surprises were to be had for those who did not approach unopened boxes cautiously. However, after going around them he found the words Camping Equipment scrawled in permanent ink on the side of one of the boxes.
What a find! he thought to himself excitedly. They could use camping equipment all right.
Still he opened the first box with the thought in mind that a monster might leap out at him. He was ready to run at the first sign of danger. But he was pleased when nothing of the kind occurred. In fact, to his great delight the box was full of maps with a few compasses. Compasses! He took three. Now they could navigate their direction. No more looking up for rafters to guide them through rotten vales of mirrors. Now they would know north, south, east and west, and all the little points between.
The maps weren’t much good. They were of places like the Lake District, the Yorkshire Dales, Scotland and Wales.
The next box, a much larger one, had in it three sleeping bags and a grubby tent. He didn’t see a lot of use for tents. Sure, when it rained outside it dripped through the roof in places, but not badly enough to warrant the fag of erecting tents everywhere they went. The sleeping bags might be useful but they would have to carry them. There was a hiker’s backpack in the same box, which Alex was happy to find and claim for his own.
The third and last one contained odds and ends. There was a pair of binoculars, brass ones, probably once belonging to a naval man. He kept those. There was a Swiss Army knife with lots of gadgets, such as a bottle opener, a pair of scissors and a tiny saw. He kept that also, hooking it to an old Boy Scout’s belt which he looped around his waist. Finally, there was a small cooking stove with a solid fuel canister attached and a box of long-stemmed matches, the sort which go with such a stove.
‘Wow!’ he said. ‘One cup of tea, coming up.’ He paused before adding ruefully, ‘If only we had some teabags.’
When he straightened up, with all his new equipment packed away in his new backpack, he found himself curiously surrounded.
‘Where did they come from?’ he said aloud. ‘I didn’t see them.’
Alex was referring to a group of mannequins – shop dummies – which were standing in different poses around him.
‘Did you do that, Clo?’ he called, laughing. ‘Did you put these here while I was packing?’
No answer.
‘Clo?’
One of the mannequins moved in a jerky fashion towards Alex. Startled, Alex ran forward and pushed it over. It fell to the floor, kicking and jerking its arms. It made no sound, for indeed it had no mouth. It was probably also blind, for it had no eyes either. It was a blank dummy without clothes: a nasty pale pink colour. (There were others of darker hue and some of pure white alabaster.) This one’s joints were on swivels and when it fell to the boards it bounced and knocked its head the wrong way round.
Before he could gather his senses the other mannequins grabbed at Alex and held him fast in their stiff hands.
‘Hey!’ he cried, frightened out of his wits. ‘Let me go.’
They ignored him. Their grim countenances stared blankly at him as if they could sense rather than see him. Their heads moved from side to side in a jerky fashion. Their arms and legs worked in the same way. But they held on to him with surprising strength. One of them helped the fallen comrade to its feet, then the mannequins marched their prisoner away, into the shadows beyond the place where Alex had found the boxes.
When Alex recovered his composure he found himself tied to one of those sturdy pillars which held up the roof. Around him were shoe boxes stacked neatly into walls and racks of clothes that acted as screens between what appeared to be private areas where the mannequins lived.
They came out of their dwellings to see the captured castaway: most were whole but there were some with missing limbs or, even more bizarre, missing heads. All of them, without exception, were as bald as billiard balls. They kept fingering Alex’s mop of thick black hair, running their cold hard fingers through the curls.
‘You leave me alone,’ he cried. ‘You’ll be sorry.’
They stared at him silently. Here was one of those who had kept them as