1. CHILD'S PLAY
Lucy gradually came towards me, smiling, attempting to hide the fact she was struggling to push her wheelchair across the bumpy gravel.
Walking closer to her, I intervened. ‘Hello sunshine!’ I squatted down by her chair and leant over to give her a gentle hug. ‘Here, let’s see if we can get you off these tricky pebbles.’
As I began wheeling her to my car she started rumbling her voice, imitating the vibrations given out by the uneven ground.
Right when I was about to put the key in the ignition, Lucy interrupted her improvised singing to tell me something I never thought she’d ask. ‘Don’t we need my chair in the car too?’
I chuckled softly, closed my eyes and shook my head in disbelief, before quickly jumping out and dismantling the purple wheelchair to plonk it in the boot. If it wasn’t for a five year old sitting in the back seat, telling me otherwise, I would have almost certainly forgotten the vital piece of equipment. What on earth made her father believe I was capable of looking after his young daughter?
Ethan, Max and Augustus all became frantic once they saw Lucy coming towards them with a cup of mixed oats and grains. So much so that Augustus ploughed himself into the fencing in front of him.
‘There’s a plank of wood there, you duffer!’ I muttered, smirking.
Lucy seemed to find his reaction amusing. It was as though he had frightened himself to the point where he would run away. Yes. It was true, I owned three goats who were mental. What was scary was the fact that I seemed to relate more to Augustus than any of the other animals. Maybe because he occasionally did something ridiculous; something similar to what I would do.
As Lucy held the plastic cup up to Ethan’s mouth, Max nudged himself in. ‘I think Max is asking for some.’ I stated the obvious. Soon he had shoved his whole face in, cutting off all entry points for others to indulge in the tasty treat. It wasn’t long before Lucy had given up and loosened her grip. It actually lent itself to some light entertainment.
‘Lulu, look.’ I pointed to Max who had his head tilted right back, still with his nose buried deep within the blue cup. ‘There’s no more mate, you’ve licked it bone dry!’
Lucy giggled. ‘He’s a greedy goat. With a blue nose.’
* * *
One of Lucy’s favourites was my home made lasagna, and considering I had to cancel our last weekend together, it seemed only fair that I made it up to her. As I tipped a small mountain of flour onto the wooden bench and made a well with my index finger, the phone rang. Before answering it, I quickly attempted to dust the flour off my hands. It didn’t seem to be working. Regardless, I picked up.
‘Hello?’ I instantly recognised the voice on the other end. ‘William.’ Once he began to speak, I knew he was going to spend the next couple of minutes pleading for me to see him again. Thus, I took this opportunity to read further into the recipe’s method. ‘Yes I meant what I said. It’s over, so can you just drop it?’ Unintentionally, I let out a big sigh. ‘I’m in the middle of cooking lunch, so I have to go.’ Usually I would feel pretty awful about abruptly hanging up on someone like that, however this time round I certainly didn’t. As I placed the phone back in its cradle, I turned to Lucy. She was sitting happily at the dining table, drawing.
The lasagna was complete, all we had to do now was wait for it to bake in the oven.
Once the smell of the meat became present in the kitchen, Dublin was instantly awake. He ran from his bed in the next room and began fixating on the oven, sitting directly in front of it with his tail slowly waging, sweeping the floor.
