The TV Time Travellers (17 page)

In the kitchen the four of us sat eating this grey wartime food, just as if nothing had happened and we were still on the
show
. But were we? Had Wally just had a hissy fit? And could he stop the whole show anyway?

Then Farmer Benson appeared. He looked grim
.

‘Are we still being filmed?’ asked Harriet
.

‘No, all filming has been suspended,’ Farmer Benson said. ‘But no more questions right now, please. There are meetings going on all over the place.’ Then his wife bobbed in and looked as if she was about to ask him something. But he shook his head at her too. ‘I can’t say anything right now,’ he muttered to her
.

‘I hope we’re still in the war,’ said Zac anxiously
.

‘I think we’re all about to be chucked out and sent home,’ said Leo
.

‘Oh no, I really don’t want to do that,’ said Zac
.

Finally Wally appeared. He wasn’t wearing his gown any more and his face looked as rumpled as an unmade bed. But his eyes still burned furiously as he spat his words out at us: ‘I have come to a
decision
, which Reality Plus has entirely agreed with. Your constant appalling behaviour has made it impossible for the evacuation experience to continue.’

We were all stunned by this news, never really believing the show would just splutter to an end
.

Wally continued, ‘This is entirely your fault. You refused to obey the rules of wartime Britain.’

‘No, we didn’t,’ I replied. ‘We refused to obey the rules of
Strictly Evacuees,
which is something quite different.’

Wally’s face started to turn crimson. ‘Far too many rules have been broken for this experiment to continue,’ he said firmly. ‘But we hope to resume the show later, with a completely new set of contestants. You will all stay here tonight and the company will arrange your travel home first thing tomorrow. Your parents have been informed and will meet you at Paddington station tomorrow.’ Then he added, with a withered little smile, ‘Of course none of you have won our holiday prize. And tonight’s events and outbursts will not be broadcast on our
Strictly
Evacuees
highlights show. Instead, we shall issue a statement saying you were unable to deal with life as an evacuee so we’re letting you all go.’

‘Which is a total lie,’ I said. ‘But what does one more of those matter?’

Wally was, without doubt, the angriest person I’d ever met. He was almost permanently furious. But now a gale force of rage shot through him as he shrieked, ‘I left teaching some time ago because of the decline in manners, but I had a dream of bringing young people back to basic values of politeness and good behaviour. However, you have defeated even me.’

And with that he disappeared. There was a silence for a moment. Then Leo said, ‘I think what Mr Cheery Chuckles means is that we’ve won. And he said he’d break us.’ But it didn’t feel like a victory at all
.

Then Zac piped up, ‘The show’s finishing all because of me, isn’t it? I should have just gone when I was told.’

‘No, you shouldn’t,’ said a firm voice. ‘Reality Plus went too far tonight – and now they are paying the consequences.’ It
was
Miss Weed. She went on, ‘I also looked forward to reacquainting modern children with old-time manners – something I firmly believe they need – but not to playing tricks on them. I really should have spoken up before. I’m very glad you two did tonight.’

Then she left too. She was a dry old stick who could be a total pain, but I sort of respected her and was actually sorry she’d gone. And knowing that Leo and I had done the right thing didn’t stop me feeling horribly flat, especially as we’d all creep back home as failures now – people who just couldn’t cope with being an evacuee
.

That’s how we’d be branded anyway
.

I think Farmer Benson knew we were all feeling a bit down as he bounced in and said he wouldn’t be able to get hold of any modern technology – like a television – until tomorrow. But he was going to make our last night here a very special one
.

So we put on our normal clothes again – all except Zac, who said he preferred his evacuee clothes – and Mrs Benson
announced
, ‘The bathroom is now open to the public once more.’ And the room, which had been locked all through the evacuation experience, now gleamed and shone in a wonderful 2009 way
.

There was no more rationing either – we could eat what we wanted. And as we didn’t do any homework that night we had a joke-telling competition instead. The prize was one big bar of glorious chocolate. You can probably guess who won too: Leo, although Harriet came a very close second
.

Later Farmer Benson told us his story. His farm had been struggling to make enough money for a while now. They’d started opening up the place for school visits and even having some people stay for bed and breakfast. But money was still very tight. So when Reality Plus wanted to ‘borrow’ his farm, it had seemed a heaven-sent piece of luck
.

‘How much money do you think you’ll get now?’ asked Leo. ‘Do you have to do this again with a new group of evacuees?’

Farmer Benson gave a small smile. ‘Now there’s a question or two.’ Later he
went
off to check on the animals. Of course none of us had any chores to do now, but Zac said he’d like to help. Farmer Benson looked pleased about that. And he and Zac were gone for ages
.

At one point Leo went off to offer to help too (‘keenly hoping they’ll say no,’ he added), but he quickly came back again. ‘Farmer Benson and Zac are just sitting outside the barn talking,’ he said, ‘so I’ve left them to it.’

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

The New Evacuee

Zac

‘I SHALL REALLY
miss having you to help me do the chores,’ said Farmer Benson. We were sitting outside the barn when he said that. And I realized that this was my chance. I felt he might be a little bit alarmed though, if I just blurted out that I wished to stay here until I was grown up. Probably better to build up to that. So first I asked if Victor was still visiting the farm tomorrow.

‘Oh, yes,’ said Farmer Benson. ‘That wasn’t just a stunt for the cameras. I really want to see Victor back here in his old home.’

‘So do I,’ I said. ‘That’s why I was wondering if I could stay on and watch this moment of history too.’

