paper arch which led into the open square, was a puppet Alex recognised from the time they had been on holiday in the Far East. It was a leather shadow-puppet dyed blue for the skin and red-and-green for the clothes he wore. He stood on one leg, leaning against the arch, but hopped forward as they approached.
‘Well, well, people from my own land, by the look. How very welcome. What news from Bali?’
‘Actually we’re not from Bali,’ explained Alex. ‘We’re from Winchester, but our granddad came from India. Our right-hand granddad that is – our left-hand granddad came from Portsmouth. That’s what we call them. Right and left granddads. It’s a family thing.’
‘India?’ The puppet brightened. ‘What are your names?’
‘Alexander and Chloe,’ said Alex.
Krishna looked a little disappointed.
Chloe explained, ‘Our dad thought western names would be less trouble for us at school. I don’t know why. Other kids with Asian ancestry get on all right with eastern names.’
‘So, that’s the explanation then. Good. Punch treating you all right?’
‘Of course I am,’ muttered Punch a little testily. ‘Why wouldn’t I be?’
‘Oh, I don’t know. I thought you might feel the need to bash them with your truncheon. No? Ha, ha. Well, I certainly wouldn’t want to fill them full of arrows or go sticking them with my sword, so there’s no reason why you’d want to thump them, I suppose. Well, see you around.’
Krishna hopped away, towards one of the stripy Punch and Judy tents which stood about the place, and disappeared inside.
Chloe asked, ‘Why hasn’t he got his own tent – a Bali tent?’
‘They don’t have them, you know,’ explained Punch. ‘Shadow-puppets are worked behind these white screens. I don’t think there are many puppets who have their own tents, like Judy and I. We Punch-and-Judy sets have to share with other puppets. The big fellows – the ventriloquists’ dummies – they have a hard job fitting inside one of our tall tents, but what can they do? Live in a suitcase? I think not. Space inside luggage is even more limited. Ah, here we are, home sweet home.’
Punch threw back the flap and called for Judy, telling her to ‘bring some eggs for visitors’. After calling to his wife he said to the children, ‘I’d invite you in, but there’s not room for the two of you.’
‘That’s all right,’ said Chloe, who had been having misgivings about Punch ever since she had met him. ‘We’re quite happy to wait outside.’
Chloe felt that Punch was being too nice. The attic had made her a very suspicious person. What, she asked herself, if this was an elaborate trap? Most of the creatures in the attic had proved to be antagonistic, if not downright hostile to them. Why should puppets be any different? Surely they had been abused too at times, and held resentment towards the humans that had mistreated them? Chloe was determined to remain on her guard, just in case.
A policeman puppet came out of the tent, trailing his skirts.
‘Hello, children, eh? Jolly good. Jolly good. Judy’s coming out in a bit. She’s dusting herself off at the moment. So, where are you from?’
‘Winchester at the moment,’ replied Alex. ‘We’ve just moved there.’
‘Winchester, eh? Have we done Winchester, Punch? I’m sure we have at some time. I remember a statue of King Alfred.’
‘That’s right,’ cried Alex eagerly. ‘In the square.’
‘Yes. Yes, we’ve done Winchester all right.’ He tipped his helmet back on his head with his truncheon. ‘Was it a good audience though?’
Here it comes, thought Chloe. Now we get the blame for all the bad audiences they’ve ever had.
‘I do believe it was,’ interrupted Punch. ‘A very good audience. But when did we not get a good reception from our own kind? Small children are easily pleased. We don’t have to try very hard, now, do we? Oh, I should like to think of us as brilliant actors, but in truth it’s just a bit of slapstick.’
‘Slapstick’s not that easy,’ replied the policeman. ‘You have to be able to convince them.’
‘Well, that’s true also.’
Chloe relaxed a little.
Alex said, ‘You said earlier, people like us …’
The policeman looked at Punch, who frowned.
The policeman said, ‘Puppets are people too.’
Chloe saw that the situation was about to deteriorate and she jumped in with, ‘Oh, he didn’t mean you. He meant us. I mean, my brother has always felt inferior around puppets. I mean, you’re so lively and animated. You’re so famous. We don’t often meet great celebrities like you. We’re certainly not