The Ideas Pirates (2 page)

Chapter 2

Excited by her find, Amy waved the card around. ‘Looks like a business card. 3 DISC, THE GREATEST PUBLIC RADIO STATION in Australia. 3DISC'

Christopher took the card. ‘Great logo.' He admired the sketch of a microphone.

‘Do you think that card is from the sender, or where it's supposed to go?'

‘When we get to Sydney, let's check at the post office. They have telephone directories for everywhere. Or we can Google it.'

.If we've got time. Aunty Viv will probably be late.'

‘As usual.'

Then Christopher had another idea.

‘Got any change? Thanks. I'll only be a minute! Keep our place in the ticket queue.'

Big Ben and the arguers had gone by now. A burly man with a big suitcase joined the queue. He looked a little nervous, especially when he heard Fifi complaining.

Christopher fed money into the available scanner. He lifted the lid and put the 3 DISC card on the glass for copying. It would be useful to have a second copy if the twins were both trying to check where it came from. He pressed the button.

A map slid out.

‘Hey!' Christopher grabbed the black and white copy. He bent over the marked map. Australian parks with crosses on certain areas.

Why would Big Ben and those travellers need this? Christopher checked the money slot. His coin was still there. Perhaps the man put more money in when it didn't work the first time? Perhaps they were bush-walkers working out where they wanted to go?

But why had he left his map behind? Maybe he just took one and left the other by mistake?

The German travellers had vanished into the airport crowds. Christopher knew where they were going.

Their bags had SYD on the tags. Probably they'd be on the same plane because, it was another three hours until the next flight to Sydney.

Carefully Christopher folded the map and put it in his sketch book. He also took the copy of the 3 DISC card. He could give the map copy to Big Ben later, on the flight.

‘Chris! ‘ Amy was nearly at the front of the queue now. Fifi was waiting at the side clutching her gnome and looking cross.

Hurrying to join his sister, Christopher tripped over a jutting out backpack. The owner ,a dark haired young man was speaking loudly into his mobile

‘Jason here. Nothing much happening in Singapore. I'll contact you from Sydney if he contacts me.'

The backpack flapped open showing rainbow layers of shirts. Christopher made a grab for the backpack and caught one side. Shirts spilled onto the ground.

‘Sorry,' muttered Christopher. ‘I just didn't see it.' Nervously he pushed back his round glasses. Owners of glasses weren't always clumsy. People just expected them to be. So he tried to close the flap carefully.

‘Idiot!'

Jason dropped on his knees and looked around quickly to check who was watching him. Amy was. So was Fifi. Who stepped towards him.

‘Excuse me young man! Where did you get those?'

‘ER ... I bought them...'Jason looked slightly nervous.

‘But who did you buy them for?' Fifi pulled one out for a closer look.

‘That's none of your business.' Jason stuffed the shirts back inside.' I like lots of changes.' Then he turned ,strapped the purple and aqua backpack and put it quickly into the baggage chute. That meant it would be stored underneath in the baggage compartment of the plane. Hand luggage went on board with the passengers. Amy clutched her backpack. Edwina was inside. She was hand luggage, always.

‘It just MIGHT be my business,' boomed Fifi. ‘Just a minute young man!'

But the airline clerk interfered.

‘Your tickets are here Madam. And I must keep the queue moving. Could you talk somewhere else?'

Firmly the clerk gave out the tickets and grabbed Jason's bag. It jerked down the conveyor belt.

People in the queue were complaining. ‘This is so slow!'

‘Can't they hurry up?' The burly man looked unhappy.

Quickly Jason flipped the phone shut and stowed it in his briefcase. After getting his boarding pass, he strode away.

Fifi couldn't move fast enough. ‘I'll catch up with you later, young man!'

Meanwhile, Christopher thought about what Jason said. He was wrong. Lots happened in Singapore, especially if you stayed with Mum's family. Swimming, eating at roadside stalls, visiting temples and extra Chinese lessons if their grandmother caught them. Gran didn't think much of their Chinese language skills. So she made them speak it all the time. And then a man gave a mysterious package to your sister. That was something happening!

‘I wonder why he has so many shirts? You couldn't change thirty times a day.'

‘Maybe he likes being colour coordinated?'

‘With that many colours! Co-ordinated with what?'

Later the twins found out. Once they had their seat allocations, Amy wanted to look around the airport shops.

‘Gateway 8 at 11 am. You know where to go and what to do?'

‘Yes. Thank you.' Amy gave Christopher his boarding pass.

Children travelling alone were called Unaccompanied Minors, or UMs.

The airlines looked after them even though the twins had travelled by themselves many times before.

‘Hurry up. We've got an hour before the plane goes. Let's look for the mystery man. AND I've got a few Singapore dollars left from Gran's New Year's “lucky' money”.

She unwrapped the ‘lucky' red paper.

Outside the flower shop, Amy looked at the jonquils and peonies. ‘Aren't they the flowers with Chinese names which mean wealth?'

‘Can't remember the Chinese word,' admitted Christopher. Their grandmother wouldn't be pleased about that. She'd spent the holidays improving their Chinese conversation.

‘There's another U.M.' Christopher pointed at the dark haired boy sitting with a name-tag on his jacket.

An airport attendant was bending over, speaking to him kindly. He had a wrapped present in his lap.

‘Looks like a first-timer.'

‘Hi. Why are you going to Sydney?'

The boy looked at them. “How did you know where I was going?'

‘You've got SYD on your hand luggage. You're sitting near the gateway for the Sydney plane and you're wearing the uniform of a Sydney school.'

‘Oh. I bet you don't know what's in this?' he pointed to the red wrapping.

‘Chinese New Year present?' Amy guessed.

‘No, it's a fruitcake. Mum sent it to my host family but they don't eat fruitcake. Anyway I forgot to give it to them.'

