Rhodes Town looked every bit of a crumbling ancient town.
The sun was up high and the Cassons stood on a crowded pavement staring at the strange mix of concrete modern buildings and old worn out stone of ancient buildings from centuries ago. It was hotter than any other day, probably because they were surrounded by thousands of other people and had cars driving past quickly adding fumes to the air.
"Now, remember," Bill said as they crossed the road hurriedly, "stay together!"
However the moment these words left Bill's mouth the family parted into different groups and went in different directions.
Bill really felt the need to bash his head against something hard. Do they ever listen? With a loud groan Bill searched for Eve (who was very easy to find since she was just five minutes ahead of him looking at seashell paintings) and together they found Caddy and Michael buying beautifully designed umbrellas for Christmas ("At least I'll never be wet in January," Bill muttered though he didn't exactly approve of the extravagant idea. Especially since Rose and Eve will lose their umbrellas within a day). The five of them (Buttercup was dozing in his pushchair) found Saffy already carrying about five different bags of shopping and eyeing up an expensive designer dress. It was difficult to find Indigo and Tom since they had gone into the medieval part of the town but after buying what felt like a hundred different King Arthur things Bill managed to drag the two teens out to hunt for Rose.
This, as usual, was proven to be a difficulty.
After over an hour of searching frantically it became obvious...they lost Rose. Again.
PRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPR
Rose was in near tears.
She had followed Indy and Tom to some of the shops but some big tourist crowd pushed her around and she got separated from them (it was too hot to hold hands with either Tom or Indigo so it was very easy to get lost). She went looking at some of the shops but couldn't find them at all. Then she saw a very cool secret tunnel and went exploring while trying to read the large boards with big pictures of knights. She couldn't, it was too hard and half of it was in another language altogether!
So once she got out in the tunnel she realised she had no idea where Indy and Tom are and was completely lost.
On top of that she had blisters forming in between her toes because of her flip flops, and she was really hot to the point she was covered in sweat. She desperately wanted to sit down, have a drink and find Tom.
She let out a little sniffle. She was never going to find them! She was going to be stuck here for the rest of her life while Mummy and Daddy will go back to England and they all live happily without her and Tom will find some American girl...
"Are you all right, little lady?"
She turned to see a fat Greek man smiling down at her. She instantly remembered the missing children photos at the airport. The ones where all of them had been kidnapped on holiday to go into the slave trade industry. Oh please, don't let her be one of those children!
She let out a little sob but looked up determinedly. "I'm lost," she admitted.
"Oh dear, is that why you cry little lady?" she nodded, the Greek man placed a hand on her shoulder and she flinched. "Come inside little lady and we'll look after you until your mother and father find you."
Before she could protest – because Mummy and Daddy had always told her not to speak to stranger, so had Sarah, Saffy, Indigo, Michael and Caddy – the Greek man dragged her inside to a lovely cold cafe and sat her down at one of the tables.
"Who is this?" his wife (she knew it because the woman was wearing a matching ring to his) said pointing to Rose.
"Lost girl," the Greek man said.
"Oh dear," his wife said giving Rose an annoying look that Sarah gives her sometimes. "Would you like some ice cream?"
"Yes please!" Rose said smiling a little.
"And a drink?"
"Yes please!"
She spent the next hour eating three ice cream sundaes while drinking some juice while the nice Greek woman stroked her hair and cooed about her pretty she was. Then Michael found her and when she showed him her blisters he gave her piggyback ride back to the family.
"Oh Rose darling!" Eve said looking tearstained as she threw her arms round Rose. "We were so worried!"
"Permanent Rose Casson, what have I told you about wandering off!" Bill hissed looking rather relieved.
"I knew we should have brought you a leash," Saffy scowled.
Indigo sighed and also looked relieved while Caddy clung to Michael sobbing and thanking him for finding Rose. Tom, however, just grinned and pulled out a tissue which he licked and wiped Rose's face with it. She grimaced and tried to pull away.
"You had ice cream all over your mouth," Tom said.
"Yes but that doesn't mean I want your spit round it instead!" Rose snapped.
"She'd much rather have it in her mouth," Saffy muttered.
"Saffron!" Bill hissed.
"Ew, that's even worse Saffy!" Rose said screwing her face up in disgust.
Everyone laughed and forgot immediately about Rose being lost as Bill kept a firm hold on her while they went shopping.
By the time they had finished and were back on the coach to the hotel they were all exhausted. Saffy shopped enough for her and five other people, Bill had been extremely fussy and had to check every price, Eve got lost a few times, and Rose whined until she got her own toy knight model (which she called Lancelot but everyone but Tom knew that meant she called it Tom), on top of that Buttercup caused several scenes when he needed a nappy changed or was just cranky.
"I," Caddy said relaxing in her seat and very glad Eve had taken Buttercup out of her arms, "need a drink."
"Don't we all," Saffy agreed.