The Star Agency (The Star Agency Chronicles) Read online

  ‘Well I suppose you could say that. But that’s no excuse, she….’

  ‘One of the teachers at our school had a breakdown,’ interrupted Theo. ‘I heard she was never the same again. She was in a hospital for months. Lost everything – husband, family, the lot. She…’

  ‘But your mum had responsibilities, Theo,’ his aunt interrupted, her voice louder and angrier. ‘She had you. She couldn’t afford to lose it. You’d just lost your Dad for heaven’s sake.’ She paused for a moment to compose herself, before continuing. ‘Your Grandpa always said that people didn’t have breakdowns in his day; instead they just got on with it and battled on through. It was the blitz spirit and all that. It was drummed into him by his parents. They couldn’t afford the luxury. They had to hold things together.’

  ‘You mean, they didn’t understand in those days?’

  ‘Nothing to understand. People were just stronger then. Nowadays, people are spoilt. They have everything on a plate. They...’

  ‘Look, I don’t want to meet her. I just… I mean I… I don’t remember her very much—just images really, feelings. I don’t even know where she lives or anything.’

  Theo felt a genuine pang of sadness and a small tear welled up in one eye. His auntie noticed and gently put her hand on his shoulder. She knew he didn’t like being hugged by her. But her touch was reassuring and he didn’t push her away.

  ‘Theo, I wasn’t going to do this, not yet anyway. I was going to wait ‘til you were a bit older. But, well, do you want her address?’

  Theo’s heart jumped. So she did know. ‘Her address?’ he said. ‘You mean you know it?’

  ‘Well I knew it. And if she hasn’t moved, then, well she might still be there.’

  ‘I’m not sure,’ said Theo, suddenly shaken at the very real thought that he might find out where his mother actually lived.

  ‘Well I’ll give it to you anyway if you want. If I give it to you, it’s up to you what you do with it. But I’m warning you, don’t expect too much. She’s hardly been in touch since she moved to France.’

  ‘She lives in France?’ said Theo, unable to hide the surprise in his voice.

  ‘Yes, France,’ replied his auntie. ‘Found a good therapist out there.’

  ‘Did she ever re-marry?’

  ‘Dunno,’ his auntie mumbled sheepishly.

  ‘She did, didn’t she?’

  ‘Like I said, I don’t know.’

  ‘But I could have a brother or sister. A whole other family.’

  ‘Don’t get carried away, Theo. Like I said, she didn’t keep in touch much after she left. She might not even reply if you write. She might not want to know.’

  Theo could scarcely believe what he was hearing. It had been just one question for a totally selfish reason, and then he had found out about a whole other life that his mother had made for herself, in France of all places. It was unbelievable. And it made him wonder what else she knew. Suddenly, he couldn’t wait to tell Jules! He got up, grabbed his toast and raced upstairs to get his mobile. He heard his aunt calling after him, but he just yelled out ‘Later’ as he slammed his bedroom door.

  He sat down on his bed and looked at his mobile phone. He was about to dial Jules’s number, but then he paused for a moment as his thoughts drifted away to his long absent mother. Why hadn’t she been in touch all those years? And what would he do if she did? What did she look like? Did he look like her? Did he have any half brothers or sisters?

  Then he took a deep breath. He knew he had to focus. He had brought up the subject of his mother for one reason, and that was to try and come up with a convincing excuse for being away for the weekend, assuming he’d understood the email correctly. And his auntie had provided him with the answer. It was the perfect excuse. He could receive a letter from his muman imaginary letter of course. Immediately, the words began to form in his mind. ‘Hi Theo, it’s your mum here. I’m sorry I haven’t been in touch. It’s…’ But he needed to make it convincing. He needed help. He needed Jules. Her letter writing was much better than his.

  Quickly, he dialled Jules’s number and listened excitedly, dying to tell her everything. But instead of ringing out, it went straight to voice mail.

  ‘Hi, you’ve called Jules. Please leave a message after the tone, but make it short. I haven’t got all day.’

  Theo smiled to himself as the message played. Then after the tone, he spoke.

