Beverly was washed, dressed and sitting at her mirror applying a little make-up by the time her husband entered the bathroom. She smiled to herself, he had always been slow. The sounds of crying came from another room; it was Bethan, their six month old daughter. Beverly put down her foundation puff and started towards the doorway. The crying got louder as she entered the pastel pink nursery. She made her way over to the beautifully decorated cot and leaned into it to pick up Bethan. The cot had been a preset from Dave’s mum. She had bought it for them at the start of Beverly’s pregnancy; Dave’s mum had terminal cancer and knew she wouldn’t live for more than a couple of months. Sadly, she had died a few days before the birth of her grandchild. Bethan stopped crying once her mum put her dummy back in. ‘She ok?’ asked Dave as he came into the nursery washed and dressed. ‘She’s fine, just needed to see a friendly face. Bet you she wants feeding as well don’t you?’ Bethan just stared up towards her parents as the started to coo her and blow raspberries. ‘Bet she thinks we’re a right old pair doesn’t she’ laughed Dave ‘No, she probably thinks you are a weirdo though making those strange noises actually’ Beverly retaliated as she poked Dave in the ribs. ‘Oi, you watch it!’ Dave whispered as he kissed Beverly’s neck. ‘I’ll get some milk warmed for you’. He trod carefully out the room. After she had changed Bethan’s nappy, taken off her bed clothes and changed her into a cool and summery little dress, Beverly went into her two sons’ bedroom to wake them. Andrew was already awake, just lying there staring up at the wooden slats of the bunk above him were his twin Jack was asleep. ‘You going to get up love?’ she said. ‘Bethan woke me up’ frowned Andrew. ‘I know, she’ll learn to control her lungs soon, but until then you’ll have to put up with it, sorry darling’ Beverly kissed his forehead. Shifting the sleeping child onto her other hip she straightened up and gently pulled the covers off Jack. She took his thumb out of his mouth and shook him. ‘Jack, Jack, time to get up hunny’ He turned over and put his thumb back into his mouth. She sighed and left the room, Andrew was already getting dressed. Downstairs she sat at the table and started feeding Bethan her bottle that Dave had made. ‘Can you make sure the boys get up and dressed please love?’ She asked ‘Andrew is getting dressed but Jack’s still in bed’ She added as he made his way to the stairs ‘Oh and can you get their swimming short out-bottom of their draws’ she smiled.
‘So we can’t go to the seaside?’ moaned Jack stamping his foot after he was told their planned day trip was cancelled ‘Come on mate, don’t make this any harder than it is, you can see the weather, it’ll rain soon and it’ll be all cold at the beach, you’ll freeze!’ Dave lifted up Jacks chin ‘ay?’ ‘hhmm, its just not fair, me and Andrew were going to build a sand castle and then we were going to play in the sea and splash each other and then we were going to say hello to the crabs and then you were going to buy us an ice cream and we were all going to sit on the blanket together’ he looked up hopefully ‘Can we go?’ Dave tickled Jacks chin and smiled leniently, ‘Like I said mate, the weather is too bad, maybe tomorrow’ Jack started to look very disappointed indeed, but then his face broke out into a wide ear-to-ear grin ‘Can we play monopoly then? Please please please! Please can we Daddy?’ He started swinging round Dave’s legs and jumping up and down. To Dave this was easy was his ticket out of a ‘let down your son situation’: ‘Yeah sure mate, go and get the box then, I’ll fetch Mum and the rest of them’ Soon enough, they were all sitting down on the shag-pile rug, handing round dollar notes and little metal figures. Monopoly had always been the twin’s favourite game; they had played it so much the box was now old, battered and tatty. Maybe this wasn’t going to be a waste of a day after all?
