Fiction: Group 3
lady at the desk. He showed her the tag and she directed him to another set. To his surprise the key opened
a door and inside was an identical envelope to the last one.
This time, he didn't hesitate. He lunged for the envelope and ripped it open. It contained a first class
Heathrow express ticket and a Virgin Atlantic ticket for a flight to Hong Kong. Tonight. "That's odd!" he
exclaimed, feeling excited. Hercules quickly checked his watch. The flight left in three hours. He turned,
hopped into a taxi, stopped at his home, grabbed his passport and threw a few things into a bag. He leapt
onto the Heathrow express train, at the airport he rushed through the priority lanes and just made it onto
the plane.
Chapter 3 - In The Air
He settled into seat 1A, as the friendly flight attendant smiled and asked "Champagne or orange juice, sir?".
He took a glass of champagne, downing it in one gulp as he wondered what was he doing here?. As he
relaxed, the plane made its way across the airport and took off with a roar. He was committed to solving this
mystery. Especially now, as the same attendant discreetly slipped him an envelope, the same kind as before.
He decided that this envelope would not trouble him for a while. He slid it into his bag and enjoyed the rest
of the extremely comfortable flight - he watched a film and slept like a log.
When an attendant woke him up with breakfast, he stretched out his legs and only then reached for the
envelope. As he gulped down some of his coffee, he tore the envelope open. Onto his lap fell a ticket - to
'James Galloper' film premier at the Pearl Riverside Theatre that night. He was familiar with the children's
book of the same name - it had won prestigious awards, months of media attention, and students in his class
didn't stop talking about it. The author of the book wrote under the pen name Simon Jarvis, and everyone
had been trying to find out the true identity for months - but with no success. The Pearl River Delta had
been a key setting in 'James Galloper', which was probably why 'Simon Jarvis' had chosen to hold the
premier there, but why on Earth was he invited? The Captain's voice rang through the cabin announcing
that the plane would be landing shortly. His finished breakfast was cleared away, and the plane began to
descend.
Chapter 4 - Arrival at the Pearl River Delta
Once Hercules had cleared immigration, he strode into arrivals and to his surprise, he saw a tall, thin man
holding a sign that read:
Hercules Jones
He made his way over to the man, who whisked him away and into a comfortable limousine waiting just
outside. His whole journey had been planned perfectly. As the limousine made its way towards the city, he
took out his iPad and did some research on 'James Galloper'. The book had just won children's book of the
year, as voted for by W H Smith customers and Booker magazine and also won the Roald Dahl funny prize!
As he pulled up in front of his hotel, the driver handed him a room key and said "Please go directly to room
221, change and come back down in thirty minutes. I will be waiting here for you. "
"OK" replied Hercules.
Hercules climbed back into the limousine, having changed into the suit and tie he had found waiting on the
double bed in his room. Only three minutes later, the limousine stopped, the door was opened for him and
he looked around. He had been dropped off at the theatre by a door marked 'VIP - rows 1-5'. He showed
his ticket to the doorman and he was taken to his seat in the front row. To his amazement, the person sitting
to his left was the director of Bloomsbury publishers and to his right the film director. He was just looking at
the familiar famous faces in the rows behind him, when the lights dimmed, and on stage walked a man as a
voice announced " Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome Simon Jarvis". Everyone stood, clapping and
cheering until he waved them silent. He slowly began to speak. "It has been an incredible 3 years since the
first copy of James Galloper was sold in England. Since then, the book has been a huge success all over the
world and I am very excited to share the film with you tonight."
Hercules felt that he had seen this man before and was almost certain that it was the face he had seen at his
window.
