As soon as they had gone the thin man sat down indignantly.
'A sorry state of affairs!' he grumbled.
'Everyone thinks it's funny to do that old joke,' added Mrs Beatty, 'that's the second time this month.'
'It gave me a powerful thirst,' added Emma. 'Anyone else?'
'Maybe,' I suggested, 'they should start a self-help group for themselves — they could call it Eradications Anonymous Anonymous.'
No one thought it was funny and I hid a smile. Perhaps there would be a chance for me and Landen after all.
I didn't contribute much to the group after that, and indeed the conversation soon threaded away from eradications and on to more mundane matters, such as the latest crop of TV shows that seemed to have flourished in my absence. Celebrity Name That Fruit! hosted by Frankie Saveloy was a ratings topper these days, as was Toasters from Hell and You've Been Stapled!, a collection of England's funniest stationery incidents. Emma had given up all attempts at subtlety by now and was prising the lock off the drinks cabinet with a screwdriver when Friday wailed one of those ultrasonic cries that only parents can hear — makes you understand how sheep can know whose lamb is whose — and I mercifully excused myself. He was standing up in his cot rattling the bars, so I took him out and read to him until we were both fast asleep.
10
Mrs Tiggy-Winkle
KIERKEGAARD BOOK — BURNING CEREMONY PROVES DANISH PHILOSOPHER'S UNPOPULARITY
Chancellor Yorrick Kaine last night officiated at the first burning of Danish literature with the incineration of eight copies ot Fear and Trembling, a quantity that fell far short of the expected 'thirty or forty tons'. When asked to comment on the apparent lack of enthusiasm among the public for torching their Danish philosophy. Kaine explained that 'Kierkegaard is clearly less popular than we thought, and rightly so — next stop Hans Christian Andersen!' Kierkegaard himself was unavailable for comment, having inconsiderately allowed himself to be dead for a number of years.
I was dreaming that a large chainsaw-wielding elephant was sitting on me when I awoke at two in the morning. I was still fully dressed with a snoring Friday fast asleep on my chest. I put him back in his cot and turned the bedside lamp to the wall to soften the light. My mother, for reasons known only to herself, had kept my bedroom pretty much as it was at the time I had left home. It was nostalgic but also deeply disturbing to see just what had interested me in my late teens. It seemed that it had been boys, music, Jane Austen and law enforcement, but not particularly in that order.
I undressed and slipped on a long T-shirt and stared at Friday's sleeping form, his lips making gentle sucky motions.
'Psss!' said a voice close at hand. I turned. There, in the semi-dark, was a very large hedgehog dressed in a pinafore and bonnet. She was keeping a close lookout at the door and after giving me a wan smile crept to the window and peeked out.
'Whoa!' she breathed in wonderment. 'Street lights are orange. Never would have thought that!'
'Mrs Tiggy-Winkle,' I said, 'I've only been gone two days!'
'Sorry to bother you,' she said, curtsying quickly and absently folding my shirt, which I had tossed over a chair-back, 'but there are one or two things going on that I thought you should know about — and you did say that if I had any questions to ask.'
'Okay — but not here; we'll wake Friday.'
So we crept downstairs to the kitchen. I pulled down the blinds before turning the lights on as a six-foot hedgehog in a shawl and bonnet might have caused a few eyebrows to be raised in the neighbourhood — no one wore bonnets in Swindon these days.
I offered Mrs Tiggy-Winkle a seat at the table. Although she, Emperor Zhark and Bradshaw had been put in charge of running Jurisfiction in my absence, none of them had the leadership skills necessary to do the job on their own. And while the Council of Genres refused to concede that my absence was anything but 'compassionate leave', a new Bellman was yet to be elected in my place.
'So what's up?' I asked.
'Oh, Miss Next!' she wailed, her spines bristling with vexation. 'Please come back!'
'I have things to deal with out here,' I explained, 'you all know that!'
She sighed. 'I know, but Emperor Zhark threw a tantrum when I suggested he spend a little less time conquering the universe and a little more time at Jurisfiction — the Red Queen won't do anything post-1867 and Vernham Deane is tied up with the latest Daphne Farquitt novel. Commander Bradshaw does his own thing, which leaves me in charge — and someone left a saucer of bread and milk on my desk this morning.'
'It was probably just a joke.'
'Well, I'm not laughing,' replied Mrs Tiggy-Winkle indignantly.
'By the way,' I said as a thought suddenly struck me, 'did you find out which book Yornck Kaine escaped from?'
'I'm afraid not. The Cat is searching unpublished novels in the Well of Lost Plots at the moment, but it might take a little time. You know how chaotic things are down there.'
'Only too well.' I sighed, thinking about my old home in unpublished fiction with a mixture of fondness and relief. The Well is where books are actually constructed, where plotsnuths create the stones that authors think they write. You can buy plot devices at discount rates and verbs by the pint. An odd place, to be sure. 'Okay,' I said finally, 'you'd better tell me what's going on.'
'Well,' said Mrs Tiggy-Winkle, counting the points out on her paw, 'this morning a rumour of potential change in the copyright laws swept through the BookWorld.'
'I don't know how these rumours get started,' I replied wearily. 'Was there any truth in it?'
'Not in the least.'
This was a contentious subject to the residents of the BookWorld. The jump to copyright-free Public Domain Status had always been a fearful prospect for a book character, and even with support groups and training courses to soften the blow, the 'Narrative Menopause' could take some getting used to. The problem was, copyright laws tend to vary around the world and sometimes characters are in the public domain in one market and not in another, which is confusing. Then there is the possibility that the law might change and characters who had adjusted themselves to Public Domain Status would find themselves in copyright again or vice versa. Unrest in the BookWorld about these matters is palpable; it only takes a small spark to set off a riot.
'So all was well?'
'Pretty much.'
'Good. Anything else?'
'Starbucks want to open another coffee shop in the Hardy Boys series.'
'Another one?' I asked with some surprise. 'There's already sixteen. How much coffee do they think they can drink? Tell them they can open another in Mrs Dalloway and two more in The Age of Reason. After that, no more. What else?'
'The Tailor of Gloucester needs three yards of cherry-coloured silk to finish the mayor's embroidered coat — but he's got a cold and can't go out.'
'Who are we? Interlink? Tell him to send his cat, Simpkin.'
'Okay.'
There was a pause.
'You didn't come all this way to tell me bad news about Kaine, copyright panics and cherry-coloured twist, now, did you?'
She looked at me and sighed.
'There's a bit of a problem with Hamlet.'
'I know. But he's doing a favour for my mother at the moment. I'll send him back in a few days.'
'Um,' replied the hedgehog nervously, 'it's a bit more complex than that. I think it might be a good idea if you kept him out here for a bit longer.'