Invisible! (8 page)

Twenty past six. Lee Kippax in jeans, T-shirt and trainers stands on the concrete apron in front of his parents' double garage, lobbing shots at the basketball hoop fixed over the door. Neither Foxcroft nor Fairclough have shown up to play with him, and he's bored.

As the bully lobs his forty-eighth shot (nine baskets, thirty-nine misses) something extraordinary happens. The ball drops through the bottom of the net but instead of hitting the apron and bouncing, it stops in mid-air. Lee stares at it. The word
hey
falls feebly from his lips. He glances towards the house, hoping his mum's at the window. His mum has already refused to
believe he saw a jumper wave at him.
Tiredness
, she says.
Too much television. What you need's a few early nights
. If she was there he'd point.
Look, Mum – is
that
tiredness
?
Is it television
? but she's not there. His father's not around either.
Why are grown-ups never around when you want them
?

The ball's still there though, a metre above the ground. Lee stares, hoping there's a thread or something but there isn't. The stupid thing's floating on nothing, like the moon. He tries praying for a witness, but either his prayer goes unheard or the answer's no. He's moistening his top lip with his tongue when the ball chuckles.

What? Laughing at me, is it? Nobody laughs at …

‘MUM!' Suddenly it's too much and he runs, pelting up the side of the garage. ‘MY BALL'S STUCK IN MID-AIR AND IT'S LAUGHING AT ME.'

‘
Mum – my ball's stuck in mid-air and it's laughing at me.
' The Invisibles fell about as Conrad ran round the altar stone, pretending to be Kippax. They'd pulled their clothes from the recess and made themselves visible again. It was a breezy evening and they had Inchlake Ring to themselves.

‘What a spack,' choked Charlotte. ‘His mum'll think he's gone completely bonkers.'

Peter wiped his eyes on a tissue. ‘I
loved
the way you caught that ball, Carrie. Lee's face was amazing – like a cartoon. Mind you, we didn't do much snooping.'

Rosie looked at him. ‘We probably saw more than you think, Pete.'

‘How d'you mean? All we did was spook old Kipper.'

‘Ah, but while you were all messing about, I was using my eyes.'

‘Oh yeah? And what did you spot, Sherlock?'

Rosie shook her head. ‘Never you mind, Pete. I saw what I saw, and I'll tell you all about it when the time's right.' She gazed at the darkening sky. ‘I think we'd better go before our folks report us missing.'

As they trudged down the footpath a chill breeze penetrated their T-shirts.

Charlotte shivered. ‘There's a touch of autumn in this wind.'

‘Don't say
that
,' protested Conrad. ‘I want summer to go on for ever so we can keep going invisible. Can you imagine walking about stark naked in the
snow?
'

‘Oooh!' Carrie hugged herself. ‘It was bad enough tonight, and it's only September. We'll just have to make the most of it while we can and stop for the winter, like we do with rollerblades and biking.'

Rosie smiled. ‘You'll be fed up of it by then, anyway.'

‘No chance!' Conrad shook his head. ‘It's the
coolest thing that's ever happened to me. I'll
never
be fed up.'

‘Me neither.' Peter looked at Rosie. ‘
How
old did you say we'll be when it stops working?'

‘Oh – twelve or thirteen. It depends. But as I say, you'll be off it long before then.'

‘Not a chance. I'm gonna do it summer
and
winter while I can. I don't want to waste a second.'

It was quite dark when they reached the village outskirts. With brief
goodnights
they separated and four of them hurried towards their homes. The odd one out was Peter. He pretended to head for home, but as soon as the others were out of sight he changed course and walked rapidly towards Inchlake School.

‘Oh
there
you are, Rosie.' Daddy Bear was sitting cross-legged by the fire, plaiting strips of leather for a belt. ‘We were about to call the police, report you missing.'

Rosie grinned. ‘Yeah, right.' She knew he was joking.

‘Tea if you want some.' He jerked his head towards the billie in the embers. ‘Is anybody coming to this barbie of ours, Friday?'

Rosie poured tea into her mug. ‘Oh, yes. Everybody, I think.'

Daddy Bear smiled. ‘You mean Miss
Blackburn
's planning to be here?'

‘You know what I mean. All the Invisibles.'

Mummy Bear appeared, carrying a rolled newspaper. ‘We thought you'd forgotten where you live, child.' She sat down. ‘Any of that tea left?'

