Authors: Bill Williams
Jamie was too shocked to speak as the family members hugged each other before Kevin guided them back to where their towels were laid out on the beach, but they nearly stumbled in the sand as they clung to each other.
‘Debs get them a drink from the flask while I put a towel around them.’
It was a full five minutes before Leanne stopped sobbing. Her mother had made sure that she was completely dry, but she was still shivering as though it was the coldest day of the winter.
Kevin was looking out to sea, shaking his head. He had read about the occasional shark being spotted along this coast line, but he believed they had been basking sharks and harmless. He remembered seeing a wild life programme on the television and was fairly certain that the sharks who had chased Jamie and Leanne had been killer whites and they were far from harmless.
Kevin suggested that they got dressed and went to get something hot to eat. He would decide later whether they would continue on to Newquay, but he already had his doubts about whether Leanne was ready to continue their trip. The family quickly changed out of their swimwear and gathered their belongings together and headed for the steps and started the climb that would take them away from the frightening scene. They paused at the top of the steps to take their last look out to sea, each wondering where the sharks where now and remembering what a peaceful sight it had been just a short time ago. Jamie was the last to turn his head away and when he did he saw the horror that made him want to scream out, but he was too shocked and there was a delay before he got the words out.
‘Dad, look at the car.’ Jamie didn’t wait for his dad to react before he shouted again, ‘Dad, look at the car.’
Kevin was puzzled by his son’s anguished cry until he looked to where Jamie was pointing and saw that Betsy was hanging over the edge of the cliff. They all watched in horror as the car plunged to the beach below, crashing on to the spot they had been sitting on just minutes earlier.
Debbie became hysterical as she screeched at her husband that he must have left the brake off the car. Kevin hugged his wife, trying to console her. He made no attempt to deny the blame even though he knew that the car had been left in gear and had been parked with the handbrake on. He remembered noting that they were only yards away from the cliff face and had taken special care.
* * *
It was late afternoon when Rufus Cranleigh went to look out of his front window after he had heard a car door being closed.
‘Now what’s happened,’ he muttered to himself, convinced that the car was connected to the Tranter family.
‘Oh dear, that doesn’t look good. There must have been an accident,’ Rufus muttered to himself when he saw Debbie getting out of the police car.
Rufus had just finished putting on his shoes when his mother came in from the back garden. He told her that there was a police car next door and he was going to have a look and see if he could help.
When Rufus returned he was shaking his head while muttering, ‘Oh dear.’
‘Rufus will you stop mumbling and tell me what happened. Are they all right? Are the children safe?’
‘Oh dear,’ Rufus repeated, ‘I don’t rightly know what to say. They all seemed too upset to talk. No one seemed hurt, but the little girlie didn’t stop sobbing. They weren’t in an accident as such, but we won’t have to put with that smoky car of theirs anymore?’
‘How do you know?’
‘According to the policeman their car rolled over the cliff top at Crowley Door.’
Mrs Cranleigh was genuinely very upset by the news and sighed, ‘How awful.’
* * *
Rufus was usually up with the birds, but he had been watching television until the early hours and it was past eight o’clock when he was awakened by someone hammering on the door. He was still wearing his sleeping hat and pyjamas when he answered the door and had the microphone thrust in his face by an excitable young woman reporter from the local television station. The Tranter family had ignored her attempts to get them to open their door and she thought she would try her luck with their neighbours, but after Rufus kept replying with, ‘It isn’t any of my business,’ or ‘No comment.’ the reporter gave up and went back to the Tranter house, certain that someone was in there even if the unhelpful neighbour wouldn’t confirm it. After the third hammering on the front door she turned and gave the cameraman the thumbs up sign when she heard the door being opened. As soon as Kevin appeared she immediately started her patter about there being a lot of public interest in their story. She said it might be possible for the television company to provide a replacement car on the condition that they could interview all members of the family.
Kevin gave a huge sigh before he spoke. ‘Excuse me, love.’
Kevin turned and shouted inside the partly opened front door.
‘Jamie, get ready with that water.’
