As NaNoWriMo approaches, a mere four days away, I'm realising just how unprepared I am for it. I've got a few pictures and a few ideas. Here are a few pictures now:
Since I haven't tried children's literature before I decided to write a pre-NaNo piece about these two. Finding the right tone and voice was a lot more difficult than I thought it would be, an it's not quite there yet. But it was a good exercise and a way into the characters and story, so come Thursday I'll hopefully be ready to write.
Oh, and here is a bonus picture of Aiofe's younger sister:
And here is a mini-story starring Ben and Aiofe.
‘This isn’t the way home, Aiofe!’ Ben accused his best friend. His house was two blocks away from the school, and Aiofe’s was another one over - as it had been since her family moved to town three years ago. The pair were most definitely headed in the wrong direction as they crossed the school field.
‘I have a hunch about something, Ben, come on!’ Aiofe was always having a hunch about something. Sometimes this lead to lots of fun, but other times it lead to Big Trouble. Hands in pockets, he shrugged, following her as she ran on ahead. He might not be home too late, and his mother might not be too mad.
‘Where are you off to, then, on your hunch?’ he called after her, hoping she’d slow down just a little bit. A walking pace would be nice. He clutched his side, feeling a stitch coming on already.
‘Not that far’, she said kindly. She knew how his parents were about knowing where he was every second of the day. This was because hers were much the same. Parents really are bothersome sometimes, Ben thought, though he wasn’t really bothered. Nothing much bothered him. It would be a lot easier if you could just go where you wanted to when you want to.
‘Do you actually know where we’re going?’ he asked curiously.
Aiofe didn’t slow down. ‘No!’
They reached the end of the field, and Ben doubled over, clutching his stomach and panting. Aiofe whirled around. ‘Come on, Ben!’
‘Where?’ he asked again.
‘There!’ she said, pointing. Sure enough, her hunch had led her somewhere. High up in a tree at the end of the field a kitten meowed pitifully.
‘The poor thing’, Aiofe said. ‘We’d better get him down.’
‘Cats can climb, can’t they?’ Ben asked, for he was positive they could. ‘It should be able to climb down again. It got up there to begin with.’
The kitten gave another loud meow.
‘It’s stuck’, Aiofe declared, ‘and it needs help’.
Aiofe did know a lot about things that needed help, so Ben supposed she was right.
‘So are you going to climb up and get it down, or am I?’ (Unfortunately her ‘saving things’ plans were often a lot of work.) ‘Uh -’
‘We should both go’, she decided. ‘So we can corner him, if he tries to run off in the other direction.’
‘What are we going to do when we get him down?’
‘Take him back to his owner’, Aiofe said, reaching up and grabbing a branch that was sticking out just above her head. She swung briefly before pulling herself up, grunting. ‘Hurry, Ben!’
Ben, having just had two growths spurts, was a head taller than Aiofe and easily jumped up onto the same branch. Aiofe, meanwhile, was scurrying up the tree like a shark through water.
The kitten miaowed again. Aiofe had nearly reached it.
‘I’ve got him!’ she yelled to Ben. Before he could suggest that maybe she not yell quite so loud, as that could easily threaten the creature, the kitten darted away and landed gracefully on a branch above Ben’s head. It settled itself and began to purr, its tail flicking across Ben’s face.
‘Oh, no!’ wailed Aiofe. ‘I let it go. Quick, Ben, grab it!’
Ben reached up, hands trembling, and tried to pick up the kitten again. Once more it darted away. Ben barely had time to think Ah, so kittens can climb down trees before he tumbled down the tree after the cat, landing painfully on a harsh tree root sticking out of the ground.
I won’t cry, he told himself, not while a girl’s around. Even if it’s only Aiofe.
The kitten wandered over disinterestedly, unaware of the drama it had caused. ‘Nice kitty’, Ben told it, patting it on the head. With a THUMP two feet landed beside him.
‘Oh no, Ben, your knee!’
Ben followed Aiofe’s gaze. Sure enough his knee was covered with blood.
‘I must have hit it when I landed.’
Aiofe grabbed her drink bottle from her bag. ‘We should wash it out, that’s what Dad always does’.
‘Is that water in your bottle?’ Ben asked quickly. He wasn’t entirely sure, but he didn’t think that pouring juice on a wound would help at all.
Aiofe took a tentative sip. ‘Drat, it’s juice. Come over to my place. Dad’ll fix you up.’
‘I should probably go home’, Ben said, remembering that his mother was already going to be mad at him for being late and he didn’t need to add another reason to the list.
Aiofe shrugged. ‘Okay. Hey, the cat has a collar on. Maybe it’s got an address on it.’
Ben turned the collar on. ‘52 Gibbs Road. Hey, that’s not too far from us.’
‘We’ll take the kitten home on the way’ Aiofe said decisively, picking up the animal. It settled happily into her arms this time. ‘Can you walk?’
‘Course’, Ben scoffed, not wanting to admit that his knee really was quite sore and he would like nothing more than to have a good cry. He clambered to his feet and they set off once more.
‘I wonder who the kitten belongs to’, Aiofe said.
‘Someone on our street. Don’t you know your neighbours?’
‘Not all of them.’
‘Me neither.’
The mystery was soon solved. The door to number 52 was opened by an elderly woman with shockingly white hair. ‘There you are, Muffin!’ she exclaimed happily. ‘Wherever did you find her, I’ve been calling for her all afternoon.’
‘Down by the school, Ma’am.’ Aiofe replied politely.
‘Oh, I’m so sorry, I should introduce myself. My name is Mrs McSweeney.’
‘I’m Ben.’
‘And I’m Aiofe. I live at number 57.’
‘Well, Ben and Aiofe, thank you very much for returning Muffin here. Would you like to come in for a drink and biscuit?’
The children looked at each other. ‘Well we would,’ Aiofe said, ‘but our parents will be wondering where we are, and Ben needs to go home so his Mum can look after his knee.’
Mrs McSweeney looked down at his knee, then put her arms around his shoulders and hustled him inside. ‘We ought to take care of that right away. What are your phone numbers, I’ll let your parents know that you’re here. Aiofe, can you look in the cupboard under the sink and bring me the red first aid bag please?’
When Ben’s mother and Aiofe’s father turned up quarter of an hour later they were less than impressed that the children had not come straight home from school. They couldn’t be too angry, though, when Mrs McSweeney praised the children’s bravery and thanked them once again for saving Muffin. And they had to smile when she invited both families over for dinner that weekend.
And that was how Aiofe was responsible for Ben’s first scar, and how Aiofe and Mrs McSweeney first came to be very good friends.
