Page 94 of Right Place, Right Time
‘Actually,’ Barney says, snapping out of his ‘emotional turmoil’ pretty fast to sound affronted now instead. ‘I should be upset that you didn’t mention me in that impassioned speech, Adam. I’ve been involved in working a lot of this stuff out too, you know.’
‘You have indeed, Barney,’ Adam says, pretending to be serious. ‘Do you want a pat on the back instead? Or a hug, maybe?’
‘Nah,’ Barney says, switching back to his normal self. ‘I’m good, thanks. You stay right there on that bench. I think you and me have had enough physical contact already since you’ve been carrying me up and down the stairs!’
Adam grins. ‘Will do.’ He looks up at the tree again. ‘I still think this tree has something to do with how the portal works. It seems to be involved in everything else.’
‘I definitely think it is,’ I say, looking up with him. ‘But how?’
All three of us stare up at the tree.
‘You remember when we read those letters we found hidden in the book?’ Adam says. ‘It said in mine to remember that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. I never really understood what that meant, but now I thinkmy grandfather is telling us the tree is involved with how the portal works.’
‘I think so too,’ I reply. ‘Wait … what if the brass calendar doesn’t work when it’s down in the office, but it does work when it’s up here in the light?’
‘How do you mean?’
‘Maybe rather than the building like I originally thought, the tree uses the calendar as a sundial? If we turned the dates on the calendar to where we wanted to go, and held it under the same light source that’s shining on the building, we’d get a shadow on the calendar from the tree …’
I look from Adam to Barney to gauge their reaction.
‘You did say that little calendar thing looked really old when we first saw it,’ Adam says. ‘Do you think it could be Roman old?’
‘It’s very well preserved if it is. But I definitely think it could be. What if no one could fully control the portal until the Romans arrived here? But using the sun, the moon, this ancient oak tree and a rudimentary early calendar, they were able to for the first time?’
‘You know what they say?’ Barney says, looking excitedly at us both. ‘When in Rome …’
32
‘Are you nervous?’ Barney asks.
‘Yes, are you?’ I glance across at him.
The three of us are standing outside the brick wall between the antiques shop and the bookshop, waiting for the sun’s rays to hit the hidden building, and the shadow from the tree to hit the brass calendar held firmly in my hands. We’ve set the calendar for a date earlier this year, to test it for the first time.
There was much discussion in the little time we had about when to set our possible first trip back in time, with the two men choosing all sorts of famous dates in history. But we eventually decided to attempt to go back just a little way, to see if this portal actually works, and not to try anything too radical.
‘Of course I am,’ Barney says. ‘I’m bricking it.’
Adam grins at him.
The sun finally moves across onto the building. I don’t know what we were all expecting to happen when it did, but nothing unusual happens as the sun’s rays warm the honey-coloured wall and the heavy grey timbers.
‘Hurry, Eve, get the calendar in the right place for the shadow,’ Adam says anxiously.
‘All right,’ I reply calmly. ‘I am.’ I move the brass calendar around until the shadow passes over the dates that we’ve set, and again we wait.
‘What now?’ I ask when nothing happens. Everything happened so fast when we decided this might be worth a try. The sun was moving so rapidly towards the hidden building in Clockmaker Court that there was no time to discuss what we’d actually do once everything else was put into place. ‘Should we go down to the office and see if anything has actually happened?’
‘Yes, I think …’ Barney stops. ‘Rocky, at ten o’clock!’ he whispers urgently, looking behind me. ‘You two go down there. I’ll head him off.’
‘Are you sure?’ I ask.
‘Yes, it will take too long to get me down there. Go! Go!’ He swivels his chair in Rocky’s direction. ‘Tell me what happens later.’
Adam and I rush towards my shop. This morning, we found the entrance down to the office was actually easier taken from my side than his. Once we peeled back the wallpaper, we found the metal door was secured with the same six-digit code as the one in Adam’s shop. But rather than the great huge bookcase that now covers the secret door in Adam’s shop, in my shop we only have to move the grandfather clock.
‘Look,’ I gasp as we pass the clock, already moved to one side to allow us quick entry down to the office.
