A nice, wrong Game

A clarifying conversation

"Okay, if we go in there now, we have to stay together at all times. You'll get lost here faster than you can see. Do you have your jackets with you in case you get cold?" Penny looked at each of us in turn while I listened to her familiar lecture. "Well, except for Sam, I see, but he's tough anyway."

"Is that supposed to be an innuendo?" Padrig asked and I saw Penny pause and take a few seconds to realize what he meant.

"Padrig!", Penny and my Mum demanded indignantly at the same time, while Penny turned bright red and punched me gently in the stomach - which was probably punishment for my amused grin.

"I didn't take a jacket with me, angel, because I thought you would warm me up with a hug in the worst case scenario." I took her in my arms and looked into her eyes, smiling.

"You know that you can get one at any time without running the risk of hypothermia?"

"Grandma? Are the two of them smooching again? Then I'd rather go to Moose's climbing wall," James said annoyed and I reluctantly tore myself away from Penny.

"So, go ahead my heart."

"Well then, come with me and watch out for the bats," she added as she entered the cave entrance.

"Bats?" my mother now squealed in disgust, but my Dad and I hooked onto her left and right and pulled her with us.

"They don't do anything, darling. Come on. If you want to crawl into caves, you have to deal with what's crawling and scurrying in there," Dad said with a smile and Mum's resistance grew a little more.

"What do you mean by crawling and scurrying? What else is in there?"

"Last time we saw a spider that was as big as our hand!" My mother definitely didn't share Sarah's enthusiasm, because she turned ashen-colored.

"Come on, Mom. It's okay. The animals in there are all more afraid of us than we are of them. Besides, I'll take care of you."

"Exactly, we have the great fireman Sam with us who can protect you from the spiders," my Dad laughed and I rolled my eyes in annoyance.

"Could you please stop doing that, Dad?!" I growled now, while Sarah and James took Mom by the hand encouragingly and led her along - always following Penny.

"What? Don't you even understand a simple joke?!"

"Not if you do it."

"What do you mean by that?"

"You've been picking on me ever since I went to the academy. I know you're not happy that I didn't stay loyal to the sea, as is our family tradition, but I really assumed that you might at some point be understanding, especially since two fishermen in Pontypandy would definitely be one too many, given the lack of demand for fish these days."

"I've already told Penny that I have no problem with you, or rather, your job. I've only ever had a problem with my son doing it. I really didn't understand that."

"What do you mean now? So let's get back to the Fisher topic?"

"Not really. I would have just preferred something quieter and less dangerous."

"That means?"

"That I don't want to bury my son at some point. I wouldn't be the first father who has to do that." Wow, I didn't expect that. All these years I thought he couldn't stand my job and all he cared about was me.

"I'll look after me, Dad," I replied soothingly. "You know that Charlie lives at least as dangerously? Something unforeseen can always happen at sea." It wasn't as if we hadn't had to rescue him from many a predicament before.