‘Oh, Avril, you’re a star,’ said Mum, giving her a hug.
‘You’re my all-time favourite auntie even if we’re not exactly related,’ I said, giving her a hug too.
I wanted to hug Cream Puff as well but she was busy gobbling up her breakfast and wouldn’t be distracted.
We lugged our cases into the car and thanked Auntie Avril for letting us stay overnight.
‘Well, if you get into totally dire straits you’d better come back, Gerry or no Gerry,’ she said. ‘And thanks for the cookies, girls. They were a lovely surprise. They’re very good, Dilys. I thought you couldn’t cook!’
‘Mum’s the greatest cookie cook in the whole world,’ I said. ‘And I’m learning fast, so maybe I’m the second greatest!’
We drove off, Auntie Avril standing on her doorstep under her hanging basket of petunias, waving and waving until we turned the corner.
‘So, which seaside shall we pick?’ said Mum. ‘Brighton’s fun.’
I remembered Brighton from a day trip.
‘It’s too big and busy and the beach is all pebbles,’ I said. ‘Let’s find a sandy seaside place.’
‘OK,’ said Mum. ‘Well, we’ll drive due south and see what we find. If we tip over into the sea we’ll know we’ve gone too far.’
We couldn’t go directly south all the time because the roads wiggled around and once or twice we had to stop the car and peer hard at the map. I couldn’t read it when we were driving along because it made me feel sick. I wasn’t much better sorting out the route when we were stopped. I kept squinting at red roads and yellow roads and little spidery black roads, trying to work out which one we were on.
‘Don’t worry, babes, we’ll make it to the seaside somehow,’ said Mum. ‘Bournemouth’s very sandy. And Bognor. Which one shall we aim at?’
I peered at the map. A name in tiny print suddenly swam into focus.
‘Oh, Mum! Not Bournemouth, not Bognor. I’ve found a place here right by the sea and guess what it’s called: Rabbit Cove! Oh, Mum, please let’s go to Rabbit Cove!’
‘I’ve never even heard of it. Let’s see where it is.’ Mum squinted at the map. ‘It’s obviously a very small place, not a proper town. I wonder why it’s got such a funny name? You don’t get rabbits at the seaside, do you?’
‘I think it must be because of the shape of the cove. See those two sticking-out bits of land? They look like rabbit’s ears!’ I said.
‘So they do! OK, OK, we’ll go and have a look at Rabbit Cove if you’ve set your heart on it, though I’m not sure there’ll be anywhere to stay there.’
I tried hard to keep us on a direct route now, peering at the map as Mum drove, though I started to feel horribly travel sick.
‘Open your window a bit – and sit back and close your eyes,’ said Mum.
I did as I was told because all the world outside the window had started spinning and I kept yawning and swallowing spit. It seemed to be spinning inside my own head now. I was falling down and down and down into a scary black nothingness.
I called and called for Mum but she wasn’t there. And then I called for Dad and I could hear him calling back. I struggled to get closer to him, reaching out, but then a light flashed on his face and I saw it was screwed up with rage.
‘You don’t want me and I don’t want you, because you’re ugly ugly ugly,’ he shouted.
He shoved me hard and I tumbled on downwards, mile after mile, but I could still hear him shouting ugly. Other voices joined in. Skye and Arabella and Emily were shouting it, all the girls in my class, even Rhona, and I started crying, my hands over my ears . . .
‘Beauty! Beauty, sweetheart, wake up. It’s all right, Mum’s here.’
I blinked in sudden dazzling daylight. Mum leaned over and pulled my head onto her shoulder.
‘Oh, Mum, I couldn’t find you!’ I sobbed.
‘It was just a horrible nightmare, darling, that’s all. You were crying out and tossing about. I had to stop driving,’ said Mum.
‘We’re driving?’ I said stupidly. Then everything snapped properly into place. ‘Oh yes, we’re going to Rabbit Cove!’
‘Yes, we are – and we’re nearly there! You’ve been asleep a long time. OK now, pet?’ Mum wiped my nose with her tissue as if I was two years old.
‘I’m sorry to be such a baby,’ I said, feeling ashamed.
‘You’re not a baby, darling! You’re ever so grown up, much more than me. There now, let’s get cracking. Rabbit Cove, here we come. Penny for the first one to see the sea.’
