“Good morning Alfie” a voice said from somewhere above. Startled, Alfie looked upwards. On the other side of the fence, Mr Nicholls was half way up a ladder holding an outside flood light in his hand.
“Beautiful morning” he said.
Alfie replied that it was and turned towards the garage. He always found talking to adults an uncomfortable experience. What they said never seemed to match their grown-upness and what you were expected to reply in turn was always a bit of mystery.
Except for the faint sound of tapping coming from Mr Nicholls' garden the garage was quiet. Alfie sat down on his sister’s garden chair positioned by the meeting-shelf, placed his pad and pen on an upper shelf and raised the magnifying glass. He began a search, starting at the outer edge of the lower shelf and slowly moving across. He was sure that Braddle was already there waiting for him. The first task was to find him.
“Hello Alfie. Is that you?”
Alfie turned quickly to look behind him but there was no one there.
“Is that you Alfie?” the voice asked again.
Alfie sprung to his feet and dropped the magnifying glass. The garden chair flipped over and scraped along the floor. The garage had become haunted. He wanted to get out.
“Alfie it’s me, Braddle.”
“Braddle? Is that you Braddle? Where are you?” asked Alfie
“Down here” he replied.
Alfie dropped to his knees and peered through the magnifying glass. Braddle was standing in the middle of the shelf with a large box on the ground in front of him.
“How can I hear you?” Alfie asked.
“I don’t know how it works but this box here” said Braddle, pointing to the black box, “makes us hear each other.”
“That’s amazing” said Alfie. “Where did it come from?”
“From a very important man” replied Braddle.
“It’s great that we can talk now” said Alfie. “Writing everything down is a pain. I’ve got so much to ask you. ”
“So have I” said Braddle.
“Where shall we start?”
“I don’t know” came the reply.
They fell silent. Braddle scratched his head. Alfie scratched his nose.
“Are you the giant that fought off that spronger when we were on the White Road?” asked Braddle.
“Spronger? White Road? Oh, you mean the spider on the washing line? Yeah, that was me. I did not exactly fight it off, though, more like flicked it off” said Alfie. “That was the first time that I saw you. Couldn’t believe my eyes.”
“I wish I could fight sprongers that easily” said Braddle.
“Have you always lived here in our garden?” asked Alfie.
“Your garden? I don’t know but we have lived in this country for a long time. I have heard that we came from a different place a long, long time ago. Where it is, though, I don’t know. How about you? Have you always lived here as well?”
“No, not exactly. We moved here about six years ago when I was three. Before that we lived in a different part of town.”
“So you are nine years old?” Braddle asked.
“Yeah, but I will be ten in two months” replied Alfie.
“Well, I’m ten next month” said Braddle and he started to laugh.
“What’s funny?” asked Alfie.
“I never thought that I would be older than a giant as big as the sky.”
“I may be a giant to you but I’m certainly not as big as the sky” replied Alfie, laughing.
“I find it hard to imagine” continued Braddle “that the world is full of giants. Where do you all come from?”
“I don’t know. We all come from different places but I don’t know why we are this size. People are just this big. It’s normal, though mum thinks dad could be a bit taller.”
“Do other giants know that we live here?” asked Braddle.
“I don’t think so” said Alfie. “I haven’t told anyone else yet. None of my family knows. I certainly wouldn’t tell Lou. She would probably think that you were an ant and stamp on you.”
“Lou? Who is she?”
“My five year old sister.”
“I don’t have any brothers or sisters” said Braddle. “I live with my mother and uncle.”
“Where’s your dad?” asked Alfie.
“Gone. Disappeared. He was sent on a mission by Counsellor Drostfur when we were searching for a new home. He travelled down the White Road and has never been seen since. Everyone thinks he’s dead but I don‘t believe it. It doesn’t feel as if he is dead, anyway.”
“I suppose” said Alfie “that that spider, I mean, that spronger could have attacked him on the washing…on the White Road.”
“Maybe” said Braddle.
It seemed to Alfie that Braddle had tears in his eyes. He was rubbing them with the back of his hands and he could hear him clearing his throat. He waited until he was ready to talk again. Alfie looked at the black box while he did so. The fact that the tiny people had a device that allowed them to talk to giants meant that they had talked to giants in the past. That meant that other people must know that the tiny people exist… Who had they talked to and when?
“Braddle? Are you alright?”
“Yes. I just hoped…”.
There was a series of loud taps on the garage door as if it was being hit by a stick.
“Alfie! Alfie! Are you in there?” shouted his sister, Lou.
“Oh no” said Alfie “Lou is here. I’ll be out in a minute” he shouted back to her.
“Mum wants you.”
“Ok, I’ll be out in a sec.”
“Who are you talking to? Let me in” she called and she hit the door again.
“I had better go” said Alfie “She won’t give up and I don’t want her to know about you.”
“Shall we meet here again same time tomorrow morning?” asked Braddle. “I might bring a friend of mine with me next time. I think she would like to meet you.”
“Yes. No. Wait, I can’t tomorrow. Dad has decided that we have a family day out tomorrow to the seaside. He says that we have done nothing together all summer and tomorrow looks like it will be the hottest day so far.”
“How about the day after?”
“Yeah, that should be ok. Dad’s back in work then. You’d better go now” said Alfie “before Lou bursts in.”
“Good bye Alfie” Braddle said. He picked up the black box and went to the back of the shelf. He placed it under a flap of plastic sheeting and then ran to the tunnel at the end of the shelf, the tunnel that led to the new city of Carporoo.
Alfie gathered up the pad, pen and magnifying glass and then snatched open the garage door. His sister was taken by surprise. She quickly recovered and pushed past him carrying a plastic golf club.
“Who were you talking to?” she demanded to know.
“No one” Alfie told her. “Come out, I need to shut the door.”
“In a minute. I want to have a look around.”
“I wouldn’t if I was you.”
“Why?”
“The garage is haunted if you must know. If you go snooping around then the ghost might get you.”
Lou glanced from one darkened corner to another, dropped her golf club and ran back out into the garden.