“Morning, darling”

“Mmfwhwmomn?”

“How tired were you last night?”

“Sorry, love. Bit of a long day”

“You hadn’t planned those extras, had you?”

I simply shook my head, as I had no possible denial for the obvious truth.

“No. Ish spotted Stonehenge, and I thought, well, bucket list. I had thought of cutting through Bath as well, but---”

“Shush. That Martian thing; that was really last minute, wasn’t it?”

I nodded against my pillow.

“It was, well, memory? Ish had spotted Stonehenge, so I thought, well, something for him?”

“And it had tentacles as well.. Anyway, we have five days left, darling. Starting with today”

“Oh dear… Breakfast? Kids?”

“Carolyn came in about three hours ago. I suggested she listen to you snore…”

“Hell. Better get up, then”

I thought as quickly as I could manage right then, which wasn’t exactly rapid.

“What shall we do for those days?”

She wriggled round to settle into a cuddle.

“I have a confession, darling”

“Oh?”

“I’ve already had my breakfast. Ideas have been discussed”

“You mean…”

“I went down and had the full thing, then came back for a cuddle”

“Oh hell”

“Items discussed are as follows: Natural History Museum, in London, for dinosaurs. Barnes wetlands centre for birds, in London. The Disney shop in Westfield, though Carolyn didn’t call it that, for another princess dress. Oh, and the Castle”

“Which castle?”

“Climbing centre in north London. Old water pumping centre, apparently”

“So a full bill, then?”

“Sort of. We also have an offer for Carolyn. For today”

“And?”

“One of those doggy people we met is actually a pro dog walker. Said she’d be happy to take our girl out if we were too knackered”

That brought a little revelation about understanding and community. Anyone with half a brain cell would have realised how shattered I would be; only a proper community would have set things in place, just as an assurance.

“And?”

“Jules is downstairs, with three dogs, but two are still in her van”

“And Carolyn?”

“Rather appropriately, she’s like a greyhound in a trap”

I thought quickly, decided almost immediately.

“Can you pop down and say yes, and I’ll be down as soon as? I need a wee”

Maz rolled out of bed and headed for the others as I did my best to fix some sort of normality to my appearance before risking disturbing our hosts. Putting clothes on would be a good start.

Geoff was already at work, and Steph was due to head out for a late shift starting at one, I was informed, but there was a set of keys for us, as well as available neighbours in case of emergency. The boy and his young lady had also gone out, apparently to do the mall rat thing in Crawley, and it would be hours before our daughter would be back.

The Woodruffs had music, obviously. My e-reader still had loads of stuff I had meant to read, and Maz had spotted some bird books on shelves in the conservatory, so that day became a completely wasted day, or it would have been if we had actually had anywhere we needed to go or anything that simply had to be done.

I was actually shocked when Geoff reappeared, the time having vanished, and then boy and girl, almost immediately followed by the dog walker girl, her man and a very, very happy child.

“Dad! Look!

LC was pointing towards the door to the garden, and it took me a while to work out what she was pointing at. Maz beat me to it.

“Jules, please. You don’t have to buy her gifts”

The young woman blushed, but still smiled.

“That wasn’t me. Brian was out with us today, and where we were, it can get very muddy. And I always liked those; they’re so cute”

Wellies, green ones with frog eyes on the feet, covered in mud but left, correctly, at the door so as not to track dirt into the house. Note to self: make sure that the excess souvenirs were indeed ready to follow us before we flew. Geoff coughed.

“With Hairy on a late shift, we’ve got nothing special planned for our meal. There’s a chip shop in the village, so it’s going to be a bit like Bethesda, if that suits. And Stewie wants to stop by later to see what you’ve done to his car”

That was the answer to my musing about a wasted day, for it could have been spent clearing the Vauxhall out. Never mind: we had two children available for that, three if we included Clara.

“Dad?”

“Sorry, love. I was thinking. What do you need?”

“Can we have a dog, Dad?”

Part of the confused mess that was the healing process our family were in the middle of was always the little moments when the victim stepped aside and let our daughter speak. For every reference to men with axes or canes, we would get some moment of ordinary childhood, and this was one of the simplest and sweetest.

“Not right now, love. We have to get on an aeroplane in a few days, and we can’t take a dog like that. I do promise, though: when we get back, and we see how school goes, we can see how a dog might go. Just remember, though: snakes”

Jules looked up sharply at that one, and I gave a nothing-I-can-do shrug.

“Just one of the things about Australia. There are also restrictions down to conservation stuff. Lots of places you can’t take a dog. Gets complicated at times”

“Yeah, I can see how that would work. Scary place”

Bri laughed.