I sat up properly and we edged out of the layby back onto the road. I still felt a bit weird but Mum had the window right down and I breathed in deeply. We were on one of the yellow roads now, surrounded by fields of corn and barley, gentle rolling hills purple in the distance. And then I saw a dazzle of brilliant blue . . .
‘The sea, the sea! I spotted it first! You did say a pound for the first one to see it, didn’t you?’
‘No, I didn’t! A penny, you cheeky baggage.’
Mum slowed down when we got to the next road sign. We could stay on the main road and go to Seahaven – or turn down a little lane marked Rabbit Cove!
‘OK, OK, we’ll make for Rabbit Cove,’ said Mum.
‘You bet!’
‘Don’t be too disappointed if there’s nothing much there, sweetheart,’ said Mum. ‘We can just have a little wander and then make for Seahaven. I think that’s a proper seaside town so we should be able to find a little bed-and-breakfast place there.’
We turned down the lane for Rabbit Cove. There were tall trees growing on high banks on either side of us, their branches joining to make a dark green canopy overhead. Then there was a sign to a little farm, and then driveways to houses, then a whole street of little terraced houses with pebbles stuck on the walls. Then the shops started, a small supermarket, a dress shop, a little gallery, a newsagent’s, an off-licence, an antique shop with a rocking chair outside, and a tearoom called Peggy’s Parlour.
‘Oh, we’ll definitely go and have a cup of tea in Peggy’s Parlour,’ said Mum, giggling. ‘It all looks so old-fashioned. I do hope Peggy herself is a little old lady in a black dress with a frilly white apron, tottering around writing everybody’s orders in a little notebook tied to her waist.’
‘You are daft, Mum. Don’t let’s go there yet though. I want to see the sea.’
‘OK, OK, stop bouncing around in your seat!’
We drove on past a proper restaurant, a pub, and a white hotel with a big green lawn and several swings.
‘See, there is a hotel! Oh Mum, can we stay there?’
‘Maybe. It might be a bit expensive.’
‘But Auntie Avril’s given us heaps of money.’
‘It might have to last us a long time until I manage to get a job,’ said Mum. She nibbled at her lip. ‘Beauty, what can I do? Jobwise, I mean. I’ve only ever been a receptionist, and I was hopeless.’
‘You could do heaps of things, Mum,’ I said. ‘You could . . . be a cookie baker.’
It was a little joke to make Mum laugh. She smiled at me. ‘OK, that’s what I’ll do,’ she said.
She turned down a steep little lane towards the seafront. There were more houses now with sloping gardens. Some of the houses had BED AND BREAKFAST signs.
‘We could say in one of these,’ I said.
‘OK, we’ll pick one later,’ said Mum.
We drove downwards, round another bend, Mum’s foot hard on the brakes – and then we were at the seafront.
‘Oh, Mum!’ I said.
‘Oh, Beauty!’ said Mum.
Rabbit Cove was perfect. There was a high cliff on either side (the rabbit’s ears) sheltering a beautiful cove of soft golden sand. There was hardly anyone on the beach, just a few families with little kids running about trailing seaweed and sticking flags in sandcastles. An old-fashioned artist with a beard and a baggy blue shirt was sitting up on the little white wall, painting. At the other end of the wall there was a sm
all car park, a little wooden hut for toilets, and a beach shop-cum-café festooned with buckets and spades and an old tin ice-cream sign spinning outside.
‘It’s just like a picture in an old story book!’ I said. ‘It’s so lovely!’
I couldn’t be sure I wasn’t making it all up. I closed my eyes, counted to three, and opened them again. Rabbit Cove was still there, serenely beautiful.
‘I’m so pleased it’s lovely,’ said Mum. ‘I was hoping and hoping it would be and yet sure it would be this ropy old pebbly place, all grey and ugly.’
‘Maybe I’m still dreaming?’ I said. ‘And you’re dreaming it too, Mum.’
‘Well, let’s park the car and then we’ll have a little run on the beach. If you can feel the sand between your toes you’re definitely wide awake,’ said Mum.
We put the car in the little car park. I delved into my suitcase for my drawing book and new felt tips and then we went on the beach. I kicked my shoes off and wiggled my toes in the soft powdery sand.
‘I’m definitely not dreaming!’ I said.
