Lily's new house was tall and narrow. It stood on top of a hill, surrounded by apple trees and rhododendron bushes. The house was painted yellow. It had a red tile roof, green window frames and a big blue front door. Lily had only seen a picture of the house before now. It had four floors, and windows in the attic. It was, she thought as they drove up the hill towards it, the most wonderful house in the world.
And her mum and dad had bought it! They had, she imagined, gathered together hundreds of five pound notes in a wheelbarrow and given these to the person the house used to belong to, who, in return, handed them a big bunch of keys, one of which would open the big blue front door.
As the car pulled up outside the house, Lily was terribly excited. Her mum and dad looked at her, smiling.
'What do you think?" asked dad.
'Isn't is fantastic!' exclaimed mum.
Lily folded her arms. She could barely contain herself, but was pretending otherwise.
'It's okay,' she answered, like she wasn't the least impressed. The truth, of course, was that she thought the house must be worth a million pounds. 'Does it have a lift?' she wanted to know, as if only a house with a lift could possibly be good enough for her.
'No,' mum replied, gently tapping Lily's freckled nose; 'but it does have a dungeon, and a fireman's' pole.'
Lily was seven years old. She liked collecting things and wearing her long fair hair in as many pigtails as possible. Her record was eighteen. Today though, she had just five pigtails; one either side, one at the back and two on top. At her birthday party a week ago she had wished for a baby sister, so she could do her hair, too, but so far nothing had happened. Her dad opened the car door. She undid her belt and got out. Her mum was already at the front door of the house. And yes, she had a big bunch of keys.
Lily and her dad rushed to catch up. Her mum jangled the keys, looking for the right one. It was a big brass key. She put it in the lock, turning it with a struggle. There was a creak, then a clunk, and the big blue door swung open.
Lily stared in amazement. In front of her, not six feet away, sat a big fat orange rabbit. Her mum and dad walked inside, chattering to one another. They didn't appear to see the rabbit in the hallway. They walked right past it! Lily though, stood frozen on the doorstep, unable to believe her eyes. The big orange rabbit yawned. It was wearing roller-skates, she saw. Lily was about to call out, but her mum and dad had disappeared. Besides, she told herself, it looked rather a nice rabbit. Not dangerous at all. Probably it was best to say hello.
'Hello,' said Lily. 'Do you live close by?'
The big orange rabbit twitched its whiskers. It had been tying its laces. It stood now, getting its balance. Satisfied all its wheels were present, the rabbit skated past her, out the door, where it turned sharply left and vanished under a rhododendron bush.
O, Lily thought, and closed the big blue door behind.
*
Later that day, the removal van arrived. Lily watched it climb the hill up to the house. It was a big red van with gold letters on the side. G&G MOVERS, it read, SINCE 1925. Lily watched from the third floor window of what was to be her new bedroom. There was no bed in it as yet, of course, as that, along with all the rest of their furniture, was on the removal van.
The van pulled up outside the house. The sun gleamed off its bright red roof. Its door opened and four men got out. At least she thought it was four men. Looking closer, Lily could clearly see one of them wasn't a man at all, but a big dog. A golden retriever, no less, wearing big black boots, blue jeans and a white t-shirt. Amazingly, the dog was walking and talking, just like the men.
