TBaby/The Thatcher Family/Veronica
You're in your bedroom, playing with Molly when someone knocks on the door. When you go out to see who it is, you see Mum standing there talking to a boy. You think you know him, but it's not until he speaks that you remember going to his house. His mum helped your Mum when you first moved in and you went to his house and he sat on the floor with you building towers out of wooden blocks. He didn't mind a bit when you knocked them down.
She's asking him lots of questions like "how old are you," and "have you done it before?" You're not sure what's going on so you go over and stand beside her, looking up at the boy.
Mum steps back and bumps you so that you sit down on the floor. "Sorry baby," she says and scoops you up before you even have time to protest.
Now that you're up high you can see the boy better. "Hello Veronica," he says.
"We call her Ronnie," Mum says and walks over to sit down on the couch with you on her lap. The boy comes in too and sits down in the armchair. "This is Jason," Mum says. "He's going to be looking after you when Mummy goes out. You don't understand what she means; "who's going out? Who is Jason?"
"Hello Ronnie," he says and smiles at you.
"Say hello," Mum says.
"Hewo," you say and mum slides you off her lap onto the floor and you stand up in front of her looking at the strange boy. You go into your bedroom to find your blocks. They live in a little box with wheels so it's easy to push them back into the other room. When Jason sees you, he laughs, sits down on the floor and start helping you to build towers.
"Show him how many you can stack up," Mum says and you start putting them one on top of the other while Mum and Jason count. You get up to seven and you can see they are going wonky, but it's hard to get straight and when you put the next one on they all fall over, so you start again. Jason gets down on the floor with you and helps you get them straight so that this time you can get more on.
When you get bored with the blocks, you go and fetch Molly. She's quite big and it's hard to hold her and walk at the same time and when you get back to Jason, you trip on one of the bricks and fall over onto his lap. You're a bit scared at first, but he doesn't seem to mind at all and sticks his legs out to make you more comfortable. "So what's her name," he asks.
"Molly."
"It's her first proper doll," Mum says. "Grandma gave it to her for her third birthday." All you can remember about grandma is that she wears glasses and smells funny, but you like it that she gave you Molly.
"May I have a look at her," Jason says and, reluctantly, you give her to him. He tries to stand her up, but her legs are a bit twisted, so he straightens them, but she still falls over and we can see right up underneath her dress. "Oh dear, I think she forgot to put her knickers on this morning," Jason says. That makes you giggle for some reason.