  ‘Hello mate, it’s me. Call me when you can. Boy, have I got some stuff to tell you. Later.’

  He clicked off the phone and sat on the bed. There were so many thoughts racing around his head. So many questions about his mum, his granddad, his auntie and the tripor whatever it was—that he felt like his head was going to explode. So he just flung himself back onto his bed and lay there for hours, deep in thought.

  *

  Jules didn’t call him back that day but he wasn’t too worried. He knew the Kingsleys often visited their relatives on Sundays and didn’t get back until late. He could talk to her on the way to school, tomorrow.

  Sleep didn’t come easily that evening, but hours later, once his heavy eyes had eventually closed, he began to dream. And in the dream the French army were chasing him down the road, trying to trip him over. They didn’t have any guns, but they were shouting abuse at him while he dodged piles of vegetables in the road. And even though he couldn’t see her, somehow he knew that his mum was at the end of the road, waiting with her arms open. Calling his name.

  *

  Theo woke suddenly the next day to the piercing sound of his alarm. He had only managed about four hours sleep and was really tired. Yet he was also excited. He couldn’t wait to tell Jules what he knew. He dragged himself out of bed, showered and dressed as quickly as he could manage.

  He was busy packing his school bag, when he happened to glance over towards the door to see a small slip of paper sticking out from under it. Quickly, he wandered over and picked it up. It was written in his auntie’s usual scrawly handwriting and was only just about readable. But it seemed to be a name, address and phone number – in France. Suddenly, Theo’s heart skipped a beat. His aunt must have slipped it under his door before he’d woken. He stared at the address for a moment and wondered whether, one day, he might contact her for real. Then he shoved it in his pocket and tried to put the thought out of his mind. He didn’t really know this strange woman and she clearly didn’t want to know him, or she would have been in touch by now. His auntie was a real pain sometimes, but perhaps she was right. It was his grandpa who had brought him up, and his auntie who was here for him now. Not this woman in France who he could barely remember.

  Theo galloped downstairs and hurriedly ate his breakfast while his aunt busied herself in the kitchen, uncharacteristically quiet. Had she perhaps regretted telling Theo about his mum? Possibly. Still, it was too late now. The damage had been done.

  He finished his breakfast quickly, pulled on his shoes, grabbed his bag and shouted ‘Bye,’ to his aunt before slamming the front door. He waited for a minute outside his front gate and sure enough Jules appeared. She looked at Theo and smiled weakly. She didn’t look at all happy.

  ‘Everything OK, mate?’ said Theo.

  ‘Cat’s gone missing,’ said Jules miserably.

  ‘What, again?’ said Theo without sounding remotely surprised, remembering that it had happened several times since he had known her.

  ‘Yes again,’ said Jules, ‘and I don’t suppose it’ll be the last. Dad was out looking for him last night, but there was no sign.’

  ‘He’s probably curled up on somebody else’s sofa, nice and warm. You know what cats are like.’

  ‘I suppose so. Anyway, tell me about your news. Sounded interesting.’

  ‘What, more interesting than your cat?’ said Theo.

  ‘Definitely,’ said Jules, forcing a smile.

  Theo began to tell her about his mother, the email and his plan. After he’d finished, he paused for a moment, letting the story sink
in.

  ‘What do you think?’ he said finally.

  ‘Might work I guess,’ said Jules. ‘But you’ll have to be careful.’

  ‘Yeh I know I will. But I reckon it’s my best chance. Will you help?’

  Jules looked at Theo and sighed. ‘Yeh, I’ll help. But if your aunt finds out, I know nothing.’

  ‘OK, agreed,’ said Theo.

  They carried on talking the rest of the way to school. When they reached the school gates, they agreed to meet in the evening to try and draft the letter.

  *

  ‘So are you gonna help me write this or not then?’ said Theo as he sat with Jules in front of his computer, looking at a blank page on his word processor.

  ‘Well I’ve had a think today and got a few ideas together,’ said Jules, pulling a folded sheet of paper out of her pocket. ’But I was thinking, won’t it look a bit suspicious? Your aunt tells you about your mum and gives you her address. Then, a week or two later, you get a letter from her.’