‘The attendant interrupted. ‘Should you be on my list? Are you two travelling alone too?'

‘Yes,' said Amy quickly. ‘But we're fine. We do it all the time. The airline knows about us.'

Beforehand, Mum and Dad always planned every travel detail. Tickets. Passports, currency, departure and arrival times, bags, labels.

And how to say ‘I'm lost and I'm staying at .........' in the local language. Luckily, this time, the twins were flying home to Australia , so language wasn't a problem.

Today their parents had left them with the airport staff and then hurried to work. They were taking special photographs of VIPs having breakfast with the orang-utan at Singapore's Zoological Gardens.

‘Are you sure you'll be all right? Aunty Viv will meet you in Sydney. I told her the arrival time and the flight number.'

‘We'll be okay. Say hi to the orang-utan for us.' They kissed goodbye.

Although a staff member was always nearby, Amy and Christopher liked to look after themselves.

‘Woof, woof. Do you bite?' said the UM looking at the sign above Amy ‘s head.

She looked up too.

‘Very funny,' said Amy in a voice which meant the opposite. What a dag!

Above her was the DRUG DETECTOR DOG sign. Underneath it said DO NOT PET OR BITE.

‘Where are your parents?' asked the UM.

‘Working in Singapore this week.'

Because they were eco-photographers , Mum and Dad wrote about and photographed wild life or threatened places. Often the twins flew to meet them at the airport closest to their work.

‘My parents are at home. I won a trip to a school maths competition in Singapore and I came second. Yesterday my host family took me to Bird Park Jurong, Sentosa Island and the Haw Par Village. It used to be called the Tiger Balm Gardens . I nearly got lost there. ‘

‘Hey! Wild! Isn't that their latest song? ‘

Music trickled through the sound system but the UM kept talking.

‘Have you ever been lost? ‘

Amy nodded but the UM took no notice. He put the red parcel on the seat and just kept talking.

‘They thought I was lost last term. I was sick at school . When I told Mrs Hill my teacher, they put me in the sickbay. I fell asleep. At home time I was still asleep and the teacher forgot about me. They went home.'

‘Was this in Singapore or home in Australia?' Christopher wasn't listening properly.

‘In Australia of course. At St Micheals. When Mrs Hill remembered, it was 9 o'clock and my Mum and Dad thought I'd been kidnapped. A policeman searched the school for clues and found me. I woke up when he shone a torch in my face.'

‘Why would anyone want to kidnap you?' Kidnappers would have to listen to Motor Mouth all day!

‘ Dad works for DRUGS INTERNATIONAL, an international drug company. Legal drugs. But some protest groups are making things hard for him.' The UM stopped for a breath .' ... and something important has been lost ...'

‘Oh ... see you later.' Christopher pulled his sister away.

‘Can't I come with you? My name's Winston.'

‘No, you're to stay with me,' said the attendant firmly. ‘Look you've left your package behind.' She handed him the red parcel with a fixed polite smile. Airline people were ALWAYS polite, even with nerds like Winston.

‘See you Winston. Got a few things to check out.'

‘Seems like a dag,' Amy commented to her brother as they hurried away.

‘Oh, he's all right. Just trying to impress us because there's one of him and two of us. Probably made up that lost stuff.'

‘D'you reckon?'

‘Anyway he gave me an idea about that e-disc. Let's find a music shop. They should have it!'

At the music shop there was a clue to the mystery package.

‘That background music! On the speakers!'

‘Of course!' Excitedly Amy pointed to a display pile of pop music. ‘There's a link! ‘ “The Slipper Orchids” are a pop group!'

Christopher wasn't convinced.' That might just be coincidence.'

‘Orchids are Singapore's national flower. Lots of things are linked with orchids.'

So with her Gran's red wrapped ‘good luck' money, Amy bought a copy of Slipper Orchids' tape. Christopher bought re-chargeable batteries. And spares..

Then she slipped it into her audio-I and flipped PLAY. ‘ Wild' was the latest song by this Singapore pop group. Amy tried to work out the lyrics. Mostly it was ‘wild, wild, wild.'

‘That's not much of a secret message!' She listened a second time with her headphones.

After sorting his cam, Christopher pulled out the map and studied it. At the news stand, Amy glanced at the ‘Straits Times'. The heading ‘Wild Slippers' caught her attention. That message which the mysterious stranger had whispered to her was popping up everywhere!

Wild Slippers

An orchid smuggler received a six months jail sentence for trading in wild-collected slipper orchids ... illegal possession of plants which had been wild-collected in Southern China. A total of 2269 specimens were found in his apartment.

Could this have anything to do with the package? Was the mysterious man an orchid smuggler? What was the connection?

‘Wonder how pop groups choose the names for their songs?' said Christopher but Amy's thoughts rushed on.

‘And what has it got to do with me? Why did he give it to me? She took out the e-disc again. The answer must be hidden inside somewhere.

Meanwhile, Christopher examined the map of Australian parks. That wasn't unusual. Lots of people bought maps and marked where they were going to visit. But Christopher was suspicious.

‘Why have they marked all these parks? Look.'

Amy stared as Christopher pointed.

‘They've put crosses on here and here.'

‘Maybe they're going to pitch tents on those spots? Perhaps that's where they visited last time ... and they want to go back?'

Just then a large hand reached across Amy's shoulder. ‘Excuse me,' said a thickly accented voice.

‘That is mine!' Big Ben grabbed the map as if it were a secret plan.

‘We weren't hurting it!' said Christopher ‘Maps aren't secret.'

‘This one is.' And the traveller left abruptly. ‘You took it from the scanner.'

The twins stared after him. Christopher whipped out his camera, but people look all the same when photographed from the back. Still he took one shot anyway. You never know when it might be useful.