Alison Knowles
Illustrated by
Sophie Wiltshire
Jessica Kingsley Publishers
London and Philadelphia
School holidays and a
visitor comes to stay
Everyone was really excited, only one more day at school before the summer holiday!
That morning the Captain had to blow his whistle to make everyone behave and settle down.
“Right,” said the Captain. “Let me see, what team do we need today? OK, Ollie, you have your school play, and I know you’re a bit nervous about that.” Nervous appeared peeking out from the duvet. “Don’t worry, Nervous. Come on, Brave, please hold Nervous’ hand.” Brave appeared and gave Nervous a big hug and stood beside him.
“Good,” said the Captain. “Now we also have a spelling test, so we will need Concentration and Calm to get us through that.” Both little superpowers appeared and winked at Ollie.
“Now what else – let me see what we are going to do with you, Excitement. I think we are going to have a problem with you today!”
At that, Excitement started getting bigger and bigger, and as he did Happy appeared and started getting bigger and bigger, and very soon Ollie, the Captain, Brave, Calm and Concentration were squashed in the corner!
The Captain blew his whistle, tapped Calm on the head, and Calm began to grow. As he did, Happy and Excited shrunk down to size.
“Oh dear, Calm,” said the Captain. “You are going to be busy with these two today!”
Ollie crept out of bed laughing, and he and Happy and Excited ran to the door to go and get breakfast. As they reached the door, the Captain banged it shut!
“Aren’t we forgetting something, young Ollie?” said the Captain, looking at Ollie’s unmade bed.
“Oh yes, sorry,” said Ollie, and he and Happy quickly made the bed and tidied his room.
School was fun that day. Everyone was in a really good mood, even the teachers! Everyone was chatting about what they would be doing on their holidays. Ollie’s friend Skye was going to go skiing with her mum and dad in Italy. His friend Harrison was going to go to Spain and stay in a big hotel. Ollie did not know if he was going to go away anywhere. He and his mum did not get to go on holiday like some of his friends, because it was very expensive. Ollie didn’t mind, because he loved spending time with Mr Wilcox and the other grandmas and grandpas at the old people’s home.
That night when Ollie got home he rushed through the door with Excited and Happy.
“Hi Mum! I’m on holiday! Are we going to see Mr Wilcox tonight?”
Ollie had barely finished saying Mr Wilcox, when he was stopped still by Surprised, who had grown very big and was very, very surprised at what he saw as he and Ollie ran into the kitchen. There was his mum preparing tea and, sat at the table, was a little
girl. She was drinking out of Ollie’s special
mug! Ollie just stared at the little girl, and
the little girl just stared at Ollie. “Ah Ollie,
did you have a good day at school? I
would like you to meet my friend’s little
girl. She is going to be staying with
us over the holidays, because her
mummy is not very well and has
had to go into hospital, so we are
going to take care of her. Ollie,
meet Mollie.”
Ollie meets Mollie
“Hello,” said Ollie nervously, because Mollie looked very cross and a bit scary.
“Hello,” said Mollie in a grumpy voice.
“Now Ollie,” said his mum, “Mollie is not from around here, and she doesn’t know anyone, so I want you to take care of her and introduce her to your friends and make her feel at home. Is that all right?”
Ollie shrugged and shuffled his feet, not at all sure he wanted to have a girl staying with them. To be fair Mollie did not look very pleased either.
“We will have a lovely summer together,” said Ollie’s mum, “and we’ll all be best friends!”
Ollie shrugged; Mollie just looked grumpier.
“Right,” said Ollie’s mum, “we will all have our tea, and then I think we will head over and introduce Mollie to Mr Wilcox and Mrs Bowler. Is that OK with you both?”
Mollie shrugged.
Ollie said “I suppose so” in a grumpy voice.
“Good, that’s settled then,” said Ollie’s mum and got on with making dinner.
Despite Mum’s best efforts at getting Ollie and Mollie to talk over dinner, the both of them just ate quietly and both looked very grumpy. Later, when they arrived at the old people’s home, Ollie jumped out of the car and ran towards the house. “Ollie,” yelled his mum, “what about Mollie?”
Ollie sighed. He had already decided he did not like Mollie and really did not want her staying with them or meeting his friends, especially Mr Wilcox, because he was Ollie’s friend, not Mollie’s. He waited for his mum and Mollie to catch up and walked into the big room where the old people drank tea with his head down and feeling very grumpy.
“Well, hello there, young lad,” called Mr Green, the grandpa who cut the grass and made all the hedges into animals with his special hedge cutter. Ollie liked Mr Green, because he said that in every hedge there was an animal or bird hiding, and it only appeared when he cut away the leaves! It did seem like that to Ollie!
“Who’s this with you, young man?”
Ollie shuffled his feet, head down, and muttered quietly, “Mollie.”
“Sorry, what was that, young fella? You have to speak up, as I think I have birds nesting in my ears, and it makes it hard to hear!”
“Mollie,” said Ollie. “Mum says she is staying with us over summer.”
“Well hello, Mollie,”