  ‘Yeh, I suppose,’ said Theo, ‘but I don’t know what else to try.’

  Jules thought for a moment. ‘Well we could make it a letter of condolence. After all, she might have heard about your grandfather from a distant relative or something. That would explain the timing of the letter.’

  ‘I knew you would think of something clever like that.’

  ‘Yeh well, it’s not perfect. I mean, what if your mum really gets in touch. Then your auntie will know, won’t she? Know we made it all up.’

  ‘Yeh, but I reckon it’s our best chance, don’t you?’

  ‘Yeh, I suppose.’

  ‘Anyway, let’s get on with it, shall we?’

  ‘OK, let me…’ said Jules, and without waiting, she elbowed Theo out of the way and flattened out the folded piece of paper on the desk. Then she began to type quickly.

  Minutes later, the completed letter had appeared on the screen and Jules clicked Print.

  ‘It’s just rough,’ she said.

  ‘That’s rough?’ said Theo as he quickly scanned it. ‘It’s way better than I could ever do.’

  ‘Shall I read it?’

  ‘Yeh.’

  Jules picked up the printout and read it out loud in her best BBC news reader’s voice:

  Dear Theo,

  It’s mum here. I know it’s probably a shock to hear from me and I’m sorry to write to you like this. I’ve been thinking long and hard for so many years about how to do this. After all, I don’t know what you’ve been told about me. It’s so difficult and I know that you might just throw this in the bin. But give me a chance. Hear me out and then decide.

  First of all, my condolences to you for the loss of your Grandpa. You always were really close, even when you were little. Like two peas in a pod I once said to your Dad. I always liked him a lot.

  You were so young when I last saw you. You were a lost little boy and I was so sad and confused. So I left you. I know I shouldn’t have, but I did. I knew that your Grandpa would look after you much better than I ever could because I was just a mess. Losing your Dad like that was too much to bear. I remember your face as clear as day when I last saw you. You didn’t know what was happening and you just looked at me with those big sad eyes of yours. I just had to walk away and I couldn’t bear to say goodbye.

  But things are different now. I’m differentI’m much better. Life has been good to me here in France. It was a fresh start. I have made lots of new friends and I have a nice house. The weather is lovely too. But something is missing. I feel empty inside. And I can’t stop thinking about you.

  So I was wondering, will you allow me to see you? Will you give me a chance? You must be a big lad by now, being thirteen and all. Would you like to come over to France and see me perhaps? Or is that asking too much? It wouldn’t be for long, just for a weekend. You could get your auntie to see you to the train and I could meet you at the other end. I’ll pay for your ticket. Or if you want to bring your auntie or a friend for company, that’s fine. I don’t mind and I’ll pay for them too.

  But Theo, will you please give me a chance? I know I can’t make it up to you for losing ten years. But things have changed and I would like to get to know you now. Maybe we could be friends in time. I want you in my life and I hope that you feel the same. If you want to, then please get in touch. If it’s too soon to meet or talk, then why don’t we just write to each other? I imagine like most kids you have a computer. Maybe we could keep in touch by email. What do you think?

  Anyway, that’s all I’m going to say for now. I’ll leave it up to you what we do next. But I do hope to hear from you soon.

  All my love, Mum.

  Jules finished reading and looked at Theo. His eyes were red and full of tears.

  ‘I’m so sorry, Theo, I had no idea. You don’t really talk about your mum, do you?’

  Theo smiled at Jules through the tears.

  ‘Don’t worry mate. It’s wonderful, that letter. Very convincing. Just look at the state of me. That’ll definitely do the trick.’

  Theo wiped away the tears from his eyes and gave Jules a quick hug.

  ‘Do you think about her a lot?’ said Jules.

  ‘Well I didn’t really, until recently. But with grandpa and everything, you know, it brings it all back. But I’m OK, honest. That’s just fantastic that letter. You’re fantastic.’

  ‘I have my uses.’

