Highest Rank #61 in Fanfiction! Juliette McGill finds the perfect position as a nanny for a young boy with special needs. Only when she arrives at the family's home in British Columbia, she discovers that the boy is not quite what she expected and t...
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As promised, Harry and I went exploring the next day. There was a door from the living room that led outside to a deck overlooking the ocean. Below the deck, one stepping stone path led straight down to the water while a few others led into the woods. There was a small sign pole with different arrows, pointing to a variety of destinations: Harry's Tree House, Swimming Pool, Playground, and Pacific Ocean. For the amount of neglect that the poor boy had seemingly suffered, someone paid a lot of attention to making the place fun and luxurious for him.
We could see the upper terrace of the main house off to our right and high above us. I found it strange that it didn't have steps down to the paths or to the ocean like the deck outside Harry's quarters did, or even connecting the terrace to Harry's quarters. I wondered if Theodore or any of his staff ever took the time to venture out into the woods or down to the waterfront. Did the man even know how to have fun?
"Where do you want to go first?" I asked Harry.
"Playground," he beamed, clasping his hands together.
"Okay, you lead the way," I instructed. I followed Harry, chuckling as I watched him bound over the uneven path with pigeon-toed footsteps. He was long and gangly and the way he moved made it seem like he hadn't adjusted to his grown up body yet. Of course, lack of muscle coordination was common with mental disability as well.
We arrived at a clearing with an unbelievable playground, at least half an acre of climbing walls, monkey bars, swings, slides, and a large trampoline, all fashioned from various types of wood to make the area blend in with its surroundings.
"Race ya!" Harry called, taking off towards a set of steps that led to a wooden tower. I ran after him but he was really fast, even with his feet practically tripping him along the way. He sped up the steep staircase and I followed, arriving seconds behind him. "Look," he said pointing to three different rope bridges that fanned out from the tower. I hadn't seen them before as they were well camouflaged. "We can go through the ca...capony...no canopy," he said, struggling to get the right word. "We can go to my tree house!"
"Okay, let's do that after you show me all of the playground," I suggested.
He nodded excitedly and took off on a zipline from the tower to a lower platform about twenty yards away, his long body dangling like an overgrown monkey. I couldn't help but laugh at his excitement. Thankfully, there was a safety net below in addition to a soft-looking sand pit under that. "Can you send it back to me?" I called and he flung the zipline handle back up to where I stood. I zipped down to where he was standing, laughing crazily at the fun we were both having. It had been too long since I had just let loose like this.
"You did good, Nanny Jules!" Harry cheered.
After we jumped on the trampoline and swung across the monkey bars, he led me back up to the tower. "This way to my tree house," he gasped, running out of breath but not enough to even think about stopping for a rest.
