Ellen Blake Destined To Return

10 - This infamous kiss

Billy stopped chasing broad beans around his plate and looked up at Ellen eagerly.

'So, Ellen ... can you visit any time you want?'

'Don't be a daft brush, Billy,' said his sister. 'If they had the power to go wherever they wanted then they would have gone home again, wouldn't they?'

'Oh yeah,' admitted Billy. 'I was just thinking how great it would be if you had the ability to travel through time and control when and where you go. If I could then I'd travel to ...'

Billy spent a few moments pondering this thought before clicking his fingers.

'Got it. I'd travel back to ... last year. Yes, April ... 1940.'

Aaron snorted, almost choking.

'I don't think you've understood this, Billy. You'd be able to travel to any time in the future or the past. You don't have to travel to a recent time.'

'You could go back to when there were Romans in Britain,' suggested Marianne.

'Or when England won the football world cup,' said Aaron, before quickly correcting himself. 'Sorry, I just realised ... please act surprised when that happens. Anyway why would you go back just one year, when you could have your pick?'

Billy didn't need time to think how to answer that question, he leapt in immediately.

'Ah! That was when Fred Wilkinson got his comeuppance.'

'Who's Fred Wilkinson?' asked Aaron.

'He's the biggest bully in my year group, but last year he was made to look so foolish, by Ingrid Dack. She got a number of the girls to grab him and hold him down on the playground. She then lay on top of him and gave him the sloppiest and wettest kiss ... on the lips. It was the best thing I've ever seen. He was so embarrassed. It took until the summer holidays before people stopped talking about it. I'd do anything to relive that moment and see the look on his face again.'

'I'm surprised with you Billy,' said Marianne. 'You'd choose to go back and see that idiot Wilkinson, when you could go anywhere in time. You know you could travel back to a time when dinosaurs walked the earth?'

Ellen had remained quiet throughout but finally felt she had something to contribute.

'You don't have to travel back in time. You could travel to the future. You could travel to 2014 and turn up in our kitchen. That way you could scare the hell out of us and see the look on our faces.'

There was a brief but awkward silence, before Ellen chuckled.

'But to be fair, I like the idea of seeing a bully looking foolish. I'd quite like to travel with you and see this infamous kiss. I might even kiss him myself after Ingrid finishes. Maybe then every girl could line up and kiss him after me. He wouldn't know what had hit him and would take a lot longer than a few months to get over that.'

She chuckled a little more before bursting into a fit of giggles.

At first everyone around the table was bemused, but her joy was so contagious that they all joined in. Maude realised it was the first time since the twins had arrived in her house that they had looked anything but frightened, shocked or upset. It was so nice to have a light hearted moment. In fact, it struck her that she had not heard her own children laugh so much, for ... well she couldn't remember.

When the meal was over, Maude suggested that Billy should stay with her to tidy the table and wash the dishes, much to his annoyance. While they fulfilled their chores, the older children were to light a fire in the sitting room, in light of the unseasonably cold weather. Her intention was for Keith and Marianne to get to know the twins. They were after all similar ages and must have a good number of things in common.

Copyright © Dean Constable 2016