Page 92

‘It’s not just that,’ Charlotte said, lowering her voice and leaning close. ‘It’s Christmas Eve tomorrow. His mother invited me over for Christmas dinner. I haven’t got them any presents yet.’

Kelly laughed. ‘Oh, Charlotte. Jacob’s easy … he’s a man. Think of the Ks.’

‘What?’

‘Books and socks.’

‘But that’s B and S.’

‘The Ks are at the end.’

‘I know—’

‘Books and socks.’

‘But what about his mother?’

Kelly smirked. ‘A grandchild?’

‘A … what?’ Charlotte’s eyes widened, and she slapped Kelly’s arm. ‘Anything a little more short-term?’

‘Just make Jacob happy, and she’ll be happy,’ Kelly said. ‘Don’t overcomplicate things.’

‘Don’t overcomplicate things,’ Charlotte repeated, tapping her chin with a finger. ‘All right. Got it.’

Kelly patted her on the shoulder. ‘I’ve got to get to work. Good luck.’

Charlotte wondered how everything would have been achieved without the miracles of technology. In the morning, she sent an email to her class’s social media group and asked them to all meet up at the plaza outside the church instead of Sycamore Park. At three p.m., an hour before the festival’s designated start, Clive made a broadcast on Radio Brentwell to say that due to such heavy snowfall, the festival had been moved. Half an hour later, an emergency mobile alert went out to all local phone numbers. According to Regina, certain numbers could be excluded, and Tom had surreptitiously procured a list of all those relating to James and his staff. On watch down by the theatre, Madeline from the Oak Leaf Café had called in to say that his car was still parked outside.

Charlotte’s class put on a lovely show, with Billy Toad receiving a large cheer for his performance. The other kids were also great, but then there was the small matter of putting on a charade for James’s scheduled magic show. Walking in pairs, the children made their way down to Sycamore Park, where a handful of locals who hadn’t got the message about the change in location sat around watching a hastily arranged stand-up comedy set by local comedian Edith Davies, who was clearly making things up on the spot to a spattering of applause, overlooked by Pete’s burger van, a kebab stand, and a couple of information stalls from Evans’ Carpets and Brentwell Mortgage Services.

The children slipped in, cheered loudly at the end of Edith’s set, then gave a louder cheer as James Steamblack took to the stage to perform an impressive show of illusion and sleight of hand. Charlotte, standing back with Jacob in the shadow of one of the big sycamores, couldn’t help but be impressed, even though she still had a bitter taste in her mouth over how he had treated Billy Toad. Billy, as well as some of his other classmates had opted to stay up at the Christmas festival’s new location rather than come down. This time, however, James didn’t ask for any volunteers, and he gave a sense of being in a hurry, keen to get on with the main event.

Almost as soon as his show was over, Barbara Bakersfield and her team started to move in. The children filed out a few at a time, replaced by groups of old ladies wearing duffel coats buttoned up so tight their faces were barely visible. According to Marjorie, Barbara had recruited the entire Exeter branch of the Silver’s Association, and soon a large crowd was in place for the final performance of the evening, a karaoke competition, after the choir had supposedly been called off following an outbreak of flu.

‘It’s a little creepy, isn’t it?’ Charlotte said, nodding at the crowd seated in front of the stage, clapping along. ‘He’s going to have a terrible fright, isn’t he?’

Regina Clover, scowling in only the way a bitter councillor could as she climbed up on to the stage to introduce the next singer, lifted the microphone to her mouth and said in a deadpan voice, ‘Well, thank you, little Jenny Thomas, aged nine. That rendition of a Barbara Streisand classic was … lovely.’ She sighed, then looked down at a piece of paper in her hand. ‘And next we have … little Carla Simpleton, aged … hmm … seven, from Willow River, who’s going to sing us … um … Ticks and Leeches by … ah … Tool. Oh, I can’t wait for this. Carla? Are you there?’

A figure rose out of the crowd—a little way at least—then shuffled along the row and up the steps to the stage.

‘Good luck, little girl,’ Regina said with another scowl, holding out the microphone.

‘Ooh, Kelly loves Tool,’ Charlotte said. ‘We should really get back though, shouldn’t we?’

Jacob nodded. The arrival of Father Christmas had been brought forward an hour, as an extra precaution to sidestep James, should he find out what they were up to.

‘Let’s go,’ he said, taking her hand. They started to turn away, but Jacob paused, turning back. ‘Are we doing the right thing?’ he asked. ‘I mean, I can’t condone what James was planning, but even so….’

‘I have an idea,’ Charlotte said. ‘I’ll tell you about it on the way back. We’d better hurry, though. I really want some of those hot cinnamon doughnuts and I’m worried they’re going to sell out.’

By the time they’d made it up to the church square, the last act of the night was almost over. Harry, being looked after by Julie, barked as they approached. Jacob paused to greet an elderly woman in a wheelchair, a little toy dog on her lap. The woman looked a little confused for a moment, then smiled and patted his hand. A woman holding the wheelchair gave him a smile, then introduced herself to Charlotte as Rita.

Before they could get into a conversation, however, the church bells suddenly clanged, and a hush fell over the crowd. From all around, a piped instrumental version of Jingle Bells began to play out of loudspeakers set up outside the local shops.

‘Children, please approach the stage,’ said the town mayor, speaking into a microphone. ‘A special guest is about to arrive.’

Lights appeared at the top of the street that arched away behind the church. People began to cheer as a golden sleigh, lit by fairy lights, led by real-life reindeer, and driven by two men in elf costumes, came gliding down the street into the square. A huge, jovial Father Christmas sat just behind the elves, and bellowed ‘Merry Christmas!’ as the sleigh came to a dramatic stop. ‘Merry Christmas everyone! Merry Christmas to all!’