‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘I’m a bit jumpy. You shouldn’t be out at this hour, you know. You’re welcome to shelter here. I’m only openfor deliveries, but early customers are always welcome to come in and wait for dawn.’
Huh. I chewed the inside of my cheek. ‘Uh, thanks. I guess I lost track of time.’ I gestured to his watch with a questioning look.
‘Just gone five-thirty. It won’t start getting light for another twenty minutes.’ His eyes dropped to Gladys and his mouth tightened. ‘I guess you know what you’re doing, though.’
When in doubt, brazen it out. I smiled confidently. ‘Absolutely.’
He scratched his chin. ‘Hmm.’ He stared at Hester and Otis. ‘Are they brownies?’
‘Yep.’
‘We can talk for ourselves,’ Hester said.
‘At least he didn’t call us fairies, Hes,’ Otis muttered.
I didn’t allow my smile to dim; instead, I slowly inspected the contents of the shop. There was an array of sweets and chocolate bars to my right: Snickers, Mars bars, Milky Ways. I paused. Opal Fruits.
The man was watching me warily. Beside him was a stack of newspapers and behind him were rows of brightly packaged cigarettes.
I was starting to feel nauseous. I licked my lips. ‘Can I get one of those papers?’ I asked.
‘Sure.’ He lifted the top one from the pile.
I picked it up and stared at the large photo emblazoned on the front page of Liz Hurley wearing a slashed black dress held together by over-sized golden safety pins.
Otis blinked rapidly. ‘Whatisthat woman wearing?’
‘Shocking, right?’ the man said. ‘I don’t know what the world is coming to when someone goes out wearing something like that. There should be laws against it.’
‘It’s fabulous!’ Hester cooed. ‘I want a dress just like that!’ The man scowled.
‘This is today’s paper?’ I asked.
He grunted. ‘Yes.’
I jabbed at the date. ‘The fourteenth of May?’
‘Yeah.’
Gordon. What have you done? ‘The fourteenth of May,’ I repeated. ‘1994?’
He gave me a long look; it appeared that his initial guess that I was deranged was being confirmed. ‘Yes. And that will be twenty pence.’
I felt my heart hammering faster.
Otis and Hester were staring at the paper, no longer interested in the daring dress. ‘Daisy,’ Otis whispered.
I shook my head in warning; whatever he was about to say would be best said in private. I dug into my pocket, pushed past the small bag containing my remaining spider’s silk pills and located a pound coin. As I handed it to the shopkeeper, I hoped he wouldn’t notice my trembling fingers.
He squinted at the coin. ‘What’s this?’ He turned it over. ‘Some kind of foreign money? I’m not accepting that.’
Shit.There was nothing wrong with it; it was a normal pound coin. My shoulders sank. Normal in 2024. ‘Uh … you’re right.’ I dropped the paper on the countertop. ‘Never mind. I’ll come back after I’ve been to the bank.’
The suspicion in his eyes increased tenfold as I backed away. ‘Hester! Otis!’ I said sharply. ‘We’re leaving now!’
‘But—’
‘Now!’
