A Home Away From Home and Other Stories by Lynne Roberts
you can live like this.'
'Like what?' Brad was indignant. 'It's not that untidy. I know where everything is.' He cleared a space on the chair for Fliss to sit by dumping a half-finished Lego Spaceship, a pile of car magazines and a cracked CD case onto the floor. Fliss gave him a scornful look and remained standing.
'Okay, so what's the important thing you wanted to tell me?' Fliss folded her arms and glared at her brother.
'It’s Jarek. He's from another time,' Brad announced.
'Yeah, right. Look Brad, I don't have time to play games. I've got homework to do.'
Brad turned to Jarek. 'It's true. Go on, Jarek. Tell her.'
'It is true,' Jarek muttered. 'I know you won't believe it and I'm not supposed to tell anyone but I am from a different time zone.'
Fliss frowned. 'If this is a wind-up…' she began.
'It's not,' Brad insisted.
Fliss looked thoughtfully at Jarek. With Brad's encouragement he explained to Fliss what had happened. 'And so here I am stuck,' he ended.
'Wow.' Fliss sat down suddenly on the end of Brad's bed. 'That's amazing. So how do you get to go home again?'
'That's the whole point,' Brad exclaimed. 'We don't know. We thought you might be able to help.'
'I'm flattered that you have such a high opinion of me,' Fliss said, 'but I don't know the first thing about time travel. I would have thought that sort of thing was more your style, Brad. Hang on a minute, what was that thing called?'
'You mean the Chronocallers?'
'Yeah, that's it. Why don't you get Brad to make one? He's a genius with electronics stuff'.
'Hey, maybe I could.' Brad's eyes gleamed.
Jarek shook his head.
'It's no good,' he said. 'It's made with things that don't even exist in this time. And anyway, it doesn't make you time travel. All it does is tell you when the time is to go. You have to be in the zone; that was the house we had here, at the right time and that's what changes.
'Oh well, it was a good idea anyway,' said Brad despondently. 'I would have liked to have had a go at making a time travelling device.'
'I told you, it's not time travel,' Jarek snapped.
'But you travel in time so that's what it has to be,' Brad said reasonably. Jarek glared at him and clenched his fists.
'I've been thinking,' Fliss said slowly, 'you know you said you all have the Chronocallers and go to the zone? Well maybe you're not the first person to have missed the signal. I mean, maybe other people have lost their Chronocallers or sometimes one doesn't work or something happens to stop them reaching their zone. Don't you have any sort of emergency thing you could do?'
'You mean like dialing 111,' Brad suggested helpfully.
'Of course not,' Jarek said in exasperation. 'There's nothing like that.'
'But there must be some way you could get back to your own time zone,' Fliss said reasonably. 'You said the places are like islands. Maybe you could find another island and sort of hop from there.'
'Oh don't be so…actually that might work,' Jarek said. 'In fact, I'm sure it would only I have no idea how to go about finding one.'
'What do they look like?' Fliss asked.
'That's the whole problem,' Jarek told her. 'They look like the rest of the place they are in.'
'But not exactly,' Brad pointed out. 'Fliss said your clothes were a bit weird.'
'Why? What's wrong with my clothes?' Jarek asked indignantly.
'Nothing's actually wrong, they just aren't quite, well, quite right,' Fliss told him kindly. 'But we can hardly go around looking for people who are dressed differently. That would take years.'
'Are you sure there's no other way?' Brad asked his friend.
'I'm trying to think. I wish I'd listened more carefully. My dad was always going on about time stuff but most of it was so boring.'
'One thing I wondered,’ Fliss put in. 'When you said your house has gone, well what's left where it was?'
There's an empty section there now,' Brad said helpfully.
'Isn't that a bit obvious? Won't the neighbours be a bit suspicious? They wake up one morning and suddenly there's a house next door then a few weeks later it's gone. Don't people ask questions?'
'Other people don't notice it, ' Jarek explained. 'It's real for me so I can go into it and because Brad was with me he saw the house as well, but to everyone else there has been an empty section there all along.'
'So did you search the section?' Fliss asked. 'Your family might have left something there for you if you weren't there when they left.'
Brad and Jarek looked at each other blankly.
'Er, no we didn't,' Brad said.
'Well that's the first thing to do, then,' Fliss said briskly. 'If your mother is anything like ours she'd be out of her tree if you weren't back when you were supposed to be. She's bound to have left you a note or something.'
