NO ORDINARY ROOM by Bill Williams Read Free Book Online Page A

Steve was a lot like his dad except that he had a wider range of interests and he supported Everton, so he wasn’t perfect.
    Jamie armed himself with a pen and paper and made the call to Liverpool.  He had to take a barrage of insults about Liverpool FC and how his accent was turning countrified before they got down to the serious business of names and dates.
    Uncle Steve gave Jamie the positive answer that he was expecting by telling him immediately that his great granddad’s names were John Edward George, the same formal names as Granddad Jack’s.  He knew the date of his grandmother’s birthday, because it was the same has his daughter’s, but he didn’t know the year.  He told Jamie to wait while he checked a photograph of the headstone showing the various dates of those in the family grave. 
    ‘That’s brilliant Uncle Steve,’ Jamie said when his Uncle had returned to the telephone and told him the exact date.  Before Jamie hung up the telephone he reminded Uncle Steve not to say anything to his dad.  Jamie had been tempted to ask his Uncle if he had knobbly knees.
    Jamie told his mum that Uncle Steve had been really helpful and then he collected his calculator before heading back to the computer room, confident that he had all the answers.
    While the computer was booting up he took the room key from his pocket and read the number on it to calculate the number required to answer the last question.  He checked the answer three times before he was ready to submit it.  When all six answers had been input he hit the enter button, but was startled when “huh huh’ blasted from the computer’s loudspeakers.  It was like the sound in a television quiz programme when a contestant gives the wrong answer.  A large ‘X’ appeared on the screen with a list of his answers and the message. 
    ONE OF THESE ANSWERS IS INCORRECT.
    YOU HAVE ONE MORE ATTEMPT .
    Jamie groaned and his shoulders slumped in dejection, but he wasn’t going to give up now that he was so close, so he studied the answers in front of him.  There wasn’t much chance that the football answer was wrong because he had got the answer from a book.  The message had said that only one question was wrong, so that meant that his grandmother’s date had to be correct otherwise the calculation would have been wrong as well.  His dad had been so confident about Granddad Jack’s regiment being the Black Watch, so Jamie’s detective work meant that it was either great granddad’s names that was wrong or the name of Uncle Stanley’s favourite fish.  The problem was he couldn’t ring Uncle Steve back and question him about the name and he couldn’t quiz Mr Cranleigh either. 
    * * *
    The family had just finished watching the film when the telephone rang, although Jamie’s thoughts had been elsewhere and he hadn’t heard it. 
    ‘I hope this is not your new girlfriend, Jamie,’ Kevin joked as he made his way to the telephone.
    ‘All right, our kid,’ Kevin said into the telephone. ‘I was going to ring you tomorrow.  I thought you’d be down the pub.’ Kevin looked towards Debbie and whispered, ‘Our Steve.’
    ‘Jamie! Yes, he’s here.  You want to ask him about computers!  Hang on I’ll put him on, but I think he’s off computers at the moment.  Listen, I’m just going to the chippy and hope they don’t close on a Sunday, but I’ll give you a bell tomorrow.  Cheers.’
    Kevin covered the mouthpiece and then told Jamie that his Uncle Steve wanted to speak to him about a computer problem.
    ‘Hi, Uncle Steve,’ Jamie said, his voice sounding weary.  He would normally have relished the chance of being able to help his Uncle, or anyone else with a computer problem, but his dad was right about him being off them at the moment.
    Kevin had left the room to get his coat and car keys so he didn’t hear or see the change in Jamie’s mood.
    ‘That’s brilliant, Uncle Steve.  Thanks for letting me know.  Bye, Uncle Steve.’