Free Young May Moon by Sheila Newberry Page B

half-Spanish, but, of course we are. We must keep in touch from now on, will
you
promise that?’
    ‘Come here,’ Carmen cried, holding out her arms. ‘I promise, I really do!’

    May ran from the chemist’s shop to the beach, clutching the folder of photographs – she hadn’t had time to look at them yet.
    ‘I was wondering if something had happened to you!’ Paddy had been anxiously keeping an eye on the time.
    ‘I had to sort something out with Mum. Sorry!’
    ‘Did you quarrel?’
    ‘We actually came to an understanding. Don’t worry, all’s well.’
    ‘You smell very nice!’ he exclaimed, as she brushed past him into the booth.
    ‘It must be Mum’s perfume – frangipani. She gave me a real hug!’ She still felt a warm glow inside from that.
    The puppets were in place, Smokey had been given a nosebag, Pomona and Danny were putting out the deckchairs.
    ‘Time for a quick sandwich – I’m starving!’ May said. ‘Then we’ll look at the photographs. I can’t wait until tonight!’
    They sat in a circle on the sand, and passed the snaps from hand to hand. Some of the action ones were slightly blurred, especially those of Pomona: she couldn’t hold a pose for long! The best prints were those May had taken of the ferry-boat trip to the smoke houses and on the quay. However, she couldn’t help noticing a familiar figure on the edge of these particular pictures.
Carlos
! Staring unsmiling into the camera lens … May gave an involuntary shiver. She thought: he must have been following me, spying on me!
    The audiences were dwindling towards the end of the summer. The doubtful weather didn’t help. Folk didn’t sit around in deckchairs when it was chilly. They packed up early. ‘I shan’t bother tomorrow,’ May decided. ‘I feel like a day off!’
    ‘We can spend the morning training the pups,’ Pomona toldDanny. They had duly named one Gertie, and the other Bertie. It was agreed that one pup was for Jenny, and the other for Danny, when they were old enough to leave Toby.
    ‘They haven’t got their eyes open properly yet,’ he pointed out. ‘Toby won’t like it, if you take them away from her, they’re too small.’
    ‘Oh, why do you know it all? Well, we can have a day at the swimming pool.’
    ‘I might have known you’d suggest that,’ Danny said ruefully, with an exaggerated shiver. There was a chill wind today. ‘I think I’ve had enough of watching you swim this summer!’
    ‘Seems like a good time to ask you to come with me to the amber gift shop in town,’ Paddy whispered to May. ‘Remember the piece I found after the storm?’
    ‘You never showed it to me!’ She’d thought it was mean at the time.
    ‘We weren’t good friends then!’
    ‘Are you hoping to sell it?’
    ‘Wait and see,’ Paddy said mysteriously. ‘We won’t take those kids, anyway!’

    May always enjoyed gazing at the window display in the gift shop. Even on an overcast day, she thought, there was a golden aura emanating from the beads and brooches arranged on velvet cushions .
    ‘It’s amazing to think the amber found here on the east coast has probably come from under the North Sea; could be millions of years old,’ Paddy observed.
    ‘Some of it is darker in colour, but I prefer the lighter pieces. I read somewhere that amber is always warm to the touch, unlike most stones,’ May said.
    ‘Then you’ll approve of my lucky find, I think!’ The bell jangled as they entered the shop; they went down a few steps.
    It was like a cave of jewels, May thought as she took in the sumptuous displays. She also noted a price-ticket or two, which made her gasp. Paddy unrolled a square of cloth which he had wrapped around the chunk of amber. A solemn-faced man examined it withthe help of an eyeglass. He turned the amber this way and that, rotating it slowly between thumb and finger.
    ‘You wish to sell this?’ he asked at last. ‘Or to have an item of jewellery made, perhaps more than one? because it