4. Excuses

Despite Hythe telling him that his nose didn't require hospital treatment, Pete decided it best to go to the hospital anyway just as a precaution. He returned just before lunchtime, saying he'd spent over three hours waiting to be told that Hythe had done enough and he hadn't needed to go in.

"Better be safe than sorry, though?" Sue said, trying to reassure him once he'd implied he'd wasted the morning. "Anyway, new developments here," she said, changing the subject, "Ben and Karen have decided to turn detective to see if they can work out who – or what – the burglar was"

"But the detectives. The REAL detectives are coming tomorrow aren't they" Pete asked, "and I can't stay here tomorrow, there's a big staff meeting about the child who tried to eat the science department's snake"

"I know they're coming, just let the kids have their fun darling. Anyway, I can't stay either," Sue replied, "I have an interview at the new office. You know, the one that was set up in the wake of Tyson buggering off the other week"

"We'll stay!" volunteered Karen and Ben, looking up from the start of their 'investigation' of the broken window, "we've got a lot to do here."

"No thanks darlings, you have school." Sue said, with a smile, "Daddy and I will have to talk it over later on."

Ben and Karen shrugged and got back to their investigations, which involved going outside and searching for footprints in the mud. However, it hadn't rained for several days meaning that the ground was hard and there were no footprints available. Karen and Ben trudged back in to the house and announced that they would be postponing their investigation for a while and were going to watch Scooby Doo on TV to get some pointers on what to do when there's a mystery about.

About an hour later, when making a cup of tea for her and Pete, Sue suddenly remembered something about the earlier conversation concerning the detectives' visit. "Um… Pete, how come you can't stay home tomorrow for the detectives?"

"Meeting." he replied quickly

"Ah yes, but if I remember correctly, it's to do with the science department's problem isn't it? So why are you – as a history teacher – involved?" she asked, "It's because you don't want to deal with the kids when they inevitably refuse to go to school, hmm?" she finished

Pete knew he'd been rumbled, so tried to change the subject, "Biscuit with your tea?" he asked "Or a piece of cake?" he stammered

Sue laughed briefly, "Nice try darling! You'll stay put tomorrow, and I'll go for the interview." she said, "Oh, by the way I'll have a Garibaldi thanks" she added as she reached into the biscuit tin. After the debate, the rest of the day went rather smoothly (at least for this family) and there were no further fall outs between anyone.