IS ANYONE THERE?

"Something woke me up and when I looked out of the window, I could see this light. Someone was over on the mountain!" Julie looked at Auntie Gladys and Uncle Tom to gauge the effect of her words.

Auntie Gladys’ hand covered her mouth. "It wasn’t paratroopers, was it? They could land here, being so near Cardiff."

"Don’t be silly," rumbled Uncle Tom. "The Home Guard would be

swarming all over us if it was."

"What if they don’t know?" Auntie Gladys argued.

"Now don’t worry the kids. Haven’t they been through enough in the raids!"

But Julie wasn’t convinced. After school she said to her brother, Rob, "I’m gonna see if I can find anything. Coming?"

Rob pulled a face. "Such as what?"

"A parachute or something. Oh, come on!"

Telling Auntie Gladys they were going for a walk, they made for the place near the allotments where Julie had seen a light.

"I ’spect it was someone from the village," said Rob.

"What! In the middle of the night?"

"Might be."

They searched around, Julie hunting through the ferns, while Rob, soon bored, began chasing sheep.

"I’ll tell Uncle Tom," threatened Julie.

They wandered on to the allotments. A man, wheeling his bike, came up the path.

"What you two doing here? Now clear off, this isn’t a playground."

"We’re not doing nothing," said Rob.

"Well, go and do something," the man snarled, going to a shed where he propped his bike and went inside.

"Miserable old devil," said Julie.

"I’ll tell Auntie Gladys you swore."

"That’s not swearing," Julie said. Then looking at the hedge said, "Hey, look, blackberries. Let’s pick some."

They gathered a handful each, then Rob said, "Look, he’s going now, Let’s see what’s on the allotments. There might be strawberries!"

As they passed the man’s hut, Rob noticed the door wasn’t properly locked and immediately opened it.

"You better not go inside," Julie warned, "he might come back."

But it was too late. "Cor, look at all the tools," Rob said. "And look at this! What is it?"

Julie followed him in. Rob was looking at a wooden box on the bench – trying to open it.

They both jumped as the door banged shut behind them and they heard the scraping of the padlock going into place. They looked at each other for a moment, then Rob shouted "Hey!" but when they rushed to the window, the man was walking down the path again. It was then Julie noticed the window was barred!

"Hey, let us out!" she yelled. But the man didn’t hear.

"What we gonna do now?" Rob stared at Julie with frightened eyes.

"It’s your fault, you shouldn’t have come in," Julie said, then taking pity on him, "Perhaps he saw us come in and he’s locked us in to frighten us. He’ll be back in a minute."

But they could see the main road from the hut and saw him cycling away.

"He couldn’t have heard us," Rob said. "We’ll be here for ever!" Tears welled in his eyes.

"No, we won’t, he’ll be back later – or perhaps someone else will come along." She put an arm around his shoulders. "What was in that box?"

Distracted for a moment, Rob turned to look at it again. He saw the clips that closed the lid and opened them.

Something like a radio lay inside, but not an ordinary one, it had two dials and earphones.

Rob picked them up and put them over his ears. Flicking a switch, he turned one of the knobs – a terrible screeching noise came out and he quickly turned it back again.

"You better leave it alone, you might break it and then he will be mad!"

"What’s he doing with a radio up here?" wondered Rob. Then his eyes widened. Think he’s a spy?"

"I hope not. If he is – when he comes back…" She didn’t want to worry him, but she’d heard what the Germans did to spies! They had to get out of here before he came back.

"Turn that other knob," she said. Perhaps we can send a message."

Rob tried it. "Hello, hello," he said, but no-one answered.

"Here, let me have a go." Julie took the earphones off him and put them on and turning the knob slowly, repeated Rob’s call, adding, "If anyone’s listening, please come and let us out. We’re in a shed on the allotment near Uncle Tom’s bakery. Hurry, I think the man’s a spy!"

"Perhaps you got to turn the other knob to get an answer," Rob said.

Julie tried it, but when the unearthly screech came again, she quickly turned it off.

“We’ll just have to wait," she said. "When he opens the door, we’ll rush out."

Rob tried and tried to send more messages, but gave up on receiving no reply.

"I wanna go home," he said.

"Don’t worry, Auntie Gladys’ll send someone to look for us."

But it was getting dark and no-one came.

There were rustlings from the corner, Julie hoped it wasn’t a rat. Rob edged nearer to her on the bench.

They played ‘I spy’ for a while, until Rob’s eyelids drooped and Julie felt him relax against her.

Searchlights swept the sky. Another raid over Cardiff; she hoped Mam was okay.

She tried to keep watch, but eventually her eyes closed.

The sun woke her. That man might be back soon! She shivered and Rob woke.

"I want a drink," he said.

"We’ll be out soon."

When they heard shouting, they rushed to the window, banging on it and yelling.

Soon the door was forced open and they stumbled into Uncle Tom’s arms. There were policemen with him.

"Where’s this radio?" one said.

Julie pointed. "You got our message?"

"RAF picked it up. Thanks to you we got him. He won’t send any more information to his pals."

Everyone wanted to hear about their adventure and Julie thought she’d never think village life boring again.

Copyright Joan Peake 2005