40. The Easter Eggstravaganza
‘ Here they are,’ whispered Amy to Diane as the procession of pupils came down through the school hall.
‘There’s Oliver. Look at him, isn’t he grown up?’ Diane whispered back. ‘And Harry at the back in his Easter Egg outfit. You did a good job to make that in the middle of moving house.’
‘We had the basics from the Christmas production. We decorated it, and James and Laurie helped,’ she said, even though James hadn’t helped much – his contributions had largely consisted of trips to the craft shop for supplies, while Amy and Laurie had decorated it. ‘I’d packed away half my craft things before we found out about the Easter Eggstravaganza, so it was all a bit last minute. But I’m still quite pleased with how it turned out.’
‘It’s a good job our new house has a big kitchen with plenty of room on the table,’ Matt said. ‘You’d never have managed it in the flat.’ Their new home was a three-bedroomed Victorian terraced house in a village just beyond Saddleton, smaller than Matt’s old home, but bigger than Amy’s flat. It was a temporary solution; a rental until they found somewhere they liked enough to buy together, but it had character aplenty, and a bedroom for each of the boys – not to mention views of the hills behind Saddleton instead of the High Street. That was enough for Amy, and the fact that her three favourite people in the whole world lived there with her.
‘It’s quite a big costume,’ Diane said.
‘Oliver’s enjoying himself,’ Amy whispered to Matt.
‘Yes, he doesn’t look as much like a rabbit in the headlights as he did at Christmas. Not so many lines to learn, for a start. Harry on the other hand …’ There was a definite glint of mischief in Harry’s eyes. He’d tried so hard, though. All through rehearsals he’d stuck to the script, stood where he was told and not even made up a single rude lyric to the Happy Easter Bunny song despite considerable temptation. Surely he wouldn’t mess it all up now?
‘Let’s not talk about Harry’s performance right now. I don’t want to jinx things,’ she replied and curled her toes inside her shoes.
‘From what I’ve seen, Harry has turned a corner. Much more mature and sensible than he was when I first met him,’ Diane proclaimed, almost as if she took personal credit for Harry’s improved behaviour. They had bonded over the preparations to bring Jet home to Saddleton. Harry had told Amy that Diane was the cleverest person he knew, even more than his dad, which was a compliment indeed – though it probably owed something to her wealth of canine knowledge. Diane had looked after the boys for two whole days when Matt and Amy went to Mr Thompson’s funeral, and admitted she’d quite enjoyed their company.
‘They’re starting,’ hissed James from his seat on the other side of Amy. The hall fell silent as the cast of Saddleton Primary Academy’s production of The Egg who Saved Easter climbed onto the stage. Harry stood proudly front and centre in his colourful egg costume.
‘Can you believe it?’ James whispered. ‘It’s less than four months since he lost his part in the Christmas show because he made up those silly words. He’s doing so much better now Laurie and me have helped him learn his part. I’ve always said, if he knows his lines properly he won’t be tempted to make them up like he used to.’
‘Hm. If you say so,’ Amy muttered.
There was a long preamble, where the Easter Bunny and the Easter Chickens talked about who was going to deliver the Easter Eggs to the boys and girls this year. Then Harry stood up for his first speech. He had three speeches in this play, and he thoroughly enjoyed the spotlight. His first speech was one about how delighted he was Easter had arrived, and he took a step to the front of the stage. His eyes lit up as he saw everybody watching him, and he gave his supporters a very unsubtle wink. Even though everything had fallen into place for them, Amy didn’t share Diane and James’s confidence that Harry had matured because their lives had become so much more settled in the last few months.
Harry looked down from the stage at the expectant faces of the grown-ups, all five of them sitting together. He grinned.
Amy recognised the glint of mischief in his eyes, and she had a very, very bad feeling. She crossed everything tightly.
‘I’m a Happy Easter Egg, I’m happy when I see …’ declaimed Harry proudly.
So far so good, the line was correct. She’d underestimated him, and Diane was right. It was going to be okay after all. Everything was going to be just fine. She smiled at Harry, and he gave her a great big grin as he continued:
‘… I’m going to the toilet for a great big steaming –’
‘No, Harry!’ chorused five adult voices at once.
The End.