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‘Piggy!’ exclaimed Jacob, who then tried to replicate the sound. ‘Again, Daddy, again!’
‘We have to wait till we pass another school, Jakey. How ‘bout we see who can make the best piggy noise huh?’
A symphony of oinks and laughter ensued,Madagascar 2taking a temporary backseat to the more advanced entertainment of farm animal imitations.
‘Neigh!’
‘A horse? What’s that one for, Pete?’ asked Cara.
‘A church, I think.’
‘Why we need to know when there’s a church or school coming up I have no idea, but I’m sure you had fun setting it up, honey.’
‘I did.’ Pete laughed.
‘I’m hungry, can we stop for a snack?’ asked seven-year-old Lily, when the credits of the movie rolled.
‘Sure sweetie, there’s a town up the road a bit, won’t be long,’ Pete assured.
‘I need to do wee-wee.’ Jacob squirmed in his seat.
Cara turned to face him. ‘We’re almost there, can you hold it?’
‘Noooo … Mummy, need to go wee-wee now!’
‘Okay, um…’ Cara looked around. ‘Oh look! The town’s up there, just hold on and you can go in one minute, Jakey, one minute!’
‘Moooo…Oink, Oink…Neigh!’Farm animal hysteria heralded their approach to civilization, with a petrol station, school, and church obviously nearby. Laughter erupted in the car, except for Jacob whose scrunched up face grew redder by the minute in an effort to hold on.
‘Moooo…Oink, Oink…Neigh!’
‘Muuummm! Wee-wee, now!’ Jacob seemed about ready to explode.
‘Maamma, I gots tummy ache!’ Toby added to the mix.
‘Oh God, not you too!’ Toby was wearing pull-up nappy pants at least, but his ‘events’ were often known to extend beyond borders and Cara had been meaning to ask the doctor whether he might have a food intolerance of some kind. ‘Toilet! We need a toilet! Quick, Pete, pull over somewhere!’ Cara urged Jacob to keep holding and told Toby to rub his tummy.
‘I can’t yet, there’s nowhere to stop. Hold on, I’ll turn off here.’ Pete swerved left.
‘Turn around when possible,’Betty instructed, detecting a change of route.
‘Oh, for crying out loud! Doesn’t Betty have a noise to tell us where a toilet is?’
‘Damn. I knew I forgot something!’ Pete slapped his forehead. ‘The petrol station, over there. They’ll have one.’ He drove in quickly, stopping in front of the outdoor toilet, his ambulance driving skills coming in handy.
Within seconds Cara unbuckled Jacob (who was now purple), and, carrying him with one hand between his legs,shipped him into the cubicle where he rapidly released the pressure, missing the toilet bowl by an inch. ‘Oops. Close enough, sweetie. Better than in the car.’ She’d forgotten to bring the air freshener too, so not only would their vehicle sound like a farm, it would have smelled like one too.
Moments later, Cara and a relieved looking Jacob exited the cubicle to find Toby waddling towards them, wearing what looked like MC Hammer pants. Pete buckled Jacob in the car, while Cara went back to the toilet with Toby this time, to change his nappy. ‘Pete!’ Cara popped her head out of the cubicle. ‘Can you throw me a spare pair of pants for Tobes?’ She caught them in one hand and mentally reminded herself to ask the doctor about this additionalissueof Toby’s. She didn’t remember Lily and Jacob having this much tummy trouble when they were younger.
After a (very) early start thefollowing morning; Easter Sunday, the kids tearing open the foil on their Easter eggs and eating them for breakfast, the Collins family left the motel room and headed to the beach to make the most of the sunny autumn weather before the cool afternoon breeze arrived.
‘I’m going to look for fishies,’ Lily said, wandering towards the rock pool after getting bored with constructing a giant Easter egg sandcastle. Jacob’s eyes lit up at the large mound of sand and with eager hands he finished it off for his sister, adding a zigzag marking around its circumference and making it look like it was about to hatch.
‘What are you doing, Jakey?’ Cara eyed her son with a curious smile as he crouched over the sandcastle.
‘I has to keep the egg warm.’
Cara giggled and snapped a photo of him with her phone. ‘One for the twenty-first birthday,’ she mused. She dropped the phone in her beach bag as Toby rummaged through it for hidden treats. He pulled out a chocolate Easter Bunny which Cara had put in there for emergencies or unexpected situations requiring bribery. Toby’s hopeful eyes looked into hers and she nodded. ‘You can have it, Tobes.’ He tore off the wrapper and decapitated the poor bunny in one bite.
