Mandm

Mandm
Part 10.080 ‑ Building conversion to a school

Caveat

This story is a complete work of fiction. Whilst some research effort has been made, nothing should be taken as factual, in particular anything to do with medical, legal, technical, political, social, educational or religious issues. Any opinions expressed are those of the characters, not necessarily the author's.

Back in England

When they landed, both Lian and Owen got hugs as the two girls left the plane, where they were greeted by Lucy. "Hello, again. You've been causing quite a stir in the airline. Flight okay?" Lucy got smiles from the girls, "Long." "Tired." Lucy returned the smile, she said "Yes. Let's get you through everywhere. Did you book in any luggage?" "No, just these cabin bags." "Good, we won't have to wait for them unloading the baggage. Come on." Chloe: "We have got things to show in customs." Lucy smiled, "Those necklaces? They really suit you." Kitty added "And two more in our bags."

Lucy led them to immigration where they were let through after their passports were scanned. They went past the baggage reclaim area to customs, where they showed the four necklaces and Kitty produced the receipt. The customs man told them there was import duty and VAT to pay, Kitty gave him her debit card. The customs man used the information on the card at his computer. Satisfied with the result, he put a stamp on the receipt and handed it and the debit card to Kitty, watching her as she put the receipt back in its envelope without looking at it, then that and the two boxed necklaces into her bag.

At the arrivals hall, Kitty spotted Daniel and Audrey. She gave them a quick wave, meanwhile Chloe was giving Lucy her hug. Chloe released her, and as Kitty hugged Lucy, Chloe got out her sketches. When Kitty let go, Chloe handed the sketches to Lucy. She looked pleased at her portrait, then laughed at the cartoon, "Luckily I didn't have to do any punching." The two girls just said "Goodbye, and thank you." They ran to Daniel and Audrey, their cabin bags bouncing along behind. Reaching them, they dropped their bag handles, Kitty wrapped herself round Audrey, Chloe did the same with Daniel. After a few seconds, they swapped. A short while later Daniel said "Come on, then, let's get you home."

They walked to the carpark, each girl trailing her cabin bag in one hand, her other holding Daniel or Audrey's hand.

As they went to the carpark, Kitty asked "What time is it?" Daniel smiled, "About four in the morning. Sunday." Chloe commented "How confusing."

On the drive back, Audrey firstly said she loved their necklaces, then asked how they were. Between them they said they were fine, just tired, and they were missing the many friends they'd made in Australia. After a while, Daniel said "I've got to set up a bank account in your name to receive the insurance money. It's imminent according to Holden, can you be at my office for nine tomorrow, we can walk to the bank for when they open? Bring your passport with you. Your tutors will have to do without you for one more day."

Audrey asked them if they'd prefer lunch or an evening meal later in the day. After a brief whispered conversation between the two girls, Kitty said "The evening might be best, thank you. Give us more time to recover."

As they reached the twin's house, the front door opened, Midge and Molly ran out. The car had barely stopped, Kitty and Chloe were out, running towards the twins. They pretty much crashed together into a four‑way hug. Daniel got out of the car, picked the two cases out from the back. He carried the cases past the four girls, put them down in the hall. He walked back to the car, shut the rear doors, he and Audrey left the girls.

After a few minutes, Chloe said "Need the loo." Kitty said "Then a shower." The twins each took a hand of Kitty and Chloe, led them up to the bathroom.

In the shower they spent several minutes washing each other. Midge (or Molly) said "We love your necklaces, they look even better on you than we thought." Molly (or possibly Midge) said "But they'll get in the way when we want to bite your neck."

After a few more minutes, without bothering to dry, they went to the bed and spent half an hour or so kissing and hugging, until both Kitty and Chloe's exhaustion made them stop.

They slept in a huddle until around nine in the morning, the twins got out of bed leaving Kitty and Chloe sleeping. Eventually the two woke and went downstairs. Their bags were still in the hall where Daniel had left them. Kitty opened hers, took out the two boxes with the necklaces in, handed one to Chloe. They walked into the kitchen where the twins were sitting, Kitty handed a box to Midge, Chloe her one to Molly.

The twins opened their boxes, looked at the necklaces open‑mouthed. Kitty just said "From Holden and Harper." Through their tears, Midge and Molly spoke alternately, "So that's" "what you" "were" "hiding" ‑ together ‑ "from us." Kitty commented "I thought Chloe's cartoon would have given it away." Midge and Molly looked at each other, turned to Kitty and Chloe, and together said "I'm stupid."

A minute later the twins were wearing the necklaces, admiring each other and themselves in a mirror. Midge said "Kitty, get your phone." Molly: "Take our photograph." "Send the picture" "to Holden and Harper." Chloe: "Nice idea." Kitty: "Better be head and neck only, unless you put on your dresses." Chloe: I think we should send one of just the twins, then one of all four of us." Kitty: "Maybe one of us two as well, I don't think they have one." Chloe: "Good thinking, show we really appreciate them."

Kitty got her phone, woke it up. "Forgot to put it on charge. Midge?" Midge got hers, Kitty said "In the garden. Background will be out of focus, sun should glint off the gold." Molly said "I think all those little talks with Derek might have been useful." Midge: "Long talks while Chloe was playing with … oof." In a second, all four girls were on the floor scrapping, until Kitty shouted "Stop." Chloe said "Oh, yes, mustn't fight with the necklaces on."

