Читать книгу The Realm - S. C. Loader - Страница 10

Chapter 4

As the sun slowly rose from its bed the birds greeted it with their joyful morning chorus and drew the last vestiges of sleep from Miriam.

Although the early morning air held a brisk freshness and despite having slept under a cold, black, star-decorated blanket she felt comfortable, warm and secure. Richard was still snugly tucked up against her, exactly as he had been when sleep overcame her. His muscular arm, although it had moved, still provided a firm masculine pillow. The arm wrapped over her hung sleepily, but its presence was still reassuring. Closing her eyes she lay for some time appreciating the feel of his powerful body up against hers and the comforting, rhythmical sound of his breathing. She drew his sleepy hand up to her mouth and tenderly kissed it. This gentle hand had shown the depth of his affections and had demonstrated his insatiable desires for her on countless occasions and in a myriad of ways that defied reckoning. A strong beautiful hand that would soon be no longer hers to enjoy.

Her tongue savoured his skin, a warm sensuous taste, the taste of love and passion, the taste of long nights where only sleep remained undesired. Her nose drew his scent, manly, exciting and evocative, memories to be slowly forgotten. This was her man, he had given himself to another and had turned against her, but while he slept he was still hers.

Unwilling to move her head in case it should rouse Richard from his sleep, she let her eyes roam around the vista available to them, nothing moved and there was no one else to be seen. She listened and apart from the birds, and the reassuring sound of Richard’s breathing, there was nothing else to be heard. She smiled, there was nothing to disturb his sleep, he would be hers for a little while longer. She tenderly kissed his hand once again, the hand of a man who had the previous day used its power to inflict terror in her. Any other woman would rip into this hand with her teeth tearing the skin apart, biting deep into the bones and crushing them, and take pleasure in doing so. Instead, she was kissing it tenderly, taking her pleasure while she still could in its intimacy, for perhaps the very last time.

Richard stirred, Miriam, held her breath and prayed, he remained asleep and happily hers for a little while longer. Soon her worst nightmare would become reality; someone else would take her place at his side. Could she prevent it and win him back? Did she actually want him back? She knew the answer even before she had asked it of herself.

‘Morning!’ he whispered, what time is it?’

‘Something past something o’clock,’ replied Miriam turning herself around to face him. After fighting off her back to front worn blazer she snuggled herself in against his hairless chest, a pleasure she could never resist. Almost immediately Richard rolled onto his back and then stiffly and somewhat cumbersomely sat up.

‘Christ… I ache all over.’

‘That’s what happens when you throw bricks around,’ advised Miriam as she reluctantly joined him.

A third night out in the open had taken its toll on their joints and they sat rather stiffly as they looked aimlessly around the empty lifeless square in relative silence. Richard’s stomach was making grumbling noises that were growing louder with each occurrence and Miriam was fidgeting uncomfortably.

She eventually broke their embargo on the spoken word, ‘You need to eat something.’

‘I know, and you need to go somewhere.’

‘I know!’ answered Miriam as she headed off.

‘If you’re going to that half-demolished house be careful, I’m not sure it’s completely safe.’

‘I’ve already been in there a couple of times, it's safe enough.’

A short while later Miriam returned to find Richard with his nose in the bag of apples.

‘The breakfast menu is a little uninspiring,’ he announced taking an apple, ‘but I suppose that what happens when you give the butler the day off.’

The bag was offered to Miriam and she took one as well.

Although obvious even to a casual observer that Richard was not enjoying his breakfast, he finished it, the first time Miriam had ever seen him eat an entire apple.

‘Coffee?’ he asked.

‘Oh yes please!’

‘Me too.’

Both drank their coffee from the standpipe and washed away the night from their faces. Richard’s shirt and Miriam’s blouse doubling up as hand towels and as Miriam pointed out, both now resembled well-used dish clothes.

‘What now?’ asked Miriam surveying the eerily silent park.

