Goldy Lox/Sulk/Fun/Mummy

From All The Fallen Stories
< Goldy Lox‎ | Sulk‎ | Fun
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"Fuck!" You know it's a very rude word and you'd get a slap if Mummy heard you say it, but you jump up and start getting dressed in double quick time.

Granddad is old and he has strong ideas about how little girls should dress. White pants, white socks and a dress that shows your knees. The nicest one doesn't have sleeves, so you'll have to take a coat to cover your arms. When you get downstairs, Mummy tries to put some order into your unruly hair and tells you that sandals will be okay since it's not muddy.

You put your bright red coat on and she hands you the basket. "There's a ham and some cheese in there, along with the usual salt, sugar, and tea. And I've put an apple in there for you," she tells you. She gives you a kiss, and as you head out of the door she warns you to go straight there and not stray off the path. "There's been a rumour about a wolf, and those pesky bears are always roaming around," she says.

You are still cross about being interrupted and pay no attention as you carry the heavy basket on your arm and walk off into the forest. The path is well-used and quite wide and you have to dodge the heaps of horse manure from when they drag the big logs down to the sawmill. Eventually, you turn off the wide path onto the smaller one that leads to Grampy's cottage.

Although the sun is shining, it's cool under the trees and you are glad of your coat. You can hear birds twittering and rustles as small furry animals run away from you. There are a few flowers growing at the side of the path and in the background, there is the steady hum of bees collecting nectar.

After a while, you come to a fork in the path where you can go right or left around the stump of an oak tree that was felled years ago. You sit on the stump, take a bite of your juicy red apple and just enjoy the solitude. After a while, life starts to return to normal in the forest. A vole scuttles across the path and, further away, a rabbit family starts munching on the grass beside the path.

When you finish your apple, you throw the core into some bushes where, no doubt, it will make a meal for someone. Grampy's cottage is not far away down the path to the right, but you've never been the other way. "Surely it won't hurt to walk a little way along, just to see where it goes," you think.