Travellers

“Will traveller’s school be like Hogwarts Grandpa?” Janae asked. She was sitting at the kitchen table, her thin legs dangling beneath her, swinging backwards and forwards and not quite reaching the floor. The two of them had just finished their tea which had consisted of a few cold meats with a big chunk of bread which Grandpa had got from Polly, the village baker, earlier that morning. They’d had blackberries and raspberries afterwards, freshly picked from the bushes which had been deliberately planted around the village, along with many other fruit varieties, to make sure the people in the village, especially the children, ate fruit. Eating blackberries had seemed really odd to Grandpa Jack when they had first moved here – he’d only ever heard of them for dying cloth before and not for eating, but part of the move into the travellers’ village included education for families about some of the new things here that weren’t widely available yet to everyone and you quickly got used to things being a little bit different. One thing Grandpa still hadn’t got used to though was that they told you to drink water. He couldn’t quite believe that drinking water wouldn’t make them sick, no matter what anyone else told him or all the evidence he saw from the people around him. Some things were just too ingrained he supposed and he wasn't for budging so they usually drank wine or ale which he brewed himself in big glass vats in his shed behind the house.

Her Grandfather was smoking his pipe, puff puff puffing away like a blooming chimney he was, so Janae had to wait for him to come up for air before he answered her. He looked over at her wrinkling his brow. His bushy white eyebrows shot up, “ Hogwarts?” He asked her. “What in the gibbons is Hogwarts?” His voice was gravelly like someone who had smoked for far too long and his accent was indiscernible, somewhere between being Northern and from the West Country if you could imagine such a thing! Janae giggled. She always found it funny when he said “what the gibbons!” No-one had any idea what it actually meant. She assumed he’d just made it up. “You know Grandpa. Hogwarts. It’s where Harry Potter goes to school.”

Grandpa’s eyebrows took another lift in the direction of the ceiling. “Harry Potter?” he thundered, “and who the gibbons is Harry Potter when he’s at home?”

Janae giggled again. She adored her Grandpa, especially when he was being funny and pretending not to know things. “Harry Potter the boy wizard Grandpa, from the books and the films.” She pronounced films with two syllables - 'fill ims'

“The boy wizard you say” Grandpa said wrinkling his brow. “I did know a wizard once as it happens but he certainly wasn’t called Harry Potter! And I’m pretty sure he didn’t go to school!” Grandpa mused.

“But really Grandpa” Janae asked again. “What will it be like? It’s only a few months until I go now, I’m going be 8 soon and I don’t really know much about it at all do I?”

Her Grandpa nodded patiently and smiled at her kindly. “Well that’s right enough I reckon” he said. “I spose you don’t really know a great deal.” Grandpa figured he'd come back to the Harry Potter matter later. He patted the bench next to where he was sitting in his rocking chair. He always sat closest to the fire. He said he had to keep his old bones warm. “Come on then, scooch on closer to my side and let’s see what questions you might be having”. Janae did as she was bid and slid along the bench closer to where her Grandfather was sitting. He was getting a bit hard of hearing so it would be easier all round if she moved closer to his ears.

“Well first off” she began earnestly “and actually most importantly. I know I have to sleep there and that but is that all the time or do I come home for weekends? I think I might miss you you see”. She looked up at him tremulously as she said this. They weren’t great ones for showing a lot of sentiment in their family. I mean, Janae knew she was loved, no doubt about it, it just wasn’t something people said that was all so she was a touch apprehensive about expressing her feelings to him.

Grandpa smiled. “Well now that’s where we’re real lucky ain’t it my love.” He patted Janae gently on the head as he spoke. “Because we live so close to the Towers you will be close enough to come home on weekends.” He smiled again at the huge sigh of relief that escaped the little girl’s mouth at his words. “That’s if you want to a course.”

“If I want to?” Janae almost shouted. “But of course I’ll want to! Why wouldn’t I want to? Where else would I go?”

“Well I’m sure I don’t know little un” Grandpa laughed. “Youse might be off with all your fancy new friends, practicing traveller tricks and the like.”

