When Kriss woke up the room was silent. Theo wasn't in his cot and Kriss thought this was strange, she looked at the wall where the clock should have been, but it wasn't there. Kriss had forgotten that Dave had 'accidentally' broken the clock when Theo's cry had scared him into throwing chicken Vindaloo all over it.
"Holly" she called
"Yes, Kriss" Holly answered
The deepness and volume of Holly's voice made Kriss' head hurt "what's the time?"
"11.36am ship time Kriss" Holly responded
Kriss closed her eyes and put her head in her hands as Holly answered her.
Very slowly Kriss dressed in her uniform, tied her hair into a ponytail and made her way to the midsection. She could hear everything 10 times louder than they actually were and so going into the midsection was hell. Cat was teaching Llewey and Jim-Bexley to roller-skate; Dave was spoon-feeding Alicia-May using the train into the tunnel method, Arnold was trying to stop Theo from crying and Chloë and Lilimay were singing. The only people who were actually quiet were Yvonne, who was reading a book, and Junior, who was eating.
"Mummy" Chloë yelled as Kriss came into the room "come and play with me and Lilimay, we're singing"
"Not now Chloë" Kriss hugged her "I'm feeling a bit poorly"
"You okay mummy?" Chloë sounded worried
"I'll be fine darling" Kriss smiled at her eldest daughter and stroked her hair "I'll feel a lot better later"
Kriss turned round and saw Dave standing there
"Morning" Dave handed her a glass of water and two paracetamol "how are you feeling?"
"Rough" Kriss groaned as she sat down "my head's banging, my arm's stinging and my breasts are full"
"Well that's good" Arnold interrupted "because Theo is hungry"
"Oh, okay" Kriss smiled as she put Theo to her breast and let him feed
"Why did you do it darling?" Dave asked "why?"
"I don't know" Kriss replied, "I was silly"
"You shouldn't really be feeding Theo" Arnold interrupted "but we've run out of the milk you expressed"
"Oh, he'll be okay" Kriss hoped anyway.
After lunch Kriss felt so much better, she decided to go and play with Chloë and Lilimay but they had finished their game
"Mummy" Chloë asked, "Can you read me a book?"
"Of course my darling" Kriss agreed "which book would you like?"
"Mary Poppins" Chloë answered, "Can you read Mary Poppins please?"
"Sure" Kriss got the colourful book and sat down with Chloë to read it "do you know what?" Kriss asked her
"What?" Chloë responded excitedly
"This was my favourite book when I was your age!"
"Really Mummy?"
"Yes" Kriss giggled "you're so special Chloë, I love you"
"I love you too, Mummy" Chloë responded "can you read to me now?"
"Sorry darling" Kriss read the book to Chloë and loved every minute of it. Kriss was so happy to be spending such quality time with Chloë and Chloë looked like she was enjoying it too.