The Holiday

 Toby was so excited about sneaking off with Grandpa Kieran that he was awake at 5.30 am. He had agreed to meet Grandpa Kieran out the front at 6.00 am. After quietly peeing in the toilet in the bathroom, he washed his face, collected his toothbrush and got dressed without turning on a light. He sat on his bed and waited for the clock on the dresser next to his bed to read 05:55. Then he crept, as silently as a ten year old boy sneaking out of his house could, along the passageway past his mother’s bedroom. Fortunately for Toby, Helen always closed her bedroom door, and concrete floors don’t creak. He wasn’t really worried that she would wake up. He knew she liked sleeping in on Saturdays, especially after staying up late studying. 

When he got to the front door, he slipped on his parka and put his toothbrush into the front zip pocket of the backpack holding the change of clothes Grandpa Kieran had told him to bring. With the backpack on his back, he used his house keys to open the front door, and then the security door, and stepped out onto the veranda. He looked over in front of the house next door. Grandpa Kieran’s van was parked where he said it would be. Toby closed the front door, locked the security door and walked over to the van.

Kieran opened the door for him as he approached the van.

‘G’day, matey. Jump in and we’ll get going.’