The children set up their sports day games. There was to be running, an egg and spoon race, and an obstacle course which was set up with anything they could find. It didn’t look very safe but apparently the adults had approved it so who was I to argue.
Three of the children from the village, Ben, Jess and Millie, turned up.
‘Ah, I found a whistle,’ Tommy said, blowing it. ‘Let the games begin.’
We had such fun. I sat back a little as George joined in with Summer and Martha’s races. Then Toby and Henry had a go, they laughed so much as they kept dropping their eggs, but although George ran hopefully to lick them up, they were hard boiled and it hurt when one dropped on his head. The bigger children took part in running races, and they finished with what they calleda relay, where a stick was passed between the runners. But they were having so much fun they weren’t being competitive about it at all! I was in my element to see how happily the children were playing together, and I wished that the adults could all get along the same.
But as Savannah and Serafina marched into our garden, I realised I’d spoken too soon.
‘What do you think you are doing?’ Savannah demanded.
‘Who invited you into our garden?’ Aleksy responded. He crossed his arms, as did his brother.
‘It won’t be your garden for long,’ Serafina said.
‘What do you mean?’ Toby looked terrified.
‘This house will be ours soon, Mummy said so. So don’t get too comfortable,’ Savannah said, spitefully. ‘And as for you, Millie, Jess and Ben, why are you playing with them? I said you couldn’t.’
‘We like playing with them,’ Ben mumbled, looking at the grass as he said it.
‘Yeah, it’s not like you can tell them what to do,’ Tommy added.
‘Fine, play your stupid games, see if we care. But mark my words, you won’t be around for much longer and we won’t be sorry to see you go.’ They turned and left.
‘Wow,’ Jess said.
‘I don’t like that they are so horrible.’ Toby looked as if he was going to cry and my heart went to him. The poor kid was so sensitive and hated any kind of arguing, probably because of his past. Aleksy put his arm round him.
‘Toby, you’re not to worry about them, you’ve got us now,’ he said, and Toby smiled.
‘And we are going to play with you, no matter what they say,’ Millie added. ‘My mum said it was about time we stood up to those two anyway. They’ve been so mean lately.’ Her voice wobbled uncertainly, but I was glad.
‘Yeah, when we play with you guys you don’t tell us what to do or tell us we’re rubbish like they do,’ Ben added.
‘Those girls need teaching a lesson,’ Aleksy said. ‘And the best lesson is for us to have so much fun they will want to join in and play with us.’
‘Yeah!’ All the children high-fived.
George put his paw up to join in, and they all laughed.
‘Your cats are so cool,’ Jess said, stroking George.
‘Meow,’ I agreed.
By the time Claire returned with Jonathan and Matt, the children were lying on the grass with ice lollies that Polly and Franceska had given them. Polly was making daisy chains and Franceska was reading her book. They turned and waved as the car pulled into the car port. Jonathan came up and grabbed both Toby and Summer, hugging them at the same time.
‘I’ve missed you guys,’ he said. Then he fussed George and I.
Matt kissed Polly, then Martha, but when he tried to hug Henry he squirmed away.
‘Too big for a hug from your old dad?’ Matt asked and Henry laughed, then launched himself at him.
‘So how’s the house going?’ Matt asked.
‘Come with me and I’ll show you,’ Polly replied. ‘Are you OK to watch the kids?’ she asked.
‘Sure,’ Claire said. ‘You two go and see the builders, Jon can see everything later.’
‘I wish Dad was here,’ Aleksy said.
‘Me too,kochanie, but he has to work. But the good news is that he’ll be here soon.’
‘I can’t wait.’ Tommy gave an air punch and I was happy. They weren’t in trouble at all, and of course sometimes you had to work. After all, it was their hard work that meant we could all keep Seabreeze Cottage.
Knowing George was being showered with attention, I followed Matt and Polly. But before they could get very far I heard voices coming from the courtyard.
‘I don’t understand,’ a man I knew only as the plumber was saying.
‘It doesn’t make sense.’ Colin was scratching his head, which he seemed to do a lot.
‘What’s wrong?’ Polly asked. ‘Colin, you remember Matt?’
‘Hi, Matt. Polly, Adrian put in all the pipe work for the outside shower as you know, and today he’s come to finish off but the pipe’s broken and to be honest we have no idea how it happened.’
‘What do you mean?’ Matt examined what I had seen Liam do earlier.
‘It looks like it was bashed with something, but why?’ Adrian said. ‘I’ll have to get another piece of pipe. It’s not difficult but I’ll have to cut it to size, so it means I won’t be able to finish until Monday.’
‘How could this have happened?’ Polly asked.
‘I wish I knew, Polly, honestly it makes no sense.’ Poor Colin sounded upset.
‘OK, well delays happen … Anyway, Colin, can we go and see upstairs? Adrian’s putting the bathroom in next week so next time you come the children should be in, right?’ Polly said, cheerfully. I was glad she wasn’t letting the broken pipe get to her.
‘Yup, the lads are preparing to paint the bedrooms now, the carpets are going in soon and then that just leaves the bathroom.’
‘It’s all going well then,’ Matt said. ‘Come on, let’s see the children’s floor.’
Our inspection was highly successful. The children were going to love their new rooms. Martha and Summer had the smaller room, but it was going to be painted pink and Polly said she was going to make it like the inside of a palace. The boys’ room, which was bigger as it was for four of them, was to be a nice green colour, and they would move the bunk beds up for them to sleep in. The sloping room wasn’t that high, but high enough, and the skylights let in the sun, though Polly said they were getting black-out blinds fitted the following week to ensure the children would be able to sleep. My conclusion, as I stepped on Liam’s foot and earned a scowl from him, was that Polly had thought of everything and the children’s floor would be a success.
‘It’s going to be great when finished.’ Matt echoed my thoughts.
‘I just still have so much to do,’ Polly said as they went downstairs. ‘And these little delays aren’t helping. First the ceiling hole, then the pipe. I mean, I know it’s not the end of the world but it is irritating when we are on such a tight time schedule.’
‘These things happen when you’re building though, you know that,’ Matt pointed out.
‘I know but it worries me. The roof was one of them being a bit careless when they were getting ready to fit the skylight, I get that, but the pipe, how could that have happened?’
‘The plumber probably fitted a faulty piece and didn’t want to say. Anyway, how about we take the kids for a run on the beach before tea.’ Matt grinned. ‘You know, I might have been a bit reluctant at first when you came up with this hare-brained plan but it is quite magical here. The beachacross the road, the children having a lovely, free time, and the cottage, well it’s going to be beautiful. You know, my lovely wife, we were wrong, this is one of your best ideas. As long as it doesn’t bankrupt us then I’m so happy we did it.’
‘Gosh, Matt, I might need that in writing. And no, it won’t bankrupt us because we are all in this together.’
I scampered out to the garden and kept that in mind that, yes, we were all in this together.