Unless You Are A Postman
When they reached the top of the hill they saw a small ancient sign on the wire fence that surrounded the wood. It said: ‘Don’t come in, unless you are a postman, because this is private land.’
“Well, this is as far as we can go. That sign makes it quite clear.” Chloé shaded her eyes as she admired the view before turning to peer through the fence. “I wonder what’s in there?”
“Trees,” Evan declared, with authority. “Yes, I can see that but what’s beyond
them?” She scowled at him.
He ignored it. “We could say we’re postmen!”
Francis shook his head. “A good plan but I think we’d need a uniform to fool them, or at least a hat.”
Evan nodded in wise agreement.
Chloé smiled. “C’mon! Let’s walk around the edge and see if we can see anything else.” Evan picked up a large stick and held at his waist. “Brrrmmmmpphhh!” he called out as he swayed left to right, shaking the stick on his hip slightly.
“Yep, this will do. It makes a good machine gun.”
He looked up at Chloé. “We might need some protection,” he offered in explanation. She tutted in a grown-up fashion and they all walked along the pathway that led them around the wood. Evan’s machine gun had now, miraculously, transformed itself into a sword which easily cut down the advancing armoured knights he now imagined were impeding their progress.
On the far side of the wood, they sat down on the grass and delved into their bags. Small bottles of fizzy water and an assortment of beautifully cut sandwiches were swiftly produced.
“What have you got, Evan?” Chloé asked. He lifted back the top layer of bread. “Wow! Egg mayonnaise!” He sniffed it. ”Smells great!” he continued before taking a big bite.
“Whfftewegotnn?” he asked as he munched away.
“You know you shouldn’t talk with your mouth full. If you want to know what I’ve got, it’s chicken and I think, bread sauce.” She took a nibble. “Tastes lovely though.” She paused as she swallowed then inspected the others. “There’s some nice ham sandwiches as well.”
Evan rummaged around in his rucksack. “More egg mayonnaise and a ham sandwich for me, as well.”
They sat and admired the view.
Francis, as the self proclaimed leader, insisted that Elle and Monkey join him in some sunbathing. Elle put on a pair of sunglasses that were almost twice her size. Monkey lay cuddling a banana.
“What do you know about this place, Francis?” Chloé said then took a mouthful of the fizzy, almost sweet, water that had been thoughtfully placed inside a small cooler bag. Francis, feeling the moment had arrived to show off his superior knowledge, puffed himself up to his full height, in the hope it would add more authority to the words that were to follow. “Not a lot really. We came up here last summer, to this exact spot, and we saw an old man sawing some wood and there was a boy with him who waved back to us.”
“Didn’t you speak to them?”
“No. They were too far away and we weren’t dressed as postmen. Dad said we had to leave because he suddenly felt it getting chilly.” He broke off a piece of grass and, sticking it in his mouth, began to affect the look of a country yokel, relaxing after a day’s work.
Elle nodded confirmation. “Our Mum and Dad said they never saw anyone there but we knew we did.”
When they’d had enough to eat, they packed up the wrappers and stowed everything away, tidily, in their bags. Chloé had a good check of the grass to make sure they’d left nothing behind.
Following the little track, Chloé called out. “Look! There’s some smoke, drifting up from the middle. There must be a little house or something in there?”
Francis chipped in, “Oh yeah. I forgot to mention that. Dad told us a neighbour said there was a house in there. More of a shack, I think he said.”
“What else have you forgotten to mention?” she asked him, ever so slightly annoyed.
He looked up at her with those ‘beady’ little eyes and it melted her heart, instantly. “I can’t remember,” he replied.