"Right" said Kitty. "Chloe, put your phone on charge, I'll do mine. All of us, dresses on, into the garden, Midge, bring your phone." Midge: "She's got all bossy." Molly: "Must be being around Lenny." Then "Oh, sorry, you miss him, don't you." Kitty said "Yes, but different from Red." Chloe, somewhat wistfully, "Lenny was great."

Upstairs again, it was Midge's turn to be bossy. She got out four clean dresses, tossed one to each of the other three, "Put these on, let's do this."

A few minutes later they were in the garden. Kitty positioned the twins so the sun was in front and to one side. She got them to put their hair behind the shoulder on the sunny side, in front on the shadier side. She photographed first the twins side by side, then one of Midge on her own. The third was of Molly on her own, but when she looked at the result, she saw that Molly had a big cheeky grin and had put her hand up to point to the necklace with her forefinger, other fingers curled into her palm, her thumb pointing up. Kitty grinned, "That's so typical. That's the one of you I'm going to send."

Midge took photos of Kitty and Chloe, separately then together. When it came to all four, Kitty said "We're not doing the typical selfie. If I can support the phone, we'll do one properly, side by side, using the phone's timer. Can we find some string? I can tie the phone to the birdtable."

Molly raced into the kitchen, came out trailing a few yards of string behind her. She passed the end she was holding to Kitty, who got Midge, Molly and Chloe to stand in a row. It took her several attempts to get the phone held in just the right position, she moved the row back a bit and to the side until she was satisfied.

Kitty said "Arms round waists, please, ten second timer, the phone will chirrup as it takes the picture." She touched the phone's screen button, walked unhurriedly to stand beside Midge ‑ Chloe was the other side of Molly, they put their arms round each others' waists. A few seconds later they heard the phone. Kitty said "Wait while I check." A minute later she said "Okay, seems fine. Let's see what we've got on the computer."

Kitty untied the phone, she took it into the dining room, closely followed by the other three. She plugged the phone into her computer. In spite of all the pushing and shoving behind her, she managed to transfer the photos, all of them looked good. Kitty suggested they do one email with messages from them all, then she'd send several with two of the photographs attached to each to keep the size of each email reasonable.

Kitty started by writing how much she appreciated what Holden was doing for her, also asked him to thank Harper, Elandra, Jarrah, and especially Lenny for putting up with them so well. She signed it 'Lots of love, Kitty.'

Then it was Chloe's turn, she said that she also thanked them all, she was missing them. She added that she knew Elandra had done something for her, she didn't know what, but felt it was important, so many thanks for that. She signed her paragraph 'Lots of love from Chloe as well.'

Midge wrote the last message, she thanked them for looking after Kitty and Chloe, also for the fabulous necklaces. She also wrote 'And our very special thanks to Elandra. Without her, we don't know what might have happened.' Midge signed 'Our love, too, Midge and Molly.'

Kitty sent the email, followed by another four emails with photos attached, just the name of the girl or girls in the subject, the singles of Midge and Molly she put 'Probably Midge' and 'Most likely Molly'.

This finished, Kitty said she'd like to lie down for a bit, body‑clock was playing up. Molly said "A sandwich first, none of us has had breakfast. Chloe: "Oh, that reminds me, Audrey invited us for a meal this evening. Which will save us from Ki…" Midge yelled "Stop!" Followed by "I don't want to have to take my necklace off." Chloe said "You're right, shame."

Midge and Molly made sandwiches and some tea. They ate in the sitting room, both Kitty and Chloe choosing a ragged Molly sandwich, Kitty remarked "Only had perfectly cut sandwiches recently." Chloe added "I'm convinced Molly's taste different." Kitty: "That's because of where she parks her hand much of the time." Molly asked "Have I got to take my necklace off?" Chloe "Wait until Kitty takes hers off." Midge: "Then we can all get her." Kitty just smiled. "Looking forward to it, but not just now, too tired."

When they'd finished their sandwiches and tea, all four went upstairs. The twins watched Kitty and Chloe as they took off their dresses, used the bathroom and climbed into bed. They stayed watching until the two girls were asleep, Kitty curled round Chloe. The twins took off their own dresses, managed to get into bed to one side of the other two, they lay there having a general kiss and cuddle. It wasn't all that long before Kitty and Chloe woke, joined Midge and Molly.

Ten minutes later they were all lying flat on their backs. Chloe said "Although I'm missing Lenny, it is good to be back." Kitty said "I need to pee." All four made their way to the bathroom.

Fifteen minutes later they were downstairs. Kitty said that she'd like to try to turn the photos of Chloe's sketches into something nearer the originals. She went into the dining room, followed by the other three girls, Molly saying that they all wanted to help, they totally ignored Kitty's sighs of exasperation. She put the sketch photos from her phone onto her computer, she asked Chloe for her phone to get the couple that were on it.

Kitty picked the first sketch that Chloe had done on a pad, this was one of Lenny. Kitty opened it with an image editing utility. The first thing she did was to try to make it into a rectangle, to correct the shape. She played around a bit with the utility's transform tools until the image of the paper was much closer to a rectangle.

