Woooo! 5 reviews. Here's your next chapter...
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Once the men had passed, Julian and George slipped out from their hiding spot in the bushes and headed back towards Kirrin. Neither knew what to make of the curious conversation they had just overheard, and they decided they would ask Dick and Anne what they thought of it all, when they got back.
Everyone had woken when they arrived, and they were greeted by an indignant Dick and an equally indignant Anne, who demanded to know why they hadn't woken them before setting off. Julian replied that Dick had been snoring so loud that if they had shouting at them, they wouldn't have heard a thing, and before Dick could retort, Aunt Fanny appeared in the hall and demanded to know why they weren't at the table eating breakfast. On seeing Julian and George, she ordered them to go and wash, and change their clothes, for they were covered in mud and dead leaves after having hidden in the bushes.
Breakfast was a rowdy affair, for the small six seater table had nine people (Aunt Fanny, Uncle Quentin, Ju's Mother and Father, the Four, and Joanna, who had been invited to join them.) and a dog squashed round it. Once it was finished, and the dishes safely cleaned and packed away, the five retreated to the boy's room, where they spread themselves out over the two beds. Julian told the story of their adventure that morning, and all agreed it was an extremely odd affair, but as they knew nothing of the men, or their plans, there was nothing they could do about it.
The conversation was interrupted by Aunt Fanny, who came upstairs to announce that there was a phone call for Julian, and could the rest please help load the car, for Ju, Dick and Anne's parents had to leave that day. Julian went downstairs to answer the phone, to find it was John, his roommate, wondering what he had done with his socks. On Julian's confession that he had found the socks in his back shortly after arriving in Kirrin, but hadn't known what to do with them, John laughed, and asked what he was meant to do without any socks.
"Well," demanded Julian. "What have you done up until now? It's been several days since I left."
"You seem to have absent mindedly taken half of my socks, not all of them, so it was only today I noticed they were missing. What I want to know is what inspired you to take seven pairs of socks from the back of my draw?"
"Honestly, I don't know. I must have been sleep walking or something… I have no memory of it."
"I've been sharing a room with you for almost 3 years, and this would be the first time you've ever walked in your sleep."
"Have you asked the others?"
"No... Why would they know when you took my socks?"
"It's the sort of thing one of them might have dared another to do... Especially as they were at the pub that night I packed to come home, and we were both asleep before they came in."
"Ahh, I see your point there. Okay, I will ask them. See you soon, Ju."
"Bye mate. I hope it was them, though they may have no memory of it either... I don't know what time they got home that night, but they weren't up when I came home the next day..."
John laughed, and hung up the phone, leaving Julian chuckling in the hall. He joined the others, and George rounded on him.
"What was all that about? You stole your roommate's socks?"
"Yeah. I don't think it was me, though... Probably Andrew, playing a joke..."
"It sounded like you were accusing him of getting drunk, Ju," observed Dick, wanting to learn more about his brothers other life, one so different from his life at Kirrin.
"A few of the people I share a house with spend a lot of time at the pub, I'm afraid."
"But not you?" Queried Anne, worried about her brother, that he'd developed unhealthy habits whilst away in a strange place.
"Not me. I go with them occasionally, but not to drink alcohol to excess. They serve a smashing homemade lemonade, though it's nowhere near as good as Joanna's."
"Talking of Joanna, she promised us a glass of lemonade on the drive, whilst we say goodbye to mother and father." Dick reminded them, and they all rushed to the door, eager to get a glass of the famous drink.
They all tumbled onto the front step, Timmy chasing after them, thinking it was all a glorious new game. The parents turned at the noise, and laughed at the site of the four nearly grown up kids and their dog, sprawled across the doorway.
Soon Goodbyes had been said, and the car had disappeared into the distance. The five stood on the drive with Aunt Fanny and Uncle Quentin, and discussed what to do with the day.
"Well," Aunt Fanny commented, "it is nearly lunch time, so I suggest you go out after lunch, and play a game or something before."
"That sounds like a marvellous idea," Julian responded. "Oh, and whilst we're all here, when I was on the train up, I saw signs advertising a circus in the next village, and I propose we go, and I'll pay, to try and start making up for all the years I've missed."
At once the air buzzed with excitement, and everyone's feelings were summed up perfectly by Dick, who declared;
"A trip to the circus, how simply smashing. What a super idea, Ju."
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So, what do you think?
Lets aim for 10 reviews, shall we, though I won't be too disappointed if I don't get them.
Pippastef - Erm, sorry about the chapter length, I'm trying to make them longer, but I'm afraid they're not going to get massively longer straight away as I've already written the next few. As to George, people are just worried she will feel like the group is being split up, rather than her pining after Ju in any way.
Thank You, Guys. Your support means the world to me.