Rosie passed the billie. One of the things she liked about her parents was that they hardly ever quizzed her. Most parents would have insisted on knowing where she'd been. She nodded at the newspaper. ‘Anything thrilling in there?'

Mummy Bear chuckled. ‘Not really, sweetheart. I got it for the burglary, but it doesn't say much.'

‘Does it say
gipsies
did it?'

‘No, but it says the police are stepping up their inquiries, which probably means we can expect another visit. Tells you what they're looking for, too.'

‘Paintings. We knew that already.'

‘Yes, but we didn't know
what
paintings. Two Turner seascapes, worth millions.' She smiled. ‘You've seen Turners haven't you, Rosie? Fantastic skies, sunlight like some great explosion, gilding everything.' Mummy Bear smiled. ‘His dying words were,
The sun is God.
'

Rosie nearly said the Inchlake Invisibles were stepping up their own inquiries. Nearly, but not quite.

Mr Rabbit was irritated. He was supposed to be meeting two guys from work at half past eight, but he didn't dare leave while his wife was in a flap. Mrs Rabbit's flap was due to the fact that Peter wasn't home yet.

‘He'll be all right,' soothed Mr Rabbit. ‘You know how kids are: they get playing and forget the time.'

‘It's easy for you,' snapped his wife. ‘All you're bothered about is your silly appointment. He could be floating face-down in the canal or lying somewhere with a broken leg for all you care.'

Peter
wasn't
floating face-down in the canal
or
lying with a broken leg. He was sitting invisible on the settee, listening to his parents argue. They usually argued when he was in bed, so it was interesting for once to be able to hear what they were saying. Of course he knew it was wrong to eavesdrop, but so what? They'd never know.

‘That's not fair, Sue,' protested Mr Rabbit. ‘I care about the boy just as much as you do.
More
perhaps, since you'd have preferred a girl.'

Mrs Rabbit glared at her husband. ‘Oh that's right – throw
that
in my face again. You're never going to let me forget that, are you?'

Mr Rabbit shrugged. ‘
You
brought up the subject of caring, Sue, not me. All I'm saying …'

The row grew more heated but Peter wasn't following it now. He was staring horrified at his mother while a stricken voice inside his head whimpered,
You didn't want me, you wanted a girl. You're my mum, but I could walk out of here right now and never come back and you wouldn't even care.

His father was pacing the room, looking at his watch. His mother, her face like thunder, lifted a corner of the curtain and tutted, letting it fall. They were waiting for him, but not because they cared. He was spoiling their evening, that's all.
They hated him. He could see it in their faces. He got up and crept from the room, fighting the aching lump in his throat.

If someone's invisible, can you see their tears?

‘Lee?'

The boy was hanging about near the teachers' car park, looking miserable. He turned as Rosie spoke his name. ‘What do
you
want, gipsy?'

‘Just to talk.'

‘What about?'

‘About what you saw yesterday, on the field.'

‘Oh yeah? What about it?'

‘I want you to know you're not going crazy, that's all.'

‘Crazy?
I
know I'm not going crazy. What makes you think I think I'm going crazy?'

Rosie gazed at him. ‘You weren't looking too happy just now, Lee, and it
can
be a bit of a
shock, seeing somebody vanish. And you
did
see it, that's what I wanted to say. It's a sort of trick I do, so like, you don't need a doctor or anything.'

He scowled at her. ‘How about telling The Bee all this. And my dad.'

‘No way. This is strictly a kid thing. No adults. If you tell anyone I'll just deny it.'

‘Uh … I don't suppose … you weren't around
my
place last night, by any chance?'

Rosie grinned. ‘Funny you should say that, Lee.'

‘Why –
were
you?'

‘Of course. Balls don't
really
hang in mid-air, do they? And they certainly don't laugh.'

The boy goggled. ‘That was
you
?
Really
?' Hope in his voice, and the very beginning of joy.

‘Sure it was.' She chuckled. ‘I thought you said you weren't worried.'

‘Yeah, well …' He looked uncomfortable. ‘It's … you know … the way nobody believes you. You
know
you saw what you saw, but everybody's giving you funny looks and after a bit you start thinking,
Did I see it, or am I going round the twist?
It's scary.'

‘Well you can quit worrying, and you can tell
Lee and Carl to chill out too, only don't try telling any grown-ups because they won't believe a word.' She winked. ‘See you, apple-thief.'

‘Hang on.' He looked at her. ‘This trick of yours. You wouldn't … I mean … how about teaching me, huh? There's a million ways I could use a trick like that.'