Chapter 2:
Nina slowly sat up in bed, drowsily wondering what had awoken her. She glanced at the clock on her study table. Just 5:30. She need not wake till another half hour. She could hear a strange, beautiful, softly tinkling sound coming from below, which could only mean ‘Tinkerbells!’
She jumped out of bed and went running downstairs.
And sure enough!
‘ Grandpa!!! It’s super smashing to see you! You haven’t answered answered any of my letters. You weren’t picking up the phone, either! Where have you been?! Oh, you’re looking fantabulous!’ and Nina ran into the arms of the dear looking old man standing before her, his arms wide open, just waiting for his Granddaughter to rush in.
‘There, there, child, slow down, slow down. Let me take a breath.’ Smiling widely nevertheless as he hugged Nina.
Nina dragged him to the couch and made him sit down. She sat down beside him and demanded ‘where’ve you been all these days? Have you turned any more people into frogs, or bats, or something?’ the two of them laughed together. It had been an old ‘thing’ between them. When she was a child Grandpa used to tell her stories of people who had annoyed him and he had therefore turned them into frogs. She had been afraid of him for three whole days before she had the guts to go and talk to him again. Then, she had made him promise that he would never turn her into a bat, before she let him buy her an ice cream.
‘Well...’ her grandpa answered in a mock-serious voice ‘Not more than two…or three, I guess.
Nina smiled. It was lovely to see her Grandfather again. She had missed him terribly and really had been worried when Grandpa hadn’t answered her persistent phone calls. It was not until mummy had told her that Grandpa had called to say that he was fine and would be coming to see her soon that she had gotten some rest.
He was the most wonderful person she had ever seen. He possessed eyes extremely similar to hers. They were big, deep-set, and as dark as her eyes. Only the calm expression in them was very different to the youthful innocence in hers. His eyes seemed to reflect the wisdom of ages. She remembered him exactly as he looked now. She could swear that even the position of a single wrinkle had not changed since. His greying beard was whiter now, as was the case with his hair, than it was when she was six years old. He was as tall as ever and walked in the same straight-backed, upright manner of old. He was a person you instinctively trusted and never really questioned.
Just then her mom bustled in with a tray.
‘There you go Father, tea with two teaspoons sugar and a hint of mint- just as you like it.’
‘Thank you so much Verity. I was just about to call out for you. I’ve brought something like a gift for Nina. But I would like to see what you have to say about it before I -er- show it to her.’ Answered Verity’s father, returning his daughter’s smile.
Nina let out a cry of protest ‘Oh, come on, Grandpa!’
Verity turned to her daughter, ‘You’ll get late for school. You can see the gift Grandpa’s brought once you come back from school. Go and get dressed. Now.’ Her expression left nothing unsaid.
Twenty minutes later, when Nina came down the stairs she heard her mother’s voice, slightly raised in anger and disbelief ‘My daughter?! What do you mean? Not the one…’ then, in a hushed tone, ‘…it can’t be. Not this child. Not her! You can’t do this!’
‘It’s not me that’s done this Verity. Be reasonable. You can’t put it on me. It is…destiny. It had to be. I didn’t have any hand in it. It is not my choice. We shall have to tell-” ‘What’s that?’ Nina entered the kitchen. She looked from her mother to her grandpa enquiringly.‘What was that all about?’
Her mother quickly wiped off the expression from her face. Putting on a smile, she said, ‘Nothing at all sweetheart. Are you ready already? Her you go. Fruit Loops.’ And she bustled off. But Nina could sense that her mother’s ‘nothing’ had been very much like her own ‘nothing’ yesterday. She wondered what the argument was all about.