Page 24 of Bea's Book Wagon
‘Er, no,’ said Nathan, scratching his head.
‘Well, I do,’ said Bea, fondly. ‘I knew right away you were different from all the other boys.’
‘You weren’t so bad yourself,’ said Nathan. ‘You punched Oscar Halliday for calling me a loser when he beat me at cross country.’
‘I’d forgotten about that,’ said Bea, smiling.
‘It was a proper punch, too; knocked him out cold. I was impressed.’
‘He deserved it,’ said Bea, proudly. ‘He was such a bully. I got detention for a week, though, and Mum was fuming.’
‘He got so much stick for it,’ said Nathan, his mouth twitching in amusement. ‘His reputation as a hard man was seriously dented after that.’
‘Karma’s a bitch,’ said Bea, unable to suppress a grin. ‘Right, I’ll get out and direct you back, shall I?’
‘Good idea.’
Bea pulled up her hood, climbed out of the jeep and swung open the barn doors. Being out in the rain for just a few seconds was enough to have her soaked to the skin, and even with both doors open, it was a tight fit getting the trailer inside. But, eventually, after some impressive manoeuvring from Nathan that wouldn’t have been out of place on an episode of Top Gear, the horsebox was finally in the dry.
‘Here she is,’ said Bea, resting a hand on the wagon’s cracked and peeling paintwork.
‘Safe and sound.’
‘Thanks, Nate. I couldn’t have done this without your help.’
‘No worries, it’ll be easier to fix up being indoors, anyway. Even if the weather’s bad, we can still crack on.’
‘Let’s have a look inside,’ said Bea, excitedly. Nathan dropped the trailer’s ramp with a gentle thud and they both peered in. ‘God, it’s a bit whiffy. What is that smell? Is it… wee?’ she asked, pulling a face.
‘Probably,’ he said, laughing.
‘Yuck!’ said Bea, holding her nose.
‘It’s rotted the floor, but that’s easy enough to replace,’ said Nathan, ‘I’ll put down marine ply – that won’t warp – and vinyl over the top. Job done.’
‘Wow,’ whispered Bea, ‘I still can’t believe it’s mine.’
‘Well, it is, and it’s going to be great, Bea.’
‘I’ve got loads of ideas for what I want to do inside.’
‘Go on…’ replied Nathan.
‘I want to take this divider out, for starters,’ she said, sliding it out of position and laying it carefully against the back wall. ‘God, it looks huge without it!’
‘Almost like it’s doubled in size,’ he teased.
‘So, I want,’ said Bea, pretending not to hear him, ‘shelving along the walls… here and… here,’ she said, tracing a hand along the sides. ‘And then bookcases… here. Could you add stud walls? I want to paint them white to make it feel really spacious, and could we add a window at the back here?’ she asked, drawing a square with her hands in the air.
‘Uh-huh, that all sounds totally doable,’ said Nathan, nodding.
‘I can picture it already. I think I’ll have to get the bookcases custom-made, though, I don’t think standard IKEA Billys will fit…’
‘Oh, that’s easy enough.’
‘Easy?’ laughed Bea. ‘The last time I picked up a saw was at school, and you remember how that turned out?’
‘A three-hour wait in A&E and stitches, if I remember rightly?’ said Nathan.
