"Come on,
Sparky,” I said as I leapt out of the car.
Sparky, my Labrador puppy scampered after me as I raced along the
path to our new house. The house had a bright red front door with a
shining golden letterbox and big sparkling windows that seemed to
smile at me.
“This
is fantastic!” I cried to Sparky as I looked around at the other
houses on the estate. “We’re really going to live here, by the sea.
Just think of all the adventures we’ll have!”
“You
can open the door if you like, Peter,” my mother said, holding out
the key to me as we reached the front door.
This
was the big moment! I opened the door. Sparky rushed into the hall
and ran around playfully. I stepped inside.
The
hallway was enormous! It seemed bigger than the living room of our
old flat!
“Where’s my room?” I asked excitedly.
“Come
on, I’ll show you,” my father said, leading the way.
I
bounded up the stairs, two steps at a time, and burst into my new
bedroom. It was huge! It had a pale green carpet and cream coloured
walls and smelt so fresh and clean.
I
picked up Sparky and we went over to the window.
“Look
at the garden, Sparky, it’s enormous! Plenty of space for you to
play in. You can bury a lot of bones in there!”
“Not
in my flower beds!” my father laughed as he came over to the window.
We
stood together looking out over the rest of the gardens. A small
wooden fence separated ours from the ones on either side. At the
bottom of the garden on the right I could see a badminton net strung
up between two poles. A rusty old bike rested against the house and
there was a blue plastic sandpit, half filled with sand and littered
with a collection of brightly coloured buckets and spades.
Our
garden sloped downward quite steeply. At the bottom was a tall
wooden fence and beyond it, a wood. I could just make out a small
stream flowing through the trees down towards the cliffs.
“I
can see the sea!” I cried happily. “Look, mum!”
She
came over to the window and we looked out to the grey cliffs in the
distance. Through a gap in the cliffs I could see the sea speckled
with white foaming waves.
“It’s
less than half a mile away,” my father said. “It will only take ten
minutes to walk to the beach from here.”
“Can
I go now?” I asked excitedly.
“All
right, Peter,” my mother said. “We’ll stay here – we’ve got to wait
in for the removal men, but you go with Sparky. Let me give you some
money so you can buy yourself a sandwich and drink for lunch.”
“And
Peter,” my dad called after me as I ran out of the house, “make sure
you’re back by six.”
“OK,”
I replied. “Bye.”
Sparky and I raced out of the estate and sprinted down the hill
towards the sea.
