The House in the Wood by Paul Addy - HTML preview

Far too soon

Far too soon it was time for them to leave. Mum and Dad were meeting them in a city not too far away. They’d booked into a hotel after having spent their own holiday visiting all sorts of other cities in Europe. It was the last place on what they called their ‘bucket list’. Evan wasn’t sure what a list of buckets had to do with anything.

Their goodbyes given to Sebi, Granpa and Mungo the goat on the previous evening, they were now waiting for Moopah to finish talking with the next door neighbour, Sandu, who liked to practise his English.

“Just spread it evenly over the grass and water it in,” he said.

Moopah looked at the box he’d been given. “Are you sure it’s as simple as that?”

Sandu nodded. “Yes. I’ve just done the same to mine last week and look at it now.”

Moopah had to admit, Sandu’s grass was luscious and green. It looked as if you would bounce if you fell on it.

“So, did the children enjoy their stay?” “Very much,” Moopah replied. “They spent a lot of their time exploring up on the hill and playing at the house in the wood with a young lad called Sebi, at least that’s what I think they said his name was.”

Sandu looked at Moopah with curiosity. “Oh. The only young lad I know of that name from around here left a good while ago. The old house has been empty ever since. After his Granpa died, he moved to the big city. He did very well for himself, has his own company making computers and smart phones. He came back last year on a visit.

He’s got two children of his own now, a girl and a boy. Funnily enough, their names are Chloé and Evan too. What a coincidence.” He turned the water on for his hose and began watering his grass.

Inside the car, the windows open, the children stared at each other in disbelief. “Must be someone else,” Chloé said. “We only spoke to them yesterday.” Evan nodded agreement.

In the village, Moopah stopped the car outside the ABC. “I’m getting some cold drinks to go with our little ‘picnic’ for the journey,” he said as he got out.

Fabby leaned over. “Get some of those nice croissants with the scrumptious fillings,” she called after him.

Back in the car, Moopah handed everything to Fabby and declared. “Well, that was slightly strange. She was just telling me how lovely you two are.” He caught their eyes in the rear view mirror. “She said you reminded her of two children that used to visit here years ago when she was a child. They always came with a boy called Sebi and were always very kind to her. She thought they were relatives of his although she said she could never understand what they were saying. But that’s not the strange thing. She then told me the children’s names were Chloé and Evan. How incredible is that?” He turned the engine on.

“Right, everybody buckled up? Then let’s get on our way! Your Mum and Dad will be waiting for you and the surprise is Fabby and I will be staying with you at the same hotel before we wave you off on your flight for Liverpool in two days time.”

Chloé and Evan stared at each other. “What’s going on?” she whispered. “We saw Sebi yesterday. They must have got it wrong.”

“Maybe they’re talking about his Granpa?” Evan replied.

“Was his name Sebi as well?”

Evan shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. I only ever called him Granpa. What did you call him?”

She gave him a sideways glance. “Well, Granpa silly.”

Evan gazed up at her. “What did Sebi call hi-,” and suddenly stopped. “Granpa,” they both said together.

They sat in silence for a while then Francis, who was sitting on the armrest between them, tugged at Chloé’s arm. “I saw this programme once on the telly. It was all about time travel. I think it said there might be things called potholes or times holes or something like that and if there were you could travel back in time and back again.”

“Portals!” Evan exclaimed. “Time portals! I saw the same programme but I wasn’t really paying attention.” He checked to see if the grown-ups in the front were paying any attention to them. They weren’t. Fabby was telling Moopah all about some roses she wanted to plant and he kept saying, “Sounds lovely.”

Evan wagged his finger in a knowledgeable fashion. “You know, we always went to the house the same way and you remember that bit where we both said it got chilly but we thought it was just because we were out of the sun? Maybe that was the portal thingy. Was that where you once said you were when you saw them, Francis?”

A startled look flooded Francis’s beady eyes. “Gosh! I think you’re right!”

Elle nodded her head so vigorously her ears flapped about like two towels hanging from a washing line on a windy day. “Yes! It’s right. It was the same place!” she said, excitedly.

Chloé shook her head but wanted to believe. “Surely it can’t be true. I mean, it’s so far-fetched. It’s unbelievable.”

Monkey, hugging his plastic banana, glanced up and said in his soft but deep voice, “You do know you’ve been talking to three cuddly toys most of the summer?”

Chloé laughed and said, “Do you know, Monkey? Sometimes you can be very sensible.”

He bit into the banana, then with a silly look on his face said, “Oh dear, I forgot it’s not real.”

Deep in thought, apart from Monkey who simply copied the expressions of the others, they sat in silence.

Eventually, Chloé had a question that just needed to be asked. “Moopah, did the lady in the shop say anything about when it was she saw these children with the boy Sebi? What time of year or anything?”

He gazed back at them through the interior mirror on the windscreen. “She did actually. Every summer for many years she said. She couldn’t remember exactly.”

Chloé bent over and whispered something in Evan’s ear. He bobbed his head back at her enthusiastically.

Chloé smiled. “Fabby? Moopah? Can we come back again next year at the same time and perhaps every year?”

“Of course” they chorused from the front. “We’d love it!”

The End