Janae giggled at him again, cottoning on to the fact that he was teasing her once more. “Go get on with you Grandpa Jack” she said, punching him lightly on the arm. “As if I’m going to choose friends over you. Asides. I don’t need any fancy new friends acos I’ll be going with Bobby anyway so I’ll already have my bestest friend right there with me willn’t I.” Janae nodded her head emphatically to make her point.

“You will indeed little un.” Grandpa Jack confirmed, “and me and Pa Milner have already discussed the getting of the two of youse to and from the Towers for your home trips and how we’re going to manage it. There’ll also be Daisy Dreavers entering at the same time as you and Sammy Carmikkle so that’s the four of youse. Remember as well that there’s the older kids already there from our village too so it’s not like y’ain’t gonna know anyone is it now.”

“So I’m actually right then Grandpa aren’t I.” Janae stated rather than asked. “I won’t be needing no fancy new friends acos I’ll already have lots there already willn’t I!”

Grandpa laughed. “No, I’m guessing you won’t after all.” He smiled at her. She was such a funny and serious little soul so much of the time that he loved it when he could make her laugh. “So, what else is on your mind?”

“Will the food be nice?” was her next question, setting her Grandfather off laughing again.

“I’m glad to see you’ve focused on the important stuff young un” he chuckled. “I don’t rightly know to be truthful with you” he said. “I’m not sure I’ve ever heard anyone talk about it before and I’ve never thought to ask. I’m pretty sure though that they’re going to feed you well. You travellers are very special and very important people to us so I’m fairly certain they’ll be making sure you’re properly fed and looked after!”

Janae looked at him mistrustfully. “They better Grandpa Jack” she said fiercely “or I will be coming home. Food is very important in my life” she declared.

Grandpa Jack suppressed another chuckle before answering her. “Aye, that it is my child, that it is. I’ve nivver knowed a kid as skinny as youse be able to tuck so much grub away!" Grandpa thought for a second then said "I tell you what. I’ll make you a deal.”

“What?” Janae asked excitedly. Her Grandpa’s deals were often fun. “If you don’t like the grub or there ain’t enough of it for ya, I’ll make up food parcels and have them sent to the Towers to keep you going. How’s that?”

Janae chortled. “Deal” she said, holding out her tiny hand for him to shake which Grandpa Jack solemnly did.

“Right Missy, I know you’ve more questions in your head and I promise we’ll get to them but right now I’ve a question for you and then it’s bedtime.”

Janae nodded. “OK.” she said, “fire away.”

Jack smiled at her. “Fire away” he laughed. “I don’t know where you get these things from sometimes. But my question is can you remember when you learned about Harry Potter?”

Janae wrinkled her nose slightly as she thought. “No.” She replied, “not zactly. I was at Ma’s and she asked if I’d like to watch it and I said yes and so we sat and watched it and I liked it and Ma she did too. She said it was nice to find something that both adults and children could enjoy together. But I don’t rightly remember exactly when it was. Not so long ago though I didn’t reckon.” Janae’s words jumbled out of her as it they were all one sentence running together. This was something she often did when she was concentrating.

“Okay sweetheart, not to worry, it’s not really important” her Grandfather replied. Janae accepted this willingly and jumped down from the bench to give her Grandfather a quick hug.

“Get on with you girl” he said gruffly but she knew he quite liked it really.

“Night night Grandpa” she said heading for the stairs.

“Good night, sleep tight…… mind the bed bugs don’t bite” they finished in unison and Janae scampered up the stairs, waving at him from over the balcony as she headed to her room.

After Janae had gone up Jack poured himself a glass of whiskey and sat staring into its amber depths and thinking hard. He’d have to act, he knew that, but he wasn’t at all sure what it all meant and that was scaring the living bejesus out of him! Tomorrow he told himself. Tomorrow he’d deal with it. He'd have to. Sticking his head in the sand about it wasn't going to change anything was it now. He downed the last of his drink, set the glass upon the old table and headed up to bed himself. Tomorrow would come soon enough.