Crow Boy by Philip Caveney Read Free Book Online Page A

‘I’m used to having my own space.’
    â€˜Lucky old you,’ said Cameron. ‘But beggars can’t be choosers, can they?’
    â€˜I suppose not,’ admitted Tom. He went over to the bed and sat down gingerly on the grimy covers. ‘So, what’s the deal here?’ he asked. ‘I mean, how does it work with Missie Grierson and everything?’
    Cameron turned to look at Tom. ‘She feeds us and gives us a roof over our heads. In return, we work for her.’ He shrugged his narrow shoulders. ‘She takes in laundry and we help to wash it. We do odd jobs for the neighbours, emptying chamber pots, fetching and carrying, whatever earns a penny.’
    â€˜And you’re all orphans, right?’
    Cameron nodded. ‘Aye.’ He came and sat on the other side of the bed. ‘Did I hear you right just now? Your father is still alive in England?’
    â€˜Er . . . yeah. At least, I think so.’
    â€˜So why don’t you just make your way back to him?’
    â€˜It’s not as easy as that,’ Tom assured him.
    â€˜Let me tell you, if my Ma or Da were still alive, I’d get to them no matter what it took,’ said Cameron scornfully.
    â€˜Yeah? Well, respect to that. But you don’t understand. It’s more complicated than you think.’
    â€˜How so?’
    â€˜Well, OK, since you ask . . .’ Tom took a deep breath. ‘I’m actually from the 21st century . . . that’s like about five hundred years from now. I came to visit the Close with a bunch of other kids from my school, but it wasn’t like it is now; it was sort of the remains of it, all buried under these new buildings, the way it’s going to look in five hundred years’ time.’
    â€˜Uh huh,’ said Cameron. His face was expressionless.
    â€˜And I saw Morag there, but not like she really is; she was sort of all flickery and that, like an old movie?’ He thought for a moment, realising that this wouldn’t mean anything to Cameron. ‘Like a ghost, you know? And I thought she was this other girl, Annie, that was supposed to have died here, so I followed her into this room where I wasn’t supposed to go and the floor gave way under me and when I woke up, I . . .’ Tom’s voice trailed away.
    Cameron was just sitting there, looking blankly back at him. It wasn’t that he was thinking Tom was a nutcase or anything, it was just that what he had heard meant absolutely nothing to him. Tom might as well have been talking in Chinese.
    There was a long silence then Cameron stood up and said, ‘Well, I’ve shown ye the bed. I’d better get down and see to Mr Selkirk’s chamber pot, before he gives that penny to somebody else. I wouldn’t hang around up here too long if I was you, because Missie Grierson will have work for you too. There’s always work.’
    And, with that, he turned away and went back down the stairs.
    â€˜Great,’ muttered Tom. ‘Now I’ve got a job.’ He sat and stared resentfully after Cameron for several minutes, wondering what on earth he was supposed to do now. He looked around the grubby room and then announced aloud, ‘If you want to put everything back the way it was, that’s all right with me.’ He had no idea who he was supposed to be talking to, but whoever it was didn’t bother to give any kind of answer. ‘This is nuts,’ he said and, just in case there should be any doubt, he said it again for good measure. ‘This is NUTS!’
    A thought occurred to him and he reached into his blazer pocket and pulled out his mobile. He pressed the ‘on’ button and looked hopefully at the screen but he wasn’t really surprised to see a ‘No service’ message. He could hardly have hoped to find anything resembling a phone signal in the seventeenth century when he sometimes had enough trouble getting one in the