doorway. ‘Makes it a bit difficult with the wheels.’
‘Oh, God, yes, I hadn’t thought,’ Adam says anxiously, looking from Barney’s wheelchair to the step at the entrance of his shop. ‘I’m sorry, I’ll have to get that sorted.’
‘Don’t worry about it,’ Barney says good-naturedly. ‘I’m used to it with old buildings, they weren’t built for wheelchairs. Back when Clockmaker Court was built, people like me would have been hidden away from society. Either that or put in a freak show somewhere.’
Adam looks quite shocked, but I’m used to Barney’s honesty. When it comes to his disability, he never holds back and he always says it exactly how it is, and I admire him for that.
‘You wish you were that interesting!’ I say, winking at him. ‘Who’s going to pay to see you in a show?’
‘Rudeness!’ Barney says, pretending to look offended. ‘I don’t know, Adam, is she this rude to you?’
‘She is, actually,’ Adam says, suddenly getting it and joining in. ‘I thought it was just me.’
‘You poor men with your delicate egos!’ I sigh dramatically. ‘Sorry, I forgot you needed pandering to twenty-four hours a day!’
Barney grins. ‘So what are you really doing in here?’
‘Did you know there isn’t a number seven Clockmaker Court?’ I ask him. ‘I didn’t until just now. We’re number six and Adam is number eight.’
Adam and I join Barney outside and he looks back at the antiques shop. ‘What, so you reckon number seven is behind that wall?’
‘It could be. Why are we called Clockmaker Court if there’s only eleven buildings? There should be twelve, surely. If seven is missing, it should be right here between our two shops.’
‘Might just be solid behind there,’ Barney says, looking at the brick wall now. ‘It happens. Or it could be housing some old plumbing. When these shops were built, plumbed water wouldn’t have been around. Maybe they took a building out at some stage to accommodate all the pipes and stuff when it became more common to have plumbed toilets. Either that or it could have been a privy for the whole court. There was often only one for a number of buildings like this.’
‘Privy?’ Adam asks.
‘It’s an early form of toilet,’ I say. ‘An actual privy was just a hole in the ground filled with ash with a wooden bench over it. Then the term has been used as a nickname for an outdoor toilet, before indoor ones became more popular. You really think it might be where all the sewage and stuff went?’ I wrinkle up my nose.
Barney shrugs. ‘Might have been. It would explain a missing building, and there must have been twelve at some stage – otherwise, like you said, why would it be called Clockmaker Court?’
‘But how can we find out without physically knocking a hole in the wall of one of our shops?’ Adam asks.
‘Don’t look at me.’ I shrug. ‘I was quite happy with my shop until you brought all this up. Now it’s suddenly become this big mystery.’
‘But how can younotwant to know? It’s interesting. It’shistory.’ Adam raises his eyebrows. ‘You love history, you told me so yourself.’
‘I love the history of objects, not buildings,’ I say, folding my arms. But I have to admit I am a little intrigued.
‘Think about all the people who have been in these shops and buildings previously …’ Adam says, trying to sound mysterious to pique my interest. ‘All theirstories… Aren’t you at least a tiny bit interested in what the people inhabiting these buildings have got up to in the past?’
Barney laughs. ‘He knows you pretty well already, Eve!’ Barney winks at Adam, and Adam smiles.
‘All right!’ I agree mostly to shut them both up. ‘We’ll see if we can find out. But exactly how we do that, I’m not too sure.’
‘If we could view the original plans,’ Barney says, ‘that might help. I wonder if they even kept architectural plans back when Clockmaker Court was built?’
‘They might not have back then, but any more recent updates over the years would have to have planning permission. I guess we could try to have a look online.’