Molly asked "Why didn't you photograph it from above, then it would have come out square?" Kitty, who had started playing with the gamma adjustment, muttered "Because that would have put a dirty great shadow of the phone on the paper." Molly gave Kitty a prod in her ribs. "What was that for?" "Having a good answer." "Sorry" said Kitty, "I'll try to give you a bad one next time." Molly leant over her, kissed her cheek. "We love you really." Kitty stopped what she was doing, turned in her chair, and grabbed Molly's head. She gave Molly a long, hard kiss. Releasing Molly, Kitty said "Love you too. Now, bugger off the lot of you" and turned back to the computer.

Needless to say, at first nobody buggered off, but they did at least stand back a bit, simply watching what Kitty was doing. As she finished each one, Kitty printed it out, the print being taken by Midge or Molly and examined.

After Kitty had done a few, Midge, Molly and Chloe took the prints into the sitting room, they sat there and talked mostly about Chloe and Kitty's time in Australia, asking Chloe all sorts of questions, particularly about the various people that Chloe had sketched. Every ten minutes or so, one would come back and retrieve any more that Kitty had printed. Chloe made coffee for them all, when she took Kitty's to her, she sat with her for a little while, just watching.

"Did I really draw all these?" Kitty smiled at her, "Well, they came from the pencil you were holding, but I'm not sure you were there at the time." Chloe smiled, "No, I can't really remember doing them. But they are quite good, some of them." Kitty turned to Chloe, it was her turn to get a hard kiss from Kitty. When Kitty released Chloe, she said "Very good, all of them. that's why I'm working to get the photographs looking better, to try to do them justice."

Chloe picked up the few more prints that Kitty had finished, Kitty stood, picked up her coffee and followed Chloe into the sitting room. "Done enough for now" she announced. "It's tiring."

The prints they'd got so far they'd arranged on coffee tables and the floor so all could be seen, each portrait above its cartoon. The twins hadn't ribbed Chloe too much so far, they sensed that she wasn't comfortable with talking about them. But Kitty was fair game for them, joking with her about all the occasions when Chloe's cartoons showed the girls not fully dressed.

After a while, the talking got round to Lenny, Red, then the school, which reminded Kitty that she was going with Daniel first thing the next day to open a bank account, she would miss the tutors' visit. Midge and Molly looked at each other for a second, then Midge said "Maybe we'll put them off for all of us." Kitty: "I wouldn't mind you all coming with me." Chloe: "Ask Daniel when we get there, see if he can talk to them." Midge: "Let's go now. A bit early, but I'm sure they won't mind."

Quarter of an hour later, Daniel was on the phone to Tom, the twins were smiling, looking at Kitty and Chloe who were hugging Audrey.

When Daniel came off his phone, he said "They will try to rearrange to come in on Tuesday, they'll let you know when they know. Now, tomorrow, when we're in the bank, no messing, this is important, all right?" Molly put on a hurt look, "As if we'd be naughty", to which Daniel responded "As if you wouldn't be."

Daniel continued, "We're on a tight time frame on getting the building ready. The council won't keep the girls as they are for more than a few days. Incidentally, they dug out the planning permission on the building, apparently it was originally for a club of some sort. They were a little vague, I presume because they want it used as a temporary school.

"I've got some preparations underway, it's very useful knowing so many businesses as Samuel and I do. First off, I've had an architect looking at possibilities. The only building regulation deficit is that it requires fire doors for all stair landings.

"I've talked with the education people to try to get an idea of numbers, our best estimate is forty‑five. The architect suggests we allow for forty‑eight, also we ignore the bottom two floors with their present rooms, we start from scratch using the empty top two. He's sketched four classrooms on floor two, two dormitories on floor three."

Kitty interrupted, "Wrong way round."

Daniel asked, "What do you mean?" Kitty said "There's much better natural light on the top floor. Preferable for the classrooms, unnecessary for dormitories." Daniel said "I've not been upstairs. Why do you say that?" Kitty replied "The windows are bigger, they go right up to the ceiling, and there's less shading from the trees." Midge said "They do. The witch is right."

Kitty carefully took her necklace off, handed it to Chloe. She went to Midge, who held her hair out of the way while Kitty, just as carefully, undid the catch and took Midge's necklace off, this one she handed to Molly. Two seconds later, Kitty and Midge were rolling round on the floor, all sorts of yelps and ouches, even an occasional little scream coming from them. A couple of minutes later they were helping each other up, both with huge smiles on their faces. Molly and Chloe also had big smiles.

Audrey had heard the noise, she came through from the kitchen to catch the last few seconds of combat. After they'd stood up, she said "Molly, I'll hold the necklace, nip up to the bathroom, bring down the box of plasters. I don't want their blood dripping over everywhere."

The two ex‑combatants looked down at themselves, both had blood coming from bite marks. Kitty had one on the top of her left breast where there was a tear in the dress, also blood running down from a bite on her neck. Midge had one on her shoulder and one on her neck. There were other marks on both, but none were actually dripping. Straight away, both girls were holding their dresses to make sure they would absorb the runs of blood.

