James ran into his room, putting on some swimming trunks and taking off his shirt and grabbing a towel. He walked, shirtless, into the girls’ room to see that they too had changed into their bathers and put shorts and a shirt on over the top, Zanna’s, naturally. Zanna was shaking her clothes out of the window, de-sootifying them and Emily was doing the same with the dress that she had chosen to wear that day. She had obviously borrowed a pair of Zanna’s shorts because they looked a bit small for her, as Zanna was shorter than Emily.
“C’mon, let’s go swimming!” he said to the two, who turned around to see him without his shirt on. Zanna smiled, trying not to laugh at Emily’s face, which was blushing quite a bit at the sight.
James had already started sprinting down the stairs and had had a head start before them. Looking over her shoulder and around the immediate area, Zanna could see that the coast was clear. She put her towel on the banisters and got on top, sliding all the way down to the bottom floor where she ran towards the kitchen, Emily running behind her, giggling all the way.
James was the first to reach the lake and he ran straight to the end of the jetty and launched himself into the clear water, soaking himself and anyone who was unfortunate to be near him at that moment.
Zanna quickly took off her shorts and dumped her clothes and towel under a tree and quickly ran to the jetty, from which she did a beautiful dive, barely making a ripple on the water. She swam over to James and waited for Emily to get in.
“Come on in, Emily!” James shouted as he swam over to the bank on which Emily was sat. “The water’s absolutely fantastic!”
Emily merely wanted to sit on the edge of the lake and relax in the warm, summer sun for a while, at least.
“Yeah, you should try it!” Zanna said as she went right up to the bank. “Like this, perhaps…” she said as she brought her arm around in a huge circle, half submerged in water, bringing forth a miniature tidal wave to soak Emily.
“Zanna!” Emily cried in irritation. “You really are something different! There I was thinking you were a human being, but actually, you’re a monkey!” Emily said as she took off her shorts and went to the end of the jetty.
“Well, now that you’re soaked, you should most definitely come in,” James said as he swam over to the end of the jetty. Emily had sat down and was trailing her feet in the water.
“It’s cold, James!” she complained. “If I go in, I would surely catch a cold!”
“Nah, it’s better when you get in!” James said as he pulled himself up onto the jetty, sitting next to Emily.
Meanwhile, cheeky little Zanna had climbed out at the bank when Emily and James had been distracted and was now making her way quietly along the jetty, leaving wet footprints behind her, the sun warming her shoulders as she made her way as quietly as possible. A balmy breeze warmed her also, and she enjoyed the fact that she could be in the warm summer sun, swimming to her heart’s content. She stood over James and Emily, letting her hair drip on them slightly.
“Is it raining?” Emily asked as a drop of water landed on her nose from Zanna’s hair.
“No,” James said as he looked up at the sky. It was clear as anything now and wonderfully blue. That was when a drop fell on him. James started to suspect that something was afoot and he turned around to see none other than Zanna stood behind him.
“Toodle pip!” Zanna said as she pushed James into the water. Emily, by now had realized what was afoot and had risen to her feet, tensing her muscles; ready to run. However, Zanna beat her to it and pushed her in too.
Laughing, Zanna launched herself off the end of the jetty, doing a cannonball into the lake, creating a huge splash as she landed, getting the others wetter than they already were.
Emily was now enjoying the swimming and no longer resented having been pushed in to the water. She swam around in wide circles around Zanna and James, looking for the best place to attack them with a wave. She came up close to Zanna and soaked her, getting an even bigger splash in return from Zanna than the one she had given her.
“Emily, Zanna, follow me!” James said as he swam towards a small stone building that looked out over the lake. There were some stone steps that James clambered out of the water with, Emily and Zanna hot on his tracks.
“Crikey! This place is fantastic!” Zanna exclaimed when she first saw the little boathouse.
“Isn’t it just?” James said, smiling proudly. “My Mother and Nanny used to come down here all the time to clean it out when we stayed here. To be honest, Nanny still comes down once a month to make sure it’s ok.”
He walked further into the boathouse, striking a match and lighting a candle that had been conveniently left on a stone ledge on the wall, presumable by Nanny, casting a small, flickering glow over the stones on the walls, reflecting in the gently lapping water. James walked over to a small shape that was at the back of the boathouse. Zanna had recognized it immediately and ran to James, going over to inspect the small, wooden sailing boat that was moored therein.
“Holy Muffins!” Zanna exclaimed, earning a weird look from James. “Oh come on, people say ‘holy mackerel’ and I couldn’t say mackerel when I was five and it came out as muffins!” Said Zanna, blushing furiously. “Anyway, this boat is beautiful! Too bad the light won’t hold for much longer. I would have sailed out with you to one of the islands in the lake. We’ll do it tomorrow, should there be a favourable wind.”
After an hour or so of playing around in the lake, the children became tired and got out of the water, now shivering as the sun had long gone down.
The children got out and wrapped their towels around them, drying themselves off and warming themselves up. Zanna was the quickest to warm up, and was soon behind a bush, changing back into her clothes. Emily and James were sat chatting, suspecting nothing, when Zanna plopped on her admiral’s hat again and fired a soot bomb with her catapult at the jumper that James was now wearing.
