On the road

Mama gave her children one last hug before she went to work. ‘Promise me you will look after your little sister, Dante? I have to go to work now. Give me another big kiss you two, I love you very much. Be nice to the babysitter, and behave. Both of you.’ She said with her eye on Angel, who was trying to snatch Dante’s I-pad out of his hands.

‘Yes, mama, we love you. See you tonight.’ Dante held his I-pad tighter, and received a little kick against his leg from his sister. ‘Haha, catch me if you can. You can never catch me, I’m way faster than you Dante!’ Angel started running, and when she was sure Dante didn’t follow her, she let herself fall on the couch. ‘I’m bored Dante. What shall we play?’

‘I don’t know. What do you want to do?’ Dante dropped next to her on the couch, his feet could almost touch the ground, which made him feel like a real big brother.

‘We could play outside, or we could go to Grandma.’ Dante said while trying to push his toes to the ground.

‘Yay, to Grandma!!! I want to go to Grandma!!! But how do we go Dante?’ Angel clapped her hands and bounced up and down on the couch.

‘Well… we go by bus. I know how it works. I’ve seen mama do it. We only need money to buy bus tickets.’ Dante ran up the stairs to get his piggybank. ‘You get yours too Angel!’ he yelled down below. When both piggybanks were on the table, Dante gave a swing with a hammer and broke his piggy. ‘Now yours, Angel.’ But Angel snatched her piggy from the table, and tears role down her cheek. ‘No, you can’t hurt piggy, then she’s dead. I love my piggybank!’

It took quite some convincing, but after hearing how many coins were in that piggy, and the promise Angel could smash her own piggybank, she gladly gave a swing.

‘Ow, Dante we are so rich!! Look at how many coins there are. Now I can buy a pony! Yay, my very own little pony!!’ Angels danced in circles, clapping her hands of excitement, totally forgot the reason for breaking the piggybanks at the first place.

Ignoring Angels happy dance, he grabbed his backpack, and filled it with Angel’s favourite stuffed animal, all the coins properly matched by colour in each its own baggie, and off course his Bobo-magazine, where there was an item drawn, of how Bobo goes on adventures. And this time was about a trip by bus. Knowledge rules the world.

And off they went, on their adventure. Holding each other’s hand, as they crossed the street to the bus stop. They had to wait for the bus so they both sat down, and Dante checked his Bobo-magazine to see what comes next.

A bus stopped, and Dante asked the bus driver if he could stop at Grandma’s house, because that was where they were going. The bus driver smiled, and asked where Grandma’s house was. Dante had to think really hard, but then he remembered. Grandma lived nearby the big shopping street. ‘Well, that is exactly where I stop. I will give a sign when you two adventurers need to get off.’ The bus driver gave them their tickets, and Dante couldn’t believe how many coins were still left. All though the big ones were almost all gone.

The bus doors slide open, and the bus driver waved them good luck. When they stood on the pavement, Dante looked around. He began to feel a little nervous, because he didn’t know exactly which way to go. But he took a deep breath, and started walking. He couldn’t let Angel know he lost his way. Angel didn’t suspect anything. She only jumped up and down seeing all the shops on a row. ‘Can we go shopping Dante? I would really like to try on grown-up shoes like mommy’s,

and go to a make-up store, and try on all the lipstick colours of the rainbow,

and then I want to go on the merry-go-round at the end of the street. Can we, can we Dante?’

Dante shrugged his shoulders. ‘Yeah, why not. Let’s make the best of it.’

They went to all the stores they wanted, and even took three rounds on the merry-go-round.

They only had two copper coins left, so they had to start walking to go to Grandma’s house. ‘Which way Dante? I am so tired, are we almost there yet?’ She grabbed her stuffed animal to hold at her nose while she sucked her thumb. Dante looked left, and right, and left again. ‘I don’t know, maybe ask someone who knows. Excuse me sir, do you know where my Grandmother’s house is?’

But no one knew. Angel started crying. ‘I miss my mummy, and my nanna. I don’t like this adventure any more Dante. I want to go home.’ Dante put his arms around his little sister. He wanted to cry as well, but he had to stay strong for Angel. If only they stayed with the babysitter, this would never have happened. They sat on a bench, and Angel put her head against her brother, still crying.

‘Hé, aren’t you the Grandchildren of Mrs. Kleine?’ asked a young girl who passed by. Dante looked up with a frown, curious who asked. ‘Yes, we wanted to go to Grandma, but I don’t know where her house is any more. Do you know?’

The young girl smiled. She happened to be her neighbour, so she took them to Grandmother’s house. When Grandma opened the door, she looked very worried. She thanked her neighbour, and gave Dante and Angel a big hug. ‘Where were you, we were so worried! The babysitter called to say that she couldn’t find you when you were supposed to be playing outside with your sister. What were you thinking of?’ Now Dante started crying. ‘I’m so sorry Grandma, we wanted to go see you. And I thought I could do it by myself. I’ve seen mama do it so often. And Bobo makes adventure trips by himself, so I thought with a little help of Bobo, we could too. But after the shopping, and the merry-go-round, I was lost. I’m so glad to see you again Grandma, I was so scared.’

Grandma gave a big kiss, and squeezed him tight. ‘All is well now, thank God. I will get some milk and cookies, and call your mother to tell her you are here. She will probably be a little angry with you, but I know she will be relieved to hear all is well. But promise me you will never do this again, until you are old and wise enough to do so, and only when you’re allowed to.’ Angel snuggled on the couch and fell asleep, and Dante enjoyed his milk and cookie while telling of his adventure, together with Grandma.