Molly immediately stated "Molly fix Midge, Midge fix Kitty. No plasters.

As Molly handed the necklace she was holding to Chloe, Midge instructed Kitty to kneel down. Midge sat beside Kitty, put one hand on each of Kitty's bleeding wounds, making something of a performance undoing a couple of Kitty's dress buttons to get her hand over the breast bite. They leant against each other, within seconds both appeared to be sleeping. As soon as they were settled, Molly joined them, placing her hands over Midges two wounds, by leaning against the two and putting her knees up to help with their support, her hands stayed in place as she also seemed to go to sleep.

Chloe, still grinning, said "Need any help in the kitchen? They'll be a little while." Audrey shook her head as she smiled, "Not at the moment, thank you, it's all doing itself. Come and sit down, let me look at your necklace properly, put the other two on the coffee table."

Daniel had already sat in an armchair, Audrey and Chloe sat on a settee, where Audrey started fingering Chloe's necklace. She said "This is superb quality as well as looking gorgeous on you. They must have cost a fortune." Chloe answered "Holden and Harper didn't want us to know how much they cost, they put the receipt in an envelope. Kitty showed it in Australia to get tax back, also in customs and excise for tax here. Neither of us saw it, but I expect Kitty knows by the amount of tax she paid, that would be typical of her."

Daniel said "We'll have to get them insured." Chloe, quite quietly, "I wouldn't want a replacement, it wouldn't be the same." To which Daniel said "No argument, they will be insured. I'll get the receipt from Kitty and sort it."

Audrey asked "Do you know why they gave you these? You've only been there a few days." Chloe said "They were being nice, maybe because we were nice to Lenny." Audrey picked up on this straight away. "You mean …" Chloe said "I suppose if I didn't answer, that in itself would be an answer. So, yes, we were very, very nice with Lenny. We sort of forced ourselves on him. On second thoughts, no 'sort of' about it."

Daniel asked "And Holden and Harper know?" Chloe answered "Yes. Each separately came to us to thank us, said it was doing Lenny a world of good. It wasn't until Lenny told them both that each realised the other knew. Nobody hurt, everyone happy about it. I hope you are all right with it as well, we really, really don't want you upset."

Audrey asked "And they got you the necklaces after they knew?" Chloe nodded, "It was several days after they had separately thanked us. They took us to a jewellers later the same day that Lenny told them." "And you are not hurt in any way?" "No, not at all, other than leaving him behind." She added "We're both sorry to have left him. But Kitty's nothing like she was after, you know, Red."

Audrey said "I still don't know if I approve with girls as young as you are." Daniel said "Normally I would think the same. But all four are, in some respects, much older than their years. Now, coming back to what we were talking about before, I'm ringing the architect, see what he says."

While he was on the phone, the three girls on the floor woke up. Audrey and Chloe helped the twins up and to a settee, they immediately fell asleep leaning on each other. Kitty was wide awake straight away, she prodded the scar on her breast, "Not bad, eh?" Chloe picked a necklace up from the table, put it on Kitty. Kitty went to the table, picked the other one up and was able put it on Midge, who managed to put a hand up, touch the necklace and mutter "Thank y…" and was back asleep.

Daniel came off the phone, "He thinks Kitty is probably right. It shouldn't affect any design so long as he can make the fire escapes fit, they are the only real difference between the floors. As I said, he's done some some preliminary drawings, he thinks it will work, but there may be some compromises."

Chloe muttered "Anything will be better than where they were."

Some minutes later, the twins woke up, they seemed perfectly refreshed. Midge, grinning, "Thank you, Kitty, best little fight for ages. Afraid your dress suffered a little." Kitty said "Pity you can't mend it like you could me, but thank you for that. I hate plasters." She added, really to herself, "Particularly there."

Midge looked at Chloe, briefly frowned, then said "Kitty, I think Chloe has told them." Kitty looked puzzled for a moment, then "There's only one thing that could refer to. Audrey, Daniel, are you mad at us?" Audrey smiled, and with just a glance to Daniel, "No, I think I'm actually a bit pleased for you. So long as you are all right." Kitty said "We got a lot out of being with Lenny. And he got quite a bit out of us, all three of us enjoyed it."

Chloe asked Midge, "How did you know I'd said something?" Midge smiled, "We learnt something from Elandra." Chloe asked "So now you know all of our innermost thoughts?" Molly replied "Not much thinking in there to know." Daniel immediately said "Stop. One punch‑up is enough. I know you two haven't had a good one yet, you'll just have to wait." Chloe and Molly both pouted, then gave each other a kiss, Chloe stage‑whispered "Later."

Insurance money in

Tuesday morning, Daniel phoned Kitty to say the insurance money was in. Samuel had a good idea how much tax would be needed to be paid, Daniel would move that amount into one of Samuel's client holding accounts to keep it safe, Daniel having charge of Kitty's account because of her age. He then said he was going to see about bicycles for all four girls, he knew they would want to be able to get to the building at times when he wouldn't be available. He asked that they come to his office at two in the afternoon, he'd take them to the local bicycle shop.

