Derek was busy on his mobile, while Lois and Josie tried to persuade the children to go off to school. At last they were shepherded aboard by the driver, and drove off.
“It’s all right, loves,” said Derek, who, after all, had changed his mind about tackling a giant snake. “I phoned the zoo, and they’re sending someone from the reptile house to pick it up. It went missing last night, and they said it was definitely stolen. How and why it came to be in your shop, Josie, is a puzzle, but the police have been informed.”
Two
By ten o’clock, the whole village knew about the snake. A zoo handler had arrived, in a Tresham Zoo van with a snarling tiger emblazoned on the side, and with the utmost confidence and calm had picked up the snake and settled it comfortably in a large wicker basket. He then bought an ice cream for himself from Josie, and making his way out, smiled at a small crowd once more gathering outside.
“I shall never have another minute’s peace,” said Josie, still nervous about staying inside the shop. She sat on the shop step in the sunlight, talking to Andrew Young, one of her mother’s team of cleaners. Andrew had been around the world as a student of interior decoration, and was consequently quite knowledgeable about snakes.
“I’m sure you’ll be safe now,” he said. “It was a definite one-off, though how it got inside your locked storeroom, I cannot think. Have you found a tenant for the flat up above yet? If the snake story gets out, potential tenants are going to think twice!”
Josie shook her head. “There’s still some of my stuff up there, and I keep meaning to take it down to the cottage. There’s always something more urgent to do. But now, when I think about it, I start to shake. I mean, if a snake can get in—”
“Or was put in?” said Andrew.
“What d’you mean? Why should anyone put a snake into my shop? Oh hell, Andrew, do you think somebody did it purposely?”
“It’s possible,” he said. “I can’t think how else it got in, unless it came down the chimney.”
Josie frowned. “The chimneys are all blocked off,” she said, and seeing the ghost of a grin on his face, she added that it was no laughing matter. He hadn’t seen the snake, and probably wouldn’t believe how huge it was.
“So what are you going to do, Josie? Is Matthew going to look into it?”
“He doesn’t know about it yet. He’s not due back until around six this evening. Meanwhile, I’m staying outside here, unless there’s customers wanting to be served. What are you doing here, anyway? Did Mum send you down for something?”
“No, it was Gran. I was early for my next job—at Stone House, Mrs Tollervey-Jones—and so I called in at Meade House. Gran sent me down for milk. Apparently they’ve run out. Shall I go in and help myself?”
Gran Weedon was Lois’s mother, who acted as housekeeper for the family. She had a sharp tongue and a warm heart, and she, Lois and Derek lived in Meade House in relative harmony.
Josie got to her feet and followed Andrew into the shop. “I suppose I’m being silly, aren’t I? It’s extremely unlikely there will be another snake. Here’s the milk. I’ll put it on Gran’s tab.”
She opened the counter drawer to take out the account book, and her hand touched something cold and dry and alive.
“Ahhhhh!” Her scream seemed to Andrew to go on forever, and he rushed around the counter to grab her.
“For heaven’s sake, Josie, do shut up! Let me look.”
He pulled out the drawer to its full extent, and saw a large toad looking at him. It was ugly, mottled yellow and warty, and it began to crawl out and up onto the counter.
“Andrew! Get it out of here, please!” Josie quavered. And then it was all too much for her, and she rushed back to the top of the steps, sat down with her head on her knees and sobbed silently.
*
By the time Derek Meade got home from work, Lois had summoned a family council of war.
“War on all reptiles,” she said, as they sat down at the kitchen table. Derek, Lois, Josie and Matthew, Gran Weedon and Andrew Young, who had so heroically dealt with the toad, all had coffee in front of them, and Josie had brought a large box of tissues in anticipation of more tears.
“Where’d you put it, boy?” said Gran. “I don’t mind frogs, but I can’t be doing with toads. They look evil, the way they crawl, like some kind of alien creature on the telly.”
Josie began to sniff.
“Gran,” said Derek, “if I were you I’d keep off the subject as much as possible. You can see our Josie is very upset.”