Jarek brightened. 'Why didn't I think of that?' he said.
'It's too dark now and anyway Mum would never let us go out again. We'll go first thing in the morning,' Brad promised.
The boys left the house the next morning in a mood of cheerful optimism, which lasted until they arrived at the empty section.
So what are we looking for?' Brad asked.
'I don't really know. It would be something unusual except that Mum and Dad couldn't risk leaving something that anybody could pick up. It probably looks like something normal. Something that nobody would be likely to be attracted to.'
Brad groaned. 'You're not making any sense at all. Do you mean something like this empty can?' he kicked a discarded orange soda can into a clump of grass.
'Yes. We'd better collect everything we can find and then see if it looks like a message,' Jarek told him.
Brad sighed and picked up the can. 'I'll start making a pile over here,' he said, waving his hand towards one side of the section. 'We should have brought gloves. Some of this stuff is filthy.' He grimaced as he tossed a soggy real estate pamphlet and a rusty bottle cap beside the can.
Jarek shrugged and wandered across to begin collecting on the other side of the section.
After half an hour's searching, Brad felt discouraged. Old chocolate bar wrappers joined a mildewed cap and a broken plastic spade on the heap. By the look of the expression on Jarek's face, his search wasn't going much better.
Forty minutes later, Jarek got to his feet with a groan. 'I think we've covered the whole thing, by now. It all looks like junk.' He kicked at the pile by his feet.
Brad nodded. He sat back on his heels and looked at his pile in disgust, then felt something sharp bump his back. He looked over his shoulder to see Jarek standing behind him.
'Stop poking me,' he said indignantly.
'I didn't touch you,' Jarek protested.
Brad scowled at him and started to stand up. As he did, he felt a solid bump on his leg.
'You are poking me,' he insisted.
'I am not. I said so. Besides, I'm nowhere near you,' Jarek snapped.
Brad scowled and felt the bump on his leg again. 'There's something weird going on,' he blurted out.
'What? How do you mean?'
'There's something bumping my leg,' Brad complained. 'Only I can't see anything.'
Jarek stood still and thought for a minute. 'Why don't you feel around,' he suggested.
Brad gave him a puzzled look but reached behind his leg then yelped in shock. 'There's something there,' he spluttered. 'It's metal. Like some sort of cage.'
Jarek's mouth dropped open. 'Feel around again,' he said huskily. 'It's important.'
Cautiously, Brad patted the air by his leg. His eyes opened wide and he gasped in astonishment. 'It feels like a shopping trolley,' he said. 'You know, like they have in the supermarket, only it's invisible. Hey, Jarek. I've found an invisible shopping trolley. Is that weird, or what?'
'It must be from my family,' Jarek said eagerly. 'Let me feel it.'
Brad stepped back and watched Jarek run his hands over the invisible trolley.
'What do you do with it?' he asked curiously.
Jarek frowned. 'I have absolutely no idea,' he admitted. 'There doesn't seem to be anything inside it like a letter or anything.'
'Maybe you have to get into it and it will take you home,' Brad suggested.
Jarek hesitated. 'That doesn't sound like it would work,' he said doubtfully.
'It's worth a try, though, surely? I mean, why else would they leave an invisible shopping trolley for you to find.'
Jarek couldn't argue with this and reluctantly climbed into the trolley. 'It's not very big,' he complained.
'That's because it's for groceries or little kids,' Brad said helpfully. He sniggered to see his friend crouching above the ground. 'I hope this works quickly,' he said hastily. 'I have no idea how we can explain this if anyone sees you.'
'I feel stupid,' Jarek muttered. 'Nothing seems to be happening.'
'Maybe you need a command like they do with magic carpets,' Brad said helpfully.
'I don't know any magic,' Jarek muttered. He drew a deep breath and waved his hands in the air. 'Take me home,' he said majestically.
Brad watched expectantly but nothing happened.
'This is stupid. It's obviously not the right thing to do,' Jarek said bitterly.
'Well don't blame me. What else do you do with a shopping trolley?'
'Maybe if you got into it as well it will work. You're the one that found it, after all. Maybe it only works for the first one to touch it or something.'
'I'm not the one who's lost, though,' Brad said reasonably.
'Have you got a better idea?'
'Oh all right, if you insist.'
He climbed into the trolley beside Jarek, who complained bitterly as Brad's bony knees jabbed into his back.
'Careful, watch what you're doing. Oh!'
