It was the start of the school holidays. The weather had turned cold; we could hear constantly the pitter-patter of rain drops on the windows. It felt good to know there was no school or nursery. That meant we could stay home and play. We also knew that Mummy and Daddy would do some fun things with us at this time of year. This time however, it seemed a little different. Daddy was going away for work. He often goes away for training as he flies helicopters for the hospital. It is a very important job and cannot miss training. Mummy and Daddy spoke loudly and Verity and I could hear the words “Special Day”, repeatedly being said. Verity and I had no idea what it meant.

We spent the day at home and played. Mummy packed Daddy’s bag. It seemed to take all day as they could not decide on how much to pack. Eventually it was done. We had pizza for dinner, and this seemed odd as we rarely have pizza. Mummy and Daddy rarely spoke.  It was very quiet at the dinner table. Verity and I was on our best behaviour as we didn’t want to cause trouble. We were still trying to work out what was happening. Daddy tucked us into bed and kissed us goodnight and told us to look after Mummy. He said he would be back soon, and he would video call us to let us know how he was going and ask how we were. Silence fell across the house.

The next day……

We woke up in the morning, and Mummy was still in bed. Normally she wakes up early and is busy getting breakfast in the kitchen. Not today. Verity and I did not know what to do as this was a different Mummy. I remembered that Daddy had asked me to look after Mummy. I thought she had been working hard and must be so tired. I asked Verity to help me get breakfast for Mummy. We went into the kitchen, and I made the tea and Verity made toast and jam. Verity wanted to use raspberry jam as that was Mummy’s favourite. She also put a smartie cookie on a plate as Mummy likes those too. We managed to get everything on the breakfast tray and thought that something was missing. 

 Verity said in a loud voice, “Flowers, we need to get some from the garden”. This time of year, was a bit difficult as the bad weather had ruined most of the flowers. We spotted the orange blossom tree with a few flowers and thought a small bunch would fit on the tray. We managed to get a small bunch of flowers, minus the cobwebs and spiders and placed them on the tray.

We took the tray upstairs to the bedroom and Mummy was still asleep. I lifted Verity on top of the bed and wondered how she could wake Mummy up. I said, “Pretend she is Sleeping Beauty and give her a kiss”. Verity gave Mummy a kiss to wake her up.  Mummy was still drowsy and tried to sit up in bed. We placed the breakfast tray on the bed and said, “Happy Special Day!” Mummy burst into tears. Verity and I were so shocked we did not move; it was like we were frozen in time. Verity and I immediately said, “sorry”. We asked Mummy what we could do to make things better, but she said she was just being silly, and everything was fine. Verity and I decided to leave Mummy in peace so she could eat her breakfast.

Verity and I felt very troubled as we had never seen Mummy like that before. We didn’t know what to do to make Mummy better. It was made worse by the fact that Daddy had asked us to look after her. Verity said, “I have an idea. Why don’t we make her a Special Day hat?” She talked about how they made such things in nursery and they always made people happy. We got our craft box and pulled out card. We made a band that we thought would fit on Mummy’s head. We didn’t know what “Special Day” was so we could not put a cake, number or candles on it. I suggested we make a big star and smaller stars and then glue them to the band.

Verity made two smaller bands to become bracelets. We used the glue, sequins and glitter carefully to not make too much of a mess. Within no time our hat and bracelets were made. We were pleased with what we had created and thought Mummy would love them.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door. Mr Smallhorn from the supermarket was standing in front of us. He had a big smile on his face and gave a big chuckle. In a belly laugh he said, “Good morning, Olly and Verity, these are for Mummy”. He handed over a very large bouquet of roses. The smell of perfume filled the hallway. We thanked him very much as he wished us a fabulous day.