Image created and edited by me on the Adobe Spark Post appChapter One: The picnic
Milo, Mary and Marvin have been looking forward to this day since it was first announced. They had been counting down to picnic day. And it was finally here. They had put so many things to make sure their first picnic was one to remember; little did they know that their lives would never be the same after today.
Milo was supposed to bring sandwiches for everybody, Marvin was supposed to bring board games. Marvin had a good collection of board games but Mary was the best at them. Milo and Marvin made these plans without telling Mary; it was supposed to be a surprise. They wanted to have a mini picnic to themselves while the others had the main picnic.
When they finally get to the picnic venue, it was a former boys’ scout camp. It had a big compound with small fences you wouldn’t see unless you got really close. They were a few small houses in the house and a very big one. The big one was for the staff of the camp. The smaller houses originally had rooms but some of them were converted to restrooms.
When the school bus parked in the compound, the school teacher came down first and went into the big house to announce their presence. He soon came with his head sunken, he walked slowly towards the bus and stopped briefly outside to gather; you could tell something was wrong.
He entered the bus and faced the students and started, “I don’t know how to say this but it must still be said, the picnic is cancelled”.
He paused there to study the reactions of the students and for sure there was visible discontent. All the students were grumbling and speaking in hush tones until Mary stood up and asked why the picnic was cancelled.
As soon she spoke up, the voices in the bus became a bit louder, the school teacher raised his hand as a gesture to quite down the students, and then he spoke, “it was my fault, I’m really sorry, but it’s my fault, I made a mistake in the documents I sent here, I told them we were coming on the 16th of may instead of the 16th of march”.
Milo was upset; he had planned so much for this picnic only for it to be cancelled, he looked at Gavin and looked at Mary, both of them were disappointed. It was written on their faces.
They all felt powerless, but no amount of grumbling or anger would change anything, the highly anticipated picnic was not going to hold and nothing could be done.
Some were in disbelief but all doubts were snuffed out when the school bus left the compound and slowly made it to the express way going back towards the school. The atmosphere in the bus was the complete opposite of what it was when they were going.
Milo brought out the sandwiches he had saved for the picnic and handed them out to Marvin and Mary, and took one for himself, and they all ate in silence. Marvin was seated by the window, Milo by his left and Mary across the aisle.
As they all sat in silence, the school bus stopped and parked by the side of the road, it was almost as if it had broken down until the teacher stood up to address them.
“I know I have ruined this important day for all of you and I’m deeply sorry, but I have something else in mind. Since you already have the entire day off, why don’t we go to the town’s beach? You can still have fun there, and I know all of you have been there, but it’s still better than nothing, what do you think?”
Mary looked at everyone’s eyes light up at the idea of going to the beach. They were promised burgers and now these people are now content with just bread. She wasn’t moved by the thought of going to the beach at all, she had been there countless times, and she really wanted to experience the former boys’ scout camp.
The response from the students was satisfactory so the driver veered the bus off the express towards the dirt road leading to the beach. The feeling of excitement was slowly coming back to the bus as they got closer to the beach. The truth was that most of the students wanted to have fun, it didn’t matter where.
The way some students played on the beach, you would think that they haven’t been to a beach before, talk more of this particular one. Not Mary though. She was seated quietly on the sand staring at the waves going back and forth on the beach.
Milo saw her and decided to cheer her up, so he walked up to her and asked, “So would you like to hide or seek first?”
She looked up at him, a faint smile on her face, and she said, “You know I’d like to hide”.
Milo turned around and closed his eyes and started counting down from twenty, “twenty, nineteen, eighteen”.
“So you people want to play without the champ”, Marvin interrupted Milo’s countdown. “Milo go and hide, I’m seeking today, hide properly this time, I don’t want your excuses today”.
Milo ran off at once to hide. Marvin was excellent at hide-and-seek; he would find you no matter where you hid. Mary accused him of cheating before, so he was forced to tie his eyes with a black cloth, and even then, the results were the same.
Marvin soon finished his countdown and went hunting for Milo and Mary. He found Milo easily, it was barely a minute. They both started looking for Mary; they looked for a minute and then thirty, and then an hour.
It was getting serious now, the entire class was involved now. They had shared themselves in groups, and they were screaming her name all around the beach.
The search lasted for two hours, and then she was found, she looked alright, she wasn’t even bothered. She walked up to the teacher and explained to him that they were playing hide-and-seek and she fell asleep in her hiding place.
They all packed up and ready to leave and Mary made a hand sign to Milo and Marvin signaling them to come to her. When they did she put her index finger over her lips meaning they should keep quiet, and then she spoke, “I didn’t fall asleep while hiding”.
“What? You lied” Marvin asked. “Why did you lie?”
Milo just stood there bent over, hands on his knees, keeping his ears as close as possible to Mary’s mouth. He was waiting patiently for her explanation.
“Well I lied because I met a witch in a cave that I hid in, a real witch” she replied.