Uncle Jeff started the car and its engine coughed loudly. The car pulled out of the driveway and the party of five made their way to the tennis tournament once again.
Uncle Jeff stopped the car twice along the way. The washers on the front of the little red car no longer worked. So every now and then when Uncle Jeff decided he wanted to be able to see where he was going, he would stop the car to let Aunt Jane throw water from the plastic bottle she kept in the footwell onto the front screen.
‘Screen wash!’ Robert’s uncle and aunt sang in unison.
Uncle Jeff and Aunt Jane often spoke in unison. It was a cringe-worthy habit that the couple had developed over many years of blissful marriage.
Unfortunately, having to bear witness to it was far from blissful. Robert, Bertie and Nana Spence all squirmed in the back of the car, as the couple harmonised their words.
Once Aunt Jane was back in the passenger’s seat they continued on their way.
After a few minutes Uncle Jeff turned down a narrow road and then right into a gravel car park. As soon as the car came to a stop Nana Spence undid her seatbelt and bailed out of the vehicle. She hoisted her elasticated trousers above her waist and sped round to the back of the car to lift the heavy picnic basket out of the boot.
Robert hopped out the car but knew better than to offer his grandmother any type of assistance. The red-haired pensioner was already marching towards the pavilion with Uncle Jeff, Aunt Jane and Bertie in tow.
‘That’s alright you guys go on ahead,’ Rob shouted sarcastically.
Robert put his hands deep into his trouser pockets and followed the rest of his family along the grass trodden path to the white pavilion, dragging his feet as he walked.
He couldn’t bare another day of watching Bertie play tennis. He closed his eyes and sighed. The sound of waves crashing in the distance filled his ears and Robert suddenly decided that a day at the beach would be far better than a day of spectating.
Robert caught up to his grandmother and told her where he was planning to go.
‘No!’ Nana Spence snapped and waved Robert away more interested in finding a bench to sit on than her own grandson. With her right hand placed upon her brow, Cora Spence pirouetted on the tip of his toes looking for an empty seat to sit her saggy elderly bottom on.
‘Oh look, SEATS!’ Cora yelled to Uncle Jeff and Aunt Jane, whom were registering Bertie for the day’s competition.
Cora Spence charged forward, shoulder-barging an elderly couple out of the way as she, unbeknown to them, raced the couple to the empty bench.
‘Why not?’ Robert shouted and ran after his grandmother.
Cora Spence suddenly stopped and answered in a very tempered tone. ‘Because you can’t just go wondering off, anything could happen to you!’
‘I’m just going to the beach – I’ll go straight there and only there.’
The elderly couple that she previously overtook passed by, both giving Cora Spence a disapproving look. Cora scowled at them in return and looked back at Rob.
Cora turned to look at the bench and squirmed as her chance of getting a place to sit dwindled. She took a few brisk steps forward and stopped again, turning back to face Robert.
‘Don’t go swimming!’ Cora pointed her index finger and Rob. ‘Oh...and take this,’ she added, throwing her phone at Rob, who clumsily caught it between the tips of his fingers. ‘If something, anything happens, if anyone talks to you, you call your aunt and come straight back!’ And with that Cora Spence continued her one person race to the empty bench, pushing past the elderly couple once more.
YOU ARE READING
The Bearded Man and The Ghost Girl
Teen Fiction'Robert first saw the ghost girl standing in the churchyard. Her hair was long, her skin was pale and her body glowed, bathing the nearby graves in a cool white light. She was unlike any girl Robert had seen. Her face was unconventionally beautiful...