  ‘You have so much more than that,’ said Theo, beaming at her with a fresh tear in his eye.

  *

  The following day, they finished the letter together and sealed it in an envelope. In order to make it as convincing as possible, they agreed that they couldn’t very well post it locally or it would show a local postmark, and that wouldn’t really do if his auntie got to it first. Posting it from London seemed like a good idea; after all, his mum could easily have been in London on business or visiting friends. France was a bit too far and too expensive to get to. So the following Saturday, they told Jules’s parents and Theo’s auntie that they were going into the local town to see a movie. As usual, Jules’s father was quite happy to run them to the cinema, which, helpfully, was near the railway station.

  Once he’d dropped them off and driven away, they quickly turned and ran to the station as fast as they could. The next London train was due to leave in a couple of minutes, and they just had time to buy a ticket and then leap onto the train before it left.

  The journey into London took only thirty-five minutes, and once they’d arrived, they dashed out of the station, ran to the nearest post box and popped the letter in. Then they dashed back onto the platform and onto a waiting train, panting breathlessly. They were, as always, just in time.

  *

  ‘Do you think it’s going to work?’ said Theo as he watched the countryside whizzing by on the way home.

  ‘It better had,’ said Jules. ‘That’s all my spending money gone on my train fare.’

  ‘The things you do for me.’

  ‘You’d better believe it,’ said Jules.

  ‘Shame we didn’t have more time. I would’ve liked to have gone to the Natural History Museum or something like that.’

  ‘Yeh, that would’ve been good. I think that annual wildlife photography exhibition is still on there. But Dad wouldn’t have been too happy with just the two of us going all that way. He would’ve wanted to come too.’

  ‘Doesn’t he trust me or something?’ said Theo.

  ‘Yeh, he trusts you. It’s just that he thinks I’m too young. He’s really protective like that.’

  For a moment, Theo didn’t say anything. Then he turned to look at Jules.

  ‘Jules, what if my auntie tries to contact me while I’m away—you know, ring my mother or something. They might both have a bit of a shock.’

  ‘I doubt it,’ said Jules. ‘After all, you’re only going to be away for the weekend. Just give her a call that night before 8.30 and tell her you’ve arrived. Besides, if she wants to call you she’ll ring your
mobile. From what you said, I don’t think she’ll want to speak to your mum unless she has to. She didn’t seem to like her much.’

  ‘You’re talking like it’s just me though. I mean, you’re coming, aren’t you? After all, Mum said I could bring somebody with me.’

  ‘Theo, try and remember it’s not real. You’re not really going to France.’

  ‘Yeh but we’re really going somewhere though, aren’t we? It’s just not France. Please mate, say you’ll come.’

  ‘Yeh, I suppose,’ said Jules, sighing reluctantly. ‘But if we get into trouble, I’m blaming you.’

  ‘No change there,’ said Theo.

  ‘Hmmm,’ replied Jules as she continued to stare out of the window at the fields rushing by.

  *

  They got off the train and met Jules’s father a while later outside the cinema, even going as far as picking up two used ticket stubs out of a nearby bin to make it more convincing. They both sat quietly in the car on the way home, and Jules even managed to fall asleep during the ten-minute drive. But Theo was wide-awake. And he knew he wouldn’t sleep well again that night.

  *

  The following Tuesday, the fake letter from his mother finally arrived, and luckily Theo managed to get to it first. His auntie had thought it a little strange that Theo had been up early both days that week, well before he was due to leave for School – after all, she’d normally had to practically drag him out of bed. Luckily though, she had no idea why and didn’t question him about it.

  Theo quickly ripped open the letter. Then he sat at the breakfast table and began to read.

  ‘What you got there?’ his auntie said.

  Theo didn’t say a word and instead continued to read the letter, faking surprise.

  Without asking Theo’s permission, his auntie walked around behind him and then read the letter over his shoulder. Theo made no attempt to hide it. He heard a sharp intake of breath as her jaw dropped open. Then, looking dazed, she wandered back over to her chair and sat down, speechless.

  Job done, thought Theo. She believes it.