The boys both started in surprise, as the
'Like what?' Brad was indignant. 'It's not that untidy. I know where everything is.' He cleared a space on the chair for Fliss to sit by dumping a half-finished Lego Spaceship, a pile of car magazines and a cracked CD case onto the floor. Fliss gave him a scornful look and remained standing.
'Okay, so what's the important thing you wanted to tell me?' Fliss folded her arms and glared at her brother.
'It’s Jarek. He's from another time,' Brad announced.
'Yeah, right. Look Brad, I don't have time to play games. I've got homework to do.'
Brad turned to Jarek. 'It's true. Go on, Jarek. Tell her.'
'It is true,' Jarek muttered. 'I know you won't believe it and I'm not supposed to tell anyone but I am from a different time zone.'
Fliss frowned. 'If this is a wind-up…' she began.
'It's not,' Brad insisted.
Fliss looked thoughtfully at Jarek. With Brad's encouragement he explained to Fliss what had happened. 'And so here I am stuck,' he ended.
'Wow.' Fliss sat down suddenly on the end of Brad's bed. 'That's amazing. So how do you get to go home again?'
'That's the whole point,' Brad exclaimed. 'We don't know. We thought you might be able to help.'
'I'm flattered that you have such a high opinion of me,' Fliss said, 'but I don't know the first thing about time travel. I would have thought that sort of thing was more your style, Brad. Hang on a minute, what was that thing called?'
'You mean the Chronocallers?'
'Yeah, that's it. Why don't you get Brad to make one? He's a genius with electronics stuff'.
'Hey, maybe I could.' Brad's eyes gleamed.
Jarek shook his head.
'It's no good,' he said. 'It's made with things that don't even exist in this time. And anyway, it doesn't make you time travel. All it does is tell you when the time is to go. You have to be in the zone; that was the house we had here, at the right time and that's what changes.
'Oh well, it was a good idea anyway,' said Brad despondently. 'I would have liked to have had a go at making a time travelling device.'
'I told you, it's not time travel,' Jarek snapped.
'But you travel in time so that's what it has to be,' Brad said reasonably. Jarek glared at him and clenched his fists.
'I've been thinking,' Fliss said slowly, 'you know you said you all have the Chronocallers and go to the zone? Well maybe you're not the first person to have missed the signal. I mean, maybe other people have lost their Chronocallers or sometimes one doesn't work or something happens to stop them reaching their zone. Don't you have any sort of emergency thing you could do?'
'You mean like dialing 111,' Brad suggested helpfully.
'Of course not,' Jarek said in exasperation. 'There's nothing like that.'
'But there must be some way you could get back to your own time zone,' Fliss said reasonably. 'You said the places are like islands. Maybe you could find another island and sort of hop from there.'
'Oh don't be so…actually that might work,' Jarek said. 'In fact, I'm sure it would only I have no idea how to go about finding one.'
'What do they look like?' Fliss asked.
'That's the whole problem,' Jarek told her. 'They look like the rest of the place they are in.'
'But not exactly,' Brad pointed out. 'Fliss said your clothes were a bit weird.'
'Why? What's wrong with my clothes?' Jarek asked indignantly.
'Nothing's actually wrong, they just aren't quite, well, quite right,' Fliss told him kindly. 'But we can hardly go around looking for people who are dressed differently. That would take years.'
'Are you sure there's no other way?' Brad asked his friend.
'I'm trying to think. I wish I'd listened more carefully. My dad was always going on about time stuff but most of it was so boring.'
'One thing I wondered,’ Fliss put in. 'When you said your house has gone, well what's left where it was?'
There's an empty section there now,' Brad said helpfully.
'Isn't that a bit obvious? Won't the neighbours be a bit suspicious? They wake up one morning and suddenly there's a house next door then a few weeks later it's gone. Don't people ask questions?'
'Other people don't notice it, ' Jarek explained. 'It's real for me so I can go into it and because Brad was with me he saw the house as well, but to everyone else there has been an empty section there all along.'
'So did you search the section?' Fliss asked. 'Your family might have left something there for you if you weren't there when they left.'
Brad and Jarek looked at each other blankly.
'Er, no we didn't,' Brad said.
'Well that's the first thing to do, then,' Fliss said briskly. 'If your mother is anything like ours she'd be out of her tree if you weren't back when you were supposed to be. She's bound to have left you a note or something.'
Jarek brightened. 'Why didn't I think of that?' he said.
