Ah la la-la.

Summer rain is pouring down again,

And it's getting wetter.

As a matter of fact it couldn't be better.

For baby and me, sitting on my knee.

 

Kieran is sitting in the back seat of his Dad's red Ford Cortina and the two of them are singing loudly to a Chris de Burgh tape. All the windows are down and Kieran has his head near the window. The soft, quick hand of the wind is ruffling his hair and he loves the warm feeling of it on his face.

Kieran is six and they are driving to the seaside. Mum isn't around because this is Dad's weekend.

He reaches his hand into a small paper bag and pulls out two cola-cubes that are stuck together. He pulls them apart, replaces one and examines the other. The one he is about to eat has paper stuck to it. Kieran peels it off, flicks it out of the window and pops the sweet into his mouth.

Kieran can feel the excitement in the bottom of his tummy. He's imagining the bucket and spade in the plastic bag in the boot. He's remembering the flip-flops he put in with them; the flip-flops that still had sand on them from the last time he came to the seaside. He's remembering the games of chess he had on the verandah with grandpa that time. He's remembering the visit to the lifeboat station at the end of the road his grandparents live on, an ice-lolly melting quickly in his hand, sticky and running down his arm, all the way to his elbow.

The car is going slower now and Dad is making more turns. Kieran is beginning to recognise some of the bungalows on the road into the village. The pink one with ivy on the walls. The bright white one with the fast car parked in the driveway.

The signpost to the beach! Now that Kieran has seen it he leans forward and pokes his head between the seats, pressing his cheek against Dad's arm.

'Nearly there!' says Dad.

After a couple more turns, driving slower each time, they pull up outside the bungalow.

Dad's Mum and Dad are already at the door, they walk down the front path. Granny has her arms folded across her chest, hugging herself. Kieran thinks for a moment that she looks sad, even though she is smiling.

Grandpa is grinning like he always does. He is called Arthur. Arthur has the wrinkliest hands Kieran has ever seen, but Kieran likes him because he always has biscuits.

Arthur bends down to the open window of the car and puts his hands on his knees. 'Hello Kieran!'

Kieran smiles, 'Hello grandpa.'

Dad gets out of the car and walks over to the old couple. He hugs them both. Granny says 'Hello Graham. How was the drive down?'

'Seems like the world and his wife were on the A3 this morning,' he replied. 'But once we got past Guildford it was fine.'

A fly buzzed lazily and aimlessly into the still heat of the car and out through another window.

'Would you like some orange squash?' Arthur said to Kieran.

'Yes please.'

'Well come on then! Out you get!'

 

~

 

Kieran is sitting cross-legged on the carpet in the lounge in a warm rhombus of sunlight. On the floor beside him sits a big glass of orange squash and a bag of Iced Gems. He is building a castle out of Lego, but the pieces he's been given are inadequate for the task. Granny and Grandpa obviously don't play with Lego. They got the dusty box of pieces down from the attic.

Later, after the grown-ups have talked, he will be allowed to go and play on the beach.

'Any trouble getting him for the weekend?' said Granny.

'My weekends with him are always pre-arranged. No problems there. But every time I go to collect him she's always asking for bloody money. I get so distraught before I go round there now, because there usually always is an argument. I had to go and see a bloody doctor about it.'

 

~

 

Grandpa takes Kieran down to the water, and sits on the bench on the sea wall reading the paper while Kieran paddles around at the water's edge. The tide is low and the sea is calm, and through the cold clear water, where sand oozes slowly over his wet feet, he sees a little crab burrowing out of sight. He reaches down to get a handful of sand, hoping to pick up the little creature, but his hands come up empty.

In the clear bright day the sound of a lawnmower carries on the breeze. Out to sea a speedboat bounces rapidly across the shimmering horizon, the sound of its hull impacting with the water delayed in reaching Kieran’s ears. Further along the beach near to the massive wooden ramp of the lifeboat station, he sees some other children playing in a small inflatable dinghy. They are laughing loudly with excitement. Their mother and father are sitting on a blanket beside a windbreak further up the pebbly beach. Kieran wonders what it would be like to have a brother or a sister.

After an hour or so Grandpa calls Kieran up from the waters edge and they head back to the bungalow. The day is growing tired and lazy now. The shadows on the ground are getting longer and a low-flying plane has been buzzing over the water. As they walk along the road Kieran pretends he is a Spitfire, banking left and right, and gunning the ground. He makes the accompanying noises with the back of his throat.

When they go inside, Granny and Dad are talking. She is holding an audio cassette and she gives it to him.

'You can have this copy, it's lovely,' she said. 'You can play it to Kieran when he's much older.'

Dad nods, smiles and looks at Kieran. 'I'm sure he'll love that. I could play it to his future girlfriends. Thanks very much Mum, that's very kind. I'll just go and put it in the car so I don't forget it when we leave.'

 

~

 

The car journey home from the seaside seems much longer. But it’s okay because they're listening to tapes.

Dad even plays him the tape that Granny gave him. It was recorded when Kieran was a baby. Kieran thinks it is funny to hear himself making baby noises.

When they arrive home, Kieran asks Daddy if he can take the Chris de Burgh tape out of the car to play inside.

Dad says yes and gets out of the car. Kieran climbs between the two front seats and ejects the tape. He also takes the other tape, now back in its box, lying on the floor in foot well of the front passenger seat. He doesn't really know why he's taking it. It's just one of those things that little boys do.