The Overlooker Read Online Free Page B

vision of the Roman Empire being overthrown and terrible happenings before the end of the world. Like that one up there.
Their torture was like the torture of a scorpion.
’ I guess he was dreaming of seeing his persecutors persecuted.’
    â€˜Gross,’ said Millie. ‘I thought Christianity was all about loving people who did nasty things to you.’
    â€˜It is.’
    â€˜Anyway, whoever did this is wasting his time. He’d have done better painting it in the middle of town. Who’s going to see it out here, with just a lot of empty mills?’
    â€˜Oh, I don’t know. There’ll be plenty of people like us who walk along this towpath.’
    Even as she spoke, a man with a dog overtook them, squeezing past on the narrow path.
    As the Fewings passed underneath the mill, with its louring messages, Millie ran her hand along the brickwork. Her fingers twanged the metal grilles guarding the windows.
    Nick and Suzie walked on. Not far ahead, Nick could see a bridge. He was fairly sure that was where Canal Street crossed the waterway. They would need to leave the towpath there to find his grandparents’ old home in Hugh Street.
    A voice called from some distance behind them.
    â€˜I don’t think this one is going to keep people out.’
    Millie had stopped. She was pulling at the grille over the window beside her. It was red with rust. As she tugged, a corner sprang away from the wall.
    â€˜Millie!’ Suzie exclaimed as she turned. ‘I don’t think you should be doing that. It may be empty, but this mill belongs to someone.’
    Millie had prised a second corner free. A side of the grille swung away from the wall. There was no glass in the window behind it. Two boards had been nailed crookedly across the gap. But they were rotting away. There was a gap big enough for Millie to put her head through.
    â€˜It’s a bit like that museum, except it’s all covered in dirt.’ She wriggled sideways to see better. ‘Some of the machines have gone, but there’s still rows of them.’
    Nick strode back to join her. ‘Let’s have a look.’
    Millie stood back to let her father peer through the hole. As he put his weight against it, a section of board broke off.
    â€˜Nick!’ Suzie exploded. ‘You’re as bad as Millie. What if someone comes along and finds you breaking and entering?’
    â€˜I admit to the breaking. But we haven’t entered yet.’ He withdrew his head and grinned at Millie. ‘Are you up for it? I got a bit frustrated back at the museum, with a metal screen between us and the looms. I know they have to have it for safety reasons, but I’d love to stand in front of one, just like my gran did. Even if it’s not working.’
    A little boy’s curiosity had got the better of Nick. He squeezed himself between the loosened grille and the window space and swung a long leg over the sill.
    He dropped down on to the dusty mill floor. His heart beat faster with recognition. There were rows of disused looms, stretching away down the long dusty room. Diagonal leather belts still connected drive wheels at the side of each to a pulley overhead. It did not take much imagination to picture the threads of the warp stretched over the rollers. You would only have to set those leather belts in motion for the warp threads to lift and fall and the shuttle to fly across at twice a second.
    Millie had followed him through the window. She was prowling around, her blonde head under the tall windows misted by the dust Nick had raised.
    He wandered along the line of machines, picturing in his mind his grandmother in her calico-print apron, casting a sharp eye over her five looms.
    He stopped short beside one, with a sudden flutter of excitement in his heart.
    â€˜Look at this! Somebody’s cleaned this one up.’
    Millie ran to join him. Together they studied the gleam of the newly cleaned iron frame, the signs