The puzzled reporter looked up when she heard the bedroom window being opened.
‘Now, love I know you are only doing your job, but we don’t want to be interviewed under any circumstances. If you look up you’ll see a bucket that is full of water which my young son is just itching to throw down on that nice hairdo of yours.’
The reporter looked worried as she asked Kevin to be reasonable and tried to convince him that the publicity would help warn other people about the dangers near Crowley Door.
‘I’m sure the message will get out without my family being involved. I want you to leave now and don’t come back, unless you want that pretty hairdo, expensive looking clothes and your camera equipment to be given a real soaking.’
Jamie saw his dad’s signal and he tipped the bucket causing the water to pass close enough to the reporter for her to tell the cameraman that they were leaving. She prided herself on her powers of persuasion, but she knew that this one was a lost cause.
* * *
The family had spent a restless night reliving the horrors at Crowley Door. Kevin had been wondering if those responsible for pushing his car off the cliff had checked to see if anyone was below it first. The local police who had responded to his call from his mobile phone had expressed some surprise about the incident with the sharks, but had not disputed the statements of the badly traumatised family. Although they didn’t comment on the car incident he got the impression that they probably thought that he’d simply forgot to put the handbrake on.
It was mid morning when Kevin called on Rufus and asked him not to talk to the press and then thanked him when Rufus told him that it was none of his business and that’s what he’d told the pesky reporter. Kevin was just leaving Rufus’s house when he saw Pat Rosser’s old Land Rover pull up. Pat Rosser had told Kevin that he could borrow it for as long as he needed it and although it would be a tight squeeze when all the family were in it he was very grateful to his boss.
* * *
Come Monday morning Debbie decided that Leanne should stay at home, but Jamie attended school as usual. The word had got out and some of his class mates wanted to know all the details. Jamie played the whole thing down, but his mates put their own spin on things. He wished one of the boys hadn’t said that they’d heard that Jamie had fought off one of sharks to protect his sister, at least not in earshot of Isobel, because she was giving him one of her soppy looks again. Jamie had agonised whether he should tell his dad about what happened to him when he was inside the ‘door’, but couldn’t see how it would help. His dad had enough trouble trying to cope with his concern about Leanne and how he would replace their car which wasn’t covered by insurance.
* * *
Jamie was kept busy for the rest of the week preparing for his exams and he wasn’t too disappointed that he hadn’t been able to contact Daniel. He’d double checked his computer and everything seemed in order, but when he still hadn’t made contact by the weekend he was worried that the disconnection might be permanent. He never had discovered how the connection was made, but figured that there must be a land line somewhere and perhaps some workmen had dug it up by accident. He couldn’t even contact Daniel by telephone, because he didn’t have the number and when he’d tried directory enquiries, there was only one Cartwright listed in the Scarborough area and he was the local vicar. He would have to hope that Daniel would ask his granddad for Uncle Stanley’s telephone number and he would make contact.
CHAPTER THIRTY
The family were preparing to leave the house when Leanne made her third visit to the bathroom in the last twenty minutes. Kevin smiled, Debbie looked worried, Jamie sighed and they all sat down again.
‘Perhaps we shouldn’t go, Kevin. She’s a bag of nerves, especially after last week,’ Debbie suggested.
‘Of course she is, but she’ll be all right once she settles in and we’ll be there cheering her on.’
Jamie looked at his dad and shook his head. They were going to the Steaderton Show and Leanne was supposed to be taking part in her first novice horse riding competition. Jamie wondered what his dad’s idea of ‘cheering her on’ was. He hoped his dad wasn’t planning to take along his old football supporter’s rattle because he would likely start a stampede amongst the horses.
When Leanne came downstairs she was even paler than when she had dashed up them a few minutes earlier.
‘You don’t have to go, Leanne,’ Debbie said. ‘Mr Rosser will understand if your dad explains that you’re not feeling very well.’
‘Will you explain for me, Daddy?’ Leanne asked, showing her little girl lost look.
