The Trees Smell Like Lemons

34. Bucketful of gold

Tom knocked on the door for a third time.

"Are you sure this is the right house?" Lila asked impatiently.

"Lila I told you I've been here before. It's only been a couple of minutes. Just wait," Tom snapped.

Lila sighed dramatically but didn't argue any more. Tom was about to knock again when the door flew open.

"Hello!" Sam was wearing black and white stiped pyjamas and gold slippers. "Sorry I was asleep, and my parents went out for dinner."

"You know it's not even seven o'clock yet right?" Lila asked, earning an elbow kick from Tom.

"Oh no I don't usually go to sleep this early. There's a meteor shower late tonight and I didn't want to miss it by falling asleep."

"That's cool," said Lila. "What type of meteor shower?"

"I think there's just the one kind Lila," Tom interrupted, "Sorry to rush you Sam. We just need to get the phone so we can meet Bea at the dance."

"Calm down Tom, the dance doesn't even start for another thirty minutes. Besides I told you, Bea said her Dad was giving her a lift."

"I know, I just don't want her to turn up alone," Tom responded.

Lila raised her eyes but didn't contradict him. Sam had been watching them silently and said, "It's not a problem. Come on in." Sam opened the door wide and stepped back. "Oh, and to answer your question it's the Ursid meteor shower," he flashed a smile at Lila. She blushed and returned the smile.

"Follow me," Sam said, leading them through the house and into the garden. On one side of the garden was a medium sized work shed. Sam took out a set of keys to unlock the door.

"Are you worried someone's going to steal a pair of secateurs?" Lila joked.

"Not quite," Sam replied coyly.

Sam opened the door. Lila stepped inside and opened her mouth in surprise. There were more phones, computers, tablets and other expensive tech to open at least three gadget shops. Interestingly, the shed also looked bigger on the inside than it had from the garden.

"Dude," Tom said.

"I know," Sam grinned. "The phone's over here."

Sam moved across the shed to a workstation and rummaged around in the top drawer before pulling out a phone. "The damage wasn't as bad as I thought but it took so long to fix because I had to order some parts online that were out of stock, so it took a while for them to arrive." He handed the phone to Lila.

"I disabled all the passwords so you should be able to access everything on the phone. By the way, I think Bea was right."

Lila pressed the home button screen and it lit up, showing the background photo. Lila nearly dropped the phone in shock.

"What do you mean Bea was right?" Tom asked.

"He means," Lila said slowly, "That this is not Sara's phone."

***

"Are you sure you guys don't want a lift?" Steve asked again as he and Connie said goodbye to Bea and Adam at the front door.

"Dad it's okay, Adam said he would drive me back. He promised he wouldn't have a drop of alcohol."

"I wasn't aware school dances served alcohol," Steve frowned at his daughter.

"You're right," Bea said quickly, "I don't know what I was thinking. Anyway, we should go, we're already running late." Bea grabbed Adam's arm and half dragged him down the driveway.