Mum kicked her own sandals off and did the same. ‘Doesn’t it feel great!’ she said. ‘Here, roll your jeans right up, Beauty. We’ll go and have a paddle.’
We ran across the sand, slowing as it became hard and damp, and then both of us shrieking as the first wave washed round our ankles.
‘It’s absolutely freezing!’ Mum said. ‘I think you can be the chief paddling girl, babes. I’ll sit and watch.’
Mum sat back on the soft sand looking after my felt tips for me while I waded around up to my knees, jumping waves, stooping to search for shells, walking up and down the little ridges in the wet sand. When I went back to Mum I was soaked right up to my bottom but she just laughed at me.
‘They’ll dry soon enough. That’s what the sun’s for! Are you hungry, sweetheart? Shall we have a picnic? Wait here!’
Mum sprang up and went skipping over the sands, not bothering to put her sandals on. She went into the beach shop. When she came out she was carrying two huge whippy ice creams with a big carrier bag over her arm.
‘The ice creams are for pudding but we’ll have to eat them first or they’ll melt.’
Mum sat down cross-legged and we licked our ice creams appreciatively. Each ice had two chocolate flakes and a little blob of raspberry sauce.
‘They’re a Rabbit Cove special,’ said Mum. ‘The chocolate flakes are meant to be ears and the jam blob is a little bunny nose.’
‘Yum!’ I said, eating all the distinguishing features of my rabbit face.
When we’d finished our ice creams Mum produced two cheese salad rolls, two packets of salt-and-vinegar crisps, two mini chocolate rolls, two apples, two bananas and two cartons of orange juice.
‘This isn’t a picnic, it’s a veritable feast!’ I said, clapping my hands. ‘There’s only one thing missing – cookies!’
‘We should have kept a few of Avril’s cookies. I’m sure she’s not going to munch her way through the whole batch,’ said Mum. ‘Oh well, I’ll have to try and make some more some time.’
We ate all our wonderful lunch and then Mum lay back on the sand, using her handbag as a pillow. I trickled sand on her feet and she giggled sleepily, shutting her eyes. She was asleep in seconds. I wondered about burying her legs in the sand, but it was too soft and slithery to cling.
I tried to make a sandcastle, using my hands as scoops, but I needed the damp sand nearer the sea and I didn’t want to leave Mum alone. I got out my drawing pad and felt tips and drew a sandcastle instead. I made it a huge sand palace with pinnacles and domes and towers. I had a sand princess with long golden hair peering out of her tower window, waving at the mermaids swimming in the moat around the castle. All the mermaids had very long hair right down to their scaly tails. I had a blonde, a brunette and a redhead and then experimented with emerald-green, purple and electric-blue long wavy hair. I gave them matching jewellery and fingernails and thought they looked gorgeous, if a little unusual.
I studded the mermaid moat with starfish and coral flowers and decorated the palace with seashells in elaborate patterns. The princess looked a little lonely even though she had the mermaids for company, so I drew more people looking out of the windows. I drew a queen mother with even longer golden hair, a best-friend princess with short black hair, and a handsome prince with a crown on his floppy brown hair. He was holding a very special royal rabbit who had a tiny padded crown wedged above her floppy ears.
Mum turned on her side, opened her eyes and yawned.
‘Have you been drawing? Let’s have a look. Oh, darling, that’s lovely! It’s so detailed. I must have been asleep ages.’ Mum sat up and stretched. ‘Shall we go and have a little walk round and explore Rabbit Cove?’
We stood up and brushed ourselves down. We didn’t have a towel with us to get all the sand off our feet but when we got to the little wall Mum sat us down and rubbed our feet with the hem of her dress.
‘Here,’ said the artist, holding out one of his painting rags. ‘Use this. I’ve got heaps.’
‘That’s very sweet of you,’ said Mum. ‘This is a lovely spot, isn’t it?’
‘Yes. I must have painted it hundreds of times but I never get sick of it,’ said the artist.
He was quite old and quite fat, with a smiley face and a little soft beard. He wore a big blue shirt and old jeans dappled with paint and surprising scarlet baseball boots.
‘Are you admiring my funky boots?’ he said, seeing me staring.
‘I’d like a pair like that,’ I said shyly.
