Page 23 of Cadenbury Town Does Halloween

We walk backto join the others, loaded down with boxes of food and a bag full of bottles of water. I’m not sure the poor kiosk people have ever had such a large order for one group before.

We reach the others and hand out food boxes and drinks, and Sal collects Connie so he can feed her.

Emily hands out disinfectant wipes, so the others can clean their hands before eating as looking at the buckets, they’ve all caught something.

We’re sat in our deck chairs, most of us have our feet up on the rail, our crab lines still in the water, and we’re happily munching on our fish and chips, or in Nora’s case chicken nuggets. Justice and Alfred are telling the others about the annoying lady and I hear Justice call me ‘Pops,’ there is a moment of silence before everyone descends into laughter.

I look at Adhan. “You don’t really think they’ll keep calling me that do you?”

He nods. “They probably will. After all, you did claim them both.”

“I’ve claimed everyone here,” I point out.

“True, but you are his stepfather.”

“Funnily enough, until I told that troll I was, it never occurred to me,” I say eating a chip.

“I can’t wait to see how this all plays out,” he says with a laugh, looking towards Alfred who is grinning like a loon.

Oh yeah, Alfred and Justice are going to run with this now.

After eating our fish and chips overlooking the water, we tidy up and count how many crabs were caught. Sion won the who caught the first crab. Adhan won the who pulled out the most crabs in one go. Kean won the who caught the most crabs, and Kean and Titus won the duo who caught the most.

I can’t believe how much fun we all had.

We’re just packing up, putting the crabs back in the water and winding up the crab lines when we hear a yell and a scream.

We look down towards the screaming, and dropping everything we rush down the promenade to see if we can help.

A lady is standing by an open gate. We look and see that she is staring at a young woman trying to rescue a frightened dog who is in the sea.

The young woman is slowly walking to the edge of the ledge, all the while talking to the dog, trying to calm it down.

“Stay here,” Kean says walking to the gate.

“Careful, the ledge is slippery,” the lady cautions.

“Thanks,” Kean replies, gently getting onto the ledge, Adhan goes next.

The young lady is reaching out as far as she can, it looks like she’s trying to grab the dog’s collar.

Waves are crashing over the ledge and the dog can’t find anywhere to grip its claws onto, as the stone is covered in slimy green algae.

“Take my hand,” Kean says to the young lady.

I watch her look at Kean and take his outstretched hand.

“I need to lean over further,” I hear her say to Kean.

Adhan grabs the rail and then Kean’s other hand.

“Go for it,” Kean tells her.

“Thanks,” she says, bending further over and snagging the dog’s collar.

I look to the lady stood by the gate. I’m worried about Adhan and Kean, but this lady looks a lot like the young lady. I move to her side. “They’ll have them both safe for you,” I assure her.

“Thank you. I was worried my daughter was going to fall in. She can’t swim and in that coat, she’d sink,” the lady says just as her daughter pulls the dog out.