Lily Alone (18 page)

The buggy suddenly fell over. Pixie had got bored during my long lecture and had managed to wriggle out of the straps. She'd made a bolt for freedom and tipped it up. She started yelling hard. I picked her up and held her.

‘Where does it hurt, Pixie?' I said, feeling her arms and legs.

‘Everywhere!' Pixie roared.

When I punched and prodded each bit, she didn't roar harder, so I decided she was more or less OK.

‘Right then,' I said, stuffing her back into the buggy and reloading it with the bulging bags. ‘Off we go.'

I wasn't quite sure where we were going
to
. We had to make a secret camp somewhere, but I didn't know which spot to pick. I was tired out already and it was much harder work pushing the buggy over grass, but it wouldn't make sense to make our camp near the park entrance, where so many people might spot us.

‘The magic garden, the magic garden!' Bliss cried.

I knew there'd be lots of hiding places there. We'd already hidden beneath the willow tree, but that was just playing a game. The willow fronds weren't thick enough. We'd be on plain view to everyone. Anyway, there were too many people circling the pond and feeding the ducks. We'd be found in five minutes. There were hundreds of big bushes all over the magic garden. We could creep under one and crouch there but we couldn't stay crouched permanently. No, the magic garden wasn't the right place for us.

‘We're not going to the magic garden straight away,' I said. ‘We'll go there later, Bliss, after we've found a camp and hidden all our things.

‘We could camp back in that playground,' said Baxter. ‘I could be the boss guy and live at the top of the slide.'

‘Baxter, a children's playground isn't the
best
place to hide. Like, there would be other children there.'

‘I'll tell them to shove off. I'll be the boss, see.'

‘No, we need a really
secret
place, where no one else in the park goes. Away from the car park and the playgrounds.' I looked all around again. ‘Let's go that way,' I said, pointing to a yellowy sandy path in the opposite direction to the hill. At least it would be easier to push the buggy along it.

‘
Follow, follow, follow, follow, follow the yellow-sand road
,' I said, singing the song from
The Wizard of Oz
. I did a little skippy dance to the tune. ‘Come on, Bliss, Baxter, you've all seen the film.'

They hopped and skipped too, and Pixie drummed her heels in the buggy. Baxter picked up a fallen branch and waved it dangerously in the air, conducting us.

‘We're not off to see any real wizard, are we?' said Bliss.

‘No wizards whatsoever. Just us. We're going to find a very special secret place to make our camp.'

‘That's easy-peasy,' said Baxter. ‘This will be a good camp!' he said, whacking a very tall tree with his stick. ‘We'll camp right up in the branches, and when anyone comes near we'll see them and shoot them,
bang bang bang
.'

‘So how are we all going to get up in this tree, Baxter?'

‘
Climb
up, stupid,' said Baxter.

He tried to demonstrate. He clearly saw himself shinning up like a little monkey after coconuts. He looked extremely puzzled when he couldn't even get as far as the first branch. He tried again and again, while we waited patiently, and then he lost his temper and started kicking the tree, as if it was being deliberately awkward.

‘Oh, Baxter, stop it! You're not hurting the tree, you're hurting yourself.'

‘You shut up,' he shouted and started kicking me too.

‘You're being silly. Ouch, you're hurting
me
now. Look, you've been clever and found a branch. Let's all find branches too and maybe we can stick them in the ground and put the tablecloth over them so it's like a little tent . . . ?' My voice tailed away. I'd been just like Baxter. I'd pictured us in a cosy tent in the middle of this beautiful park, but I hadn't thought exactly how it was all going to work.

I tried sticking Baxter's branch into the earth. I couldn't get it to stand upright – and anyway, the tablecloth wasn't anywhere near big enough when I held it out.

‘That's a
stupid
idea,' said Baxter. ‘That's not a tent!' He snatched his branch back and poked at the tablecloth contemptuously.

‘Don't, Baxter! You'll tear our tent,' said Bliss, trying to rescue the tablecloth.

‘Oh, let him tear it. It's not going to work anyway,' I said. ‘I don't know how to make a proper tent.'

‘Perhaps with the blankets?' said Bliss, gathering them up and flapping them.

‘Yes, but
how
?' I said.

A dog came running up off his lead and started barking eagerly.

‘No! Go away! Help!' Bliss shrieked. She flapped harder, which only made him more excited.

‘It's OK, Bliss, just stand still, he won't hurt you, he's only little,' I said – but she was too scared to listen and ran away up the grassy bank.

‘Hey, silly doggy, play with
me
, not her,' said Baxter, waving the tablecloth at the dog.

The dog darted backwards and forwards joyfully, convinced this was a wonderful new game.

A youngish woman in jeans came striding towards us, whistling.

‘Hey, Sammy! Down, boy! I'm sorry, kids, he's just having fun. He won't hurt you,' she called.

‘He's lovely, aren't you, Sammy?' said Baxter, holding the tablecloth towards him enticingly and then flicking it away.

Sammy leaped up, caught the edge in his teeth and rolled on the ground with it, wrapping himself inside.

‘He's like a big sausage roll!' Baxter said, roaring with laughter, totally over his temper tantrum.

‘He
is
a sausage, my Sammy,' said the woman. ‘Oh dear, is that your picnic cloth? I'm so sorry. Your mother will be furious.'

‘She won't mind. It's only an old cloth,' I said quickly.

‘Out you come, Sammy,' said the woman, scrabbling for him. He jumped free, his paws bicycling in the air, and then he made a mad dash for the buggy. Pixie squealed excitedly, but he wasn't after her, he was after the food bag.