Their ambling saunter around the square remained uninterrupted by either man, beast or conversation. Both were lost in their own thoughts, Richard’s in finding even the most implausible of escape routes, Miriam’s on how to win him back. Although deep in her heart she had never stopped loving him she wanted to make him pay heavily for breaking his marriage vows, but now she realised the price she had sought was far too high and had driven him away. Revenge is sweet so she had heard, but it did not feel that way. As she watched Richard investigate something she took his ring from her pocket. He was her anchor and this ring was what had bound them together, but between them, they had broken that link and now she felt alone and adrift.

Their exceptionally early start to the day had caught the sun unawares, now it knew of their presence it was hurriedly climbing into the sky, its yellow light now lit the eastern side of the church and the shops and houses along the western side of the square. Its warmth now belatedly began to chase away the brisk freshness of the morning air.

Further futile attempts to open the church gates, admiration of two unmarked doors and of one badly blistered hand, plus Richard’s long lingering look through the tobacconist’s window had all combined to delay their return long enough for the sun to retrieve some lost ground. The sun warmed steps outside the furniture shop enticed them to rest their feet. As they sat Miriam noticed Richard turn away from her when he caught sight of his ring in her hand.

‘If I ask you a question Richard, would you answer it truthfully?’

‘Since when have you been interested in the truth, especially my version of it?’

Miriam held out her hand with his ring in its palm, ‘Since you returned this.’

‘It’s a bit late to start seeking it now, isn’t it? Besides, we’ll be out of this place soon and I’m sure five times Linda will only be too willing to give you a more believable version.’

‘Three times! How many times do you have to be told? She’s only been divorced three times.’

‘The number of times is immaterial, the fact that you have believed her word over mine since our marriage went over the cliff edge isn’t.’

‘Well, it didn’t help that you got caught humping that ugly bi…’ Miriam’s sentence fell short when she noticed Richard’s eyes narrow dangerously. ‘When… when you got caught having sex in the broom cupboard with Doreen.’

Richard took to his feet, ‘Just so that you know, I have never had sex, made love to, kissed, touched or even looked at another woman since the day we met. The day we met was the day I fell in love with you and on that day you became my reason for everything. Now I really don’t give a damn whether you believe me or not, but that is the truth.’

Richard was halfway to the standpipe when he received a vicious shove in the back.

‘LIAR!’ screamed Miriam in his face, ‘You lying shit!’

‘As I said Miriam, believe what you will. I’m no longer interested in your opinions.’

Miriam slapped him around the face, ‘You bastard! One day you admit your guilt and the next day you claim to be the oh so innocent Mister bloody perfect!’

‘I admitted my guilt? Interesting! When did I do that?’

‘Yesterday, when you were throwing bricks at that door you admitted you made a mistake you couldn’t rectify.’

Realisation bought a smile to Richard’s face, one that riled Miriam excessively. She made to slap his face again, but Richard caught her wrist and twisted it painfully.

After marching her over to the double bench he commanded her to, ‘Sit!’.

Miriam refused until she received a further twist of the wrist.

‘Now don’t move!’

Again Miriam tried to, but another painful twist of the wrist ensured compliance.

Richard sat beside her but retained his hold on her wrist. ‘Now as you like bedtime stories I’m going to tell you another. This one is also a true story, but there’s no happy ending to it, not even the glimmer of one.’

Releasing his grip slightly Richard began his story, ‘Once upon a time there lived a man and his wife, they were very happy together, loved one another deeply and shared their thoughts, hopes and dreams with one another. Then, one day about a year ago his wife suddenly accused him of having an affair, he was traumatised. He had held their marriage as sacred in his heart, he wore her ring with the greatest of pride and although he had tried his utmost every day, he’d never quite been able to show the true depth of his love for her.’

Fully releasing Miriam's wrist Richard continued.

