Page 57 of Right Place, Right Time
‘This is going to work,’ Adam says firmly, putting his hand over the dial. ‘I know it is. So we’re going for 292, right? What about the other digits? Shall I try 290284? That’s my date of birth.’
‘But it’s not mine. Mine would be 290288.’
‘We’ll try both.’
Adam agonisingly turns the dial on the combination lock using both our dates of birth. His first, and then mine. But as I hold my breath in anticipation of the door opening, each time it’s a sigh of disappointment rather than jubilation that I have to let out when the combination fails.
He then tries the year first followed by the day and month, but again it doesn’t work.
‘Worth a try,’ he says, turning back to me. ‘Maybe we’re overthinking this. Maybe whatever is going on isn’t quite as complicated as we think it is.’
I turn away from the door and look around the shop. My eyes rest on some vintage children’s annuals that Adam has displayed face-out on the shelf and I cry out as I suddenly realise what we’ve forgotten.
‘We forgot the comic connection!’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Archie, your great-grandfather, used to sell comics here, didn’t he? Ben told us all about it. And George, your grandfather, used to collect superhero stuff too – he had it in his house. And then Barney discovered that doodle – the circles with the star.’
‘Captain America’s shield …’
‘And he said he thought the word Earth written in the middle represented three numbers … Can you remember what they were?’
Adam shakes his head.
‘Argh!’ Frustrated, I bury my head in my hands. ‘What did he say they were?’
We both think.
‘He said it was something to do with Marvel comics, didn’t he?’ Adam says, his forehead furrowed as he tries to remember.
‘Yes!’ I pull my phone from my bag and quickly google the wordsMarvel,NumberandEarth. ‘616!’ I tell Adam, almost dropping my phone in excitement. ‘Try 616 with 292. Both ways round.’
Adam tries 616292 first, but infuriatingly the door stays locked. Then he tries 292616. ‘If this doesn’t work, we really are back at square one again,’ he says as he’s about to turn the last digit. Slowly he turns the dial to the finalsix, and we both hear a very clear and a very satisfying clicking sound.
Adam turns back to me. ‘It only bloody worked!’ he says, his eyes wide with excitement. ‘I think we’re in!’
‘Now to find out what’s on the other side of this door …’ I say in barely a whisper. ‘It had better be worth it after all this time.’
18
Adam slowly and carefully swings open the door as if we might find something from a horror movie behind it, biding its time to jump out and scare us.
‘You’re not afraid, are you?’ I ask, grinning as he opens the door a few centimetres at a time.
‘No, of course not!’ he says, standing up straight and pulling his shoulders back.
But as we open the door further, it only reveals a darkened room with no obvious windows or doors to allow any light in.
‘Is there a light switch?’ I ask as Adam tentatively steps forward into the dark.
‘I don’t know, do I?’ he says, pulling out his phone and switching on the torch. ‘Yes, look – there on the wall.’
Adam reaches for an old black Bakelite light switch, but when he clicks it, nothing happens. ‘Looks like there was a working bulb once,’ he says, directing his torch up to the ceiling from which a single bulb hangs from a cord. He shines the light further around the room.
‘It’s more like a big corridor, than a room,’ I say, peering over his shoulder. ‘It doesn’t look like there’s anything in here.’
‘You can see where the entrance to the building would once have been.’ Adam holds the beam of light on the same wall where the exterior doors to both our shops are. ‘It’s all bricked up now, though. The window too.’
