Sarah rubbed her eyes and could see it was still dark outside. ‘Tommy, it’s far too early, the school won’t be open yet. Go back to bed and get some sleep or you’ll be shattered later.’ She turned over in her bed, but Tommy wasn’t having any of it.

‘Please, Sarah, get up. We’ve got to get ready.’

‘Oh, for goodness’ sake, Tommy. Move then, let me get out of the bed. I can see I’ll be wasting my time trying to sleep with you this excited.’ She swung her legs over the bed and stretched her arms, as she noticed Tommy’s bed was neat and tidy for a change. ‘You’ve made your bed?’ she asked Tommy, surprised.

‘Yes, and I’ve got my bag packed with my paints and marbles, and an apple. You don’t have to come with me today ’cos I’m going with Larry and his mum. Larry said I’ll sit at the desk next to him. He said my teacher is really nice and hardly ever throws the blackboard wiper.’

‘Tommy, do you even know what a blackboard is?’

‘Yeah, the thing the teacher draws on.’

Sarah could tell that Tommy and his friend had obviously been having lengthy discussions about school, and she was pleased that he was so keen to go. She had feared that he’d be scared and put up some resistance, but it looked as though the opposite was true.

A couple of hours later, Tommy skipped out the door, and Sarah realised she was going to miss her little brother. She stood at the front door and watched as he and Larry went running up the street together. It didn’t appear that he was going to miss her quite as much as she would him, although he did give her a brief wave as he ran off.

Sarah went back to their room and sat on the edge of her bed as she drained the last of her tea. Tommy starting school was the beginning of something new for them both. She was nervous and excited at the same time, but before she went to see George about the job with his mum, there was one more thing pressing on her mind. Ron Lyons.

George was really pleased when he spotted Sarah walking towards him with a big grin on her face. It was nice to see her looking happy.

‘Good morning,’ he said. ‘I take it little Tommy got off to school all right then?’

‘Hello, George. Yes, he couldn’t wait to go and had me up at the crack of dawn. Still, it’s nice to see him so contented, albeit a tad excited.’