‘Nevertheless, he stood accused of adultery and had to defend himself, but his wife unleashed such an avalanche of anger and abuse his denials went unheard. Repeated attempts met the same fate. Shortly afterwards he was forced to change jobs, but this was seen by his wife as an attempt to distance himself from the woman he had had the affair with and despite repeated attempts to explain the truth, his wife chose to believe they were a smokescreen. Weeks of denials suffocated by anger followed. Then he made his greatest mistake. His wife’s all-consuming anger had drawn the very last grain of resistance and he gave up trying to prove his innocence. Placing himself in the hands of fate he hoped his wife would come to the truth either by luck or by chance. The weeks slowly turned into months, during this time her anger had turned to hatred and she now turned that upon anyone close to him, his friends, his acquaintances and even his colleagues. He had come to accept his fate, but slowly his wife’s vicious and vindictive attacks on those around him narrowed onto one colleague in particular. She had no idea of what this colleague had been through, nor that he had taken on the role as her guardian. The attacks on his charge drew enormous anger, but his greater love for his wife kept it under control. He sought and found one glimmer of hope; they still slept in the same bed. He knew she was not afraid to sleep alone, nor was she afraid of the dark and their sleeping arrangements could have been easily separated. He saw it as a flicker of her love for him and he held on to that belief with all his strength because it was all that remained of their marriage.

So, he waited patiently for fate to bring truth and love back into their lives. The tally of months grew longer and he grew weaker. She could now say or do anything without a word spoken against her or any form of defence being raised. He let her have her own way so as to avoid hearing her pour out yet more hatred. Then one day something odd happened to them, they ended up all alone in some strange imprisoning environment they neither knew nor understood.

He had thought that their common desire to escape would see a change in his wife, but he was wrong, her hatred never faltered. By and by he ended up alone sat against a tree with only his thoughts for company.’

Richard paused only to stretch a little, ‘Slowly he came to realise that the path he had taken had led them in the wrong direction and the truth was now too far away to be reached, their marriage was finally over. His long wait through the countless accusations, the anger and the hatred had all been in vain. The last flickering candle of his love for her was finally extinguished. All that remained of their marriage was a ring, a ring that he no longer valued because it no longer contained the promises it once did, so he returned it. And this is the end of my story, and of our marriage.’

‘You cannot blame me for all this!’ claimed Miriam angrily. ’Despite your denials, you were one caught in flagrante and everyone in your office witnessed it! Everyone!‘

‘Name one person from my office who has confirmed five times Linda’s story.’

Miriam remained silent.

‘You can’t can you?’

‘Of course, no one corroborated her story, they were all you friends, they were out to protect you!’

‘So you brushed aside their testimony and the chance to learn the truth simply because they were my friends, and on one person’s say-so you sacrificed our marriage and our dreams?’

‘It wasn’t just on Linda’s say so, I had my own suspicions as well.’

Richard stood and made to leave.

‘Running away?’ asked Miriam, ‘Afraid to hear what I have to say?’

‘As you haven’t bothered to listen to a word I have said, then I suspect your “suspicions” are just going to be a list of pathetic excuses and not real reasons for throwing our marriage down the toilet.’

‘You haven’t heard it yet.’

Richard returned to the bench and sat, ‘It? You only have one? Okay, I’m listening.’

‘We have known one another for four fours, married for three of them. From the day we met, sorry, from the second day after we had met and right up until the end of our second year of marriage we had sex, lots and lots of sex! In every position and place imaginable! It was fun, it was exciting and it was full of love and lust. Then suddenly during our third year of marriage you started to change, we had sex less and made love more, and by the end of the year, we were only making love. It was nice and romantic, loving and affectionate, caring and gentle and… coma-inducing! It didn’t demonstrate how you felt about me; there was no hunger, no eagerness, no lust, no passion, no nothing! It was boring and repetitive and the only thing it aroused in me was my suspicion. I began to wonder why you didn’t want sex anymore and it crossed my mind that you might be enjoying that elsewhere and making love to me was just a way of placating your guilty conscience. I tried not to worry too much about it, but then I heard of what you did with Doreen and it fitted in with my suspicions perfectly… the rest you know.’

