That Was Then
Late Winter
Early Spring
- 1 - Lilac
- 2 - Departure
- 3 - Escape
- 4 - Consequences
- 5 - Girl Power
- 6 - Pivot Points
- 7 - Sewing Bees
- 8 - If At First ...
- 9 - Moving On
Late Spring
- 10 - Green Ham
- 11 - Shopping
- 12 - Arguements!
- 13 - More Shopping
- 14 - Routines
- 15 - Yet More Shopping
- 16 - Too Close For Comfort
- 17 - Blood Trail
- 18 - First-Aid
- 19 - Semblance Of Normality
Summer
22 - Painting By Numbers
As befitted the first week of Summer, it was raining, by the bucket-loads.
They were parked at the back of an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of town, under the loading bay canopy. Ona and Lottie were exploring the warehouse. Sophia-Grace was teaching Deano to read in the Supervisor's office.
Deano liked numbers; two was two, it didn't pretend to be one or three, and certainly didn't trick you into thinking it was four. Good reliable, dependable two. Sophia-Grace liked words; they could mean many things, you could change and twist them to your liking, to say one thing and pretend you meant something different later. And what she could do with a comma bordered on criminality.
"I'd better go get the paint", Deano said, "Now I can read the colours", he smiled at EssGee.
"Take care", unconsciously she kissed him on the cheek.
As he exited the door, without thinking, she patted him lightly on the bottom, "Come back soon."
From the shadows, Lottie smirked at Ona.
They painted the front of the bus like a cat - eyes around the headlights, a big smile with poking out tongue on the grill. Sophia-Grace fashioned eyelashes from an old boot-scraper, while Deano cut ears for the wing-mirrors from old boarding. The 'School Bus' sign became 'The Cool Cats'.
On the back they added a tail trying to flick the "crossing children" away and changed 'School Bus' to 'School's Out'. Deano had disabled the flashing lights.
The sides were a riot of bright colours - rainbows, hot-air balloons, cars in a traffic jam, people watching a parade - amongst a background of rolling hills, woods, villages, and a large old barn. A small yellow school bus appeared in every vignette.
That evening the rain finally stopped. With the children snuggled down and EssGee lying on her bed reading, Deano pulled slowly out of the compound and drove into the night. By dawn they were at the beach, parked in a quiet sandy lay-by, backing onto the dunes; surf could be heard crashing not far away.
21 - Summer Jamboree