Free We Were Only Strawberry Picking by Henrietta Defreitas Page B

that their little meerkats had ignored the trespassing sign, which in all probability was possible, then they had no choice but to try and find them.
    They decided that as it was quite late in the afternoon, by the time they got to the fields, it would be too dark and they needed the best light possible when treading on such dangerous grounds to minimise any serious accident. They would take Papa Mortimer’s pick-up truck from which one of them would be attached to a rope which was tied to the back of the truck, so that if the ground caved in, they could be hoisted back up to safety. Papa Brian volunteered to go into the fields, as he had some climbing experience whilst Papa Mortimer would operate the truck hoist, if need be.
    So for tonight, they would go home and rest. They had been on their feet for most of the day and there really was nothing more that they could do physically.

CHAPTER NINE
Call My Bluff
    Jack was the first to stir, he started to wriggle his nose as the sweet aroma of strawberries wafted up his nostrils and the smell of warm bread followed soon after. It was just about visible in the dark room thankfully due to the gap in the doorway. He could see a tray brimming with bread, an open jar of strawberry jam and a saucer with some butter. They were left one very blunt knife and in another tray were four plates, four empty glasses and a jug filled with strawberry juice. He quietly got out of bed as he checked the time on his watch. He had just remembered that the face of his watch would illuminate when it was tapped on twice, again another brilliant purchase by Papa Brian. He could not believe the time, it was three thirty in the afternoon and surely they had not been sleeping that long but then yesterday was no ordinary day, after all they had spent most of the day in those tunnels trying to find a way out and that was quite exhausting in itself!
    No longer perturbed by the passage of time, Jack now glanced at the tray of food.
    ‘Wake up everybody, we have food and it sure does smell good,’ Jack cried.
    Henratty was the first to rise after hearing what she called Jack’s annoying voice. She quickly jumped up, as he felt a tap on his shoulder just before he was about to tuck into the food.
    ‘Not so fast, Jack, we need to divide the food fairly.’
    ‘Oh, come on, don’t be like that, as if I would scoff the whole lot without a second thought for my friends and not to mention my younger brother. Do you honestly think I would do such a thing?’
    ‘Frankly, at this moment in time I’m not sure, we are all in a very vulnerable state and our ultimate goal is survival.’ Jack thought there was no point arguing with Henratty as she could be right. He knew what he was like once he started eating and sometimes he just could not stop himself, not because he was selfish but food was food and if it tasted good, he would be there chomping away.
    ‘I guess you could be right, but we’ll never know,’ as Jack shrugged his shoulders and walked back and sat on the edge of the bed that he was sharing with Oscar. Henratty then proceeded to divide the bread equally. In actual fact there were exactly enough slices for everyone to have two each. She buttered each slice and then smothered them with the delicious homemade strawberry jam and handed everyone an equal portion of the soft bread.
    Jack could not believe how good the bread tasted, it was so fresh! It then dawned on him , if there was no way out of this mine, then, where could the mine inhabitants possibly be getting the bread from?
    ‘Hey, wait a minute,’ demanded Jack.
    ‘What is it now? I hope this is not another one of your outlandish ideas,’ protested Henratty.
    ‘Have you all not realised, we’re in a mine with supposedly no way out! So, where are they getting fresh bread from? The strawberries I can just about understand as we are underneath a strawberry field, but how does one explain the bread and butter. There’s only one explanation that