I stare at him angrily. How dare they come along and be so critical?

‘I disagree,’ I say coolly. ‘I believe this fountain will be a major landmark in the country for centuries to come.’

‘Oh, you do, do you?’ He fixes his baleful gaze on me and I lift my chin. I’m not afraid of some old earl.

‘Yes,’ I say defiantly. ‘Today will be unforgettable. You’ll see.’

‘Sixty! Fifty-nine!’ The loudspeaker guy starts chanting, and I feel a sudden rush of excitement. At last! Tarkie’s fountain! I clutch Suze’s hand and she beams back excitedly.

‘Twenty-three … twenty two …’ The whole crowd is chanting by now.

‘Where’s Tarkie?’ I say over the noise. ‘He should be here to enjoy it!’

Suze shrugs. ‘Must be with the technical guys.’

‘Five … four … three … two … one … Ladies and gentlemen … The Surge!’

A roar of cheers breaks out, as the fountain spurts up from the middle of the lake, and hits the height of …

Oh. OK. Well, it’s about five feet. It’s not that high for a fountain called The Surge. But maybe it’ll go higher?

Sure enough, it slowly rises up to about twelve feet, and there’s renewed cheering from the crowd. But as I look at Suze, she seems horrified.

‘Something’s gone wrong!’ she exclaims. ‘It should be about five times that height.’

The water falls back down; then, as though with a massive effort, pushes itself up to about fifteen feet. It drops a little, then rises again.

‘Is that it?’ the earl is saying contemptuously. ‘Could do better myself with a hose. What did I tell you, Marjorie?’

Now there’s as much laughing in the crowd as there is cheering. Every time the fountain lifts, there’s an outburst of cheering, and every time it drops down, everyone says, ‘Aaah!’

‘It’s the water pressure,’ I say, suddenly remembering. ‘Tarkie said there was a problem.’

‘He’ll be devastated.’ Suze’s eyes are suddenly bright with tears. ‘I can’t believe it. I mean, look at it. It’s pathetic!’

‘No it’s not!’ I say at once. ‘It’s brilliant. It’s … subtle.’

The truth is, it does look pathetic.

But then suddenly there’s an almightly Bang! and a stream of water surges right up into the air, what seems like a hundred feet.

‘There you are!’ I yell, and clutch Suze in excitement. ‘It’s working! It’s amazing! It’s fantastic! It’s … aah—’ I break off with a strangled yell.

Something’s gone wrong. I don’t know what. But this isn’t right.

A mass of water is falling at speed towards us, like a water cannon. We stare, transfixed – then it splats all over three people behind me, and they start screaming. A moment later, the fountain fires another waterbomb into the air, and we all start holding our hands above our heads. Another moment later and there’s another splat and two more people are drenched.

‘Minnie!’ I call anxiously, waving my arms. ‘Get away!’ But Ellie is already shepherding the children back up the steps.

‘Women and children to safety!’ the earl is thundering. ‘Abandon ship!’

It’s mayhem. People are running in all directions, trying to dodge the falling water. I manage to get up the slippery bank, then suddenly see Tarkie, standing apart from the crowd, his shirt soaked.

‘Off! Off!’ he’s shouting into his walkie-talkie. ‘Turn everything off!’

Poor Tarkie. He looks stricken. He looks like he might cry. I’m about to go and give him a hug, when Suze comes running up, her eyes glowing with sympathy.

‘Tarkie, never mind.’ She throws her arms around him. ‘All the best inventions have glitches at first.’

Tarkie doesn’t reply. He looks too devastated to speak.

‘It’s not the end of the world,’ Suze tries again. ‘It’s just one fountain. And the idea is still brilliant.’

‘Brilliant? Catastrophe, more like.’ The earl is stepping forward over the puddles. ‘Waste of time and money. How much did this fiasco cost, Tarquin?’ He’s jabbing with his shooting stick as he talks. I feel like jabbing him. ‘Thought your fountain was supposed to entertain the troops, not drown them!’ He gives a short, sarcastic laugh, but no one else joins in. ‘And now that you’ve bankrupted the place and made us a laughing stock, maybe you’d like to take a few lessons in running a historic house properly? What?’

I glance at Tarquin and flinch. He’s turned puce with humiliation and his hands are nervously rubbing against each other. My chest starts heaving with indignation. His father is awful. He’s a bully. In fact, I’m drawing breath to tell him so, when a voice suddenly chimes in.

‘Now, now.’ My head jerks up in surprise: it’s Dad, pushing his way through the throng, wiping his dripping forehead. ‘Leave the boy alone. All great projects have stumbling blocks along the way. Bill Gates’s first company failed completely, and look where he is now!’ Dad has reached Tarquin now and pats him kindly on the arm. ‘You had a technical hitch. It’s not the end of the world. And I think we can all see, this is going to be a fine sight when the details are perfected. Well done to Tarquin and all the Surge team.’

With deliberate resolve, Dad starts to applaud, and after a few seconds, the crowd joins in. There are even a few ‘Whoo-hoos!’

Tarquin is gazing at Dad with something close to adoration. The earl has retreated, looking all cross and left out, which is no surprise, as everyone is totally ignoring him. On impulse I hurry forward and give Dad a hug, nearly spilling my wine as I do so.

‘Dad, you’re a star,’ I say. ‘And Tarkie, listen, the fountain’s going to be amazing. It’s just teething troubles!’

‘Exactly!’ echoes Suze. ‘It’s just teething troubles.’

‘You’re very kind.’ Tarquin gives a heavy sigh. He still looks fairly suicidal, and I exchange anxious looks with Suze. Poor Tarkie. He’s worked so hard, for months. He’s lived and breathed his precious fountain. And whatever Dad says, this is a huge humiliation. I can see both TV crews still filming and I just know this is going to be the comedy ‘And finally …’ piece on the news.

‘Darling, I think we need a break,’ Suze says at last. ‘Clear our minds and have a rest.’

‘A break?’ Tarquin looks uncertain. ‘What sort of break?’

‘A holiday! Some time away from Letherby Hall, the fountain, all the family pressure …’ Suze flashes a mutinous glare at the earl. ‘Angus says we need to make a trip to LA, to check on our investments. He recommends a trip to California as soon as we can. I think we should definitely go.’


PLEASEGIVEGENEROUSLY.COM

Give to the world … share with the world … enhance the world …

YOU HAVE REACHED THE PLEDGE PAGE OF:

DANNY KOVITZ

Personal message from Danny Kovitz

Dear Friends

I’m inspired to be writing to you in this, my year of ‘giving back’, of ‘challenging myself’, of ‘taking myself to a whole new place’.

This year I will undergo a series of endeavors designed to test myself to the limit and raise funds for a number of very deserving causes. (See Danny’s Charities.)

I will undertake the feat of completing all the following challenges

in the space of one year

. I know!! It’s quite an undertaking. But it means the world to me to achieve this. Please follow the links and pledge generously, my darling, wonderful friends.

Greenland Ice Sheet Expedition

IRONMAN (Lake Tahoe)

IRONMAN (Florida)

Marathon des Sables (Sahara Desert)

Yak Attack (mountain bike race in Himalayas)

Training is going well so far, and my trainer, Diederik, is SO pleased with my progress. (In case you’re interested, you can look at Diederik on his site Diederiknyctrainer.com. The pictures of him doing bench presses in the tight blue shorts are to DIE for …)

I’ll keep you up to date with my journey. Next stop Greenland!!! Love you all.

Danny xxx


SIX