'It's too dark now and anyway Mum would never let us go out again. We'll go first thing in the morning,' Brad promised.
The boys left the house the next morning in a mood of cheerful optimism, which lasted until they arrived at the empty section.
So what are we looking for?' Brad asked.
'I don't really know. It would be something unusual except that Mum and Dad couldn't risk leaving something that anybody could pick up. It probably looks like something normal. Something that nobody would be likely to be attracted to.'
Brad groaned. 'You're not making any sense at all. Do you mean something like this empty can?' he kicked a discarded orange soda can into a clump of grass.
'Yes. We'd better collect everything we can find and then see if it looks like a message,' Jarek told him.
Brad sighed and picked up the can. 'I'll start making a pile over here,' he said, waving his hand towards one side of the section. 'We should have brought gloves. Some of this stuff is filthy.' He grimaced as he tossed a soggy real estate pamphlet and a rusty bottle cap beside the can.
Jarek shrugged and wandered across to begin collecting on the other side of the section.
After half an hour's searching, Brad felt discouraged. Old chocolate bar wrappers joined a mildewed cap and a broken plastic spade on the heap. By the look of the expression on Jarek's face, his search wasn't going much better.
Forty minutes later, Jarek got to his feet with a groan. 'I think we've covered the whole thing, by now. It all looks like junk.' He kicked at the pile by his feet.
Brad nodded. He sat back on his heels and looked at his pile in disgust, then felt something sharp bump his back. He looked over his shoulder to see Jarek standing behind him.
'Stop poking me,' he said indignantly.
'I didn't touch you,' Jarek protested.
Brad scowled at him and started to stand up. As he did, he felt a solid bump on his leg.
'You are poking me,' he insisted.
'I am not. I said so. Besides, I'm nowhere near you,' Jarek snapped.
Brad scowled and felt the bump on his leg again. 'There's something weird going on,' he blurted out.
'What? How do you mean?'
'There's something bumping my leg,' Brad complained. 'Only I can't see anything.'
Jarek stood still and thought for a minute. 'Why don't you feel around,' he suggested.
Brad gave him a puzzled look but reached behind his leg then yelped in shock. 'There's something there,' he spluttered. 'It's metal. Like some sort of cage.'
Jarek's mouth dropped open. 'Feel around again,' he said huskily. 'It's important.'
Cautiously, Brad patted the air by his leg. His eyes opened wide and he gasped in astonishment. 'It feels like a shopping trolley,' he said. 'You know, like they have in the supermarket, only it's invisible. Hey, Jarek. I've found an invisible shopping trolley. Is that weird, or what?'
'It must be from my family,' Jarek said eagerly. 'Let me feel it.'
Brad stepped back and watched Jarek run his hands over the invisible trolley.
'What do you do with it?' he asked curiously.
Jarek frowned. 'I have absolutely no idea,' he admitted. 'There doesn't seem to be anything inside it like a letter or anything.'
'Maybe you have to get into it and it will take you home,' Brad suggested.
Jarek hesitated. 'That doesn't sound like it would work,' he said doubtfully.
'It's worth a try, though, surely? I mean, why else would they leave an invisible shopping trolley for you to find.'
Jarek couldn't argue with this and reluctantly climbed into the trolley. 'It's not very big,' he complained.
'That's because it's for groceries or little kids,' Brad said helpfully. He sniggered to see his friend crouching above the ground. 'I hope this works quickly,' he said hastily. 'I have no idea how we can explain this if anyone sees you.'
'I feel stupid,' Jarek muttered. 'Nothing seems to be happening.'
'Maybe you need a command like they do with magic carpets,' Brad said helpfully.
'I don't know any magic,' Jarek muttered. He drew a deep breath and waved his hands in the air. 'Take me home,' he said majestically.
Brad watched expectantly but nothing happened.
'This is stupid. It's obviously not the right thing to do,' Jarek said bitterly.
'Well don't blame me. What else do you do with a shopping trolley?'
'Maybe if you got into it as well it will work. You're the one that found it, after all. Maybe it only works for the first one to touch it or something.'
'I'm not the one who's lost, though,' Brad said reasonably.
'Have you got a better idea?'
'Oh all right, if you insist.'
He climbed into the trolley beside Jarek, who complained bitterly as Brad's bony knees jabbed into his back.
'Careful, watch what you're doing. Oh!'
The boys both started in surprise, as the