‘Great, so according to you our marriage was screwed up because I wasn’t screwing you.’

‘Tastelessly put, but yes.’

A mirthless laugh passed Richard’s lips, ‘And in all that time you never said a word. Ah well, at least it will cause a titter or two in the divorce court when the judge asks why you want a divorce and you say, ‘Because my husband made love to me.”’

Miriam held out her hand baring this wedding ring, ‘It doesn’t have to go that far. We could make a fresh start.’

‘Could we? You haven’t believed a word I’ve told you today and to be honest, you have shown me over this last year a side of your personality I never knew existed and it’s one I really don’t like.’

Some tears fell from Miriam’s eyes as she rolled her fingers over the ring for safekeeping.

Richard took to his feet again and stretched, ‘I wonder when they’re going to let us out?’

'They?’

‘Whoever.’

‘Richard, what are we going to do if nobody turns up?’

He tried to be positive, ‘Somebody will sooner or later.’

‘What if it’s too much later?’

‘Too much?’

‘All we have are two apples, a pocket knife and a lighter. We have no food, no shelter, no change of clothing, no medicine and no toiletries.’

‘Toiletries?’ Richard sniffed himself and grinned, ‘I could certainly do with a change of deodorant, this one’s not up to the job.’

‘The reason why I mentioned it is because I start my period in a few days and I have nothing with me. What am I going to do?’

Richard shrugged his shoulders and after a moment or two tried to reassure Miriam again, ‘Someone will turn up before then.’

‘We don’t realise how much we take for granted, do we? When we’re hungry, we eat. When we’ve nothing to eat, we go shopping, when…’

‘That’s it!’

‘What is?’

‘The grocery shop over there, if we break into it everything we need is inside, food, toiletries, shelter and probably even some medicines of some sort or another.’

‘And if we can’t break into it?’

‘That big window at the front won’t withstand a brick for very long.’

‘And if it’s another bulletproof glass window?’

‘Then I’ll try the door, they can’t all be impregnable.’

‘And if it is?’

‘I don’t know.’

Miriam joined him, ‘I’m scared!’

‘Wait until we’ve tried the shop, if that fails, then worry.’

‘I’ll try.’

‘Come on; let’s see what we can do with that window. If nothing else, the racket I’m about to make might wake somebody up or if we’re really lucky, someone might even call the police!’

Miriam’s half-smile did not fully camouflage her anxiety.

***

Richard took his time choosing his munitions and with two relatively cement-free bricks gleaned from the half-demolished house they set off for the grocery shop. The neighbouring furniture shop drew their undivided attention for quite some time; a comfortable looking double bed taunted them with its presence from behind the window.

The mid-morning sun reflected off the plate glass window of the grocery shop, the designated first target after Miriam had tried the obvious, checking to see if the door was unlocked, unfortunately, it was not. With one eye on Richard and the other enviously on the bed, Miriam moved a safe distance away.

The first three launches failed to break the window and according to Miriam, the glass did not even flex inwards when hit. Disheartened, but not beaten Richard resigned himself to the door. Its window, exhibiting an annoying “Closed” sign, resisted the brick just as well as the plate glass window had. The door itself seemed to possess the same miraculous properties of those previously attacked, after ten launches of the bricks there were no visible dents or scratches to what appeared to be an ordinary wooden door. The windows on the first floor were Richard’s next assignment. These shops, like every other building in the square, had two steps from the pavement up to the front door. One of the bricks had previously broken in two when it caught the edge of a step, initially annoying, but now gratifying as Richard soon discovered trying to launch a full-size brick up so high. With the half brick, several attempts were made, only three hit their target with any force, but it could have been a hundred and it would have made little difference, these windows were also made of bulletproof glass. At Miriam’s suggestion, he tried the lower corner of the big plate glass window, but after four throws the blisters on his hand finally opened. Miriam examined his hand and asked him to stop. He agreed he would after two more attempts on the window, the first hit its target fully, Miriam came up behind him as he picked up the brick.

