5. Mutiny

Monday, 8.20am

It was the usual morning chaos in the Brockman household. Sue had lost the car keys for what felt like the thousandth time, Karen was wandering around in her pyjamas refusing to go to school until the burglar had been caught and put in prison, as she'd put it, "for at least fifty years". Elsewhere, Ben was outside with a spade and a large piece of green felt as camouflage for the hole he was digging, Jake was sitting at the table eating toast and texting whilst using his father's old Walkman as a surrogate for his stolen iPod and Pete had only just arrived in the room as a result of having overslept because Ben mixed ground-up sleeping pills into a cup of tea he'd made the previous evening, in the latest in a long line of 'just to see what happens' experiments.

"Ah, Pete," Sue said, her voice drooling with sarcasm as her husband entered the chaos, "nice of you to join us! It's 8.20 and we're supposed to leave in five minutes". Pete just yawned and gave his wife a small, dopey smile

"Hey mum," Ben said as he came in from the garden, his uniform caked in dirt, "can I take some of the broken window to school for show and tell?"

"Absolutely not!" Sue replied, "Firstly, show and tell is still suspended after the roadkill incident last month" – she shuddered at the memory of getting a call from Ben's teacher about how a mangled, squashed squirrel is not an acceptable show and tell item – "and secondly, you're filthy! Go and get changed and then we WILL be going." Ben huffed and walked upstairs, as Sue turned her attention to her daughter, "Karen, go and get your uniform on, you're going to school too." she said sternly.

"No." Karen stated, "Daddy's staying home today and so am I"

"He's only staying because the detectives are coming" Sue countered

"Well, he'll be here to look after me won't he?" Karen replied cheekily

Sue sighed and looked towards Pete for help. Unfortunately he'd fallen asleep again, apparently still under some influence from the sleeping pills. She tapped her husband hard on the shoulder, "Darling, can you please ask Karen to get a move on? I'll make you some strong coffee to keep you alert!" she said.

"Karen, go and get changed, your mother's right" he stated

"N-O spells no" Karen retorted, "I'm not going today."

Ben then returned, having had a change of clothes. Unfortunately for Pete and Sue, he'd not changed into clean uniform, but into his Arsenal shirt and tracksuit trousers. "If Karen's not going to school, then neither am I" he announced. Pete and Sue sighed simultaneously – they should be in the car by now and this stand-off over going or not going to school didn't look like it was going to end any time soon, especially since Jake had also rather petulantly declared that he too wouldn't be going to school since he didn't want to be the only Brockman child who was.

"Right then, it's now 8.30 and all of our kids are refusing to go to school. Perfect." Sue said, summing up their predicament, "It's not as if I have a big interview at ten." she added sarcastically

"Just to change the subject for a moment," Pete said, "Ben, what exactly was in that cup of tea last night?" Ben looked away from his father and denied all knowledge of foul play as he mumbled something along the lines of it being Karen's idea in an attempt to shift the blame. Pete shook his head in exasperation, deciding to deal with that particular problem later on. "Anyway, I thought you wanted to go to school?" he asked.

"Only because I wanted to take some broken window for show and tell but after mum said no I didn't want to go if Karen wasn't going" Ben replied

Half an hour later, after some loud arguments, all the family were still in the kitchen – with the exception of Karen, who had stormed off to her bedroom mid-argument. Just as Pete was about to say something else to try and end the stand-off, there was a knock at the door. The detectives had arrived. Pete and Sue then gave up on the idea of their kids going to school, so sent them to their rooms for the duration of the detectives' visit in an attempt to avoid truancy accusations. As she left the house, Sue greeted the detectives and explained that Pete would help them with their inquiry as she had to run to her interview.

When Sue got into the car she made a quick call to the kids' schools, explaining that the Brockman children wouldn't be in school due to illness. She felt a little bad lying to the secretaries but it was a more believable, less complex explanation than the real one. As she pulled away from the pavement she allowed herself to smile at the realisation that it was Pete, and not her, having to deal with the children for once.