Chapter 3

Kendall had been wondering. What would life be like if somebody had lived in the countryside all their lives? The countryside was a wonderful place, endless sun, flowers and fields of green, lots of places to play. Kendall then thought of the city. Cars rushing through, always busy, not many places to run around freely. The country was different. It felt… free. No bombs, no threats. It felt safe. Even though Kendall missed her Mum, and her Dad at war, this was life now. Kendall trudged over to the backyard rope swing. She wouldn’t have had this back in London. She wouldn’t have made friends with Maddie. She wouldn’t have met Miss Rose. Or have found the jewels and the golden locket and she would have never known about James Rose. The country was exciting, and full of secrets!

Miss Rose had granted Kendall permission to see the jewels. Rubies, sapphires, emeralds, diamonds, gold, silver, bronze, topaz, amethyst, every type of jewel and diamond you can think of, Miss Rose has it. Stroking the jewels, Kendall created a story in her mind for each one of them. The topaz, found on the sandy beach of L.A, the sapphire, found in the Atlantic Ocean, nearly swallowed by a whale. Emerald, found in the Amazon Rain forest, and all the rest. Her favourite story was of the gold. Found on the moon by NASA, brought down to earth, stolen by pirates, and dropped to the bottom of the sea. Found by scuba divers, and given to the bank, who exchanged it in a cheque and gave it to charity. Hours and hours went by and Kendall stayed in the shed with the jewels.

A day later, Kendall did the same. But this time, Kendall went to the jewels because of worry. What if the jewels were stolen? What if somebody saw them? She had to make sure that the jewels were still there. Frantically, she grabbed the keys off the counter top, and ran to the shed. Kendall pushed the key in the keyhole and yanked the door open. She closed her eyes and the door creaked open. Slowly, she opened her eyes to see what terror awaited her. The jewels were… safe! Relief flooded Kendall’s veins.

A week later, Kendall went out to the jewels. She had been avoiding them, because she was too worried to find them stolen. But now, she had over come her fear. She headed out to the shed with the keys. She only walked, because she didn’t want to get there in a hurry. Opening the shed door, she saw the tin. She shook it, and when she felt the heaviness of the jewels, she took the box and headed inside. Miss Rose was sitting at the table and greeted Kendall when she came in. ” Ah, Kendall. Oh, you’ve got the jewels! Lets sit down and talk about them together. It definitely sounds like the jewels! Why, Kendall, stop shaking the box.” ” Sorry, Miss Rose, the jewels just sound different when I shake the tin.” said Kendall. She opened the box, and they were both shocked to find the tin filled with rocks! ” Oh, no!” gasped Miss Rose. ” I knew there was something wrong with the sound!” said Kendall.

“We are going to have to do something. We have to get the jewels back!” said Miss Rose. She had a piece of paper and was drawing out a plan. Kendall agreed. Kendall knew how much Miss Rose enjoyed the company of her jewels. ” Miss Rose, how are we going to find them?” ” I’ve got a plan. Grab yourself a pen from your bedroom, and I will work out the basics, ok? You should find a few pens in the bedside draw. Then, we’ll look for clues in the shed.” Kendall did as she was told and found the pens easily. By the time she got downstairs again, Miss Rose had concocted an easy plan.