i know its a longpost. this is a first chapter kinda bit. any comments and what is the youngest age you think could understand it would be nice 'Have you noticed that Miss Billington has seemed a bit sad recently Rob?’ asked Abi, shielding her eyes from the morning sun that was shining brightly down on the playground, through all the big trees that surrounded it. ‘Yeah, she doesn’t seem to be as happy, she used to bounce along but now she’s all slow like her brain’s slowed down and she has to think about everything she does.’ ‘I know, I liked her better when she was all happy. I wonder why it could be?’ Rob laughed because Abi was doing her thinking face where she would one finger on her lips, one hand on her hip and both her eyes would look upwards and to the left, as if she was looking at something high up in the sky. ‘What are you laughing at now?’ ‘You and your thinking face’, chuckled Rob. ‘Oh don’t be silly, you know I can’t help it’, said Abi all annoyed. ‘I’m thinking about poor Miss Billington’. ‘Your face is still funny though. Anyway I heard Mr Wright talking to her on the way to assembly and she said something about having troubles with her fiancée.’ ‘What’s a fiancée?’ asked Abi ‘I don’t really know, I think it’s some sort of car’. ‘I don’t think so, who would get so sad about a car, cars aren’t happy or sad are they, they’re just a thing.’ ‘Hmm maybe not then. We can ask your mum when we get home, she knows lots of words.’ Just then the bell rang and the children in the playground froze, waiting for Mr Wright to give the instructions to get into their class lines and file inside. A couple of boys however who had been playing football with a tennis ball, had decided to ignore the bell because they’d been too busy fighting over who got too take the match deciding penalty. They soon stopped though, as the shadow of mad Mr Wright came over them, with his crazy big beard, long hair and eyes that popped out of his head when angry. ‘Freeze boys’, his loud Welsh voice boomed out, ‘and the rest of you get in line’. Rob had been about to make a joke about Mr Wright’s beard to Abi, but as the teacher came marching past him he decided now was probably not the best time. That afternoon Rob paid a lot of attention to Miss Billington. Before Abi has said, he had never taken much notice of her sadness but he saw that Abi was right. Abi always noticed these things he thought, and Miss Billington is my teacher not hers! He noticed that pained look on his teachers face when some of the other rowdier boys were chasing after the girls trying to cut off their precious curls or were trying to see who could make the loudest noise by slamming their textbooks on the desk. He thought that at least if he behaved then it would make her day a bit nicer. The afternoon passed quickly, as they were doing Rob’s favourite lesson History. They were doing about the Aztecs and imagined he was the great King Montezuma, calling his people to war from his great ziggurat temple as he saw the greedy Spaniards approaching in the distance. He thought that maybe if he was an Aztec king then he could make Miss Billington his queen, and then maybe she would smile a bit more, but then he remembered that he had already promised Abi that if he ever became a king she would be queen. The 3.30 home time bell shook him out of an especially nice daydream, and he still felt a little dopy as he wandered down the corridor and bumped into Abi who had been calling his name to try and catch his attention. ‘Wakey wakey silly’ she laughed, ‘didn’t you hear me calling?’ ‘No’ ‘Didn’t think so’ she said, pulling her long raincoat off the wooden peg outside the 4S classroom. ‘Come on, let’s go and see if mum’s turned up yet’. She was glad of her coat, as the sunny lunchtime had turned into a horrible wet afternoon. There was nothing she could so though, when she got splattered by mud which had been aimed at Rob by the boys who had been terrorising Miss Billington earlier, Simon Jones and Matty Groves , as they ran past. ‘Oi, you two better watch out, one day Rob will strike back!’ Abi called laughing, knowing full well that he was far too much of a softy to do any such thing. At the end of the path they were surprised to meet not only Abi’s mum but also her friend Suzie, Rob’s aunty who had looked after him since his parents had died when he was very small. In truth though, Abi’s mum had looked after him just as much, as Suzie worked very hard cleaning rich peoples’ houses and often wouldn’t get back until late. ‘Oh heya Suzie, I thought I was going back to Abs’s tonight?’ called Rob, walking up to her and giving her a big hug. ‘Yeah you were but then I thought I’d try and take some time off so we can have some fun, maybe you could help me make tea tonight?’ Rob hugged her even more tightly and smiled, making tea with Suzie was magical, she made dishes from all over the world, and he loved throwing all the spices into the pan and sticking his head over the pan and smelling also the wonderful smells. And eating it was always a treat too. Thinking these things he said goodbye to Abi and Mrs Lowyer and wandered slowly home, with thoughts of fiancés and Miss Billington drowned out by smells of cinnamon, tastes of pakoras, and the warmth of the old open oven.
to be honest I think the age of 12 to 15 would easily understand it here is a recap 1 - 4 years old - Sesame Street 4-6 years old - Dora the explorer, The cat in the hat 6-9 years old - Where the wild things are, charlie and the chocolate factory kids need to be able to grasp the concept of hard to understand words and make a clear picture in their minds of what it means and it may be hard for children to understand at a such a young age