We Were Only Strawberry Picking (10 page)

So for tonight, they would go home and rest. They had been on their feet for most of the day and there really was nothing more that they could do physically.

Jack was the first to stir, he started to wriggle his nose as the sweet aroma of strawberries wafted up his nostrils and the smell of warm bread followed soon after. It was just about visible in the dark room thankfully due to the gap in the doorway. He could see a tray brimming with bread, an open jar of strawberry jam and a saucer with some butter. They were left one very blunt knife and in another tray were four plates, four empty glasses and a jug filled with strawberry juice. He quietly got out of bed as he checked the time on his watch. He had just remembered that the face of his watch would illuminate when it was tapped on twice, again another brilliant purchase by Papa Brian. He could not believe the time, it was three thirty in the afternoon and surely they had not been sleeping that long but then yesterday was no ordinary day, after all they had spent most of the day in those tunnels trying to find a way out and that was quite exhausting in itself!

No longer perturbed by the passage of time, Jack now glanced at the tray of food.

‘Wake up everybody, we have food and it sure does smell good,’ Jack cried.

Henratty was the first to rise after hearing what she called Jack’s annoying voice. She quickly jumped up, as he felt a tap on his shoulder just before he was about to tuck into the food.

‘Not so fast, Jack, we need to divide the food fairly.’

‘Oh, come on, don’t be like that, as if I would scoff the whole lot without a second thought for my friends and not to mention my younger brother. Do you honestly think I would do such a thing?’

‘Frankly, at this moment in time I’m not sure, we are all in a very vulnerable state and our ultimate goal is survival.’ Jack thought there was no point arguing with Henratty as she could be right. He knew what he was like once he started eating and sometimes he just could not stop himself, not because he was selfish but food was food and if it tasted good, he would be there chomping away.

‘I guess you could be right, but we’ll never know,’ as Jack shrugged his shoulders and walked back and sat on the edge of the bed that he was sharing with Oscar. Henratty then proceeded to divide the bread equally. In actual fact there were exactly enough slices for everyone to have two each. She buttered each slice and then smothered them with the delicious homemade strawberry jam and handed everyone an equal portion of the soft bread.

Jack could not believe how good the bread tasted, it was so fresh! It then dawned on him
, if there was no way out of this mine, then, where could the mine inhabitants possibly be getting the bread from?

‘Hey, wait a minute,’ demanded Jack.

‘What is it now? I hope this is not another one of your outlandish ideas,’ protested Henratty.

‘Have you all not realised, we’re in a mine with supposedly no way out! So, where are they getting fresh bread from? The strawberries I can just about understand as we are underneath a strawberry field, but how does one explain the bread and butter. There’s only one explanation that springs to my mind: they’re getting it above ground, and that means there’s a way out …’ proclaimed Jack.

‘If that’s the case, why would these animals want to live down here when they can all get out and go back to their hometowns?’ asked Lyndi Lou.

‘Jack, could be right – I smell a “rat” and I think Cooper and Nora know the answer. Did you not notice how they would constantly gaze at each other from time to time almost as if they were waiting for us to say something out of the ordinary, and why were they asking how much we knew about the mine? Also did you notice how all the other inhabitants told us how they ended up in the mine and seemed to have a good reason for wanting to live down here but Nora, Cooper and Alfonso said nothing, very odd indeed,’ noted Henratty.

‘Diamonds I think!’ declared Jack, as he stood up proudly. He then started to sift through his army jacket pockets, as he whipped out his tiny metal detector and said, ‘And I have the very tool that will prove I was right all along!’

All the other meerkats were now staring at Jack perplexed by what he had alleged, as on first inspection one would not have a clue what this gadget was; it was quite deceiving. Jack had managed to persuade Papa Brian to let him have the metal detector, as his father had only ever used it once and it really was no use to him, and now this little device could just be their saving grace, well in Jack’s eyes.

Henratty, Lyndi Lou and Oscar were listening intently as Jack continued with his farfetched theory as they finished their slices of bread and strawberry juice, when suddenly the door burst open. Luckily, Jack’s quick reflexes had enabled him to slip his metal detector back into his army jacket pocket literally seconds before Nancy the hedgehog entered the dormitory.

‘Don’t panic, it’s only me, Nancy. I’ve just come to collect the trays. I hope you enjoyed your breakfast, it was all homemade!’ Henratty and Jack looked suspiciously at each other, but did not say anything.

They could see that Alfonso was hovering outside the door, arching his neck high to ensure Nancy would not come to any harm. He was hissing again to try to instil fear into the meerkats to ensure that they did not do anything stupid, not that they would when they were outnumbered.

‘So, Nancy, did you make the bread yourself then?’ Jack quizzed.

‘You know the answer to that; we have been given strict instructions not to talk to any of you, until Nora said so.’

‘Is that in case you slip up and make it known that there is a way out of here. Well, you can save your breath, as we have already worked out there is definitely a way out. We know there is no way you could possibly have made that fresh bread down here and even if you gave us some plausible explanation, where would you get the ingredients from? No matter how hard you try to convince us, we’re not buying it, so you can go back to the “old bat” and give her that message,’ Jack retaliated assertively.

