In the apple house and in the other houses, of course the girls had long since been sleeping the sleep of the righteous, but Lotti and Louisa were still whispering. They were lying on Louisa’s bed, with the covers pulled over their heads so as not to disturb the others.
\n\u201cThere is so much to tell… And so much I want to know. Like what is Dad like when he’s angry? Mum is silent and seems rather sad. The other day, when she thought I couldn’t see her, she even cried. Mum teaches at a university, something literary, what does Dad do?\u201d Lottie’s tongue loosened late at night. She found her sister quite appealing.
\n\u201cDad is never angry! We laugh a lot and he’s always joking. But really, always, about everything! And guess what, he designs computer games. I always test them first, it’s fun. We go somewhere every weekend. We even hitchhiked the other day! I love London, except it’s always so cold and wet. Although I do have a raincoat that makes me look like a character from \u2018Among Us\u2019. Do you know that game?\u201d
\n\u201cYes, but Mum never lets me play it. She thinks tablets are bad for a nine-year-olds\u201d.
\n\u201cYou should try it sometime…\u201d” “After breakfast the next day, Jerome took the campers in a big bus to a large farm, and Blanche told them that today they would meet the horses. Louisa almost jumped out of her skin, but Lotti was a bit apprehensive.
\n\u201cI’ve never been on a horse. They are so big and scary…\u201d
\n\u201cCalm down! They are the cutest animals in the world. Look!\u201d Louisa took out a sugar cube to lured a pony, who was wandering over. The pony accepted the gift gratefully, even licking the little girl’s hand.
\n\u201cWhy do you have sugar cubes?”” asked Marie, surprised.
\n\u201cI stole them from the kitchen at breakfast, but ssssh! Don’t tell anyone! I’ve got a few more, here, I’ll give some to you!\u201d Louisa giggled.
\nThe morning passed in a blur, and in the afternoon the group went to paint in a lavender field: Blanche brought huge canvases and acrylic paint.
\n\u201cBut where are the brushes?\u201d asked Lotti.
\n\u201cNowhere. Today you will paint with your fingers!\u201d
\n\u201cYay!\u201d Louisa shouted. \u201cAren\u2019t you happy about it?\u201d she looked at her sister.
\n\u201cWell… I’ll be covered in paint…\u201d
\n\u201cOf course, that’s the good thing about it!\u201d Louisa had already reached for the tube of purple paint.” “\u201cHey! Don’t smear that on me! This is one of my favourite skirts!\u201d
\n\u201cOh, Lotti! Do stop whining so much! It’s only paint! You said you like to paint! How do you paint at home? In an overall so that you don’t get dirty?\u201d Marie laughed at Louisa’s joke, then put her green paint finger on her nose.
\n\u201cSee? My nose is green, I’m an elf!\u201d She turned to Louisa and smeared some of the paint on her face. Louisa laughed and giggled.
\n\u201cCome on, Lotti, be an elf too! It’s just paint, it’ll come off! Dad always says that a dirty child is a happy one!\u201d
\n\u201cAnd Mum always says that a good child keeps clean. Thanks, I don\u2019t need any of your paint\u201d. Lotti squeezed a tiny dab of yellow paint straight onto the canvas, her eyes searching for a suitable blob of grass to smear it with.
\n\u201cThe Princess and the pea! You are such a thing!\u201d
\n\u201cI’m not a thing, I just don’t want to get in trouble! Why can’t you understand that? And you’re loud all the time, and those pants are torn, and your hair is a mess again! I’m not picking on you.\u201d
\nIt is good that we have never met before! I don’t think I could have born such a boring goody-goody for nine years!\u201d” “For the rest of the day, Louisa and Lotti did not say a word to each other. Even after lights out there was silence, no whispering. Neither of the girls could sleep until midnight, when exhaustion finally pushed them into their dreams. Then, just as the sky was clearing over the cottages…
\n\u201cLotti…, wake up!”” Louisa climbed onto the top bunk next to her sister and shook her. \u201cI had a dream! I must tell you, let’s make up, then you can sulk again later!\u201d
\nFor a moment Lotti was confused and didn’t know where she was, being woken from such a strange dream by her sister.
\n\u201cI had a dream too…\u201d
\nReally? You can tell me, but I have to tell you this first. The two of us were in a huge, abandoned castle, looking for our parents, but they were nowhere to be found. Lotti cut in:
\n\u201cThere was a big staircase in the middle of a huge marble hall that led up to the attic. On either side were torches burning\u201d
\n\u201cYes… but how did you know that?\u201d Louisa’s eyes widened. \u201cAnd we started up the stairs, you were shouting \u2018Dad…\u2019\u201d
\n\u201cAnd you said \u2018Mum…\u2019\u201d” “Louisa continued, almost in a trance.
\n\u201cAnd when we got up there, we found a trapdoor…\u201d
\n\u201c…with a brass handle the size of my arm. I was so scared, but you told us to open it up\u201d.
\n\u201cI pushed the doorknob, and we found ourselves in a strange room, which I knew was yours because there was a picture of a mother on the wall, and it was the tidiest I’d ever seen.\u201d
\n“”No!”” cried Lotti, “”We ended up in your room, with a picture of you and Dad hanging on the wall, and it was a mess, everything was scattered all around!\u201d
\n\u201cThen, in a moment, we found ourselves in the garden…\u201d
\n\u201cMum and Dad were there…\u201d
\n\u201cAnd we sat on a wide swing that hung from the sky, and Mum and Dad pushed us…\u201d
\n\u201cAnd we laughed. And then you woke me up\u201d.
\n\u201cI woke up there too. Lotti, that can only mean one thing\u201d.
\nLotti already knew what her sister was going to say, and she was a little scared. Just like in the dream.
\n\u201cI want to get to know Mum, you want to get to know Dad. We look alike. The camp is over in five days. Let’s switch places\u201d.
\n\u201cBut how will we be able to get back?\u201d
\n\u201cThat\u2019s a question of detail!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":966,"template":"","class_list":["post-968","story","type-story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n