Bicycles

Kitty relayed this to the other three girls. They duly assembled at his office, he took them to the shop. After the usual exchange of 'good mornings' to the man there, Daniel introduced himself, then "These four are Kitty, Chloe, the last two are Midge and Molly. You can only tell which is which when one misbehaves, that's usually Molly."

He continued by saying that the four wanted bikes, and toughness was probably more important than anything else, so long as they were okay to be ridden on the road. He also asked about training for complete novices, they'd never ridden a bike before, no road sense. He added "Not much of any sort of sense" for which he got four punches, though they weren't very hard. Daniel said he'd be grateful if this could be done fairly quickly, they were involved with the rehousing of schoolchildren.

The man nodded when Daniel said this, "Yes, I heard about that." He introduced himself as Griff, the owner. He said "Mountain bikes for toughness, I'll make sure they have road tyres on them. My son, Roger, can teach them to ride, between us we'll get them as safe as we can on the road." He told Daniel the hourly rate, Daniel just nodded. Griff continued "We'll sit them on a few bikes in stock to get the right sizes for them, I'll have to order theirs in. I suggest helmets as minimum safety clothing. We have hack bikes for teaching balancing."

Daniel said "They can't wear their normal attire, far too exposing. Are you listening, girls? Hi-vis tops and shorts with safety helmets. Got it? And, while I think about it, I don't want you riding when it's dark." There were four nods. "I'd prefer you to wear elbow protectors as well, but I won't insist on that, you all bounce quite well." Daniel saw Griff frown, he said "They absorb bumps, cuts and bruises better than anyone I've ever come across."

They tried two bikes for size, the second, with a slight saddle adjustment, seemed to satisfy Griff for all four. He went to his computer, said "There's stock of the one I'm thinking of, are these all right for price?" Daniel looked at the screen where the retail price was shown. "Yes, that's fine." "I'll knock a bit off, throw in the clothes and security chains, try to help a bit.

"Talking of clothing …" He went into a storeroom, came back a couple of minutes later and handed tops and shorts to the girls. "There's only one changing room, you'll have to take it in turns … Oh, all together then."

There was a lot of giggling from behind the curtain, which itself was being pushed around by the bodies inside, Daniel and Griff both turned their backs to the curtain as it got partially pulled back by the movement.

When the laughing four came out, Griff said "Helmets. Let me measure your heads." A few minutes later, he'd measured them, gone into the storeroom, and come out with three helmets. "Cheap, better protection, or professional, thirty pounds, ninety or two‑fifty?" Without hesitation, Daniel said "Ninety." "Good choice. Fluorescent yellow for visibility. I'll have to order these in, should be here in time for the bikes. I'll throw in lights, the trainers they are wearing will be okay for normal riding."

Daniel asked "Do you want a deposit?" Griff shook his head, "No, I'm sure I can trust you. I am presuming this is cash, you don't look as if you need deferred payment?" Daniel confirmed "Yes, cash, well, credit card."

Griff nodded. Then "Training. I'll ring Roger, see when he can start." Daniel said "Afternoons, evenings or weekends, they're tied up weekday mornings." Griff nodded, took out his phone. A minute later, "Girls, don't bother to change, he can do you now. Follow me through the shop, we have a derelict site out back, it's good enough for starters. Don't worry about your clothes, they'll be okay there, unlikely to need the changing room in the next couple of hours." Then "What on earth are they doing?" Daniel shouted "MOLLY, STOP IT."

The girls were standing in a tight circle, facing inwards. Molly was rubbing her fingers round one of Chloe's breasts, apparently trying to see how the nipple, when erect, would shape the material, Midge, Kitty and Chloe were all watching the experiment with very close interest.

Daniel said to Griff "If any of them misbehave, tell them the whole deal is off." Molly immediately took her hands away from Chloe, the four turned to face the two men, all with innocent smiles.

Griff, barely able to stifle his laughter, just said "Follow me."

As they walked through the back room, a young man was coming down some stairs. Griff said "Roger, these are Chloe, Kitty and the other two are Molly and Midge. Daniel is the poor soul who seems to be trying to look after them." Daniel smiled, "Griff, you put that very well. Roger, these can be difficult. Don't hesitate to tell them off, I'd tell you to smack them, only they can hit a lot harder than you can. And you have my deepest sympathy for having to deal with them."

Roger stared open‑mouthed at the four for a moment, managed to pull himself together. He smiled, "Pleased to meet you all. Leave them with me, Dad, I expect we'll be all right. Daniel, please stay and watch if you like. Might help me keep order." Daniel said "I'll stay for a while, but I may have to get back."

Roger led the five through the back door, he went to a shed, produced a key and undid a padlock. He glanced at the four girls, went inside and wheeled out a couple of bikes. Another glance at the girls, he produced a spanner and adjusted the saddles on both bikes, the girls all watching him intently. He looked up at them, "You shouldn't need to do this, Dad will fit your bikes to you." He locked the shed, then "Follow me."

He wheeled the two bikes through the rear gate, across an ally, and onto what looked like the concrete base of a warehouse. He leant one of the bikes against a post and asked "Who's first?" three voices, in unison, said "Kitty." Kitty asked "Why me?" Molly answered, "You are best suited, you can ride a broomstick." Daniel, looking up to the sky, said "No." "It's all right" from Kitty, "they're just jealous. Now, Roger, what do you want me to do?"

