Page 13 of Summer at Harbour View House
‘They might!’
‘I can’t get it back now.’
Natasha glared at Hannah. ‘Yes, you can. See there, there’s a break in the hedge. I’ll give you a leg up.’
‘No!’
‘Hannah … I might not be Little Miss Countryside Code, but you can’t go doing stuff like that.’
Hannah tried to stamp her foot again, but her balance was off and she nearly fell over. She folded her arms and glared at Natasha, but after a few seconds she let out a sigh and shrugged. ‘Alright. If you really want.’
‘I do. Look, I’ll go over if you want.’
‘Really?’
‘Sure….’
‘Great. I really don’t want to get this top dirty. What do you want me to do?’
Natasha could have asked Hannah to help, but the hedge wasn’t so tall and Hannah wasn’t so strong, so it was easier just to climb over herself. Despite a few scratches and bumped knees on a broken tree branch, she made it over into the field, found the shoe lying in the grass, and was just climbing back over when the tractor appeared around the corner. It pulled up nearby with Natasha still guiltily straddling the top of the hedge, Hannah’s shoe in her hand.
An old man in a flat cap and a check shirt leaned out. His face was as lined as a dried riverbed, but his beard was more blonde than grey. He touched the edge of his cap and chuckled.
‘Found t’other glass slipper, ‘ave ‘e? Always thought e’d be round here somewhere. Can’t beat a fine Cornish maid. Which of ‘e be old Cinders, and which be the stepsister? Not as ugly as them maids always look in the book, eh?’
‘I’m sorry,’ Natasha said, still sitting on top of the hedge. ‘My friend’s shoe … ah … came off.’
‘And I’m Bishop Trelawny. You’s weren’t eatin’ a bit of grass in there, were ‘e?’
‘What does he mean?’ Hannah hissed.
‘I’m not sure we want to know,’ Natasha whispered. Turning to the man in the tractor, she said, ‘Um, is this the road to Penkoe?’
‘Pinkle? Yeah, this be it. Bus not take you down? He’s a heller for a turning circle down there. Lazy sod prob wanted to get ‘ome to his fish’n’chips.’ He chuckled. ‘Proper job.’
‘The bus is supposed to go down there?’
‘Right.’
Natasha exchanged a look with Hannah. ‘Well, it didn’t,’ she said to the man. ‘Is it far?’
The man hooked a thumb back over his shoulder. ‘Not in back of me trailer. Jump in. I’ll give ‘e a ride.’ The girls must have looked scared, because the man started to laugh. ‘Don’t ‘e worry. All friends round ‘ere. Plus, only got me peg, innit?’ He opened the tractor’s door and stuck out a leg. A wooden stump poked out of the end of his trouser leg.
‘Oh my god!’ Hannah cried. ‘What happened?’
‘Got bitten off,’ the man said. ‘Shark.’
‘A Great White?’
‘Nah, this is Cornwall. Got me own back, didn’t I?’ Before they could ask how, he added, ‘Come on, climb on.’
Natasha looked at Hannah, who shrugged. ‘What do you think?’ Natasha said. ‘As long as we stick together.’
Hannah gave a nervous laugh. ‘This is an adventure, isn’t it? Come on then.’
5
An Unusual Dinner and an Audience With King James
