Page 41 of The Knitting Club at Wagtail Ridge

‘Now put the lid back on the tin and take it to the kitchen. You can have some this afternoon.’ And he would then no doubt have to cope with her sugar rush from possibly the thickest icing he’d ever seen on a cake.

As Vicki vanished into the kitchen, Sally straightened her back and glared at Matt with an accusing eye. ‘I was very upset to see Kim the other day with blood all over her. She said it was from an injured animal.’

Matt frowned. ‘Kim? You mean Vicki?’ He looked at Brian. Sally’s husband had heard the name slip and was frowning too. Matt wondered if it had happened before. And how often.

‘Of course I mean Vicki.’ Sally brushed her mistake aside. ‘I’m not at all sure she should be exposed to things like that. After all, she’s only six.’

‘I know how old she is,’ Matt said as quietly and calmly as he could manage. ‘We were visiting an alpaca farm and one of the animals was injured.’ He heard steps returning from the kitchen. ‘Vicki helped the injured animal, didn’t you, honey?’

‘I did. Bree said it was a good thing I was there, otherwise she might not have seen Digby’s cut leg and that would have been bad.’

‘We are all very proud of how you helped,’ Matt said, trying not to put extra emphasis on the word ‘all’.

‘When she came to dinner, Bree said I should go back out to the farm and visit Digby again. When can we do that, Daddy?’

Across the room, Sally’s eyes narrowed. Time to change the subject.

‘Soon, honey. Now, are you hungry? I thought to celebrate Granny and Grandpa being here, we could go to the pub for lunch.’

‘I want meat pasta.’

‘The pub always has lasagne for the weekend. It’s one of Vicki’s favourites.’ He directed the comment towards Brian, who was starting to look quite uncomfortable in the tense atmosphere.

‘Do you go to the pub a lot, Vicki?’ Sally asked.

Vicki shrugged. ‘Sometimes. As a treat.’

‘There are no restaurants in town,’ Matt said. ‘You’ve both seen the pub; it’s very much the family gathering place. Especially on the weekend. More eating than drinking for most of us. Let’s go.’

‘Before we go.’ Sally remained firmly seated. ‘I have another present for Vicki.’ She reached into her bag.

‘Ooh!’ Vicki scampered over and waited, a big grin on her face.

Matt bit his tongue. Another gift and again without talking to him first. He didn’t want to stop them giving Vicki gifts, but this was getting out of hand.

Vicki tore the wrapping of the small present. Her eyes were wide with excitement. ‘Look, Daddy. It’s a phone. Just like yours!’

Matt could hardly believe what he was seeing. ‘Can I have it please, honey?’

She placed it in his outstretched hand. Matt was no expert, but it was clearly a recent model and was no doubt fully equipped with chat and games and internet access. His blood ran cold at the thought of the traps waiting for his little girl on the internet.

‘We’ve put it in our name, so we’ll pay the bills. I know these phones are expensive to run.’

The suggestion that he couldn’t afford to give his daughter a phone was the final straw. His fingers closed tightly around the phone. ‘I’m sorry, Vicki, but we can’t accept this gift from Granny.’

‘Why not?’ Vicki’s voice rose in a wail.

‘Because you are too young to have a phone like this.’

‘No, I’m not!’ She didn’t actually stamp her foot, but Matt felt as if she had.

‘Is there anyone else in your class with a phone like this?’ He felt safe asking the question, because he already knew the school banned phones in the primary classes.

‘No. I’d be the first. It would be cool. They would all be jealous.’

Cool? When did his daughter start saying ‘cool’? ‘I’m sorry, but no. I’m giving the phone back to Granny.’

‘But—’ This time she did stamp her foot.

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