One Hundred Names (Special Edition)

immediately reached out to steady and protect her.
    ‘Not like that anyway, I hope,’ Jedrek said, and they laughed.
    Birdie linked Edward’s arm and looked around with delight, and despite Molly’s declaration of not being able to get far enough away from the college boy, she stayed close. They all decided to split up in search of the judge, unsure if the egg record attempt had officially been logged yet.
    ‘Look, Jedrek,’ Achar said, surveying the scene. ‘This is what we need.’
    Local media, crowd support and an official adjudicator, it was all Achar had dreamed of for their event.
    ‘Yes, Achar, but there is no water,’ Jedrek poured cold water over Achar’s dreams.
    ‘I found him!’ Eva called, and Kitty followed Eva’s voice to a bewildered-looking black-suited man who was surrounded by Kitty’s odd bunch of people.
    Jedrek and Achar pushed through the crowd, looking like they’d found the Holy Grail when their eyes fell upon the adjudicator. Jedrek walked towards him, hand extended the entire way. The adjudicator looked at Kitty’s gang, who had circled him, back to Jedrek’s hand as if this was some kind of joke, then finally he shook his hand, sensing the seriousness.
    ‘Mr Adjudicator,’ Jedrek addressed him as though he were royalty, holding his hands up and looking him up and down as though greatness were in this very market. ‘We have travelled a long way to see you today, myself and my friends.’
    The judge looked at the group.
    ‘Well, hello,’ he said unsurely. ‘I’m James.’
    ‘James!’ Jedrek announced as if that was fascinating. ‘My name is Jedrek Vysotski and this is my friend Achar Singh. This, James, is Kitty Logan, the great journalistic reporter who we are blessed with writing our story.’ Kitty nodded enthusiastically and James said another awkward hello.
    ‘James,’ a man behind him interrupted, ‘we’re about to get things started here.’
    ‘Okay, just a minute,’ James said pleasantly, turning back to Jedrek, intrigued.
    ‘We, Achar and I, are going to make the great record attempt to be the fastest two men in a pedalo for a distance of one hundred metres. The current record is one minute fifty-eight point six two seconds and Achar and I can do it in one minute fifty. This is going to happen, James. In Cork. And we would like to invite you to be our adjudicator.’
    This time an egg interrupted. ‘We’re ready now, James.’
    ‘Okay, just a second,’ he said, a little panicked.
    ‘We will not let you down, James,’ Achar pushed.
    Jedrek placed a gentle hand on his friend’s shoulder. ‘Let the man speak.’
    ‘Thank you,’ James said, sweat breaking out on his brow. ‘I’m afraid I can’t come to your event, as delightful as it sounds.’ He spoke in an English accent. ‘But according to the rules you must have registered your details with Guinness World Records already.’
    ‘Yes we have, we have,’ Jedrek said enthusiastically.
    ‘And what did they say?’
    ‘They told us the cost of adjudication and we could not possibly afford that,’ Achar said immediately, to Jedrek’s annoyance. ‘That is why we have sought you out here. We have come to you, to save you having to come to us,’ he said as if they were doing James a big favour.
    ‘I’m sorry, gentlemen, I’m afraid it doesn’t work like that,’ he began.
    ‘They’ve been training for months,’ Archie interrupted. ‘Surely you could just turn up and watch them.’ Archie’s tactics weren’t as gentle as the others’ and it sounded a little threatening.
    Eva sensed this and joined in. ‘We’ll be at Kinsale Pier tomorrow, at 2 p.m., all you have to do is come and watch them, witness it for yourself and then they can do the rest of the work. What do you think?’
    ‘I have a flight back to London in the morning …’
    ‘Change it,’ Sam said.
    ‘I’ll cover the cost of your flight,’ Kitty butted in. ‘They really deserve to be seen by you,’ she urged.
    ‘They’ve a jolly good spirit,’ Regina added from somewhere outside of the circle. ‘We believe they can do it.’
    ‘I’ll pay your fee,’ Birdie said suddenly, and everybody looked at her in shock.
    ‘No, no,’ Achar and Jedrek protested. ‘It is too much. We cannot allow you to pay.’
    ‘After today I can pay whatever I want,’ Birdie smiled mischievously, then looked at the adjudicator. ‘Name your price and I will pay you,’ she said, chin high.
    ‘It’s not about the fee,’