Part 5
"Mrs. Roberts?" Tiegan approached Harriet, later on, "Please could you show me where the bathroom is?"
"Sure, sweetie," Harriet nodded, guiding the little girl with a hand to her shoulder, "Did you forget since this morning?"
"I know where it is from AJ's room," the girl explained her predicament, "But I forgot where it is from here."
Harriet showed her up the stairs and along the hall
Meanwhile, downstairs, Harm and Bud watched the kids where they were playing with Lego on the floor. A quiet conversation between the older boys gave Harm and Mac a bit more insight into the situation.
"Tyler? Is Tiegan your girlfriend?"
"No!" the little boy spat with a revulsion that only a child could muster in response to such a question.
"But you do live in the same house?"
"Uh-huh."
"So, is she your sister, then?"
"Kinda…she's my foster-sister, so that means that I have to watch out for her…Even though I don't want to."
This last bit was hastily inserted, when Tyler obviously didn't think that what he had said would impress his peer very much.
"My Mom says I have to watch out for my brothers and sister, too," AJ told him, in sympathy.
Harriet and Tiegan returned, but missed out on the funny little 'male-bonding' session.
A short time later, Harriet asked all of them,
"Does anybody have any preferences what we have for dinner?"
Harm and Mac had earlier agreed to stay, but only after Harriet assured them it would only be ordered in from one of the restaurants nearby.
"Mom!" AJ complained, "It's called 'Tea' here, not dinner! That's what we had this afternoon."
He was very sensitive about fitting in around the new friends he had made, so tried his best to conform to the way things were done over here. Bud and Harriet had learned much from what he experienced at school.
"Funny that, isn't it?" she commented to Mac, "That 'dinner' is what we call 'lunch', and 'tea' is what we call 'dinner.'"
"And how there isn't a single tea leaf involved in 'tea'," Bud pointed out, "I wonder what they call actual tea…They seem to be so fond of it here."
"A 'cuppa'," Tiegan answered for them.
"And coffee?" Harm asked the little girl.
"Just a 'coffee," she replied.
"Well," Harriet smiled, "I think it sounds like a whole other language!"
About an hour later, the doorbell rang and Harriet sent Bud to answer it, while she prepared the dinner table.
Bud was surprised to discover that it wasn't the delivery boy, but Wendy Moon, Tyler and Tiegan's foster Mother.
"Nana Moon!" The two young children cried, when Bud called them to see come see who was at the door.
Far from being the elderly lady that Harm and Mac had imagined when they had heard the name, 'Nana Moon' was only in her late-fifties, if that. Her hair, they could tell had once been light blond, but now was mostly faded to a white color. However, that was the only feature that belied her actual age, she looked quite young, otherwise.
"Hello my darlings!" she crouched down and greeted the children, pulling them both into a hug, "Have you two been behaving for Mr. And Mrs. Roberts?"
"They've been as good as gold," Bud told her, "I wish my own were as well-behaved as these two."
"Nana," Tiegan asked, urgently, "Did the fireman say what happened to our house? Are we going to get the money to fix it?"
"Never you mind about that, flower," Wendy told the child, "Robbie shouldn't have been telling you two of things like that anyway…No, Nana Moon will take care of all that. I want you two to be good for Mr. And Mrs. Roberts and to work hard at school. Your report cards will be written, soon and I want to see that your teacher thinks you are doing your very best. Promise me you will."
"Yes, Nana Moon," they both chorused.
After that, she urged the children to go back and rejoin AJ at the pile of Lego.
"Nana Moon needs to talk to Mr. Roberts for a moment."
When the children were gone and she was sure that they weren't listening, she asked Bud if he and Harriet would be able to manage for the rest of the weekend.
"I know you have so much else on your plate, what with your own children…"
"Oh, no," Bud assured her, "We're managing just fine. They're such good children, they've not given us any problems at all. Take all of the time you need to get all of your affairs into order, Wendy."
"Well," the lady pondered, "It's just that they're both so close…I haven't had too many problems with the other children, but there are few places in foster homes as it is. I'd hate to split Tyler and Tiegan up, they've been with me since they were only a couple of months old and I know that being apart would just destroy them. But nobody has space for two children…"
"Please don't worry about that for the time being," Bud tried to reassure her, "They're absolutely fine with us for the time being and because they're in the same class as AJ, it's just a case of there being two extra when we do the normal school run…Has there been any news on the house?"
Wendy gave a sigh as she shook her head, "No, the firefighters haven't managed to locate the source of the fire yet," she sighed, "It may take a few more days, yet and until we know for sure that it was covered by our insurance and they can't relocate us to another council house…I suppose we'll have to just wait it out. I'd like to think that none of the older children accidentally started the fire, but I couldn't be sure…They're good kids, but they are still just kids."
Bud nodded in understanding.
"Let's hope it doesn't some to that," Wendy finished.
"We're about to have dinner…uh, tea, Wendy…Would you like to join us?" Bud asked, as a knock sounded at the front door again.
"I'm sorry," Wendy apologized, "I'm afraid I'll have to get going. I still need to check on the rest of the children and they're all spread over a large distance…But please feel free to call me if there are any problems with the children. Bye-bye, Tyler, Tiegan. Nana Moon will come to see you again soon."
The children turned and waved goodbye, as Bud showed Wendy out the front door and let the delivery-man in.
Once all of the food was set out, everyone tucked in.