54 Vincent Fields

54 Vincent Fields The beams from the rising sun cut through the green slats in shards, painting dramatic, stripy shadows across the three children. Little-Bit had been the first to wake. Now she hopped out of bed, stroked a stretching Doodle and opened the shutters. It was already a beautiful morning. The cornfields that they had walked across the night before were resplendent in a host of buttery yellows and golds, and the red road leading out of town cut through them like a hot knife. A murder of crows took off noisily from the fields, flocking in anticipation of an early morning hunt. ' Peanut! Rockwell! Get up! It's morning. They breakfasted on fried eggs that Peanut painted as carefully as she could using her watercolours.

'They look great,' said Rockwell, 'They don't taste of fried eggs— more like some sort of mild goat's cheese— but they look great. After they'd eaten, they gathered their things and left the Yellow House. They walked down the deserted red road and back across the cornfields until they reached the curtain of poplar trees that marked the outskirts of the city. From there they turned right and followed the road. As they walked, the sun rose in the sky, causing the children to swelter underneath their straw hats. In contrast, the sunflowers filling the fields basked in the heat, turning their faces to soak up as much Vitamin D as possible. The children were very grateful for the temporary shade the trees provided and tried to linger there for as long as possible, but Doodle, seemingly oblivious to the heat, drove them on relentlessly, turning to bark whenever they stopped. As the sun reached its highest point, they sat underneath a blossoming almond tree, chatting while they ate some lunch (spray-painted hot cross buns that tasted vaguely of turnip). 'So Peanut,' said Little-Bit, her mouth full of turnipy bread, 'which school do you think I'd like best when I'm older? Melody High or St Hubert's?'

'Melody High,' said Peanut firmly. 'Everyone loves it there and St Hubert's is like a kind of prison. ' Oh, come on, Peanut,' said Rockwell. 'There must be something you like about St Hubert's. 'Er... I like home time. 'You know what I mean. Surely you've learned something interesting since you've been there?' 'She's met you,' chirped Little-Bit, causing two faces to redden. 'I think she's pretty pleased about that!' 'Be quiet and eat, LB!' snapped Peanut, but she didn't disagree with her little sister. 'Well,' continued Peanut, 'I suppose the fact that you knew how to design that hang-glider was pretty cool. I wouldn't mind learning how to do something like that. ' Yes! I knew it!' enthused Rockwell. 'When we get back, I'll lend you this ace book I've got. It's called Aerospace Engineering and the Principles of Flight. Two thousand fun-packed pages of kinematics, dynamics and propulsion. You're going to love it!' Peanut and Little-Bit looked at each other and laughed. One more question,' said Rockwell, suddenly looking a bit more serious. 'What happens once we've rescued Mr M and your dad?' 'Well, I guess we take Mr M back to Mrs M, and then we go home. Mum will be so pleased to see Dad when she realises that he didn't desert us after all. And everything will be OK

again. I'll go back to Melody H—' She stopped herself from finishing the sentence. Ah, yes, of course. You'll go back to Melody High Rockwell sighed— 'and I'll be happy for you.' He smiled. 'I mean it. I'll miss you though. It's been cool having someone to hang out with, even if it is usually at a distance of five metres. Peanut had been so determined not to make any friends at St Hubert's that she hadn't ever considered why Rockwell had been so keen to be her study buddy in the first place. She suddenly realised it was because he was lonely. Rockwell was more than clever enough for St Hubert's, but he didn't fit in with the other kids any more than Peanut did. She smiled. Rockwell. We're friends now. That's not going to change, regardless of which schools we go to. Anyway, you never know. Maybe you'll decide to go to Melody High one day. I think you'd like it.