Casson Family: Rose's Blog by McKay Hilary

Author:McKay, Hilary [McKay, Hilary]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Hachette Children's
Published: 2015-05-25T04:00:00+00:00

9th September 2010

Michael chose the twins’ names all by himself. He refused to be hurried. ‘They have to be perfect,’ he said. ‘Nothing to do with paint. Nothing to do with Patgonian sea lions …’ (That was Buttercup.) ‘Perfect. It may take some time.’

It took three weeks, but finally there came an afternoon when everyone was at our house, including Saffy’s best friend Sarah, and Tom over from America, and David and Buttercup, dragged in from the garden and one of their endless games of football.

‘Now,’ said Michael, in his best driving instructor’s voice, ‘concentrate and no complaining! That one Sarah just grabbed …’ (it was the pointy eared silver topped one) ‘that’s Jassy!’

‘JASSY?’ repeated everyone. ‘JASSY!’

‘And the other one that Rose is sitting on,’ continued Michael serenely. ‘That’s Juniper!’

‘Jassy and Juniper?’ we kept exclaiming. ‘Jassy and Juniper! JASSY AND JUNIPER!’

There was no complaining, but there was a lot of surprise even though, as Sarah said, Jassy was gorgeous and Juniper perfect for the little dark one.

‘Where did you get those names from then?’ asked Indigo.

‘Old girlfriends,’ said Tom.

‘Never had any,’ said Michael, grinning. ‘They were all young. Every one of them. Mind your own business where I got them from!’

But I dragged it out of him, in private, in the kitchen, after promising never ever to tell.

‘Jassy was my first car,’ admitted Michael. ‘VW. Dark cherry. I loved that car! Juniper …’ he yawned enormously because he was on his fourth week without sleep, ‘Juniper I saw on a bottle of shampoo. Juniper and Mint, but you can’t call a baby Mint, not even in this family. Stop squeaking, Rose!’ he ordered, and fell asleep with his head on the kitchen table.

There is no one like Michael.

I folded up a tea towel for a cushion.

The sounds of this family fill the house. Caddy’s laugh. Saffron and Sarah telling stories in duplicate. ‘Juniper!’ I hear my father say proudly. ‘Look at her hands!’ ‘Jassy is Caddy all over again,’ replies Mum.

David’s voice is the deepest. ‘Penalty shoot-out?’ he asks. ‘T’cup? What about it?’ A moment later they hurry through the kitchen together, hand in hand.

Buttercup and David. They are each other’s heroes.

Indigo is finger picking on a guitar. Tom is humming a bit. Next week he is off to South America. ‘That’s a long way,’ I say when I hear, and Tom looks and looks at me, looks until I cannot look away and says. ‘Yep,’ and asks, ‘So what’s it to you, Permanent Rose?’

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