As they turned the corner of Lindell Drive, the two boys waved to their house ‘Bye house, see you when we come back!’ they squealed. Now that they were actually on their way to the sea side they were even more excited. They could hardly sit still to eat their breakfast and were uncontrollable when Dave loaded the car with the cool box full of Tuna sandwiches and Fruit, bags of Buckets and spades. Beverly bobbed Bethan up and down on her knee as she stood just outside the front door, hoping to get her to sleep for most of the journey. After about one hour of driving down the long and winding motor ways, they heard a sharp bang. What was it? The parents exchanged uneasy look as not to disturb or frighten the three sleeping children in the back. Dave decided to travel the short distance on wards and look for a lay by. Luckily, one came just a few miles ahead, thought whilst driving there, with the difficulty of the steering and the lopsided effect of the car, Dave guessed they had run over something sharp and burst a tyre. He was hoping this was not the case though, as they had no spare in their boot. As the car gradually pulled to a halt, Dave and Beverly stepped out and gently shut the front doors. True enough, the rear passenger tyre had burst; it was saggy and deflated, bulging out on the floor. Beverly shook her head ‘Does this mean were going home love?’ ‘Yeah, sorry’ he replied cuddling his wife. ‘Its ok, not your fault, do you need to call the AA; my phones in the car’ ‘Yeah please darling’ He looked again at the tyre as she fetched her phone. As he stood outside to make the phone call to get the AA to come and pick them up, Beverly glanced in the mirror at her sleeping children, imagining how disappointed they would be when they broke up. Hopefully, to save any aggravation and fuss in the car, they would be able to get home before they woke?
After two long and draughty games of monopoly Beverly needed to feed Bethan her bottle, and Dave said he’d put the kettle on so the twins were left to play amongst themselves. Dave turned the small portable TV on that was on the kitchen counter just in time to catch the last of the weather ‘and so that means that the heavy clouds you will be seeing are only there to spoil your day (the weather man laughed) they will be passing over and heading North and breaking up once they reach Scotland…’ ‘Did you hear that Dave?’ Beverly asked ‘Do you recon we could go to the beach now?’ She grinned. ‘I should think so’ he said peering out of the window. ‘The rain clouds do seem to have cleared already’ he smiled ‘I’ll tell the boys and then re-pack the car’ He wandered threw to the living room with a smile on his face and a spring his step.
As the tow-truck pulled up outside their detached house, Dave thanked the man as he stepped out the truck to get the winch of the front of their family car. Beverly picked up Bethan and put her on her hip and shook the twins who were holding hands and nestled together in the back seat of the truck gently. They woke with a start. ‘Where are we mum?’ Jack asked. ‘Why aren’t we at the beach’ moaned Andrew, tears forming in his eyes. ‘I’m sorry darlings’ she said as they were helped out of the truck by the tattooed man ‘The car got a flat tyre and we’ve had to come home, once its fixed we can go tomorrow maybe love’ Tears started to roll continuously down poor Andrews cheeks. Jack looked at the pavement and shuffled his size 4 feet uneasily. Dave joined them and led the boys and his wife back into the house. Unlocking the door he felt so guilty, he felt ashamed some how, he should have kept the spare tyre in the boot, for he had taken it out to allow more room for the bits they had packed for the sea side. The twins trooped off to their room muttering something about playing monopoly or something before they left. Dave turned to Beverly and watched her as she put Bethan down on the sofa. ‘I’m sorry love’ he stuttered with a small lump in his throat. ‘Don’t worry, it’s not your fault’ she said. He moved closer and gave her a hug, stroking her silky hair and taking in the smell of her shampoo. How could he of been so silly as not to travel with a spare tyre? For now he had to settle with the consequence; three upset kids and a day indoors.
As they zoomed down the motor way towards the beach they all chatted happily about things. Dave about how he could try out his new surfboard, Beverly about the tan she was trying to get, and Andrew and Jack playfully argued about who was going to build a bigger sand castle. After a while when the volume of the chatter died down, Dave turned on the radio. One of their favourite songs came on; Britney Spears sang it. They all joined in, swaying slightly, all of the out of tune but none of them caring. Happy families! Dave glanced in his rear mirror as he turned the roundabout to look at his two sons singing delightfully. But he looked for a second too long. Beverly screamed as she saw the oncoming accident; a car was heading straight for them, second to impact. Dave braked but it was no good. The other car rammed into the passenger side of the car, instantly killing Beverly. The car flipped over onto its side and span round a couple of times. The boys screamed in the back and Dave tried to put his hand behind him to hold their hands. He could hear Bethan crying uncontrollably. He couldn’t see her though. The car came to rest a couple of seconds later. All that could be heard was the sound of Bethan crying. Blood was all over the car, from Beverly chest. Jack turned gently to look at his brother but although Andrew was facing him, he wasn’t looking at him. His eyes were cold and hard, staring straight through him, he was dead. Jack cried. ‘Dad?’ he whispered. No reply. ‘Mum?’ he whispered. No reply. Happy Families? Maybe they still would be if they had stayed at home
By Lucy Hughes
