29. S.O.S
Chapter 29
S.O.S
‘ I can remember the special code Dad told us,’ said Oliver. ‘It was three short ones, then three long ones, then three short ones.’
‘That’s S or S and it means help.’ Harry said.
‘It’s S O S, not or ,’ Oliver said but there was no time to argue.
‘It’s worth a try,’ Amy said. ‘Granny Diane might look out of the cottage windows. Although we’re at the back of the house here, so she’d have to be in the kitchen to see us. Can you see right down to the cottage from where you are?’
‘Yes, I can see the kitchen window. There’s a light on, so she might be in there.’
‘Give me the torch. I’m the one who knows the code,’ Oliver said solemnly.
‘I brought the torch; I want to do it,’ Harry said.
‘Take it in turns. Olly, you go first and remind Harry what the code looks like, then it’s your turn.’
‘You always pick Oliver first. It’s not fair,’ Harry grumbled as Oliver started to flash the torch on and off in the direction of the cottage.
‘Not now, Harry. This is important. Please do what you’re told.’
‘Okay.’ He didn’t seem so bothered now it was his turn.
‘We’ll give it five minutes, then if she hasn’t seen you’re going to go down the hill without me.’ She crossed her fingers and hoped Diane was looking in their direction. It might not work. It wasn’t completely dark yet so the torch might not be bright enough to be seen from the cottage, and even if she saw it would Diane know what it meant?
The boys took turns with the torch. Nothing happened and the skies were getting darker. Soon she was going to have to send them back down the hill and stay up here on her own with Mr Thompson as darkness fell. Already the cold was starting to bite in the shadow of the mountains.
‘I’m sorry boys, she hasn’t seen it. I think we’d better –’ she began, when Harry, whose turn it was with the torch, suddenly shouted out:
‘Look! She’s flashing back.’
And he was right. The kitchen light flashed on and off; she’d seen them, she was signalling back. At the same time there was a flash of headlights from up the valley.
Oliver saw it too, and pointed. ‘They’re coming back! The mountain rescue people. I can see them. There’s a car down in the valley and two of them are on this path.’
Indeed, Amy could see two figures with a head torch bobbing along the high path in the gathering gloom.
‘There they are,’ Amy said. Harry flashed the torch and they all waved and yelled at once.
‘They’ve seen! They’ve seen!’ he shouted. ‘They flashed their headlights. They’re coming.’ The mountain rescue vehicle had parked in the field beyond the cottage, and several people got out to climb up the hill towards them. The lights of the second Land Rover could now be seen on the track from the head of the valley.
‘The two on the top path have got a dog. I think that might be Dad and Peter,’ said Oliver.
From then on it was a race between the mountain rescue coming up the hill, and the two figures on the top path as to who reached them first. Amy hoped that it would be the mountain rescue team and she wouldn’t have to be the one to break the news to Peter.
That wasn’t to be.
‘Have you found him?’ Peter shouted.
‘What do we say? We can’t shout he’s dead, can we?’ Harry whispered to her.
‘Just wait here,’ said Amy.
When they were about a hundred yards apart, close enough to see each other properly in the gloom, she could tell from the way Peter set his jaw as he looked at her face that he knew. She didn’t have to say anything.
‘He’s not coming home tonight, is he?’ was all Peter said, in his usually gruff fashion, as if there was nothing wrong.
‘I’m so sorry Peter.’
‘What happened?’
‘He’s just round this corner. Jack’s there with him. I found him sat on a rock, looking out over the valley, and I thought he was asleep. Go and see him before the mountain rescue people get here, it’ll give you a couple of minutes alone. Me and Matt will take the boys back to the cottage now, it’s getting dar.’
‘Ay. You do that. Thank you. Will you do something for me? I’ll stay with Dad until they can get him down from the fells. Will you go and tell our mam, Amy?’
'Me? Wouldn’t it be better if you did?’
‘It’ll take a while to bring him down. I don’ t want her sat on her own, and she needs to know he’s not coming home. I know it’s a lot to ask.’
She saw the look in his eyes, and couldn’t say no. ‘Of course I will.’
Peter went round the corner.
‘Go on boys, we’ll leave Peter with his dad. We’ll head home now.’
‘See, I told you signalling to Mars was a good idea,’ Harry said, as he stomped along beside her. His feet crunched through the snow which had already started to freeze in the chilly evening air, a thin crust of ice forming over the soft snowfall beneath it.
‘It was,’ she said. ‘You did really well, boys.’
‘Dad, did you go all the way to the tarn?’ Oliver wanted to know.
‘We did. We were afraid he might have fallen into the tarn somehow, but there were no footprints, and anyway it was frozen right over, solid ice.’
‘Solid? So can we go skating tomorrow?’
‘Absolutely not. It’s very dangerous to go out on the ice – it might break and with the weather as cold as this it’s deadly to go in cold water like that.’
Amy shivered at the mention of cold water and thought of her mam.
‘Do we have to wait for you two? You’re so slow. We want to get back to the cottage, don’t we, Harry?’ Oliver gave a sideways glance and Harry grinned.
‘Yeah. We do.’
‘Go on then. We’ll be able to see you all the way down the hill, and Granny’s there, she’ll let you in,’ said Matt, and the boys slid away down the hill, two diminishing dark figures along the edge of the white field with the stone wall on their left.
They were finally alone together. It was very quiet as the sound of Oliver and Harry’s chattering grew fainter in the distance.
‘I think they’re up to something,’ Amy said after a while.
‘Probably eating some more of the chocolate yule log before we get back to tell them not to,’ Matt said.
‘At least they don’t seem too upset,’ she said.
‘Are you okay?’ Matt asked.
‘I …’ Amy shrugged. ‘I’m fine. I guess.’
But she wasn’t. She could still feel the snowy coldness of Mr Thompson’s paperwhite skin, hear poor old Jack’s whine as he waited for his master to wake up. She wanted Matt to take her hand in his and banish the memory of Mr Thompson’s cold hand with his own warm one. His gaze was fixed on Oliver bounding away down the snowy hill. Even though he was right beside her he felt a long way away.
‘We were lucky Diane noticed the signal,’ Amy said, after a while. Diane deserved some credit. Without her, she’d still be on her own up on the side of the hill in the darkness with Mr Thompson, hoping the boys had made it safely back to the house and the mountain rescue people would come soon.
‘She’s very reliable.’ Matt looked at the cottage, its white walls creamy against the snow. ‘Great in a crisis.’
The path was steeper here and they had to walk one behind the other, concentrating on placing their feet carefully so that they didn’t slip. Once they were past the steepest part, Amy spoke again.
‘You know, Matt, I don’t think we’ve been alone once since Christmas Eve.’ She looked around as if half-expecting Diane to spring up from a snowdrift. ‘I’ve missed you.’
‘I know.’ Not I’ve missed you too . So here it was, the opportunity she’d waited for and dreaded in equal measure. It was now or never. She stopped walking.
‘Just a minute, Matt. I can see that something’s bothering … I mean, Diane thinks … and Peter Thompson said it too and … If it wasn’t for Diane, perhaps … And the cursed bed stuff doesn’t exactly help when it comes to … You know …’
‘Um … Amy, I’m sorry, but you’re not making any sense.’ He stopped and looked at her, puzzled.
‘Oh. No. I’m not. I …’ She took a deep breath, the cold air caught the back of her throat. ‘It’s not just about Diane, is it? I know something’s wrong. Matt … is it me ?’