Upon hearing Jack’s counter-attack, Alfonso raised his head above Nancy and moved much closer to him. He was almost touching his face, but Jack was fearless and did not budge an inch despite Alfonso’s apparent intimidation.

‘Listen, Jack, I suggest you watch that tongue of yours and show a little respect to Nancy, who incidentally was the one that managed to persuade Nora to give you all something to eat. She is the kindest, most hardworking and loyal hedgehog I know. So, if she said she made the bread
here
, then that’s what she did. I suggest you think twice before you speak to Nancy like that again and thank your lucky stars it was not Nora you had just spoken to like that.’

‘Look, Mr Rattlesnake Not! I’m not scared of you. No matter how threatening you get nothing will convince us that there is not a way out of here. Whatever reason you guys are down here, has nothing to do with us and to be honest, we really don’t care. All we want to do is go home. Furthermore, whatever you are all hiding or guarding down here, is of no interest to us. It could be diamonds for all we care – we just want to go home, so go back to “Ms Bat” and relay what I have said, perhaps we could negotiate?’ Jack suggested bravely.

Alfonso’s head shot back in utter amazement. He could not believe someone as young as Jack could be so upfront and brash enough to challenge someone like Nora, whom everyone, although were scared of, respected for her wisdom and sincerity. She was harmless really but had such a presence one could not help feeling intimidated by her.

‘Well, we’ll see about that,’ refuted Alfonso as he swiftly flicked his tail around and then said, ‘Nancy, let’s go.’

‘I’ll just grab the trays and I’m right behind you,’ replied Nancy hesitantly. She then quickly went over to Jack, undetected by Alfonso who had now left the dormitory, and whispered, ‘Look, Jack, if you want to get out of here in one piece, I suggest you don’t speak anymore and keep your opinions to yourself, especially around Alfonso. You have been warned,’ continued Nancy, as she shut the door behind her.

‘Jack, have you gone completely mad … now you’ve really done it?’ shouted Henratty.

‘Yes, not your finest moment,’ said Oscar stating the obvious.

‘I want mama, I want to go home, I hate it here and Jack is making everything worse,’ sobbed Lyndi Lou. Everyone was staring at Jack stunned by what he had just alleged and were all waiting for an explanation.

‘Oh, what now? Look, I’m convinced that Nora and Cooper are hiding something, something that the other inhabitants know nothing about, but something that they are convinced we know about. Am I making sense?’

‘Can you repeat that again please, Jack,’ requested Oscar.

‘I think Nora, Cooper, Nancy, Jasper, Poppy, Escargot, with the exception of Enoch and possibly even Alfonso, are happy to live down here in this mine. Judging from the little bits they told us, they all have legitimate reasons for wanting to be here and seem quite happy and able to survive in this environment, whereas, Enoch is very forgetful and is not even sure why he’s down here and something tells me that he wants to get out. If I’m right about the diamonds, Nora will want to interrogate us even more, especially as I insinuated that I knew about the diamonds, so I am going to pretend that I really do know that the diamonds exist and see how she reacts. If the bat starts to get flustered, then we have definitely stumbled onto something big! Somehow one of us is going to have to try to get out of here without being detected and I think I know how.’

Jack then explained that he had noticed whenever they lock the dormitory the meerkats were being kept in, they always leave the key in the door.

‘So what’s new – we’ve noticed that too?’ retorted Henratty.

Jack was now holding the metal detector in the air and started waving it like a magic wand and grinning
like a Cheshire cat that had got the cream and more!

‘And what do I have here?’

‘Oh, spit it out, Jack. We don’t have time for your wisecracks!’ demanded Henratty frustratingly.

‘I’m sorry, well, this is not just any old metal detector, because it also has a magnet attached to it. When I press this button, the metal detector becomes magnetised so one can scoop up whatever treasure one finds underground especially when it’s hard to get to.’

‘So what if it’s a magnet?’

‘Do all of you really not understand what I have just said?

‘Well, obviously not,’ Henratty replied sarcastically.

‘You see that gap underneath the door, I think my metal detector can just about reach under there, and if I extend the rod to say two feet and then activate the magnet, I reckon the force will be strong enough to rip that key out of its keyhole,’ Jack deduced proudly.

‘You’re crazy!’ asserted Henratty. ‘Not a bad theory but I think you must be dreaming. Do you honestly think that it is going to work?’

‘Absolutely, if you think you can do better, then please share your idea with us?’ confronted Jack. Henratty now felt under extreme pressure as she racked her brains for a better solution, but nothing came to mind. The other meerkats looked on keenly awaiting her answer, but all she could do was shrug her shoulders with disappointment.

‘I guess you’ve got me there, Jack. I really can’t think of anything.’

‘That’s settled then! Later on tonight after Alfonso has done his final spot check, we will have the best window of opportunity and this is when I am going to attempt to grab that key. If successful, I will pop out, lock the door and replace the key, just in case they do another unexpected spot check so that everything will look normal and they do not become suspicious, as mark my words they will if they notice that key was missing.’

‘Why can’t we all go with you?’ insisted Oscar.

‘Because, firstly, unless we know exactly where we’re going, this will undoubtedly slow us down especially as time is of the essence. However, if I go and check out the tunnels and try to find the direct route out of here, it will certainly save a lot of time, rather than us wandering aimlessly with no co-ordinates,’ advised Jack.