‘Oi, don't you dare! You're not golloping up the picnic too, bad boy,' said the woman. She clipped the lead on his collar and then fished in her jeans pocket. She brought out three pound coins and held them out to me. ‘Here, buy yourself some ice cream for after the picnic.'

‘Oh, thank you!' I said.

‘Ice cream, ice cream, ice cream!' said Pixie happily.

‘Sammy can come and play with us any time,' said Baxter.

The woman strode off, with Sammy leaping around at her heels.

‘I
like
that lady,' said Baxter. ‘Give me my pound then, Lily.'

‘
I'll
look after the money. Pity she didn't see Bliss too – we'll have to share three ice creams between four,' I said, looking round. ‘Where is she? Bliss, it's OK, you can come back, the dog's gone now.'

I couldn't see any sign of her.

‘Bliss!
Bliss!
' I ran up the grassy slope and still couldn't see her. Had she kept on running? She was only little, but she could run fast, especially if she was in a blind panic. Why hadn't I gone after her straight away?

‘Oh, Bliss, please, come here, you're scaring me!' I shouted.

‘Silly Bliss,' said Baxter, but he was peering around too, nibbling his lip.

‘Where's she gone, Baxter? Did you see which way she went?'

He shrugged. ‘Over there? Or up by those trees? I don't know! She's so
silly
,' he said. ‘I'll find her.'

‘No, don't you go off too. Honestly! I think I need to strap all three of you into the buggy so I can keep you safe.'

‘They'd squash me! Can we have ice cream now?' said Pixie, not the slightest bit concerned about her missing sister.

‘After we've found Bliss. Look, you sit still in your buggy like a good girl and guard all the bags, OK? Baxter, you come with me.'

I took his hand and we went searching for Bliss.

‘Please, Bliss! Come back! The dog's gone.
Please
come back,' I shouted, blundering through the trees, knee-deep in ferns.

‘I haven't gone away!' said Bliss.

Baxter and I started, spinning round. We'd both heard her, we were sure of that – but where was she? She'd sounded as if she was right beside us, but she was nowhere to be seen.

‘Bliss?'

‘Hello!' she said.

I peered down in the bracken, wondering if she could be hiding there.

‘No, I'm
here
, look!' she said, giggling.

It sounded like she was in the huge old tree beside us, but we still couldn't see her. Baxter jumped for the first branch, hauled himself up – and then started laughing. Bliss laughed too. I climbed up after him – and there was Bliss, standing triumphantly in the totally hollow tree.

‘Wow! Make room for me!' said Baxter, and he jumped down beside her.

There was much less room for me, but I slithered down too. As long as I crouched down a little I was totally invisible to any passers-by.

‘You clever girl, Bliss!' I said, kissing the top of her head. ‘You've found us the perfect hiding place.'

We dragged Pixie and the buggy and the bags to the hollow tree. We could just about stuff Pixie in beside us. She found it great fun, wriggling and squealing, butting her hard little head against my tummy.

‘No, no, Pixie. When we're here in the tree we have to keep
quiet
,' I said. ‘And we'll have to find a hiding place for your buggy or people will get suspicious.'

I clambered out of the tree again, collapsed the buggy, and hid it as best I could in the ferns. I hid the food bag in the ferns too, but I needed the blankets and the pillows in the tree with us. I padded the floor of the hollow trunk with ferns and then arranged the blankets and pillows on top to make a cosy nest.

‘Now, let's all try curling up to see if we'll be able to sleep here,' I said.

We had to curl very carefully, and I ended up with Pixie's head in my lap, Bliss's elbow in my ribs and Baxter's feet kicking my bottom, but it was just about possible. I struggled up and did my best to hang the torn tablecloth above us, hooking the plastic onto little twiggy parts of the tree. It worked wonderfully.

‘We've got a roof !' said Pixie. ‘Clever Lily.'

‘No, clever, clever Bliss for finding our tree,' I said, hugging her.

‘I didn't know I was finding it. I just climbed up a bit to get away from the scary dog and saw the big hole and jumped inside,' said Bliss.

‘Now can we have ice cream?' said Pixie.

I decided to risk leaving our stuff hidden there. It was so much easier walking along without lugging all the bags too, and we didn't have to stick to the sandy path as we'd left the pushchair behind. We could ramble up and down hills and run through the bracken and dodge up and down the molehills. Pixie ran happily too, not whining to be carried.

‘Ice cream, ice cream!' she sang to herself.

There seemed no point trailing all the way back to the park entrance for our ice creams. I was sure there'd be another van further on in the park. We walked on, playing a Baxter game that we were robbers on the run from the police and mustn't be caught. It was a brilliant way of making the kids cautious, hiding in the bracken whenever any dog-walkers or runners came near us. Baxter turned his branch into a gun and shot anyone he didn't like the look of.

‘We're not
really
robbers, are we?' Bliss whispered to me.

‘Of course not.'

‘And we're not really going to get ice cream, are we?'

‘Oh yes we are.
Real
ice creams. Look!' I jangled the coins in my pocket. ‘That lady with the Sammy dog, she gave them to me.'

‘For you and Baxter and Pixie?'

‘But we'll share with you, silly.'

‘Because I found the tree house?'

‘Because you're our Bliss.'

Bliss gave a little skip. ‘I do like it here, with you. Maybe – maybe we could always stay here, just us?'

‘What, never ever go back?' I said, thinking she was just playing.

‘Never ever.'

‘What about school?'

‘I absolutely hate school. They tease me.'

‘They tease me too,' I said. ‘But I say mean stuff back and that usually shuts them up.'

‘Baxter hits them. But they still don't shut up,' said Bliss. ‘I want to live here in the park and never go to school.'