fifteen dollars and forty-nine cents? I’m meant to go in there and find something for fifteen dollars and forty-nine cents? I bet there’s nothing in Joe’s Supermart for fifteen dollars and forty-nine cents. No one who had fifteen dollars and forty-nine cents would shop there.
The dog looked at her stupidly – he didn’t know what was going on but he wouldn’t mind doing something else. Ruby was taking no notice though – she was just staring at the little sticker. After a couple of minutes of silent staring she got back on her bike and headed off towards school.
When she got to the crossroads in the middle of Bird Street she called over her shoulder, ‘OK Bug, time to go home.’ The dog looked at her, disappointed, but he knew what to do and he took a left and Ruby cycled on up the hill. She would be early for once.
As soon as she arrived at Twinford Junior High she went to look for Clancy. He was there already of course – overly punctual was his style.
‘Hey, what happened to you?’ he asked. ‘You sorta look like a truck ran over you and then decided to reverse.’
‘Yeah well, I didn’t get too much sleep on account of someone stole my bed,’ replied Ruby
‘Someone stole your bed?’ said Clancy, his mouth open like a fish.
‘Yeah, and that wasn’t all they took.’
‘What do you mean?’ said Clancy, flapping his arms.
‘We don’t have a single piece of furniture left,’ said Ruby dramatically.
‘You got burgled?’ mouthed Clancy.
‘I guess you could call it that – though it looks more like we moved house, but no one bothered to tell us where we were moving to.’
‘They took everything?’ said Clancy his eyes widening.
‘Everything except the phones,’ said Ruby. ‘By the way, thanks for your call buster.’
‘What call? I didn’t call,’ said Clancy. ‘My dad grounded me, wouldn’t let me call, so I didn’t.’
‘No, I noticed,’ said Ruby. ‘But someone did, I tell you I got some super strange telephonic activity last night.’
‘You did?’ said Clancy. ‘What kinda super strange, weird strange or creepy strange?’
‘It’s hard to say,’ said Ruby. ‘One was a hang-up and the other was this gravelly voiced woman.’
‘Like the woman in A Date with Fate ?’ asked Clancy.
‘Sorta,’ said Ruby. A Date with Fate was a show that had been running for years; each week some mildly creepy ghost story was introduced by this old actress with this raspy voice – the stories tended to be a little lame.
‘What did she say?’
‘It’s hard to explain exactly – some kinda code.’
‘You crack it?’
‘Not yet, but listen, before that this kinda chiselled guy turns up at our house and says he’s the house manager my mom requested, only of course my mom being my mom is calling him a butler.’
‘You got a butler! Wow,’ said Clancy impressed, even though his family had never been without one his whole entire life. ‘What’s he like?’
‘A total airhead,’ said Ruby.
‘That doesn’t sound good,’ said Clancy. ‘You don’t want an airhead butler.’
‘Well, technically he’s not a butler, he’s a household manager – whatever that means.’
Clancy whistled. ‘Mrs Digby’s not gonna like that!’
‘Yeah well luckily she’s with her cousin Emily right now, but you’re right – she’s bound to notice there’s something a little off about this guy.’
‘How dya mean – off?’
Ruby paused for effect. ‘I think there’s something sorta strange about him.’
‘Like what for example?’ said Clancy, unable to keep the thrill out of his voice.
‘He seems to know too much. Things he couldn’t know – well, not unless he was psychic or something.’
‘So where did he come from?’ asked Clancy – he was on the edge of his seat or at least would have been had he been sitting down.
‘London, supposedly, but who really knows,’ replied Ruby.
‘He’s English?’
‘No, just been living there – the people he used to work for have ‘suddenly’ gone off riding elephants for three years.’ Ruby loved getting Clancy all wired about the possibility of some dark mystery.
‘Perhaps he stole their money and did away with them,’ he said earnestly.
‘Well that might explain the flashy car – he’s got this silver convertible, but I am not sure it explains the arm injury.’
‘The arm injury? You’ve got an injured butler? You don’t want an injured butler. He’s really injured?’
‘Oh yes,’ nodded Ruby. ‘He looks like he was involved in some kinda accident.’
‘Or shoot out!’ whispered Clancy conspiratorially. ‘You know what Rube, I’ll bet he’s not even a butler – he’s almost certainly a hit man or something.’
‘You’ve got some imagination Clance my old pal!’
But she didn’t tell him the thought had crossed her mind.
Ruby wasn’t one to get in trouble unnecessarily, but she was finding it hard to concentrate and several times during class it was noted that she wasn’t paying attention. The thing was she just couldn’t put it together – what was the significance of fifteen dollars and forty-nine cents?
After lunch it came to her – she couldn’t believe she had been so stupid, it was the most simple kind of clue, the staring you in the face kind. So obvious you missed it. As Ruby all too often remarked, PEOPLE OFTEN MISS THE DOWNRIGHT OBVIOUS {RULE 18}.
It was Mr Walford who got her to see it. He used to be in the military and liked to be precise about things. He was a stickler for using the 24 hour clock.
‘Redfort, Ruby,’ he barked. ‘It is precisely 13:31, recess is no longer in progress, march your way swiftly to class, please.’
Ruby stopped in her tracks, paused, and then suddenly turned to Mr Walford. ‘3:49pm! Of course! Not fifteen dollars and forty-nine cents but fifteen hundred hours and forty-nine minutes – or put another way, eleven minutes to four.’
The price sticker is telling me to be at Joe’s Supermart at 3.49pm.
Mr
