All Clear

And if I’d told him about Bartholomew when he came home, we could have contacted him weeks ago, Polly thought guiltily. “How all occasions do inform against us.”

“Don’t worry,” Mike said. The train pulled into Leicester Square. “What time is it?” he asked as they got off.

“Five till two,” Polly said. “We’ll never make it.”

“Yes, we will,” Mike said. “This is our lucky day.” And surprisingly, when they reached the Phoenix, there were still children and parents in the lobby and a queue in front of the box office. Polly sprinted up the stairs to the usher, followed by a limping Mike.

“Tickets, please,” the usher said.

“We’re not here to see the performance,” Mike said. “We just need to talk to somebody in the audience.”

“I’m sorry, sir. You’ll have to wait till the interval to speak to them.”

“We can’t wait.”

“It’s terribly important we speak to her,” Polly pleaded. “It’s an emergency.”

“I could have someone take her a message,” the usher said, relenting. “Where is she sitting?”

“I don’t know,” Polly said. “Her name’s Eileen O’Reilly. She has red hair. She has a little boy with her—”

“Look,” Mike said, “we’re not trying to sneak into your lousy pantomime.”

The usher stiffened.

“All we want—”

“Are there still tickets available for this performance?” Polly cut in before Mike could do any more damage.

“I believe so,” the usher said coldly.

“Thank you,” Polly said. “Come along,” she ordered Mike, and ran back down the steps to the box office.

“We don’t have time for this,” Mike said.

“If we get thrown out of here, we won’t be able to speak to Eileen till the play’s over.” She leaned toward the ticket seller’s cage. “Have you any tickets left for this performance?”

“I’m afraid all I have is two seats in the orchestra at eight and six. Row F, seats nineteen and—”

“We’ll take them,” Mike said. He slapped down two half crowns and grabbed the tickets.

They hurried back up the stairs, handed the tickets to the still-vexed-looking usher, and let him lead them to their row. He pointed at their seats, which were in the middle of the row, handed them back their stubs, and left. The man in the aisle seat stood up so they could go by him.

“We need to find somebody first,” Mike said. “Can you see them, Polly? What color hat was she wearing?”

“Black,” Polly said, scanning the audience, but every adult in the place was wearing a black hat, too, and the theater was a sea of children, bouncing up and down in the seats, chattering, laughing, wriggling, standing on the plush seats to talk to someone behind them. And all the mothers and nannies and governesses had their heads turned, attempting to make them sit down. “We’ll never find her in this mob.”

“I know. Wait, there she is,” Mike said, pointing up at the balcony. “There, in the first row. Eileen!” He waved to her, but Eileen was speaking to Theodore, who was the only child sitting still in the entire theater, his feet stuck straight out in front of him, his hands sedately on the arms of his seat. “Eileen!”

“She can’t hear us,” Polly said.

She crossed over to the side aisle, as if headed for the ladies’ lounge, and then sprinted up the steps, flashed her ticket and program at the usher standing at the head of the staircase, and sped up and into the balcony, Mike keeping pace with her somehow in spite of his limp.

Eileen was four seats from the end of the row, past a governess and three little girls, two of whom were hanging over the edge of the balcony tearing their programs to bits and dropping them on the heads of the people below while the governess remonstrated uselessly with them. “Girls, don’t! You’ll fall! You’re both being very naughty.”

Eileen still didn’t see Polly and Mike. “Eileen!” Polly called to her across the girls and the governess, who was blocking her view.

“Pauline! No, no, you mustn’t stand on the seat! You’ll tear the cloth. Violet!” the governess cried as one of the paper droppers threatened to topple over the edge.

Eileen made a grab for Violet’s dress and hauled her back to safety.

“Oh, thank you,” the governess said.

“You’re wel—” Eileen said, and finally saw them standing there. “Mike! Polly! What are you doing here? Thank heavens you’re all right, Mike. We’ve been so worried! Did you—” She went suddenly pale. “You’ve found the retrieval team,” she breathed.

“No,” Mike said, “but we’ve found a way out.”

Polly looked nervously at the governess, wondering what she was making of this, but she was still attempting to persuade the little girls to sit down. “Oh, Henrietta, do be a good girl,” she said helplessly.

“We’ve got to hurry,” Mike was saying.

“But…,” Eileen said, “I promised Theodore—”

“It can’t be helped. We’ve only got a few hours.”

Eileen stood up, pulled her coat on, and reached for Theodore’s coat. “I’m afraid we can’t stay for the pantomime, Theodore,” she said, holding his coat out to him.

“We must go home now.” She put his arm in his sleeve.

“No!” Theodore cried in a piercing, siren-like wail that was audible all over the theater. “I don’t want to go home!”