The Mum-Minder (7 page)

Gemma growled her way through the jungly bushes. Vincent galloped over the plain. Sara stalked prey in the undergrowth. They made a lot of wild animal noises. So did Clive. His granny bounced him up and down on her knee. She bounced him a bit too vigorously. I helped her mop him up. Then I rounded up all my wild animals. That took quite a time. I had to wrestle with them before they would submit. But at last I got them all reasonably tamed and we trailed back to the shop.

Clive's gran said she was exhausted and she'd have to go home for a lie down. Clive's mum and I had a little giggle about her after she'd gone. Then we gave the littlest wild animal his bottle, and fed the others on Marmite sandwiches and crisps and carrots and orange juice. They'd already had more than enough chocolate.

I still felt I hadn't had quite
enough
chocolate. I hadn't rudely grabbed for myself like the little kids, and the chocolate liqueur had come as a bit of a disappointment. I thought about this rather wistfully as I helped change and pot the wild animals (not yet properly house-trained) and then settled them down in their cardboard cages for a nap. All that running wild seemed to have tired them out. They were all fast asleep within five minutes.

I tiptoed out of the stock-room to join Clive's mum. There was a chocolate heart waiting for me on the counter. It had a special message in swirly pink icing:
Thank you, Sadie!

I said a lot of thank-yous back and ate it all up. It tasted wonderful.

Clive's mum showed me how to write swirly messages myself using the icing bag. I practised on a paper bag at first because my writing went a bit haywire, but when I'd got the knack she let me write my own message on a heart:
Get well soon, Mum
.

‘Ah, that's lovely,' said Clive's mum. ‘Yes, I think we're all wishing that, Sadie.'

MY CHOCOLATE HEART
worked. Mum is very nearly better. Nan's getting better too and says she'll be back to help Mum on Monday. When I told her how I'd been mum-minding she said I was a Little Treasure. Grandad said I was too. He says he's still feeling poorly. Nan says he just wants to lie back in bed and be waited on hand and foot, and he isn't half getting on her nerves.

Mum and I are getting on just great. Saturdays are good anyway
because the dads take over the babies. Our dad doesn't often come for Sara and me, but that doesn't matter. Us girls stick together.

We all had a bit of a lie in and then I got up and made tea and toast, and Sara and I got in Mum's bed and we had breakfast together. It got a bit crumby but it was very cosy all the same.

Then I got Sara sorted out and put her in her playpen.

Then I got Mum sorted out too. I poured lots of bubbles in the bath and she lay back in it like a film star and then I helped her wash her hair. We played hairdressers after, and I did her hair in all different daft styles, and then Sara wanted to join in, even though she's just got these little feathery curls that stick straight up in the air. Clive's mum had given me some of the chocolate-box ribbon so I tied a blue bow round Sara's biggest curl, and she chuckled when she saw herself in the mirror.

Then Mum brushed her hair out into her own proper style and got dressed and put some powder on her poor sore nose so that it didn't look so red.

‘There! I look a new woman,' said Mum. ‘I think I'm up to a little outing.'

We went down to the shopping centre, the three of us. I made Mum wrap up really warm with an extra jumper and a scarf. We had a morning coffee together, with Danish pastries, one each. Sara just sucked the jam off hers but she enjoyed it a lot, so it wasn't wasted. She was quite happy swinging her legs in the roomy buggy and licking her lips while Mum and I sat and chatted like grown-up ladies. Then we went round the shops for a bit, looking at all the toys and clothes and choosing what we'd buy if we had all the money in the world. But then
Mum got a bit tired so we caught the bus home.

I put Sara down for her nap.

I put Mum down for a nap and all.

Then I did a bit of tidying and swept the floor and stuffed some things in the washing machine. A woman's work is never done. Ha ha.

Mum was ever so pleased when she woke up. She gave me the rest of her
Get Well Soon, Mum
chocolate heart. She'd only had two bites. She still hasn't got her appetite back, but she
really is practically better. She says I've been the best mum-minder in the whole world.

Mum did the ironing herself this evening because I get things a bit scrumpled when I have a go. But I put Sara to bed. I read her
Dominic the Vole.
Some of the words are missing where she's had another savage gnaw, but it doesn't matter. I have
read
Dominic the Vole
at least one hundred times and I know it off by heart.

Then when Sara was settled, I read to Mum while she ironed. I read her this holiday diary and she didn't half laugh.