"Observe." Fredric Longton held out a compass on the palm of his hand. The needle swung around, appearing as if it were going to settle at the magnetic north, as it should, but then started to speed up again, and swung wildly from side to side.
"Something is interfering with it." Roger Greene, self-proclaimed local expert on the scientific wonders of Derbyshire, looked around. There wasn't anything obvious that would do such a thing. The teashop was set at the edge of the valley walk, well away from any other buildings or machinery - and it didn't even have electric lights yet. He walked a circuit of the room, stopping to study each of the sturdy wooden tables, white linen tablecloths, and floral-patterned china teacups. "Have you bought anything new in the past few days?"
"Only the abacus." Mr Longton nodded to the counter, where a painted abacus stood alongside the till and a display of homemade scones.
Roger nodded seriously and made his way over to it, giving it the proper consideration. It was a completely normal abacus, wooden beads strung over a wooden frame. He flicked one of the beads to the side and it whizzed across and knocked into the next with a resounding clack! At Mr. Longton's irritated look, he returned the bead to its original place.
"And you say this only started two days ago?"
"Yes. We had walkers asking us what was happening - if there was some kind of anomaly that should explain such strange behavour in their equipment."
Roger nodded slowly, his face schooled into an expression of wise consideration, as if he was turning over several possibilities. In truth, he had no idea what was causing the strange behavour of the compass.
"You say that walkers were complaining of this when they came into the shop?"
"Yes, that is correct."
"Well then, I conclude that it's nothing in the shop itself - clearly they were experiencing the effects outside."
"But there isn't anything but grass and trees and rocks outside."
"Some rocks can give off magnetic interference," Greene insisted.
"I don't know much about science, it's true," Mr. Longton conceded. "But don't rocks normally stay the same? They weren't giving off any magnetic effects before."
"That is true... unless perhaps there is a new kind of natural phenomenon here that we haven't seen before..."
"Like a new rock appearing?" Longton raised an eyebrow.
Roger could see he was losing the proprietor's respect.
"Well, let's take a look." He strode to the door with more confidence than he felt, and stepped out into the warmth of the summer sunshine. "Do you see anything out of place?"
Longton sighed, but cooperated, shading his eyes and scanning the horizon.
Roger did too, although he didn't know what he was looking for and was unhappily deciding that he would have to admit defeat and confess that he didn't know what was happening.
"There!" Mr. Longton suddenly called out, pointing an excited finger towards a pile of stones. "That rock there is new!"
Although it had been his silly statement that had started it, Roger felt himself flush with annoyance. Did Longton really expect him to believe a rock had just "appeared"? Especially one the size that he was pointing out. He judged it would have stood waist high to himself, and he was not a short man. Just as he was about to give Longton a piece of his mind about mocking him, the rock lurched.
"Goodness, did you see that?!" the Proprietor exclaimed.
"Did it move?" Greene frowned, squinting against the sun.
Again the rock lurched, and then slowly hovered upwards. The two men watched in astonishment as it rose higher and higher, and then suddenly whisked away, speeding through the clear sky until it was no more than a speck in the distance.
"Well," Greene said, with an air of authority. "Well, that explains that. Shall we have a cup of tea?"
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