Roger showed all four of them the brakes, he held the bike steady while Kitty got on it. They could all hear Molly mutter "Inelegant, even by her standards" which Kitty ignored. A minute later, Roger was running behind Kitty, holding the bike's saddle. A minute after that he couldn't keep up with Kitty's peddling. As Kitty approached the edge of the concrete, she didn't slow, but went off the edge onto some grassy and very uneven land, where she promptly fell over. Chloe immediately yelled "What's the matter, runway not long enough?" Kitty, picking herself up, yelled back "This time I could reach the brakes, just forgot to use them."

Roger reached her, asked "Are you all right?" Kitty grinned at him, "Oh, yes, barely bleeding." Then "No, really, I'm fine. Those three do much worse to me." From 'those three' came the shout "She means we do much better." By this time Daniel had reached Kitty and Roger, he said "If she says she's okay, take her at her word. That goes for all four of them."

Kitty got the bike back onto the concrete, she managed to mount it, started to pedal. She nearly dropped it, bouncing her feet alternatively off the ground, but got going. After a couple of seconds, she tried the brakes, slowed to a somewhat jerky stop, managed to get one foot down to stop the bike falling. "This is fun!"

Roger turned to Daniel, "Dad said they'd never ridden a bike before. No one can balance first time." Daniel: "None of these conform to anyone's idea of normality. You'll have to take them as you find them."

"Kitty, do you want to carry on by yourself while I start one of the others?" Kitty said "If none of them mind."

"Who's next?" asked Roger. Chloe immediately said "Midge." After a glance at each other, one of the twins stepped forward, Roger held the bike for her while she mounted it. Roger ran along holding the saddle, slowed her to a stop towards the edge. He got her turned round, set off again, he tentatively let go, she wobbled until Roger could grab the saddle again. On the fourth run, Midge was just about balancing, though she did fall over when she stopped. She, too, was laughing as she picked herself up. With the bike back on its wheels and turned round, she set off on her next run.

By this time, Kitty was riding pretty much under control, she came to a stop by Chloe. "Your turn." Chloe asked "Can you hold me up?" Kitty said "Let's see." It took a bit longer for Chloe, but soon she was able to ride round with only the occasional fall. Molly was the last to try. When Midge handed her the bike, they put their foreheads together, held for several seconds. When they parted, Molly got on the bike and was immediately riding as well as Midge had been.

Roger had stopped trying to help the girls, he'd walked back to where Daniel was still standing. Roger managed "I've never seen anything like it. How do they all do it so quickly? And the last one, Molly, is it? She just rode it. It's as if her twin passed the ability to her by touching heads."

Daniel smiled, "I can't tell you anything specific, just that they have little fear about getting hurt, they are highly motivated, and are very intelligent. But be warned, they can act incredibly stupidly when they want to."

He talked a little more about why they were learning to ride, wanting to see the progress on the building for the schoolgirls that they were responsible for.

Then he asked "So, where do we go from here?"

Roger replied "I think another couple of hours maybe tomorrow afternoon, I'll get them to use the brakes to full effect, the gears, and how best to steer. Another session for a bit of classwork to talk about road safety, after that take them in pairs out on the road, I couldn't look after all four at once. Oh, they need to get copies of the Highway Code to study, Dad should have some in stock for sale."

Daniel nodded to Roger, then called out "Okay, you lot. Playtime over." Two bikes were steered towards them, Chloe stopped and got off without a problem. As Molly approached, she suddenly whipped the handlebars to one side, causing her to crash to the ground, sliding to a stop at Daniel's feet. She picked herself up, rubbing at a couple of grazes, and with a big grin on her face said "That was fun." Roger asked "You fell off deliberately. Why?" Molly, her grin getting even wider, said "Midge fell off, so I had to."

First bicycle ride to the building

Three days later the girls rode on their own to the building, Kitty leading the way. Chloe had said "She's the only one who knows 'the witch' way", the resulting tussle was only short-lived. When they arrived at the building, they found several tradesmen's vans parked outside as well as Roy's Land Rover. Inside they could just hear sounds of activity.

The first thing they noticed was that there was a new door at the foot of the stairs, it was held open. Kitty remarked "Fire doors needed on the stairs, but I would have expected them to be normally shut." They ran up the stairs to the first floor, but there was nothing happening there.

On the second floor, they found there were several rooms where before there had been just an open space. There were men carrying mattresses from one end, taking them into two of the rooms. The first man to see the girls stopped, stared open‑mouthed at the four, he was almost knocked over by the man following, but they managed to continue.

Roy was standing talking to another man who was holding what looked like a large roll of paper. Turning to see what had caused the commotion, Roy saw the girls and beckoned them over. "Hello, girls, let me introduce you to the architect, Bart. These are Kitty and Chloe, the other two are Molly and Midge, I've no idea which is which." The four girls said "Hello" in unison, then Bart said "Very pleased to meet you. Daniel said you are paying for this out of an insurance payout?" Kitty just nodded. Bart said "It's a good thing that you are doing. Would you like to see the plans?"

