21 The Bandolier

21 The Bandolier Peanut woke at 6.59 a.m. and jumped straight out of bed. She had lain awake half the night formulating a plan and it was time to put it into action. She picked up her dressing gown from the floor and removed the thick cord from the belt loops. Then she dug out Granny's old sewing box, threaded a needle with some thick cotton and sewed the two ends of the cord together. Next, she cut several rectangles of differing sizes from the main body of the dressing gown, and stitched them on to the towelling loop. She then put her right arm through it and pulled the whole thing over her head, so that it hung down diagonally across her body like a bandolier. Finally, she loaded it up with a carefully chosen selection

of art materials: a big block of charcoal, three permanent markers of varying thicknesses, a brush pen, two paintbrushes, a small tin of watercolours, a can of spray paint and, of course, the yellow pencil. On the back, she attached four empty water bottles that she'd fished out of the recycling bin. Then she picked up the strip of passport photos of her and her dad, folded it in half and put it in the front pocket of her dungarees. She looked in the mirror and nodded. 'OK. I'm ready.' 'PEANUT!' came a cry from downstairs. 'I HAVE TO GO TO WORK EARLY. CAN YOU DROP LITTLE-BIT AT SCHOOL ON YOUR WAY TO ST HUBERT'S PLEASE? OH, AND YOUR FRIEND ROCKWELL IS HERE AGAIN.' 'OK, MUM. I'LL BE DOWN IN A SECOND.' Quickly Peanut grabbed the sewing box, the scissors and what was left of the dressing gown and stuffed them all into her wardrobe. Just as she was pulling the bandolier off over her head, the door opened and Rockwell walked in. 'Your mum said I could come up. Hope you don't mi— What is that?!' Peanut sighed. 'OK, OK. There have been a few, um, developments. I think you'd better sit down.' And for the third time in twenty-four hours, she told him everything.