Adventure 2016

Chapter 1: unsettled starlings

It had been cold for days now. The mornings yielded cold clothes quickly pulled on over bed-warmed bodies. And as the sun went down in the late afternoon, extra layers were pushed onto hands and heads and necks. If it snowed now, it would settle for days on the cold, frosty ground.

James was warm at his desk by the window. The sun was just dipping below the house-covered hill to the south east of Balfour Primary. School had finished an hour before and most of his year 6 class had gone home. He was at art club, finishing a project, waiting to be released.

Starlings filled the air above the hill. A huge flock of them diving and gliding together. They would have finished their feeding and be heading to the seafront to roost for the night. Only it was a little late for that. And they were flying toward the school.

They kept flying toward Balfour until they reached the flat-roof above James. They danced over the playground and back, over and back, before finally resting on the roofs of school and surrounding buildings.

In his 6 years at the school James had never seen starlings roost anywhere near it. Something must have disturbed their usual resting places - the piers and the marina, he thought. The birds seemed happy enough here. He finished his work - a car shaped object made of lolly sticks, and put it over on a drying rack. Animals doing unusual things stirred a memory, but he couldn't think what it was a memory of.

Art club was over. James pulled on his many layers, picked up his school bag and signed out. His house was a short walk from the school, and by now his mum should be back from work. If she wasn't he had a spare key to the back door and could let himself in.

Leaving the school office he turned to look at the birds on the roof. Thousands of them, black now that the sun was down. No one else paid them any attention. Just starlings. Just roosting. There was a rustling in the fallen leaves near the edge of the path. A small breeze ruffled his hair. The rustling leaves settled, and as they did so, a name blew through his mind. Countess Madeira. And she wasn't pleased. He took one last look at the starlings and walked through the gate.

James crossed the road and went up the stairs opposite. Silhouetted against an amber streetlight, two cats were sitting, still, at the top of the last flight of stairs. James imagined they were guards, posted at the entrance to the street above. He couldn't tell if they were facing him, or the street. But they moved aside, in unison, as he reached the midpoint of the stairs.

Then, almost outside his house, three pigeons burst from a recycling bin and flapped up into the night air. One of them looked like it was holding a tin opener in its beak. James' head filled with ideas about pigeons and cats. And those ideas were joined by another about rats and sewers. But, like a dream recalled in the morning, there was nothing solid behind the thoughts.

His mum was in, and he had dinner, did homework, played some game or other and went to bed.

In the cold, weak Friday-morning light on the walk back to school, James didn't notice anything unusual. The starlings were gone, and breakfast club welcomed him with a sign-in sheet and the smell of toast. He wasn't thinking about anything in particular when Jenny sat down opposite him.

"Something weird's going on," she said. "Did you see the starlings last night?"

"Yeah," he took a bite of toast. "They roosted on the school."

"The school? I thought they might be heading to Hollingbury Park, to the trees. And that's not the weirdest thing either. I saw seagulls stealing a bin."

"They always steal from bins, that's normal seagull behaviour."

"You didn't listen to what I said," she said shaking her head. "They weren't stealing scraps of food. They were stealing the whole bin. Half a dozen or more birds, each with a beak full of the rim. I'd have got a picture, but it was dark and they were pretty fast."

Now this was interesting. Jenny and James were friends. Together at nursery and now school. But they were also more - they were part of a gang. Exactly what the gang was was hard to say. But they were in it. Some others too. A boy from year four. A couple of kids that left Balfour and had gone to Patcham High. Even one of the year ones had helped them out. James told her about the cats and the pigeons. And was just about to mention the thoughts of rats when someone sat next to Jenny.

"We were having a conversation," he said.

"I know," she said. "I'm Elf Pontneuf. I'm new. Ish. In year 5. I heard you mention pigeons." She sounded a little foreign. French perhaps. She was small and wore a different uniform to the rest of the kids. Smarter, cleaner, more fashionable.

"Eavesdropping is for--" James started, but Jenny cut him off.

"Go on," she said. "Did you see anything strange too?"

"Yes," Elf said. "But you won't believe me if I say."

"Trust me, we'll believe anything," James replied, catching on quickly to Jenny's welcoming tone. "We've seen some strange things around Brighton over the last few years."

"Well, this was strange. Claudia, my cat, was in the garden and, this will sound odd, she was talking to two squirrels and another cat." Elf looked up to see if James or Jenny were going to challenge her. They didn't. She continued. "And while they were talking, three pigeons attacked. One of them had a dagger in its beak. Claudia and the other cat fought back and the pigeons flew off. The cats were fine but one of the squirrels was not so lucky."

She pulled her brown, leather satchel around to her lap, opened it up and took out something extraordinary. It was made all the more extraordinary because it came from such a clean, neat satchel. It was a squirrel's tail in a ziplock freezer bag.

"Is that a--" Jenny started.

"Yes," Elf said. "But its owner had gone, leaving just this tail behind."

"Can I see it?" James asked.

Elf looked around for teachers.

"Don't worry, that tail isn't much worse than some of the food around here." James reassured her.

She passed him the bag. It really was a fluffy grey squirrel's tail. He didn't open it, and passed it back.

"What does all of this mean?" Jenny asked. "The starlings and the cats and pigeons all acting weirdly."

"And the seagulls too," James added. "I think the key to this is on the seafront. What caused the starlings to come and roost at Balfour?"

"There's normally a whole load of them at the pier," Jenny said. "Maybe there's building work going on and it disturbed them."

"Maybe," Elf said. "But why would that make pigeons attack my cat? With a dagger? That's not normal."

"No it isn't. I think we need to visit the pier. And you should talk to your cat." James looked at Elf.

"Claudia?" Elf said. "What would I say?"

"Ask her why the pigeons attacked. And she might know about the starlings too." Jenny was looking at Elf as well.

"I'll, er, try."

James and Jenny came up with a plan to investigate the pier. They were both allowed out together at the weekends and could walk or catch a bus into town. Elf had to do family things, but she said that she would see what she could find out from Claudia.

Then, breakfast club was over and they had school to contend with. James didn't have any after school clubs on Fridays, so he couldn't wait around to see if the starlings came back. Jenny said she'd be able to see them flocking through her bedroom window. If they weren't back at the pier.

But on Saturday morning, James' parents took him to a friend of the family in Steyning. He couldn't get out of it -- and sent Jenny a message to let her know. She messaged back to say that she might get a chance later on. She and her family were going ice skating at the Pavilion in the evening, and the starlings were back at Balfour last night. James remembered Elf and Claudia. He sent her a message too, but didn't get a reply.

On the way to the car James caught sight of a small grey rat. That was odd to see, during the day. But it wasn't a rat, it was a squirrel. A squirrel with no tail. And it was looking right at him. He glanced at the car and then back to the squirrel, but it was gone.