Work Text:
Guinevere Elinor Haynes is six and three quarters when Miss Knight gives them an assignment on family.
Guinevere likes Miss Knight. She’s pretty and smells of lavender, and she never shouts. And when Jacob P pulled Guinevere’s hair, she made him sit on the naughty step for the rest of fun hour.
So she wants to do well. She writes well and she knows because Miss Knight told her so. Melissa called her a teacher’s pet the other day, but she doesn’t care because Mum told her that means Melissa is jealous because she’s not as clever.
Miss Knight tells them they have to write two pages on their family. Everyone groans because two pages is a lot, but Guinevere doesn’t mind. She’s spending the weekend at Auntie Serena and Bunny’s, and Auntie Serena always helps her with the difficult words, and Bunny gives her cookies when Auntie Serena isn’t looking.
She likes it at their house. Everything is tidy but Auntie Serena doesn’t mind when she leaves her toys out. Not like Mum, who gets a little upset if she doesn’t clean up after herself. And Bunny always plays with her. She makes funny sounds when they play with cars, and makes up stories about her Lego. And Auntie Serena tells the best stories, and she does different voices for the different characters. Right now, they are reading Matilda.
Miss Knight supervises home time, and smiles at all the parents and the children, and wishes everyone a good weekend.
“Auntie Serena is coming to pick you up today, isn’t she?”
Guinevere doesn’t know why Miss Knight always asks, because Auntie Serena always picks her up on Fridays. It’s their “girls time”, Auntie Serena calls it. And they sometimes go to a coffee shop and Guinevere gets to have a hot chocolate.
She says yes anyway, because she likes Miss Knight, and Dad told her that sometimes people don’t like to have the obvious pointed out to them, which Guinevere doesn’t really understand.
Auntie Serena is always a little late, because she finds it hard to find a parking space, but she’s here early today, and Guinevere smiles when she sees that Bunny is with her. This doesn’t happen very often, because Auntie Serena and Bunny have to work opposite shifts sometimes.
She runs into Bunny’s arms while Auntie Serena talks to Miss Knight.
“Hello, little one. Did you have a good day?”
Bunny smells of apples and soap, and Guinevere buries her face into Bunny’s neck and kisses her noisily because it always makes Bunny laugh like a big goose.
Auntie Serena grabs her school bag and her coat and they walk to the coffee shop. Bunny puts her on her shoulders even though Auntie Serena says it’s bad for her back, but Bunny says she’s not that old yet, and Bunny skips all the way down the high street and makes Auntie Serena laugh.
Later, after dinner, Bunny takes her upstairs and waits outside while she showers. Guinevere uses the cleaning song that Mum taught her to make sure she cleans everywhere and Bunny sings it with her.
Then they go into her bedroom for her pyjamas. She likes her room at Auntie Serena’s house. It has books, and bunk beds, and posters of Mildred Hubble and her friends on the walls.
She’s in bed after a chapter of Matilda, when Guinevere remembers her report.
“Auntie Serena?”
“Yes, darling?”
Auntie Serena is sitting on her bed and she looks very pretty.
“Will you help me tomorrow? I have to write two pages on family.”
Auntie Serena smiles and leans down for a kiss on her forehead and she smells of apples too.
“Of course I will. Sleep well, my darling.”
The next day, Auntie Serena gives her cereal, and then tells her she can go wake up Bunny. So Guinevere jumps on the bed, and Bunny growls and tickles her and then they play fight and Auntie Serena comes in and she tells them off, but only a little bit and she’s smiling anyway.
After a walk in the park where they feed the ducks and play “you’re it”, Auntie Serena gives Guinevere some nice paper and a good pen and they all sit around the dining room table, and it feels funny because they never sit in there.
“So, what do you want to say?” Bunny asks.
She has a serious face on, the one she uses when she talks to other adults.
“I want to write about Mum and Dad. And Auntie Serena. And you. And also about Cameron and Morven and little Theo. And Charlotte and Pixie,” Guinevere lists.