‘Of course I will, Princess and perhaps our Jamie could borrow the horse and enter the boy’s competition.’
‘I’m only joking, soft lad, ‘Kevin said in response to the frantic protest by Jamie.
Leanne took a deep breath before delivering her surprising decision, ‘If, Alison Grainger is going to ride, then so am I and Mr Rosser said that Falcon will make sure that I won’t come to any harm.’
‘That’s my girl. Now we’d better get moving,’ Kevin said and then headed for the front door before Leanne changed her mind.
* * *
The annual Steaderton Show was held on the south side of the town, just three miles away and judging by the queue at the entrance to the car park it looked like there was going to be a big attendance. The horse jumping section was close to the overspill car park where Kevin managed to squeeze the Land Rover in between two gleaming 4x4’s.
‘Kevin, be careful,’ Debbie shouted at her husband after the door of the Land Rover nearly touched the car parked next to them, as he struggled to get out.
‘What!’ Kevin queried, ‘It won’t harm that big gas guzzler and anyway they should have left more room.’
‘When are we getting our new car, Dad?’ Jamie asked.
‘We’ll have to wait and see what the bank manager has to say when I see him on Monday and ask him for a small loan to go with what’s left from the money the American gave me. I’ve got my eye on a nice Vectra in that garage off the roundabout.’
Kevin hurried the family towards the marquee fearing that they might be late, but he relaxed when he spotted the friendly face of Pat Rosser who was beckoning to them.
Pat Rosser was about the most relaxed man that Kevin had ever met. The chubby, tanned face and smiling eyes gave the impression of a man who was content with life and Kevin thought that his genial boss would have made an ideal minister. Pat Rosser would be much better that those frosty academic type ministers of the cloth who were hardly an advert for religion with their miserable faces and in some cases being more materialistic than they were expected to be in their position.
Tom Rosser lifted his hat in the direction of Debbie as he greeted the family and then turned his attention to Leanne, sensing her tension.
‘Just enjoy yourself today, my dear and remember what I said about Falcon. He’ll make sure that nothing happens to you. No one expects you to win today, even if Falcon is the best pony at the show. When you’ve had a look around the show I suggest you come to our horsebox around the back and you can spend some time with my daughter Fiona and Falcon.’
Leanne was feeling even better after Pat Rosser’s encouraging words, but her mood quickly changed when she saw the smirking face of the girl who had just appeared.
‘Hello, Leanne. Are you really going to ride your little pony, because you must be very brave if you are! My daddy says that he’s like a donkey that children ride on the beach and doesn’t have any sort of breeding.’
Tom Rosser smiled, ‘Hello, Alison. I’m afraid your daddy doesn’t know much about horses. You might tell him that Falcon’s sire won cups at every show in the county when he competed in the jumping events and Falcon has the potential to be even better.’
Alison Grainger didn’t embarrass easily, but she was blushing when she said that perhaps her daddy meant another horse and hurried away with the sound of Jamie’s laughter in her ears.
* * *
‘You’re on stage, Dad,’ Jamie said after the announcement that the pig show was starting in ten minutes. ‘Are you nervous, Dad?’
Kevin laughed, ‘I’ve been to bigger shows than this, although I’ve never shown Miranda before.’
‘Miranda!’ Debbie questioned the name, ‘Didn’t your Steve once go out with Miranda Perkins?’
‘Miranda Gerkins we called her, but she wasn’t as pretty as my Miranda, Anyway, I’d better be off and settle her down. Wish me luck.’
‘Mum, can we go and see Falcon like Mr Rosser said I should?’ Leanne asked.
‘Of course we can,’ Debbie replied, sensing that Leanne’s tension was beginning to rise again. Debbie was thinking that it had been a bad idea to let Leanne ride today. If it had been Jamie it would have been different because he was like his dad and nothing seemed to bother him. Not many men from Kevin’s background would parade a pig in front of a crowd of people like he did. She was proud of him and she would be proud of her little girl no matter what happened today, even though she had a sneaking feeling that the riding clothes wouldn’t be getting much use in the future.