Free Blue Lavender Girl by Judy May Page A

were waiting by the gates and put the black sweaters on over their t-shirts.
    ‘Tia is in charge of the world’s supply of blackclothes,’ Jackson explained to Bob, who nodded as if it were actually true.
    As he outlined the plan, Jackson became so soldier-like and military that Jenny got another giggling fit and had to pretend to fix Buddy’s collar while she recovered.
    The plan was that Jenny and Bob would take one side of the Park and Jackson and I would take the other. I asked Bob how much he paid Jackson to put that in the plan, and he grinned and said, ‘Jackson didn’t put up much of a fight on that one,’ and then for some reason he winked at me.
    ‘Make sure to concentrate on what we are doing here, catching that man,’ Jackson warned them as they ran off toward the Blue Lavender Tea Palace.
    Which left me, Jackson, Buddy and Pie.
    By the time we were sitting on the ground behind a large tree near the hut, I simply had to know. It was as if the fact that it was so dark that I couldn’t see his face, made me brave enough to ask.
    ‘I thought maybe you might want to be with Jenny?’
    Although I couldn’t see his reaction it was like I could feel it.
    ‘God, No! I mean, not in the way I think you’re implying.’
    He was genuinely surprised, and I was completely confused (and not just because he used the word ‘implying’ when fifty easier ones could have done the job).
    ‘But when I first met you, you were always talking to her and looking at her…’
    ‘I’m just not good around new people so I tend to focus on whoever I’m already comfortable with, and I’ve known Jenny ever since I can remember. She’s like a sister to me. I know people say that a lot, but it’s true, especially as I don’t have any sisters, just a brother.’
    Then he pretended that he heard someone coming, just so he didn’t have to talk any more.
    We sat in the dark in total silence for about an hour. It was funny, but I felt really calm, just listening to me and Jackson and Buddy breathing. Sometimes we’d breathe at the same time for a while and then at different times. At one point I thought he was touching my hand, but it was Pie who had clambered out of his pocket and was pushing against my little finger with his nose. At that point I got worried in case Buddy was doing something similar and Jackson was thinking that it was me trying to get close. I know that’s a mental thing tothink, but it worried me so much that I said,
    ‘Let’s go, there’s no-one coming.’
    He said, ‘I thought you were adventurous.’
    And I said that I am adventurous, and that real adventures are not about developing haemorrhoids from sitting on wet grass all night.
    ‘There’s only one thing to do with you when you get like this Tia.’
    ‘What?’ I said, in my most ‘back-off’ voice.
    Then he jumped up, pulled me to my feet and started to dance with me in tiny steps, holding me really close and very quietly singing the tune in my ear. I started to giggle immediately, and he said, ‘See … not so tough.’
    At that exact moment Buddy started to growl softly, but he is not territorial about me the way he is about Pie, so I knew there must be someone coming.
    It turned out to be a deer. There’s a small herd of them living in the fields on the opposite side of the lake to the Big House and the Blue Lavender Tea Palace. I was getting really tired and so was Jackson, and we had the bright idea that we could take a nap and Buddy could wake us when he sensed someone near. Just as I was about to close my eyes I caught sight of some stars between the branches.
    In the end it was Bob and Jenny who woke us up, not Buddy. Jenny was laughing at us both being asleep, but Bob got really angry, which is a bit much seeing as how he fell asleep the other night and didn’t have a dog to sound the alarm.
    Jackson explained that we had only fallen asleep half-an-hour before and that Buddy would have growled and woken us if anyone had come