frozen within time

chapter twelve

They found uncle John in the front garden as they all skidded to a halt by the gate later that afternoon.
He was yo the chestnut tree and gave them a shout of excitement as they got off their bikes.
'Look! Its still here! Well . . . . What's left of it. Not working, obviously.' And he reached down from a low branch which he'd been balancing on (a paintspattered step ladder was set up below it) and in his hand was a rusty box, about the size of a small shoebox.

A lichen encrusted circle at the front had once been a glass lens and a metre or two of linked and ivy clad wire trailed from the back of it.

'This was the camera!' Shouted uncle John, his voice High with excitement and altitude.

Climbing a tree was not something they'd ever seen him do.

'Do get down, jj, before you break your neck!' Laughed Karl. He was quite cheeky, really, thought Alex----but then he was uncle js uncle. it still made Alex's Brain bend to think of it.

Uncle John handed Alex the camera and came carefully down the step ladder. his eyes were glittery; dark lines underneath them. it was entirely possible he had not slept at all since yesterday. they had seen him like this before, when his work in the attic got very exciting.

'You need to eat,' said Kristen. 'I bet you haven't had anything at all, have you?'

'What? Oh nonsense. Don't worry about that,' said uncle John. 'Time enough, time enough. I want to talk some more about what happened in Wednesday the sixth of June. I had one or two leads to follow up.'

'Well you can do it over some cake and tea,'  said holly, firmly, arriving at kristens side. 'You'll make much more sense of it all then.'

'What leads? What have you found out?' Asked karl, clearly not remotely worried about how undernourished uncle John was.

'Well,' said uncle John, taking back the camera and turning it lovengly in his hands. 'That man----the one holly spotted on the film, walking by just before the car came that afternoon. I've studied him on freeze frame. I couldn't believe it at first----but now I really think I know who he is.'

'You do?' Breathed holly. 'Who? Who could it be?'

'Well, if I'm right, it's very good news, because he's still alive. And he knows a lot about the investigation into your fathers disappearence. In the other hand, talking to him could be trouble.'

'Who? Who?' Squeaked holly, sounding like an anxious owl.

'Franklin Shaw,' came the reply. but it didn't come from uncle johns mouth. Uncle John's mouth was wide and bus eyes were blinking in shock through his glasses. the voice came from behind them all. they spun round and there, leaning on the gate as he so often did, was old Frank.

Normally old frank just stared away at the trees behind the house, his rheumy eyes distant and his face impassive, as inscrutable as an ancient japanese warrior. Today, his eyes were fixed on holly and karl, his elderly teeth gnawing in his lower lip and his head shaking in amazement. 'It is you. It is, isn't it? I saw you this morning and I thought I'd gone senile. but no . . . . Here you are. Karl and holly wilkinson. Maybe I am senile. maybe in in a bathchair now, down at sunset mansions where the old folk get out out to pasture . . . .'

Uncle John stopped his gaping, strode across to the gate and grasped percys arm. 'No----no, frank. It's real. didn't I tell you? Didn't I always say? He didn't do it! He didn't! And now we have proof. Well . . . . Sort of. I mean . . . . Nobody's ever going to believe it, I suppose. but yes . . . . This is holly and karl. The professor managed to suspend them----cryonically----truly! They've been frozen for fifty three years! Can you believe it!