It started on a warm summer evening, after a long match of tennis at the tennis courts in Mulberry Meadows with Evangeline. A short jog for the journey home didn’t seem like a bad idea, but I needed to talk Evangeline.
‘Do you happen to know about the incident which happened before the end school?’ I ask.
‘I very much enjoy Mulberry Meadows, don’t you Rose?’ Evangeline asks oblivious to my question.
‘Evangeline Elizabeth Wilkinson, I asked you a question!’ I say glaring at her
‘My sincere apologies Rose, I had lost myself in the beauty of Mulberry Meadows…’
Evangeline carries on talking about the beauties of Mulberry Meadows for a good half hour and only finishes talking when we arrive on my street.
"Goodness gracious! We're already at your house!" Evangeline exclaims. "Well I'd better get going. Have a good night, Rose!" she calls as she turns around and starts jogging up the path, just as my father, Jonathan, turns around the corner of the street in his brand new shiny and sleek black Jaguar. I jump up and down waving like a lunatic, because to be honest, I really do get teary and sad when my dad leaves for a long trip, even though I am sixteen years of age.
"Father!" I shout.
"Darling!" my father says as he gets out of his shiny new car, taking a box with him.
"Father, what is in that box if I may ask?" I say politely.
"I will tell you inside. Where's mother?" he asks.
"I'm not sure... I just came from tennis." I answer.
I walk into our five storey house, feeling like a princess. Make that a very curious princess. I'm still not sure what's in that box that father brought in from the car.
All of a sudden I heard a loud shriek coming from the living room, where father had gone with the box.
"What's going on?" I ask rushing into the living area. I shriek as I see two puppies jumping around by my feet.
"Goodness gracious!" I exclaim. "Are these puppies ours?" I ask picking them up and examining them.
"Yes of course darling, but one of them is yours, and one of them is Augustus’, so pick one the one that you would like.” father explained.
Augustus was my older brother, aged eighteen. He rarely annoyed me, unlike any brothers you might have. He also had a partner, Eloise Nightingale, who is a year older than me. We are very good friends.
"Hmm..." I think, "Please may I have this one?" I ask father, pointing to the golden retriever as it rests its head on my feet.
"Of course you may," father smiles. "Let me go and fetch some other things from the car." he says brushing past me and heading towards the main door. I pick up my new puppy and Augustus' puppy and stroll over to the sofa where mother is knitting, presumably, a fleece for the puppies. How sweet of her I think.
"Mother," I start,
"Yes darling?" she says, placing her knitting needles and cloth onto the tea table.
"What do you think I should call my puppy?" I ask just as father walks in with a dog bed and another box.
"Oh sorry darling, am I interrupting?" father asks.
"No, not at all" I respond.
"I think you should call him -”
"Wait, sorry to interrupt mother, but father, is my puppy a male or a female?" I ask.