With a "Follow me", he led them to one end where there was a goods lift that was currently stacked with the mattresses that were being taken into what were presumably dormitories. Opposite the lift was a room that had two tables in it and a bench along one side, they followed him into it into it.

Bart unrolled one of his sheets of paper on a table, the girls each held down a corner.

Building 2nd floor plan for schooling

Roy started "Right. This is the room we are in, it's for some computers, they'll be second hand, but will be working properly, they're being donated by the local computer place."

Bart took over. "As you can see, there are two dormitories, each can take twenty‑five beds." Roy interrupted, "I'm afraid it's just mattresses on the floor for now, but we've got bed linen."

Bart continued "There's a laundry at the end there and a small kitchen, that's for if anyone needs anything at night. And this is a small apartment for staff who will have to stay with the schoolgirls. This is another bedroom, something of a contingency, if the staff staying can't sleep in the same room, or more are needed. It could be used to isolate someone who is ill. Questions?" Four shakes of heads."Let's look at the plan for the top floor." He unrolled his second sheet over the first.

He asked "Whose idea was it to put the classrooms at the top?" Three fingers pointed at Kitty, three in unison said "Hers." "Well, Kitty, you were quite right, I'm glad you pointed that out. I did have to adjust things a bit to accommodate the fire exits, but well worth it.

Roy started "Right. This is the room we are in, it's for some computers, they'll be second hand, but will be working properly, they're being donated by the local computer place."

Bart took over. "As you can see, there are two dormitories, each can take twenty‑five beds." Roy interrupted, "I'm afraid it's just mattresses on the floor for now, but we've got bed linen."

"Four classrooms, each can hold twelve. We don't yet know the numbers in each class, but we think this will work for the moment. There is space to add at least four more in each if the distribution is wrong. A dining area that will seat fifty‑two, numbers are a bit 'finger-in-the-air' and dependant on the furniture we can get, I've drawn what Roy thinks that will be. And a kitchen. We've put showers up here as well as toilets, we think they may be able to do things such as gymnastics and the like in the space that's left.

Building 3rd floor plan for schooling

Kitty asked "What about noise between the adjacent classrooms?" Bart replied "The partitions are sound‑absorbing as are the ceiling tiles. Not perfect, but we hope there will be sufficient understanding and cooperation between the classes." "And, while I think of it, shouldn't the doors on the stairs be normally shut?" Bart replied "These are held open by electromagnets. It there's a fire alarm or power cut, they'll spring shut." "Does the lift work? There are a lot of stairs to climb, some of the girls may have difficulty." Roy replied "Yes, it's fine. It's had its safety check done recently as well."

Then Midge wanted to know "When might it be ready for occupation?" Roy answered, "Can't be certain, but possibly have it habitable late tomorrow, Saturday. There will be more work to do, some wiring, installation of laundry equipment. Some furniture. As I said, no beds yet, nor things like wardrobes, bedside cabinets. We should be getting in desks and chairs soon. I think they've got some carers, but we don't know about teachers, that's really the council's province, but in a way that's less important."

Molly muttered "Having no teachers is better than what we had before."

Chloe asked "How come it's all being done so quickly? There's a mountain of work and a ton of furniture and stuff to find." Roy answered "People have been told what's been going on at the school, it's shocked everybody. Everyone's bending over backwards to help. Most of the tradespeople are giving their time for nothing, maybe just charging expenses, working all hours. Some of the furniture is being donated, I mentioned the computers."

Midge said "Hope the man who brought ours isn't involved." Roy laughed, "I heard about that, he was sacked immediately." Bart looked at Roy, asked "What was that about?" "Correct me if I'm wrong, girls, but these four had computers delivered by this man, he tried to molest one of them. He got a painful lesson that they may look small and an easy target, but at least one of them has an almighty powerful punch." Midge, grinning, "Only gave it to him softly, needed him able to show Kitty how to install them."

Bart asked "Is Kitty the brainiest among you?" In unison, three of the girls said "She's a witch." Half a second later, all four were fighting each other on the floor. Bart was about to intervene, Roy put his hand on Bart's arm. "Leave them, they do this a lot. Daniel says they use any excuse to have a punch‑up. They'll stop soon." A minute later the four were standing, hugging, laughing. Kitty said to Bart "Roy's right. And, no, I'm not the brainiest, but my mind seems to work differently from theirs."

Bart, shaking his head, "All right. Anyway, if you've no more questions, there are some details I've got to discuss with the kitchen installers." Roy added "I need to go too, can I ask you not to get under anyone's feet?" Molly said "That's fine, but will you let us know when the girls will be coming?" Midge: "We'd like to see them all, maybe welcome them in." Roy nodded, "Yes, I'll ensure you know as soon as I do. The council people will make the final decision, there may not be much notice."

The four girls looked at each other, Midge said "All right, thank you. We'll have a quick look round and be off." Chloe added "Thank you for all your work." Kitty: "That's from all of us." Molly: "And from all the girls coming here."