‘It’s not going to work is it?’ she asked tentatively.

Richard knelt down and inspected the glass up close for even the slightest sign of a mark, ‘No, I don’t think it is.’

Miriam’s hand grabbed his shoulder, ‘Richard!’

Her shocked voice drew him to his feet, ‘What’s wrong?’

Miriam’s frozen stare was directed into the window and moments later his was as well.

Richard dropped the brick, narrowly missing his shoeless toes, ‘Are they real?’ he asked.

‘I’m too afraid to turn around and find out that they’re not,’ she admitted.

Stood in the middle of the pavement, not more than two meters away, were two children carrying a wooden fruit crate between them.

No one moved, no one spoke, no one breathed.

The girl broke rank first, abandoning her side of the crate she dashed towards Richard and launched herself into his arms, wrapping her own tightly around him and burying her tear-soaked face deep into his chest. The boy took a few mesmerised steps towards Miriam letting the crate fall from his inattentive grip en route, as he reached her tears began to roll down his cheeks and Miriam instantly drew him into a tight consoling embrace.

Some comforting moments passed, then with one hand, Miriam began finger combing the boy’s short fair hair. Richard opted to simply draw the girl’s long dark brown hair away from her face instead.

The girl looked up directly into his eyes and for a guilt provoking length of time, her bright emerald green eyes remained steadfastly fixed to his. The spell eventually broke and with a departing radiant smile the girl returned her face to the depths of his chest

Enlightenment struck.

‘Miriam! These are the children we saw on the station platform.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘This girl’s eyes, they’re a bright emerald green, surely you must remember them?’

‘Sorry, I never took any notice of them, although I must admit, I do recognise this young man’

‘You do! Who is he?’

‘You!’

‘Me? What do you mean he’s me?’

‘He’s a younger you. I’ve seen photographs of you in your youth and he looks just like you, except of course you have grey eyes and his are bright blue.’

‘I still don’t see the resemblance.’

‘The mouth and eyes mostly, and the shape of the head.’

‘I still can’t see it and I still say these were the two we met on the platform.’

‘Then ask her,’ suggested Miriam nodding towards the girl.

Richard gently lifted some wayward hair back behind the girl’s ear to gain her attention, ‘Have we met before somewhere, like on a station platform?’

The girl failed to answer.

Richard repeated the question, but it still passed unanswered. He changed tact, ‘What’s your name?’

Again there was no answer, instead, she beamed another radiant smile and returned her face to the comfort of his chest.

Miriam tried with the boy, ‘Can you tell me your name please?’

He also failed to reply.

Three further attempts met with the same response.

Miriam turned to Richard, ‘Why don’t they answer us?’

‘Perhaps they don’t understand us,’ he suggested, ’try another language.’

Miriam made her way through the various languages in which she knew how to ask the boy his name, all without success. Then she spoke some odd words from each of the other languages in which she did not, hoping that one of the words would elicit a response, but neither child showed the slightest sign of recognition.

‘What now?’ Richard inquired.

‘Can you clap your hands really loud for me?’ asked Miriam.

‘Why?’

‘Please, just do it.’

Richard’s clap raised every pigeon throughout the entire square.

‘Richard, do you know sign language?’

‘No, why?’

Miriam kissed the top of the boy’s head, ‘Neither flinched when you clapped, I think they’re both deaf.’

Unobserved by the girl, Richard snapped his fingers close to her ear, she did not react.

Miriam followed the example, when the boy also failed to react she tightened her arms protectively around him, ‘What are we supposed to do with them, Richard?’

‘As I haven’t seen any panic-stricken parents roaming around the park looking for them, then as adults it’s our duty to take care of them until such times as we’re rescued.’

‘And if we’re not?’

‘Than that would make it even more imperative that we look after them.’

‘But they’re deaf!’

‘Do you want to abandon them just because of that?’

Miriam hesitated for a moment then shook her head, ‘Do you?’

‘You already know the answer to that question.’

‘I just wanted to be sure.’

