We Won an Island by Charlotte Lo

Author:Charlotte Lo [Charlotte Lo]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781788000420
Publisher: Nosy Crow
Published: 2019-07-17T16:00:00+00:00

“I’ve got my first booking!” exclaimed Mum, back at the island that afternoon.

I flopped a fish on to the barbecue. “For what?”

“For my yoga retreat, of course,” she replied.

“For when?” I asked.

“Next weekend. It’s a group of five ladies and two men,” said Mum.

I plucked a blade of grass from our front lawn, and pinched it apart with my fingers. What if the yoga guests found out about the festival? It would be difficult to get everything ready with a bunch of strangers nosing around.

Margot hammered a nail into the bat box she’d been building, and stood back to admire it. “I’ll move the bats’ new roost into the woods.”

“Are you sure next weekend isn’t a bit soon?” I asked Mum. “Wouldn’t it be better if they came in September? Or maybe even October?”

“I’m sure I can be ready by next week,” replied Mum. “Money’s getting a bit tight, so the sooner they come the better. Otherwise we’ll be eating offal and seaweed for the next month.”

Fabien wrinkled his nose. “That sounds vile.”

After lunch, Mum put us in charge of decorating the guest bedrooms. I found a load of leftover paint under the stairs, and sploshed a tin called Sapphire Ducks into a tray. Margot nodded approvingly and said it reminded her of one of the oceans in her flight simulator.

Dad poked his head inside the room, and for a moment I thought he’d got lost.

“Is there a spare paintbrush?” he asked.

Fabien bounced over to him. “You can help me paint the bottom bits if you want,” he said.

I couldn’t believe it. Dad was actually helping! Maybe he’d finally realised how brilliant the island was, and was starting to feel better. I knew it would fix everything.

Dad smeared a line of paint on to the wall. It took him ages to do one tiny patch. He kept going over and over it, until the bristles were clean. About five minutes later, he creaked to his feet and passed me the brush.

“You kids are doing a great job,” he said.

“Are you finished?” I asked.

“I’m a little tired,” he replied, and then he disappeared down the landing.

Fabien put down his paintbrush with a sigh. “I’m going to make some curtains.”

Margot and I carried on painting until the entire room was a shimmering blue. I stood back to admire our work. It looked really good, and perfect for guests.

Fabien came back into the room with an armful of knitting, which I assumed was the start of his curtains. It was the colour of mushy peas, and kind of reminded me of vomit.

“What do you think?” asked Fabien. “Obviously they’ll be a lot bigger when they’re finished.”

“It’s … um … lovely,” lied Margot.

“Green is very fashionable in knitwear this year,” said Fabien. “I want to dye the goats lime-coloured when I tame them.” And he bounded off to go and feed them.

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