Ruby Redfort- Watch Where You Step

A Visit From the Past

Once she made it home, Ruby bounded up the stairs and sat by the window in her bathroom. It was time for some good old observing. Ever since she could write Ruby had been recording every single thing she saw going on in the neighbourhood. Whether Mrs. Beesman was walking one of her cats, or a robber was running down the streets, Ruby wrote it down.

Rule 16: EVEN THE MUNDANE CAN TELL A STORY.

Watching the world go by relaxed Ruby's mind. She liked to remove herself from her world and put herself in someone else's.

She observed for about an hour, writing down everything she saw. Just as the sky was turning orange, her phone (in the shape of a bar of soap) rang.

     "Twinford telephones, the only way to stay connected."

     "Hey Rube, it's Clancy." His breathing was heavy making Ruby wonder if he'd been running. Her suspicions were soon confirmed. "I'm outside, please come let me in."

     "Can't you just come through the window like you normally would?"

     "I am far too tired to haul myself up there. Please, if I knock I'll have to talk to your parents and I do not have time for that."

Ruby sympathised towards Clancy; she knew better than anyone how tedious it was to chat to her parents.

     "I'll be right down," she said, before hanging up abruptly.

Ruby was a girl true to her word and arrived at the front door in under a minute. She opened it only to have Clancy fall right into the hall. He'd obviously been leaning on the door whilst he waited for her to come down. Ruby crossed her arms and watched him struggle to his feet.

"Ya know Clance, there are days when I wonder why I'm friends with you."

"Haha," Clancy said sarcastically. "You know your life would be joyless without me."

He started climbing the stairs to Ruby's room, and Ruby followed, rolling her eyes because he could be bothered to climb stairs but not a tree. In fact, she felt sure he'd only made her come down and open the door to spite her. Clancy was not unfit nor was he lazy. He was an excellent runner and an amazing swimmer, not that his fear of the ocean ever let him show that skill off.

"So what brings you to my humble abode?" Ruby asked as Clancy pushed open her door.

"I've got news," he replied, with an all-knowing expression on his face.

"Oh yes?" Ruby said, pretending she wasn't interested in the slightest. Clancy sighed. He knew Ruby was too stubborn to press for details.

"It's about that mountain climber guy I was telling you about."

"The dead one?"

"Yes. Well, no. Well, yes, the same climber, but the thing is he-"

Clancy was prevented from finishing his sentence by Hitch opening the door in a slightly violent manner. Clancy and Ruby both jumped, surprised. Hitch also looked as though he wasn't expecting two people in Ruby's room instead of one. But it seemed it was physically impossible for Hitch to appear anything other than calm and in control for more than a minute, and his face soon returned to unreadable.

"Sorry to steal Ruby away from you Clancy, but she's needed quite urgently, if you catch my drift."

Clancy did indeed catch Hitch's drift. As Ruby's best friend they knew everything about each other, and that included her secret spy life. In fact, outside of Spectrum only him and Mrs Digby knew anything about the agency, but they would both rather die than betray Ruby so LB had allowed them to retain what information they had. There was a condition that Ruby could not tell them anything else about her work, but her, Clancy, and Hitch had a silent agreement that Clancy could be kept in the loop, solely for the reason that it would be impossible to keep him out of it.