They both looked to see a youngish man walk in, lanky and awkward, all knees and elbows. His face still bore the traces of acne scars and his Adam's apple bounced prominently as he swallowed.
"A-a-a-a-fternoon," he stuttered at Sven, nodded at Chas and Nicks, and lifting up a section of the counter disappeared into the back room of the shop.
Nics looked back to Sven to find the locket pieces missing. Instead a tray of silver pendants lay on the countertop in front of them.
"That is Jeremy Grandfather, my companion in the shop," explained Sven. "A very talented young man. I knew his grandfather."
"What have you done with the...?" asked Chas.
"Now," he interrupted firmly, his thin fingers picking a piece up from the velvet cushion on which it lay. "I strongly recommend this piece for your young lady."
It was another piece of mother-of-pearl, backed in silver with a loop to hang from a chain. Nics took it from his hand carefully, turned to look at the engraving on the back.
"It's an old Egyptian prayer," explained the jeweller. "God be between you and all harm, in all the dark places in which you must walk."
A lump was in Nics throat. She coughed to loosen it enough to be able to speak.
"That would be lovely," she said. "I'll take it."
Chas looked at her totally confused.
"Would you like it wrapped?" asked Sven.
"Yes, please," she said.
Carefully he got off his stool and walked slowly towards the closed door of the back room.
He had just set hand to the door handle when a mouse jumped up into the countertop and squeaked urgently at him.
"I don't know," he said to the mouse. "I shall have to ask them."
The mouse squeaked again.
"I am quite aware of my promise," said Sven mildly. He turned to the couple. Nics had started when she saw the mouse, but was now outwardly very calm.
"I don't suppose you'd mind being an audience for a few minutes?" he asked. "Only they have been practising very hard lately, and they really do want to perform in front of someone new."
"Who?" asked Chas. "The mouse?"
"Mice actually," said Sven. "Would you mind terribly? It will only take a few minutes, and it will take me that long to wrap up the lady's pendant. These old hands..." He moved them slightly in a self-deprecating gesture.
"I'm sure it will be lovely," said Nics in a tight voice.
The mouse on the countertop squeaked in happiness, and bounded away. Sven disappeared for a moment into the back room, coming back with a roll of brown paper and some string. At the same time a group of half a dozen mice gathered together on the countertop, where the line where the counter hinged provided a convenient edge of stage.
Out of nowhere the mice produced little sparkly top hats and matching tiny canes. They formed a chorus line and started to sing in very high pitched voices a surreally squeaky version of "New York, New York" while at the same time doing a very spirited and well choreographed high kicking dance number. Chas and Nics watched dumbfounded.
It did only take a minute or two, the mice finishing off with a spectacular mouse pyramid. The human audience burst into genuine applause, and the mice lined up for a quick bow and even quicker encore. After that they were off the countertop and away again, top hats and canes vanishing back to where they'd come from.
"That was amazing," said Nics. Chas nodded vigorously in agreement.
"I'm glad you liked it," said Sven, a note of fondness in his voice. "They do practise so very hard, and it's nice for them to have a new audience."
He pushed the completed parcel over to Nics.
"Thank you very much for your custom," he said. His next few words were given a curious emphasis. "Please call again."
"Thank you," said Nics, taking the parcel. Shushing Chas' protest and mutters about "but...locket..." she hustled him out the door, talking loudly.
"I don't know about you," she said, "but I could murder a cup of herbal tea. Let's find a coffee shop somewhere for a cuppa."
The bell jangled discordantly as they left. Inside the shop, Sven wiped a damp forehead with his handkerchief and settled back into his corner with a faint relieved smile.
They ended up in a back street cafe, furnished with plastic chairs and tea served in mismatched and chipped mugs. They'd picked the cafe because, unlike the other coffee shops in the vicinity, it didn’t have a queue of over-caffeinated people yammering into their mobile phones spilling out the door. Nics thought the rabbit dressed in full climbing gear and with a miner's helmet on its head rappelling down the outside of the building was a bit unusual, but she needed some tea.
"Why did you bundle me out so quickly?" asked Chas, frowning. "We haven't got the locket back. And why the hell did he get so spooked about the..."
Nics shot him a warning look, flicking her head to the Hell's Angels that sat at another table.
"...the other thing," Chas finished.
"I don't know," she said, "but it was important."
She took a swallow of her herbal tea.
"And we do have the locket," she said.
"How do you know?"
She just smiled enigmatically and patted the side of her bag. Inside lay the brown paper parcel wrapped up with string that contained the silver and mother-of-pearl amulet.
Chas sighed. It really wound him up when she decided to be all mysterious.
Nics opened the banana that she had decided would make a good mid-afternoon snack, and bit into it. After her first mouthful she looked down, to see writing in black through the banana, similar to the writing that one might find going the length of a stick of rock from a popular seaside resort.
"Take a look at that," she said, showing it to Chas.
"April..." he read. "Must be an advertising stunt of some description."
"Or a name," said Nics, putting the banana down gingerly. "Somehow I don't feel hungry anymore. Shall we go? If we move relatively quickly we might be able to get an earlier train."
She gathered up her stuff, and looked puzzled for a moment, then sneezed. The waiter who'd been heading towards the Hell's Angels with a tray and several cups of coffee slipped on a bit of spilled sugar, but managed to recover before he spilled anything.
The Hell's Angels gave him a round of applause.
"Thank you, thank you," the waiter said, bowing. "I'd like to gratefully acknowledge the help of a lot of people, but especially Fi, without whom I wouldn't be doing this. And I'd like to thank God, without whom nothing would be possible, and my mum... hi Mum!"
Nics rolled her eyes as the waiter carried on with his Oscar acceptance speech. She and Chas got the hell out of there before the waiter started crying.
They walked part of the way back to the train station via Trafalgar square. The pigeons there, instead of pestering every single person they could for food, were performing intricate aerial manoeuvres. They were kind of like the red arrows, but in miniature and more pigeon-shaped, though Chas. A pair of men stood at each end of the square, blowing silent dog-whistles and waving table tennis paddles around.
The pigeons had attracted quite a crowd. Chas and Nics watched them for a bit, and then walked on.
"Hey, look," said Chas. "There's another man carrying a flamingo."
No comments:
Post a Comment