I stuck my feet in my own boring sandals and sidled towards him, keen to see his painting. It was very bright, the sky and sea a dazzling cobalt blue, the sand bright ochre yellow. I wondered if that was the way he really saw the soft grey-blue and pale primrose cove. He’d painted the children paddling, the families chatting – and right in the middle of his canvas there was a lovely blonde woman lying asleep, a plump little girl by her side, her head bent over her drawing pad.
‘You’ve painted us!’ I said.
The artist smiled.
‘Oh, God, let’s have a look,’ said Mum, banging her sandals together and slipping them on her feet. She peered at the canvas, giggling.
‘Oh dear, you’ve painted me fast asleep!’ She squinted closely at the painting. ‘You’ve drawn me with my mouth open, like I’m dribbling!’
‘No I haven’t! And anyway you looked lovely lying back like that.’ He turned to me. ‘You were drawing a long time.’
‘Oh, Beauty loves drawing. She’s ever so good at it,’ said Mum.
‘No I’m not,’ I mumbled. I wished Mum hadn’t told him my stupid name.
‘Yes you are. I shouldn’t wonder if she ends up a proper artist like you,’ said Mum.
‘I’m not a proper artist. I wish I was! No, I just like painting.’ He looked at me. ‘You’ve seen my work. Can I see yours?’
‘Oh no, mine’s silly. It’s just made-up stuff,’ I hedged.
‘Go on, show him, Beauty,’ said Mum.
I opened up my drawing pad and flashed my sand picture at him bashfully.
‘Oh my goodness! Let’s have a proper look.’ He took the drawing back from me and peered closely at my picture.
‘I know it’s silly and babyish,’ I said. ‘I was just sort of fooling around. I know you don’t really get rabbits with crowns and mermaids with green and purple hair. Well, mermaids aren’t real anyway, obviously.’
‘That’s the whole point of painting though. We can imagine the world the way we want it,’ he said. ‘I think you’re very talented, Beauty. Is that your real name?’
‘Poor Beauty hates her name,’ said Mum. ‘You can call her Cookie if you like. That’s her new nickname.’
‘I think Beauty’s much more distinctive,’ said Mike. ‘What’s your name? Total Delight? Ravishing? Gorgeous?’
Mum laughed. ‘I’m Dilys – but everyone calls me Dilly.’
‘I’m Mike.’
We all nodded and smiled and then stood a little foolishly, not knowing what to say next.
‘So . . . are you here for a day out?’ Mike asked.
‘We’re here on a little holiday,’ said Mum.
‘Oh, lovely. You’re staying here in Rabbit Cove?’ said Mike.
‘Oh yes,’ I said.
‘At the hotel or a guest house?’ Mike asked.
Mum and I looked at each other.
‘Sorry! I didn’t mean to be nosy,’ said Mike.
‘No, no, it’s just we haven’t quite decided where we’re staying yet,’ said Mum. ‘Maybe we should go and do that straight away, Beauty? Oh heavens, I hope they’re not all fully booked.’
‘It’s not the proper holiday season yet. You should be fine,’ said Mike. ‘There’s just the one proper hotel in Rabbit Cove but there are lots of bed-and-breakfast guest houses.’
‘That’s what we’d prefer. Could you recommend a particular one, seeing as you’re local?’ said Mum.
‘I’ll do my best,’ said Mike. ‘There’s a row of them just up the hill in Primrose Terrace. I’ll come with you if you like. I’ve finished my painting for today.’
He let me help screw up all the tubes of oil paint and fit them carefully in their box.
‘I love the smell of oil paint and the way it’s so thick and shiny,’ I said.
‘Have you ever used oil paints yourself?’ Mike asked.
‘No. Dad doesn’t let me have paints,’ I said without thinking.
I wished I hadn’t said Dad. It suddenly stopped being a holiday. I started to feel scared and sad all over again.
Mike was looking at me carefully.
‘Tell you what – if you’re around the beach tomorrow you can come and have a daub with me. I’ll give you your own little bit of canvas, OK? Is that all right with you, Dilly?’
‘It’s very kind of you.’
We went to get the car, Mike walking with us.
‘Do you think the bed-and-breakfast places will have their own car park?’ said Mum.
‘There’s a little alleyway behind the terrace of houses. You can park the car there. I’ll show you if you like.’