the Removal Firm is. They’ll hunt you all down in the end.’
Not me, says the board-comber, I’ve been here since the beginning of time.
‘Yes, yes, ancient fossils were real buttons and spoons when you came – but that won’t save you, any more than that carnival mask you wear will fool the Removal Firm. You’re an outsider and that’s that, fake friar or not. That’s all the Removal Firm cares about.’
The board-comber knows the bat is right. The Removal Firm aren’t interested in how long you’ve been in residence. You’re an outsider and therefore you have to be watched closely and ejected at the slightest suspicion of any wrongdoing.
‘If you had a board with wheels on, like those newcomers, you’d be able to out-distance the Removal Firm every time.’
Well, I don’t and I wouldn’t know how to use one if I did.
‘Don’t they just whizz along?’
Too fast, if you ask me.
‘All I’m saying is, if you had one, you’d be a flying board-comber.’
They let the subject drop. The board-comber is a little aggrieved by the boards with wheels. Although they assist the human children in racing ahead of the Removal Firm, they also put a lot of kilometres between the board-comber and his charges. How can he look to their welfare if they are so far ahead of him? How can he watch over them if he can’t see them? It is all so frustrating. And to what end? What will he get out of it? Probably nothing.
‘They’re going in the right direction at last.’
For what?
‘For the Great Water Tank.’
And remind me what is it that they want there?
‘The map, of course. But in any case humans always head towards the shores of great waters, wherever they are.’
Is that true? I don’t.
‘You’re hardly human any more, but all the others do. They seem to need the sights and smells of wide open waters. It’s because they were once fish, I suppose, before they crawled out and used their legs.’
Look, the visitors have stopped. They’re camping for the night. Oh! Oh my, look what the girl creature is taking from her pack. Look. Look! A carving. A wonderful Inuit carving. I knew these young people would come up with something. New ones always do. Look what it is! It’s a walrus. I haven’t got a walrus. I want it.
‘Where do you think she got it?’
Down below, of course. When she went through the trapdoor and dropped into the house underneath. She must have stolen it.
‘Stolen goods,’ says the bat, sucking in its breath. ‘She could get arrested for that. And you. You could get arrested for coveting stolen goods. That’s against the law.’
No, it isn’t. You can’t be arrested for wanting things. Anyway, I have to have that carving. How do I get it?
‘Trade with the boy – you know what he wants.’
The board-comber is overjoyed at this suggestion.
Of course, bat – you’re a genius.
‘Oh, please,’ demurs the bat, fluttering its wings, ‘just highly intelligent, nothing more.’
There’s one near here. I remember hiding it for just such a trade as this.
‘There you go then!’
Look, the children are resting for the night.
‘Ah, the night, the night. The children of the night.’
They could hear the howling of a thousand wolves above the shimmering metallic sound that seemed to run in waves. It was both frightening and fascinating. It didn’t sound menacing, exactly, but until he knew what it was, it was certainly worrying.
‘Listen,’ said Jordy.
‘I know, I can hear it,’ replied Chloe. ‘Weird, isn’t it?’
‘But what is it?’
‘Bottles,’ answered Alex. ‘Millions of bottles, all standing shoulder to shoulder. Trembling bottles, rattling against each other.’
Chloe asked, ‘But what about the howling?’
‘The attic draughts blowing over the necks.’
Indeed, now that the other two knew what that peculiar sound was, his words made sense. Jordy took off his backpack and went up a dome like aberration in the boards and stared towards the sound. From that vantage point he could see them: an ocean of bottles of all different coloured glass. Wine bottles, milk bottles, beer bottles, lemonade bottles, medicine bottles, and so on, and so forth. What a sight they made in all their hues, glinting in the fading light from the high windows. For some reason Jordy felt an urge to walk upon them, on that vast expanse of bottlenecks, just because they looked so inviting.
And Alex had been right again. It was the strong draughts making them tremble, chinking their shoulders. And the draught causing that howling from their necks. This truly was