‘Well, I don’t see why not,’ said Farmer Benson, ‘only you’d be here as my guest.’

I nodded eagerly.

‘I’ll have to check with your father first, of course.’

‘Oh, he’s still away in Paris and my Aunt Sara won’t mind at all. In fact, she’ll be delighted.’

Farmer Benson looked a bit surprised at this and said gently, ‘I think you might be surprised at how much your Aunt Sara has missed you.’

‘No, I won’t,’ I said firmly, ‘because it’s not at all; just as I haven’t missed her at all either.’

Farmer Benson frowned, and then said, ‘Well, if your family agree, you can certainly stay on tomorrow. Anyway, I know Victor would be disappointed if you weren’t here.’

I went on, ‘Actually, if it’s all right with you, what I’d really like is to stay on here’ – and I really had meant to say ‘a few more days’, but I got so excited I
cried
out – ‘a few more years.’ Then, as Farmer Benson looked totally stunned, I added hastily, ‘Of course you haven’t got to adopt me or anything. No, I’ll just live here as Victor did before, as an evacuee. A new evacuee is what I’ll call myself. And don’t worry – I’ll work so hard for you . . .’ Then, as Farmer Benson was still gazing at me in a very shocked kind of way I got up. ‘Of course you’ll want to have a word with Mrs Benson about this. So I’ll go and have a look at the pigs for five minutes – will it be all right if I come into the farmhouse for your decision then?’ And as even then he didn’t answer, I said, ‘So that’s what I’ll do then. See you in five minutes. Cheerio for now.’

‘Now just wait a moment here,’ cried Farmer Benson, finding his voice at last. ‘We’ve suddenly started travelling along at two hundred miles an hour. One moment you’re asking if you can stay on here for an extra day, and the next you’re saying you want to live here for a few more years.’ He stood up suddenly and I thought for one awful moment he was
going
to walk off. But instead he rubbed his hands together. ‘What a day this has been . . . what a day.’ Then he turned to me. ‘A horrible thing happened to you tonight. Right out of the blue you heard you were going to be evicted – for nothing. So you’re feeling a bit unsettled, but in the morning after a good night’s sleep you’ll see things differently.’

‘Excuse me contradicting you, but I’ve been planning to live here with you for days actually. And I was just trying to pick the right moment to inform you.’

‘Well, I’m very glad you finally did,’ said Farmer Benson. ‘And you’ve paid my wife and me a huge compliment tonight. But there are a few things I need to ask you first.’

‘I understand,’ I said. ‘You want to know if I can earn my keep.’

He laughed suddenly. ‘You’re a funny lad,’ he said.

‘Everyone says that,’ I agreed.

‘But you’re a very good lad too and it’s been a pleasure having you about the place.’

‘Has it really?’ I said eagerly. ‘I’m so very glad about that.’

Farmer Benson laughed again, but he looked kind of sad too. And then he asked me tons of questions about me and my family. I’d told him little bits before in all the chats we’d had together, but now I could feel him really listening to me.

And at the end I said, ‘Well, you know far more about me than your grandad did about Victor and Dennis when they arrived here.’

‘That’s true enough,’ he said. ‘In fact, the evacuees stood in a line and local people just picked the ones they liked the look of. That’s how Victor and Dennis ended up here. Times have changed a bit since then though.’ He got up. ‘Now let me think about all this – but don’t worry, Zac, I’ll look after you.’

That made me feel so full of hope.

CHAPTER THIRTY

A Final Shock

Izzy

I MUST HAVE
slept for about five seconds that night as Harriet and I sat up talking for hours and hours. I’d been a little bit wary of her at first. Well, just when I thought I knew all about Harriet, she’d gone and turned herself into someone quite different. But we quickly got on and she kept apologizing for the things she’d done to wind me up

Harriet said, ‘Wally kept whispering to me:
“Strictly Evacuees
don’t think you’re being annoying enough.” And it was quite hard thinking up new things. That’s why I pretended you snored.’

‘I was really upset about that.’

‘I know. Sorry.’

‘I’ll forgive you, if you just say it one more time; the most irritating sentence in the history of the entire world.’

Harriet laughed and then yelled, ‘It’s all good, babe, all good.’

In the morning Mrs Benson prepared us a superb breakfast; she broke egg after egg into the frying pan (we all had to eat at least two each), tomatoes, and then bacon, sausages, beans . . . I’d never in my life enjoyed eating more. To have food which had some flavour again seemed like an incredible treat. But I couldn’t eat as much as I wanted. I’m sure my stomach had shrunk while I was being an evacuee. Then this car pulled up to take us to the station. Only Zac wasn’t coming with us. Farmer Benson said Zac was staying behind to meet Victor again
.

But when we asked Zac for his address and phone number, he said, ‘Just contact the farm. I’ll still be here . . . but don’t say anything. It’s a secret for now.’

‘You’re really going to stay on here,’ I
said
. And Zac nodded, grinning from ear to ear
.

‘What do you think?’ I asked Leo a bit later
.

‘It’s what he really wants,’ said Leo. ‘And as he fits in here better than at his aunt’s house, why not?’

When the taxi pulled away I felt a huge lump in my throat as I said goodbye – not to just Farmer and Mrs Benson (and I’d got to really like her) and poor little Zac, but to all my dreams of fame, money and a dream holiday too. Coming here had been the biggest adventure of my life. Yet now I felt as if I’d achieved exactly nothing. Mum and I were, in fact, exactly where we were before
.