It All Started With A Rugby Ball
“Daddy can we play rugby?” asked Gryffyn on a Saturday afternoon.
“It’s raining,” Anne pointed out.
“When else are you supposed to play rugby?” beamed Irwin.
“Go and get your ball son,” he chuckled.
“Can I play?” asked Gwenith.
“Everyone can play rugby,” said Irwin pulling at one of her plaits, “even girls.”
“Daddy?”
“Hmm?”
“Mummy’s your goddess, Olivia’s your princess, Aislynn’s your flower fairy, Gryffyn’s your lion and Gawain’s your little knight, but what am I?”
“What would you like to be?”
Gwenith shrugged.
“Well seeing as Mummy’s a goddess would you like to be a naiad or a dryad, they’re half goddesses.”
“What’s the difference?”
“Well,” said Anne, “dryads are tree spirits, and naiads are water spirits.”
Gwenith seemed to think for a moment.
“Dryad,” she nodded, “I like trees.”
“Good choice,” beamed Irwin.
At this moment there was a huge crash from upstairs.
“What the hell was that?” shouted Anne as she and Irwin ran upstairs.
“He’s touched my things,” screamed Gawain, “he’s not supposed to touch my things!”
“Oh Merlin not this again,” muttered Irwin shaking his head as they went into the boys room.
The bookcase in the boy’s room had toppled over and the room was a mess. The toys from the bookcase had flown all over the room, and the floor was covered in a jumble of picture books, Gawain’s storybooks and his notebooks.
As Anne walked into the room she winced as she heard the crunching of shattered glass under her shoes.
She looked down and saw that the glass in half of Gawain’s photographs had broken. She was standing on the broken photo frame which was a picture of Gawain and Olivia.
Gawain was curled up under his baby blanket on his bed and muttering.
“He’s not supposed to touch my things.”
“That was so cool,” said Gryffyn who has lying on his bed holding his rugby ball, “can I do that again?”
“What happened Gryff?” asked Irwin raising his eyebrows.
“Well I was climbing the bookcase,” he started.
“Which we’ve told you not to do,” sighed Anne, “many times!”
“And it fell over,” he shrugged.
“Are you hurt?” asked Irwin walking through the mess over to Gryffyn’s bed to check him for injuries.
“Nope,” he shrugged, “as the bookcase fell over I kind of flew over to my bed.”
Anne looked at him confused; the bookcase was on the opposite side of the room from his bed.
“Well the good news is,” sighed Anne, “you’re a wizard.”
“And the bad news,” continued Irwin, “is that you’re grounded for one week.”
“Can we play rugby now?”
“Nope,” said Irwin firmly, “that’s your punishment no rugby for a week.”
“What about football?” he asked hopefully.
“Nope, no sports for one week.”
“Fine” grumbled Gryffyn.
It only took Anne and Irwin about a minute to put the bookcase back up right and put everything back in its proper place using their wands.
“I need to sort out Gawain,” said Anne sitting down on his bed.
Irwin nodded as he and Gryffyn left the room.
“He’s not supposed to touch my things,” he has still muttering.
“Gawain,” Anne called gently, “sweetheart?”
“He’s not supposed to touch my things,” he sobbed.
“I know sweetheart, but everything’s been put back to normal.”
“He’s not supposed to touch my things!”
“I know,” she sighed, desperately trying to think of a way to calm him down.
Then she remembered the one thing that always managed to calm him down when he was a baby.
“Rocking rolling riding, out along the bay, all bound for morning town many miles away,” she sung softly.
Gawain crawled out from under his blanket and onto her lap.
She stroked his hair as she rocked back and forth still singing. The Seekers had come to the rescue, by the time that she finished singing Morningtown Ride, Gawain had calmed down and had stopped sobbing.
“He’s not meant to touch my things,” he said quietly one more time as he stopped crying.
“I know darling, I’ll have to see what can be done about that alright?”
Gawain nodded.
“Let’s go find everyone then,” said Anne getting off the bed.
Gawain took her hand and they walked downstairs together.
“Gawain,” muttered Gryffyn sheepishly, “I’m sorry.”
“It’s ok,” shrugged Gawain.
Anne put on the lion king as it was one of Gawain’s favourite films and settled the triplets in front of the television.
“I need to talk to you,” whispered Anne to Irwin as the film started up.
“Ok,” he shrugged getting up from the sofa.
“What’s up Annie?” he asked leaning against the kitchen table.
“I think Gawain needs his own room.”
“I’m sorry what?” said Irwin, “is this just because of the bookcase thing?”
“You know he hates having people touching his things,” said Anne.
“Gryffyn’s his brother and they’re four.”
“And they are very different boys,” she explained, “it’s not as if we don’t have the space for him to have his own room.”
“So we give him his own room,” sighed Irwin, “Gryffyn and Gwenith will still come charging in and touching his stuff.”
“I’ve got a plan for that,” said Anne smiling.
“How do you always have a plan?” he asked shaking his head.
They went back into the living room and hadn’t even missed the opening of the film because of the adverts.
At the end of The Lion King, Anne and Irwin talked to them.
“Ok boys,” said Irwin.
“I’m not a boy,” said Gwenith.
“I know you’re not my little dryad, but these two are.”
“Oh,” she nodded.
“We think you two need your own bedrooms,” said Anne, “it will give you both some space.”
“Ok,” shrugged Gryffyn.
“Will I have to move rooms?” asked Gawain nervously.
“I think you’ll like your new room,” she smiled.
Anne and Gawain went up to the attic and Anne showed him his new room.
“The bed’s big,” he muttered as he looked at the double bed with the blue and bronze quilt on top.
“I can shrink the bed if you need me to,” Anne pointed out.
“It’s fine,” he muttered walking over to the desk.
“Want to see something cool?”
He nodded and Anne turned off the lights.
The room was lit up by a set of fairy lights that glowed like tiny stars against the starry ceiling.
Gawain’s face lit up in a smile that carried through to his eyes.
Anne turned the lights back on.
“So do you like your new room?”
“Where do I put the books?” he asked looking around curiously.
Anne tapped her nose knowingly and walked over to the wardrobe.
“Watch closely,” she said as they stood at the wardrobe.
The gave one of the wardrobe doorknobs a three-quarter anticlockwise turn.
Gawain’s mouth dropped open as the wardrobe span around to reveal a huge bookcase.
“And the best part is,” chuckled Anne, “that even if Gryffyn does come in here, he won’t be able to touch your stuff.”
Gawain beamed at her before they went downstairs so he could start packing away his things to move them upstairs.
“I think our two sons sorted themselves into their schoolhouses today,” said Irwin as they got ready for bed that evening.
“What in the world do you mean?” she asked as she brushed out her plaits.
“Well one of them is reckless enough to climb his bookcase only to fly off, and want to do it again, which is a Gryffindor if I’ve ever met one.”
“I’m not denying it,” shrugged Anne as she tied off her plaits.
“And you made the other one’s dreams come true this afternoon with a revolving bookcase.”