Some more comforting moments for the children passed.

‘Miriam, do you see what was in the crate they dropped?’

‘Is that fruit?’

Richard nodded, ‘I think we had better go and pick it up, lying in the sun like that won’t do it any good.’

‘Where do you think they got it from?’

‘We’ll ask them…’ realising his mistake Richard added, ‘this isn’t going to be easy is it?’

‘We’ll manage,’ stated Miriam confidently and then with a skyward glance added, ‘he will help us.’

‘How can you be so sure?’

Miriam failed to give an enlightening answer.

After two attempts to free himself Richard admitted defeat, ‘Miriam, I need your help here, she won’t let go.’

‘What’s the urgency? The fruit can wait a little longer. Let her enjoy a few more minutes in your arms, I think at the moment they both need the comfort of knowing that they’re not alone.’

‘I don’t disagree, but I feel very uncomfortable. My shirt is filthy, it smells, my deodorant isn’t doing what it promised to do on the can and it embarrasses me to let someone cuddle me in this state.’

‘Don’t worry about it Richard, does she look like she cares?’

‘No, I suppose not.’

Miriam craned her neck slightly to get a better view of the girl’s face, ‘How old would you say she is?’

‘My only experience of children was at school, so I couldn’t say.’

‘I’d say she was about ten or eleven, the boy is a bit younger. I wonder what they’re both doing here?’

‘I don’t even know what we’re doing here, but I do know I need to separate myself from this young lady. She’s falling asleep in my arms and I think she would be far more comfortable laying down on one of the benches.’

‘This young man is also practically asleep on his feet, but something tells me neither of them will sleep properly without us being close to hand.’

‘In that case, why don’t we lay down with them? I wouldn’t mind a mid-morning nap.’

Miriam stifled a yarn, ‘Nor me. Okay, let’s head for the big walnut tree by the playground. The shade will protect us from the sun and we can all catch up on some missed sleep.’

Miriam had little trouble separating herself from the boy and they picked up the contents of the wooden crate before moving on to the shade of the tree.

The girl’s resistance vanished the moment she saw the boy and Miriam walk away together, but she still sought the comfort of a hand to hold for their short journey. Richard lay down on Miriam’s left, which cheered her greatly as he had always slept on that side ever since their first night together.

The boy lay on Miriam’s other side and the girl snuggled up contentedly to Richard’s left and with a shoulder to lie on and the security of an arm wrapped around her she soon fell asleep. With Miriam’s fingernails slowly raking their way through the boy’s hair he quickly joined the girl in the land of dreams.

‘How long do you think they’ve been here?’ asked Richard quietly.

‘A great deal longer than we have that’s for sure, judging by the way they smell and the state of their clothes.’

‘But they can’t have been! I swear these are the two children we saw on the platform.’

‘You may be right,’ admitted Miriam. ‘I don’t remember much about them, but I do remember that they were smartly dressed in blue jeans with a white shirt and a blue skirt with a white blouse, exactly as they are now.’

‘Then it’s impossible for them to have been here any longer than we have, but that’s not the only thing that’s puzzling me, on the platform they could both hear and speak, so why can’t they now? Do you think they might be putting on an act?’

‘No, they really are deaf Richard. When you clapped your hands earlier it was enough to make an elephant jump with fright, but neither of these two flinched.’

‘Okay, if they have been as long or even longer than us, then why haven’t we seen or, more importantly, heard anything of them up until just now?’

‘Why heard?’

‘Because if they are deaf, they wouldn’t know they were making a noise would they?’

A contemplative silence fell, then Miriam asked, ‘Do you remember what the girl said about waiting for her “new parents”?’

‘Yes, she said they would be on the next train.’

‘Do you think she meant us?’

‘I cannot see why, until that day on the platform we had never set eyes on them before. Although having said that, I must admit fate and circumstance do seem to have conspired into giving us that role, albeit temporarily.’

‘I think we’re been adopted anyway and as you said earlier, it’s our duty to care for them until we’re rescued… if we ever are.’