“Yeah, well at least most of the stuff on land doesn’t actively want to eat you”

Maz and Ish simultaneously called out “Crocs!”, but Bri stuck to his guns.

“Nope. Sharks and salties are in the water. I’m on about North America. Bears. Saw this article about touring there, and having a bear-proof larder you hand from a tree where they can’t reach it. They sell big pepper sprays to use against pushy bruins. Do you know how to tell the difference between black bear dung and that of grizzlies? The latter smells of pepper”

He grinned.

“We’ll stick to the New Forest for our camping, I think. I can put up with the sound of grazing deer next to the tent”

Maz looked wistful, then shook her head.

“Bucket list keeps growing. Always somewhere else to add”

Clara’s voice was a little hesitant, but clear.

“Then you’ll have to come back, won’t you?”

Oh dear me.

Stewie arrived just as we finished our greasy meal, and then I talked him through our experiences with the car.

“One flat tyre, mate. Replaced it with a new one, so no issues there. Oh, and I did a complete oil change while we were in Cardiff. Ran sweet as a nut, she did. Needs a bit of a clear-out, though”

“Are you going to need her longer?”

“Don’t think so. We have a few things to do, but they’re mostly in London, so no way I would want to drive. Train and tube for us. Anyway, we also need to pack up properly before departure day”

“Bit of a wrench?”

Maz settled against me, LC on her lap.

“Yes, it will be. We, Carolyn and me, we are still learning what boundaries are now gone, but this trip… It is finding so many friends, old and new. Unexpected ones. But we still have our home, and…”

She indicated our daughter with her eyes.

“Steep learning curves ahead, I would guess, Stewie”

He nodded.

“That, I think I can understand. When I retired from the Corps, it was literally a culture shock. I mean, pussers and pongos were bad enough, but civvies?”

He started to laugh, happily, then grinned at me.

“If I say that the learning curve for civvies dealing with Marines is also occasionally rather steep, I wasn’t there and I don’t know the pub you’re talking about, Constable”

He turned a lot more serious, all of a sudden.

“I met my wife, as well as this lot, through some of that learning, just as we’ve met you, Maz, through nastiness. It doesn’t erase the horrors, but it gives us a reason to smile through them. I know how expensive it is to fly up here, but there’ll be a car for you if you need one, and you haven’t looked at Scotland on this trip, or Europe. There’s also the quid-pro-quo. The Missus says she fancies seeing Skippy some day”

“Stewie, never a problem. We’ve not just got spare rooms, and that’s our friends as well, we even have a tame camper van hire place. Oh, and it’s not exactly ‘join the queue’ but more that you might end up running into some of the rest of this lot”

Maz chipped in, “Come for our spring. Wild flowers then are wonderful”

“I’ve always wanted to do that full crossing thing, West to East”

Maz burst out laughing, as happily as I had ever heard her.

“Oh, do we have the exact van man for you!”

Not just Carolyn finding the new friends.

We did the appropriate tourist suggestions, and they were fun. The Wetland Centre was combined with a side trip to purchase a couple of princess dresses, and the bird reserve was therefore inspected by at least one person in slightly unconventional clothing, which amused the little old man who took us on a guided tour package. He really knew his stuff, particularly the exact spots that gave us a sight of a bird I had only ever heard of, a bittern.

A second day was all museums, the Natural History and Science Museums having specific child-friendly spaces, plus, of course, dinosaurs. I don’t think anyone ever grows out of them, to be honest.

Our next day was also a full one, travelling up to Finsbury Park with the Woodruffs for what proved to be one of the best climbing walls I have ever seen. It was only as we approached the entrance that I realised.

“Maz?”

“Darling?”

“All that kit, back in Charlwood? It needs to get back to Auds and Alan!”

Geoff caught that exchange, so I explained.

“My old climbing club. They loaned us a lot of lead gear, including ropes. They’re in That Place That Starts With ‘L’. No idea how to get it back to them”

Steph leant past her husband.

“Where do they climb?”

“Peak and Snowdonia, mostly”

“Sorted, then. Give them a ring tonight, we’ll compare diaries, and us two can drop it off when we coincide”

“You sure?”

“top being silly. Oh, and you’re going to need to explain Carolyn here, although I doubt they’ll want to check her belaying ability”

Steph was spot on, as each of the five of us was quizzed about experience, which went to pieces a little when they got to LC.

“And the child?”

“Carolyn. She has her own harness”

“Good. We have some easier stuff downstairs for kids”

“Um, I think she’s probably looking at the bigger walls here”

“What’s she done so far?”

“Um… HVS”

“Fu---. Sorry?”

“On slate, but she prefers grit. Do you have any jamming cracks here?”

“JAMMING! HANDS AND FISTS!”

That sort of made the point.