Emily was in fits of laughter again as James got ‘bombed’. Trust Zanna! She thought to herself as she ran away from Zanna’s catapult range.
The trio returned to the manor house, just in time for dinner. They were sent upstairs to get themselves cleaned up when they came into the kitchen through the back door, feet covered in mud. They had had to wash their feet off at the door before they were allowed into the house.
Zanna bounded down the stairs, excited at the prospect of something to eat that smelled so delicious. Following her was Emily, who was having a rough time trying to comb her hair and then James was sliding down the banisters, much to Zanna’s irritation, for she was now wearing a dress, as Nanny had told her that she had to look presentable at meal times.
They had a delicious dinner of some fantastic Vegetable turnovers and with Rock Buns for dessert and were sent off to go and do whatever they felt like. Emily and James were quite scared when Nanny had told them that they could do what they wanted, for they knew that if Zanna was left to her own devices, anything could happen. Zanna, on the other hand, was quite exhausted. She had spent a good deal of her day running about or swimming or being up to some sort of tomfoolery and then had eaten such a splendid meal and had decided that she wasn’t up to any more mischievous acts, much to James and Emily’s mutual relief.
They all sat in James’ room that evening, chatting about what they thought life would be like for them for however long they were there.
“So, what’s your family like, Zanna?” James said as he sucked on a sweet that Zanna had, yet again, produced from her pockets.
“Well, I have a brother who is seven years older than me, so he is currently twenty-one. He was called up for the war and is serving in the RAF as a fighter pilot. I don’t see him much, ‘cause he’s always off somewhere or other doing this or that. Then there’s my dear old ma, who sells sweets in her sweetshop. I help out there from time to time, and, if I had been particularly good one day, I would get sweets.” Zanna paused to suck on her sweet whilst Emily and James exchanged glances, unable to believe that Zanna could ever be a good girl. “Then there’s me Pa,” she said, getting the two’s attention again. “He’s a Latin teacher at some boarding school. We only see him in the holidays; because he lives at work, see?” At this point, Zanna began to tear up a little, saddened by the thought of the possibility that she might not see her family for a long time. She drew a handkerchief from her pocket and blew her nose noisily. “Anyway, what’s your family like, Emily?” she said, turning her head to Emily once she had regained her composure.
Emily bowed her head slightly, thinking about the single member of her family that she missed.
“Well... I have no brothers or sisters, and as a result of that, my father was my best friend while I was growing up. He was a tailor. He was the best in our area but then he was called out to war. I remember standing at the station, watching him leave in his uniform. I miss him terribly. My mother... Ah...” She shook her head. “I don't quite know what to tell you about her. She would sell the clothes in my father's shop while he made them. She was unhappy married to him, and I would often lie awake all night, listening to them arguing. She never saw me as her daughter, but more a stranger who she was obliged to take care of. I was never, ever close to her. It was always my father who would take care of me, and read me stories at night, and divide bags of sweets so I'd always get the bigger half. My mother hated my father. She was glad to see the back of him.” Emily said bitterly, clenching her jaw in anger. She looked up at Zanna and James.
Zanna looked away from Emily, unable to meet her eye, feeling immensely sorry for her friend. Emily, however, turned her gaze to James whose eyes showed that he was far away from them as he thought. His face was unreadable and it was unclear what he was thinking. Zanna saw the look that Emily gave James, and she could see the emotion in Emily’s eyes. She went over to Emily and hugged her.
“Emily, at least you've got us, we'll be your family!” Zanna said, in an attempt to cheer Emily up. “You know, after 2 days of knowing you two, I feel incredibly close to you. I've never had a best friend apart from my brother and Clara, so I'm happy that I have you two. Now,” she said, moving backwards and turning to face both James and Emily. It was evident that James didn’t want to talk about his family, especially with the recent news that he had received of his Mother’s death. It was also clear that he had no intentions whatsoever to talk of his Father. “Shall I teach you two to sail tomorrow?” Zanna continued. “It looks like a favourable wind and it will be perfect to teach you how to sail a boat!”
Emily grinned at Zanna, who was always good at providing a distraction from anything that was depressing. She stood up off the bed and nodded.
“Yes, I think we should go sailing tomorrow. It would be good fun to go out on the lake. But Zanna, promise me something, you must swear to me that you won’t drown us all!” Emily said with a mock grave expression on her face, earning a chuckle from James and Zanna. “I’m serious. If you drown us, I’ll kill you and then eat you in a sandwich!”
“How can you kill me if you’re already dead?” Zanna said, cheekily, sticking out her tongue. All the children burst into laughter at Zanna’s cheek. A screech from downstairs brought them back to Earth.
“Get to bed, all of you! It was lights out ten minutes ago!” cried Nanny from the bottom floor.
Shrugging, Zanna got up, grabbed Emily and went to the door.
“’Night, James. See you tomorrow. Be ready for sailing at eight in the morning!” Zanna said as she walked out of the room, Emily in tow.
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