Charlie said, “I think we’ve shaken them off, lads. Oh, hello, girls, what a lovely surprise!”

I sneaked a look up. Jo was still snogging Phil. For someone who couldn’t walk he certainly seemed to have quite a lot of strength in his lips. Ben and Jack were smoothing their hair down and smiling. Vaisey had gone all red and couldn’t look at Jack. Charlie gave me a wide smile and a thumbs-up.

Jo stopped snogging Phil and hit him on the arm. She shouted, “I’ve been really worried about you!!!”

Phil said, “I know but it’s taken me over an hour to crawl here with this ball and chain. It’s been hell.”

Jo hugged him again.

I don’t really think it’s right to chain boys up, even if they are Phil.

Only Flossie was calm. She said, “Nice to see you, boys. You sure look all tuckered out. Fortunately I’ve got an emergency stash of Jazzles. Anyone want one?”

Phil made a startling recovery by jumping to his feet, picking up his ball and chain, and leaping over to Flossie. “Oh yeah, dreams do come true . . . snogging and Jazzles!”

Jo looked amazed. Not quite as amazed as when Phil started kicking the ball on the end of his chain, doing keepie-uppie with it.

We should have been cross, but it really made us laugh.

Phil said, “I know, lifelike, isn’t it? You never know when a rubber ball and chain will come in handy.”

Jo punched him on the arm again. Phil said, “You cheeky scamp.”

And that’s when she got him in a headlock.

Vaisey and Jack quietly sloped off and sat on a tree stump together. Flossie zoned in on Ben, which made his fringe go very floppy. She pinned him against a tree with an arm above his head. This time he looked like a pleased but very startled earwig.

So that just left me and Charlie.

Please don’t let me start the mad Irish dancing.

Charlie came closer. “So are you pleased to see us? We made a mad dash for it when the fire alarms went off.”

I started to say, “Yep, I really am glad to see you. . . . It’s nice to see you. Did you do anything nice at the weekend?”

Charlie smiled more. “Er, yes, thanks. Not much happened, us being under house arrest. Yourself?”

“Well, yes, quite a few things happened. Well, two things happened. Well, no, it’s more like three things happened . . .”

What am I talking about?

In the distance we heard a dog whistle and Charlie said, “Tallulah, I’m longing to hear about the ‘things that happened’—I love your ‘things.’ I don’t always know what you’re talking about, but I love them . . . but we have to get back now. Hoppy can’t keep this punishment thing up for much longer; once he realizes that we’re all grown-ups and can be trusted we’ll be out to play again. Then you can tell me about all the things that have happened.”