The Conduit (6)

Jeremy thumped and banged around inside the wardrobe for quite some time. Eventually though he had to give up and step back into the room. Suzi found it difficult not to laugh.

 

“So no luck then?”

 

“No, nothing.”

 

“No sign of the elephant? No secret passageway to another world?”

 

Jeremy scowled at her, the way that only a fully-qualified surgeon can scowl. “No. Neither of those things.”

 

“So that’s it then, we just give up and wait for the Conduit to contact us.”

 

“We might as well explore the house while we’re here,” Jeremy said.

 

“I suppose so. We wouldn’t want to have broken in for nothing.”

 

“We have committed no crime,” Jeremy said. “Believe me, a good medical student checks these things. As long as we have no intention of stealing, which we don’t.”

 

“Yeah, that may be true, but I’m not convinced that the ‘We were just looking in the wardrobe for an elephant to take us to another world’ line will play well in court.”

 

Despite her protests Suzi consented to the search. It was a fairly brief search, the house was virtually empty; just the wardrobe in the front room, nothing at all in the lounge and a cooker, a fridge and a dozen empty cupboards in the kitchen. Upstairs it was the same, though both bedrooms contained beds, complete with duvet and pillows, that was it, not so much as a bedside cabinet.

 

“I guess they can’t keep the wardrobe in the bedroom because the elephant needs it,” Suzi said.

 

“I thought you believed me,” Jeremy replied sternly.

 

“I do, but you’ve got to admit it is a bit crazy, breaking into a perfectly normal-looking house on the off chance there’s an elephant in the wardrobe that will give us a ride to another world.”

 

They went downstairs without speaking.

 

“I’m going to check the front room one last time.”

 

What, you think you might have overlooked the elephant last time, Suzi doesn’t say. She’s afraid she might have overdone the teasing.

 

Suzie stood watching silently as Jeremy paced around the front room, and launched a second assault on the wardrobe, stroking his hand up and down every panel.

 

Eventually he turned and shrugged. “Guess we’re stuck with plan B.”

 

“What’s plan B?”

 

“There isn’t a plan B,” he admitted. “I was just trying to sound positive.”

 

They turned and started towards the door, but suddlenly froze.

 

There was a noise like an elephant appearing from nowhere in the hallway.

 

Peering through into the hallway through a crack in the door they saw an elephant, and on top, barking instructions at it, was the Conduit.

 

“Through the door, McGinty, it’s time for you to go home.”

 

They were trapped. There only exit blocked by an elephant.

 

“The wardrobe,” said Jeremy.

 

“But there’s nothing in it.”

 

“Exactly. So we can hide in it,” Jeremy said.

 

It took a while for the elephant to squeeze through the door into the room, but somehow it managed it. All that time Jeremy and Suzi were squeezed together in the wardrobe, trying to be totally silent,.

 

“Are you all right?” Jeremy asked.

 

“Just a bit nervous,” she said.

 

“I’m sure everything will be fine,” Jeremy said.

 

“Into the wardrobe McGinty,” The Conduit shouted.

 

It was already a tight squeeze, but somehow McGinty the elephant found room to add his head to the mix. Slowly he started pushing forward, further and further into the wardrobe.

 

“Climb up his head and onto his back,” Jeremy said, taking hold of her arms and flinging her upwards, “if we’re lucky we’ll be able to hitch a lift.”

 

Jeremy quickly followed her and they waited for the rest of the elephant to squeeze in with them.

 

It was mad. It was nonsense. They were in a wardrobe with an elephant. But then they weren’t, they were in an empty place, like the vacuum of space, and McGinty was charging along, with the two of them on top, desperately clinging to his skin.

 

Neither of them had thought to bring satnav, but they didn’t need it. They both knew that they were on their way to another world.