Serena had something on her mind

 I don’t know how good your memory is.

A long time ago, we had the story about searching for the lost Granny, and in the end she was found and came back to her family to live.

The last story was called Anawim Sisters. It told about the Anawim family, and why they came to be on their travels and the long and dangerous journey they made to find their way to the garden. 

And there were pictures of all the different people in the Anawim family. One of them was Serena. The story said she looked a bit worried. Did she have something on her mind?

And, yes. You know, it turned out that Serena was feeling worried about something. If you want to know what, you can read on . . .

The day after Shanti — the lost Granny — came home, Sophia was hanging out washing in the garden when Serena came to find her.

“Mummy,” said Serena, “there’s something I have to tell you.”

“Oh, yes?” Sophia said; but she didn’t stop what she was doing, not because she wasn’t interested but because she thought Serena sounded worried, and Sophia thought Serena had been looking worried — and sometimes it is easier for people to tell you about their problems if you are looking at something else, not at them. So Sophia smiled at Serena, then she carried on hanging out the washing.

And Serena said, “Mummy, it was all my fault Granny got lost.”

This didn’t seem all that likely to Sophia, but part of treating other people with respect is taking them seriously, and not just telling them they’re talking nonsense even if you think they are. Because people have their reasons.

So Sophia just said, “Was it, Serena? Why do you think that?”

She glanced down at Serena, who was looking really quite scared.

And Serena said, “Mummy, Granny went back to fetch my teddy, because I was so upset when we had to leave him behind. I had him with me right up to when we came across the sea. I brought him with me tucked inside my sweater, and then it all got so muddly and it was dark, and he dropped out, but I didn’t notice at first. When I realised I’d lost him, we were in too much of a hurry to go back and look. Daddy said we must run, we had to find somewhere to hide. So I had to leave my teddy behind. And Granny asked me why I was crying. When I told her, she just said not to worry, it would be all right. She said I should stay with Grandad and hold his hand and everything would be okay. So that’s what I did. It wasn’t until we got to this garden in the morning that Buji noticed Granny wasn’t with us. And the reason why was because she went back to look for my teddy.”

Sophia had finished hanging up the washing. She had been listening carefully to what Serena had to say.

“Are you sure?” she said then.

[I think you should remember that question. “Are you sure is one of life’s most brilliant questions. Please try to commit it to memory, as it is bound to come in useful as you go through life. “Are you sure?” is a very shrewd thing to ask. And “shrewd” means you have your head screwed on. There are no flies on you.]

Serena nodded. She was entirely sure. When everyone had got over the excitement of Shanti (the Granny) being restored to them, and their attention had turned to the next most important thing, which was making breakfast, Shanti had come to stand beside Serena and said to her quietly, “I found him.”

Serena was pleased — of course she was — to be reunited with her teddy, because she loved him very much and it was hard to get to sleep at night without hm there beside her. But at the same time she felt guilty, and ashamed, because it was all her fault Granny had got lost; and she was frightened in case her Mummy would be angry.

“Well?” Sophia asked her. “Did Granny find him for you?”

“Yes,” Serena said, in a small voice. “She did. But I thought you might be cross with me, so I’ve kept him hidden in my sweater.”

“No kidding!” said Sophia. “For goodness sake! You’d better let him out. It would be a pity if Granny went to all that trouble and then teddy bit the dust because he couldn’t breathe!”

So Serena took the teddy out from inside her sweater. And teddy could breathe again, and so could Serena. Nobody was cross with her. Granny was safe. It was going to be okay after all.