‘Why do you doubt it?’

‘The state of these children tell me they have been here a great deal longer than we have, although how that’s actually possible I have no idea, but if they can be brought here and abandoned, then what hope is there that we’re not destined to suffer the same fate?’

‘How can they abandon us, Miriam, we have neither food nor shelter?’

Miriam pointed to the crate, ‘We have food, two more apples, two oranges and two carrots.’

‘Carrots?’

‘Carrots!’

‘Okay, so we have a little food, but I still think someone will come along shortly.’

‘I pray someone does,’ then Miriam turned on her side, wrapped an arm around the boy and after a while joined him in sleep.

Sleep avoided Richard, themes came and went in his thoughts, but they chased sleep away rather than invited it to stay. Eventually, he turned on his side to face the girl and unfortunately woke her in the process. Her eyes flickered opened and her gaze met his, but rather than take his elsewhere he left it there in order to admire the two bright green jewels staring back at him. As the girl blinked fairly frequently Richard soon realised that this was not a competition in who could out-stare who. Despite what he considered to be her strange behaviour, and for what seemed an unduly long length of time, he returned the young girl’s stare. Eventually, he tired of their game and rolled onto his back, the girl moved her hand to cover his heart and snuggled up against him, Richard tightened his protective embrace and shortly thereafter they both fell soundly asleep.

Richard awoke to Miriam’s kiss to his forehead, not something he particularly welcomed given what had passed between them that morning, nevertheless he felt he should let it pass unchallenged for the sake of the children.

Miriam delivered her invitation with a broad grin, ‘I think daddy should meet his children.’

Richard sat up and rubbed his face with both hands to chase away the lingering remnants of sleep, ‘How long have you three been awake?’

‘Ages!’ stated Miriam sitting down at his side, the brightly smiling children settled down on his free side. ‘This young lady is called Catherine,’ she proudly announced.

‘Like the square?’

‘Like the square and she is eleven.’

Richard took Christine’s hand and kissed the back of it, she blushed heavily.

‘And this young man is called Giuliano and he’s also eleven.’

Richard shook the young man’s hand and gave a slight nod, ‘Giuliano.’

Giuliano returned the nod.

‘Giuliano? That’s Spanish or Italian isn’t it?’

‘Italian I think.’

‘How on earth did you find out their names and ages?’

‘I asked them.’

‘And they told you?’

‘Not exactly told me, more… wrote me… in the sandpit. Come I’ll show you!’

The quartet made their way over to the sandpit, in the smoothed surface Giuliano’s name could still be seen with eleven finger holes next to it, his age.’

‘How did you think of this? It’s brilliant!’

‘Sadly it’s not that good. Neither understand any of the languages that I’m able to write and although they can both write, it’s neither a language I know nor even recognise.’

‘Do they use the same language?’

‘It appears that way, but it’s really strange. They write left to right as we do and use the Roman alphabet, but all the upper case letters face backwards…’

‘Why the holes then?’

‘Because their numbers look oriental in origin, I’ve never seen such an odd combination.’

‘Are you sure these holes represent their ages?’

‘Yes, why?’

‘Just wondered whether they had misconstrued your question, Giuliano is slightly shorter than Catherine so I would have expected him to be younger.’

‘I don’t think so, shame we cannot simply ask them.’

‘Why not! Perhaps they can lip read!’ suggested Richard excitedly then realising his own stupidity slapped his forehead in punishment, adding somewhat apologetically. ‘Sorry, even if they could we didn’t speak the same language… and we can’t sign.’

‘Most parents complain they don’t understand their children, we just have the additional problem that our children don’t understand us, literally!’

‘How do they talk to one another?’

‘I don’t know, I haven’t seen them communicating with one another yet.’

Richard sighed, ‘What are we going to do?’

‘Don’t worry, we’ll manage, we’ll have a helping hand from above.’

Richard turned his face skywards, ‘Let’s hope so because I fear nobody else will give us one.’