Flabberwocky

19 - Terra firma

Molly was cross with Grandad, and she was also cross with herself for being cross with Grandad. For the first time since Nan gave them his letters, they were stuck. All they had to show for their exploits was a grainy old photo of a googly eyed lady blowing out candles on a birthday cake. Lawrence seemed to have resigned himself to failure quite easily, but for Molly it was an annoying itch which she had no way of scratching.

She forced Lawrence to endure another Wednesday night of supposition. They tried to draw a picture from their memories of the odd metal bar they saw inside Amy's box, but their combined picture just looked like a broken spanner. They pulled the remains of the clockwork mouse to pieces hoping to discover another clue, then put all the broken bits in the bin. There were so many unanswered questions, if Alice was such a good friend, then why wasn't she in their Grandparent's wedding photo from the loft? How did Uncle Ken know they'd need that key in Shortbeach? And did Barry really think he was fit enough to go outside in shorts and a muscle vest?

As the new school term began the girl's thoughts inevitably turned to boys and friends. Panda decided she wanted to become a vet when she left school, and despite choosing cookery and beauty therapy as her main options, she began studying harder than ever for her exams. After the months of thinking about Grandad and his life they knew so little about, Molly decided to start a scrap book. If something interesting happened, she would stick a picture or a memento onto a page. By the October half term holiday her book was nearly half full. Molly loved the Autumn, the smell of wet leaves in the morning, and damp bonfires at night. However, she could have done without the wind rattling her window so early on a Thursday morning when she didn't have to go to school.

Unable to get back to sleep she remembered the tiny acorn she'd found on the way back from Panda's the night before. Climbing out of bed she yawned and made her way to the dressing table. Her mind wandered as she opened her scrapbook to a fresh page, dabbed some glue on the paper, and carefully stuck the acorn into place. She remembered the oak tree which scattered acorns all over Nan's garden at this time of year. It was then that she was struck by a revelation.

"Lawrence, wake up, Lawrence," she called as she banged her fist on his bedroom door. She could hear his muffled voice on the other side, "what, what time is it?" "Pull your pyjamas up, I'm coming in," she warned, flinging the door open to find Lawrence sitting up in bed rubbing his eyes. He then yelped like a dog in pain as she turned on the light, "you're blinding me, what's going on!" "Calm down," Molly advised, "I need to talk to you, have a drink of water." Lawrence did as he was told, and took a big gulp from the glass on his bedside table. "So, what do we know about Grandad?" she asked. Lawrence held his watch up to his face, "it's six fifteen, are you unwell?" She continued, "we know he liked to watch telly, right?" "You're really doing this now? yes, I guess so," Lawrence agreed, "he did watch it, but then, doesn't everyone?" She seemed not to be listening to him, he really wanted to go back to sleep but she just wouldn't stop talking. "But what else did he do, where did he go?" Lawrence thought for a moment, "shopping?" "No," said Molly patiently, "where else?" Though he was too tired for the questions a faint smile spread across his face as he got a spark of an idea, "here, he used to come here, for Christmas." "No," said Molly less patiently, "where else did he go at Nan's?" Lawrence raised his hand to his forehead like he was struggling to answer the jackpot question on a quiz show, "the toilet?" "Ugh," growled Molly, her frustration beginning to expose itself, "when we used to go to Nan's, he was either in his chair watching telly, or he was?" Lawrence now felt pressured to say the right thing, but had no idea what the right thing to say was, "oh, I don't know, I'm tired, why are you asking me all this stuff, I really don't know, he was always in his chair or the shed when we used to go around, I don't know what you're talking about." "Exactly!" beamed Molly. Lawrence buried his face in his hands like he was sobbing, "exactly what? I don't know what's going on." Molly began marching excitedly around his bed as she explained, "his shed Lawrence, Grandad was always in his shed, and where have we been looking?" Lawrence lifted his face an inch from his hands, "is this another question?" "Yes," confirmed Molly. "Well, his loft, the charity shop, his brother's house, his holiday caravan, his seaman's mission.." "Enough Lawrence," interrupted Molly, "you've made my point, now get up, get ready, get Barry, we've got a shed to explore!"