5 Books For Eveline

21

21

Briar insisted upon driving to the city in her battered, grumbling old car that coughed and sputtered its way along the busy roads, threatening to collapse and die every inch of the way. She noticed Purdy's look of derision at the messy inside of the car and cooed at the vehicle, patting the dashboard and telling it not to take any notice of the grumpy woman in the passenger seat.

Nevertheless, the car, somehow, made it to the city without exploding, or drifting to the hard shoulder in a puff of black smoke. Purdy almost kissed the ground as she escaped the vehicle that took several seconds to stop turning over after Briar had turned it off. She wondered how such a vehicle could ever pass its MoT, let alone manage to get anywhere without killing its occupants.

Now, the two of them entered the square within the city and headed straight towards the statue. Bobbing and weaving through the assembled crowds of office staff, shoppers and students, all congregating in the square to take advantage of the unexpected sunshine, Briar almost dragged Purdy the last few feet until they stood, looking up at the tall, tarnished bronze statue. Purdy had no idea who the statue represented.

She did know what it represented to her. A place, within the third book, where the two older girls had met once more after spending weeks apart. Eveline and Raya had a special friendship. One born of mutual understanding and love. A passion for exploration and for their little town. The city seemed incongruous to their other adventures. A place that did not fit their simple, peaceful life back in Bishop's Fall.

Almost pushing a couple away from the statue, Briar shouldered her way to the plinth and began to scramble up onto the square stone. Purdy noticed many pairs of eyes turn Briar's way, but, as in everything, Briar didn't seem to care, in the slightest, that she had caused a disturbance. Clinging to one of the statue's legs, she began to fumble inside the space where she hoped to find a copy of the fourth volume.

Apologising to the couple that Briar had barged past, Purdy stood on tip-toes, trying to see if Briar had guessed correctly. She could see Briar rummaging her hand within the space, tongue poking out of the side of her mouth. The rummaging stopped and Briar frowned, before starting again, her face pressing against the bronze leg as she tried to search even deeper into the space.

Seconds passed and it didn't look as though Briar were about to give in, until she pulled out her arm and flopped down upon the plinth, dangling her legs against the stone and trying to hide a petulant pout. She hadn't found anything and Purdy had to stop herself from feeling a little happy about that.

"Nothing." Looking down towards Purdy, Briar hooked a thumb towards the statue and its hiding place. "Well, nothing except pigeon droppings and something else that I don't want to imagine what it was. It felt squishy. And not in a good way."

"Is there such a thing as a 'good squishy'? Never mind. Don't answer that." Reaching into her bag, Purdy searched with her fingers until she found a pack of wipes, tossing them up to Briar. "So, that's that. I guess we should head back. Try some of the easier places back in town."

Taking several wipes from the packet, tossing it back to Purdy, Briar wiped her fingers then dropped the wipes onto the plinth before dropping down beside Purdy. She dried her hands on her clothes. Tutting, Purdy took another wipe from the packet and picked up the used ones from atop the plinth, rolling them into a ball as she searched for a bin.

"Oh, there's definitely good squishies! And then there's the amazing squish ..." Briar saw the look of horror cross Purdy's face and stopped. "Why go back there? So soon! We've only just got here!"

"Because we've done what we came to do. What's the point of staying longer?" Purdy headed towards a bin, Briar clutching at her arm, and dropped the used wipes inside. "If we go back now, we can search a few places before it gets late."