Bunny’s serious face is gone and she looks very soft and Guinevere thinks she’s going to cry, but that would be strange because Bunny doesn’t cry. Auntie Serena holds her hand and squeezes it and they look at each other for a second, and it makes Guinevere’s belly do little flips.
“Well, I think that’s very nice. Why don’t you start writing ideas, and Bunny and I will get you some lunch,” Auntie Serena says.
They go sit on the sofa. They whisper, so Guinevere can’t hear what they are saying, but Auntie Serena looks very happy and Bunny puts her head on Auntie Serena’s shoulder.
Sometimes, Guinevere thinks they forget she’s here, because she’s seen them kiss. Mum and Dad rarely kiss, because Mum says it’s a private thing, but Auntie Serena and Bunny kiss a lot. Everywhere. Even once in the car at a red light, which she told them was very dangerous and made Bunny’s ears all pink.
She writes for a whole hour. Auntie Serena gives her orange juice. Bunny joins her at the table with a magazine for doctors. It’s nice and quiet and soon the house smells of chicken pie. It’s Guinevere’s favourite, because Auntie Serena doesn’t add mushrooms like they do at school.
They have lunch, and Bunny tells a funny story about a boy who put a piece of Lego up his nose.
Then Mum calls on the phone, and she tells her what she’s done and she tells her she’s been good, and Dad talks to her too and tells her about a documentary on puffins, her favourite bird. He promises he will watch it with her again.
When Guinevere hangs up, she goes into the living room and announces she’s ready to read out her work. Bunny and Auntie Serena sit next to each other on the sofa and look appropriately serious.
“My family is different from other families. I live with my Mum and Dad in a flat on top of a flower shop. My Dad works at the hospital. He helps sick people go from one ward to another. My Mum likes numbers and helps people count their money. I love them. I watch tv about animals with them. At the weekend, I stay with my Auntie Serena. She is my dad’s Auntie, but also mine. She lives with Bunny. They are married. I went to their wedding but I don’t remember it because I was too little. They also work at the hospital. They are doctors and they open people and fix them. I love them. Bunny plays with me, she’s funny. Auntie Serena reads the best stories. Sometimes, I see Cameron and Morven and their baby. They are like cousins, but not really. And I see Charlotte and her cat, Pixie. Pixie is a black cat that like cuddles and running after her tail. Family doesn’t mean you all live together, but that you love each other. And we all love each other. The end.”
Guinevere thinks she’s in trouble because Auntie Serena is crying but she takes her in her arms and they all snuggle up on the sofa and Bunny says she’s very happy and impressed. And Guinevere learnt that word so she knows it’s a good thing.
She gets two whole cookies as a reward for her hard work. When she goes to the bathroom, she sees Auntie Serena and Bunny in each other’s arms by their bedroom door. They are kissing. Guinevere pauses in the shadows.
“I love you. And her. And everyone in that assignment,” Bunny says in Auntie Serena’s hair.
Auntie Serena is smiling that big smile that Guinevere really likes. It makes her whole face glow and Guinevere squirms a little at the love she suddenly feels blooming in her chest. She runs towards them and throws her arms around them, squeezing hard.
At bed time, Auntie Serena and Bunny both tuck her in. Bunny sits on the floor with her head on Guinevere’s pillow while Auntie Serena reads from Matilda. They both give her kisses.
“I love you,” Guinevere says.
It’s a word she’s heard them say a lot, but she doesn’t think she’s ever said it. It feels big in her mouth, but it feels right. Bunny sniffles and kisses her again.
“I love you too, little one. You sleep well.”
Auntie Serena brushes her hair away from her face and kisses her again too, and Guinevere feels happy and sleepy all at once. She tries to stay awake longer, but soon her eyes close and she just hears a sweet laugh from the doorway.
In the morning, Mum and Dad come to pick Guinevere up. Mum covers her in kisses and Dad has a big smile on his face. She’s missed them. When the car leaves the driveway, Guinevere twists in her seat to look back and she sees Auntie Serena with an arm around Bunny’s waist. They are both waving goodbye with big smiles on their faces.
Guinevere waves back. She can’t wait until next Friday.