Kit crept back into the house an hour later. Robbie and Sportacus had managed quite successfully to keep Robyn occupied so his absence wasn't noticed. When he walked into the living room he wasn't noticed as everyone's attention was absorbed in building a house of cards. Robbie and Sportacus were arguing over how tall the house should be whilst Robyn just watched with amusement. Creeping over to the sofa so as not to disturb the argument Kit sat next to Robyn and hugged her. Robyn responded to the hug but still didn't speak. Kit hoped it was because she was quite content letting the two men continue arguing.
Fifteen minutes had passed before the argument ended with both sides of it retreating to separate corners of the living room sulking like children. Robyn and Kit found this scene quite amusing especially because both were supposed to be grown men. An agitated silence had fallen between Robbie and Sportacus and it seemed that Kit and Robyn were quite content to let it stay like that. There was no use trying to reason with the 'adults' when they were in moods like this and it would eventually sort itself out.
Not being one to pass up an excuse to make trouble or just have fun at other people's expense Kit came up with an idea. "Mary had a little lamb. It was full of fun and frolics and every time the lamb played up she kicked it in the-"
"Don't you dare." Robbie interrupted with a threatening undertone in his voice, "not with Robyn here. I won't have her hearing that kind of language."
Kit smiled cheekily, "I wasn't going to say that word. I was going to say ear but you ruined my joke."
Robbie's reply was merely a shrug and the silence fell again. Sportacus was smiling as he'd gotten the joke and thought the rhyme was rather funny. It was intended to be rude but it was funny. Ché's sense of humour stretched to jokes and limericks like that and Sportacus filed the rhyme away in his memory. When he got round to telling Ché the limerick he knew he'd have to be careful that Greta didn't overhear, her response to hearing bad language was one expected of a mother.
Bored with sitting down and wanting to see how the garden was going Sportacus got up and left the house. He also wanted to discuss with everyone what should be done for Robyn's upcoming birthday. As her birthday was likely to be painfully uncomfortable unless her spirits raised themselves Sportacus thought it best to perhaps defer celebrations until things were better. A little birdie had also told Sportacus that Kit's birthday was coming up not long after Robyn's. No one had celebrated Kit's twenty second birthday as he'd not told anyone when it was. There would be a celebration this year however. Kit wouldn't get away with the same trick twice.
When Sportacus got to the garden everyone was taking a break from their work. A lot of the ground had been cleared and cleaned up while extra flower beds had been dug over all of the burnt patches of ground. What they were doing where the bare bones of a brand new garden for Robyn. It was in the same place as the old garden but covered much more ground and it would be up to Robyn how to plant it. The general idea was that it would be a giant birthday present for Robyn from the whole town.
Ziggy shielded his eyes against the sun when he looked up at Sportacus. "How's Robyn?" He asked. A question that had been asked quite a lot of late.
"Not much better. She's still not talking. Kit sang a little song which got her smiling but not much more than that. At least she's spending time downstairs now rather than upstairs in bed locked in her room. Hopefully with a little more time things will right themselves again." Sportacus explained.
Doctor Palley nodded, "time is the only thing that can help her. Even though it's a small improvement her smiling and spending time with other people is a good sign. She's heading in the right direction. Her going to the funeral gave her a chance to say goodbye and was a source of closure. Things should improve from here on in."
Sportacus smiled and looked around the garden again. He really hoped that Robyn would like it. Granted its locality may have been seen as distasteful for some but the sentimental value of it outweighed the horror of what had happened there. The garden had been dearly loved by everyone and was sorely missed.
"It's a shame that the clinic's plans to build a garden didn't work out. I wish they'd have had the brains to make sure they owned the land before building Robyn's hopes up. She'll still have her garden though; it'll just be in a different place. A lot closer to home which is a nice thing." Doctor Cole thought aloud.
Everyone nodded their agreement. All of them hoped that the garden would look as good in reality as it did on paper. The designs Robyn had drawn up were really quite extraordinary and showed an artistic streak that they'd not known existed in her. With the garden being built and grown in town everyone would be able to see it. The whole thing would be almost three times the size of Robyn's first garden and it was worth the land it would take up. Most of the land hadn't been built on and there was no chance that it would ever be built upon. This was Robyn's land; the Mayor had put the necessary papers through to transfer ownership to her.
"How are we going to keep Robyn occupied when the professionals come tomorrow? There'll be a lot of noise when they dig the pond and Robyn's sure to know what's going on." Stephanie said readjusting her position.
Sportacus thought for a while. He'd not come up with any plans yet nor had he even thought of it. "You'll have to ask Kit. He's coordinating the diversion effort."
"I really hope he's come up with a good idea." Greta stated, "How did the house of cards go?"
"Very well. She doesn't suspect a thing. I don't know if Robbie took our argument too seriously but it definitely worked." Sportacus replied.
"I never thought fooling a psychic would be so easy. I can't help but have doubts though." Ché joined.
Bessie nodded, "Me too. She has to suspect something. No matter how careful we're being or have been there's bound to come a time when she senses something. There's no telling how far Robyn's abilities stretch."
"It's something I'd like to look into. It would make for interesting study." Doctor Palley pondered.
"She's not a lab rat." Ziggy answered rather heatedly.
Doctor Cole agreed, "You know that anyway, James. I'm sure you'd attain Robyn's consent before trying anything and to reassure her friends would treat her like a person not an experiment."
"Of course I would, Gerald. It would also be up to you as Robyn is your patient." Doctor Palley replied looking at Doctor Cole.
Doctor Cole nodded, "Absolutely. Why is it that we've both spent nearly forty-five years in the profession and we've never been able to settle on one type of medicine? I've done everything from gynaecology to pathology and you've done more or less the same. Out of everything I've done Neurosurgery has to be the most interesting."
"I don't know, Gerald. Looking at people's brains isn't my cup of tea. I'm quite happy being in the emergency department. A different case with every patient. You never know what's going to come through that door."
Everyone listened to the doctor's debate with interest. Both men were very highly qualified doctors and had a great deal of experience. Despite their order of working in different areas being different they had shared more or less the same experiences and both had their own stories to tell.
After a further twenty minutes conversation everyone returned home to have some lunch. Their break had been much longer than they'd planned and knew they'd have to pick up the slack somewhere.