The girls did have a quick look round, but rapidly realised that wherever they went work, stopped while the men gawped at them. So they were soon riding home, once again Kitty leading. But instead of going straight home, Kitty led them to the bicycle shop. Chloe called out "Broomstick needs a service?" Kitty grinned, "No, broomstick needs a boot. Don't want to wear bicycle clothes when I'm away, need something to carry my dress." Midge: "Maybe she is brainier." Chloe said "Don't let her hear you say that." Molly: "Her head will get even bigger." Kitty had already parked her bike, she ran back, punched each on the shoulder, and was in the shop before any of them could retaliate.

When the three had fought their way through the doorway, they found Kitty talking to Griff, he was saying "Silly of me, I should have suggested it. Probably a basket on the back rather than one on the front, heavy is better behind." Kitty said "Possibly big enough to hold a laptop?" From the other three: "Preferably with a lid." "It's for her black cat." "Stop it escaping from her."

Kitty said "Ignore them, they've been told I'm the most intelligent." Griff smiled, "Judging by what I've seen so far, that's not a very high bar. But, yes, baskets. Let me see what will fit your bikes. You're happy with them?" "Kitty said "Yes, thank you. They seem fine. They do use muscles I didn't know I had." Chloe commented "Same as swimming." Kitty frowned momentarily, then "Chloe, remind me about swimming when we get back." "Okay."

Griff went to his computer, a couple of minutes later "Yes, these should suit. Take a few days to deliver them, though I could get them express for tomorrow, I'd have to charge you for that." Kitty immediately said "Express. May need to carry dresses tomorrow evening or Sunday."

Griff: "Righto, then. Deposit?" Kitty patted her waist, "Oh, not got my card with me. Anybody?" Three head‑shakes. Griff said "Not to worry, I think I can trust you. Does that mean you haven't got your phones with you either?" Kitty shook her head. "I would suggest you always carry a phone in case you get into difficulty." "See?" from Molly. "She's not that clever."

Kitty walked to Molly, stood face on to her, pushed her tummy and chest against Molly, then nose against nose. "When we get home you are really for it." Kitty then gave Molly a quick kiss, pulled back from her, then "That applies to all of you." Midge and Chloe lined up so they each got a quick kiss from Kitty.

Griff watched the performance, muttered "Mad", then "Kitty, let me have your phone number, I'll ring you when they're in. If you all bring your bikes in, I'll fit them straight away."

Fifteen minutes later, they were in their front hall taking off their cycling gear, having put their bicycles in the garage ‑ Daniel had warned them that a thief could take a bike in no time at all if it wasn't securely chained to some solid street furniture. There was plenty of room for the bikes in the double garage beside the car that was still there.

As they finished, Chloe said "Swimming." Kitty said "Thank you, Chloe." To the three of them: "Your punishments will have to wait. Chloe, come upstairs with me. You two, stay downstairs." Midge, Molly and Chloe all grinned at Kitty's commanding manner.

The twins went into the kitchen, Chloe followed Kitty upstairs. Kitty went to the wardrobe, got the cabin‑bag she had used. She opened it, took out the package that contained the bikinis for the twins. Chloe nodded, "Forgotten about them. Let's put ours on to present them."

A few minutes later, Kitty and Chloe were wearing theirs and walking into the kitchen, each holding a purple bikini top in one hand and bottom in the other. Both twins were staring at the two, together they muttered "Wow." They alternated "We knew" "they were" "skimpy because" "you needed" "shaving, but" - together - "Wow" followed by "Molly likes." Then, quite unusually, "Midge likes."

Kitty said "Try them on." A minute later, the twins were wearing theirs. Looking at each other, they both said "Wow." Chloe asked "What do you think?" "Love them." A few minutes later they were all in the shower, "Got to test them wet."

A while later they'd finished playing around and were settled round the kitchen table, eating their evening meal. When they'd finished eating and were drinking tea in the sitting room, Kitty innocently asked "Did you like your presents?" Molly said "Molly really likes." Midge: "Well worth you coming back, even with your cooking." Kitty smiled, "I'm too worn out to fight." Chloe said "Now all we've got to do is find somewhere to swim."

A little after eleven the next day, Kitty got a phone call from Griff. By twelve, all had baskets fitted to their bikes. Kitty asked the others "Check the building out?" Midge said "Home, sandwich, dresses, building." Which is what they did.

By half past one they were changing into their dresses in one of the unused rooms on the ground floor, then up to the second floor where they had a look round, there was still activity in the kitchen area. They went into the two dormitories, each had rows of mattresses, their bathrooms had toilets, showers and basins. Molly tentatively turned on a basin tap, water gushed and spluttered for a few seconds, then ran normally.

They went up to the top floor, there were men working in the shower and toilet area. There were three large tables and a smaller one, but no chairs. They looked in the classrooms, they were empty. The last room they went in was the kitchen, where they found Roy helping a couple of plumbers. He hadn't seen them, so Midge called out "How's it going?" Roy looked round "We're doing all right. Just give me a mo." He turned back to what he was doing. A couple of minutes later, one of the plumbers said "Thanks, Roy, that fixed it."

Roy got up, he said "It's going well, it's essentially ready. Council would like the kids in tomorrow if possible, it's up to them now. I've not had my lunch yet, would you like to come to the cottage? Maybe have a mug of tea, and I expect Jane will have made some more shortbread. They go down very well here, she's been serving them tea and shortbread full time. And, talking of mugs, we've had a huge delivery of crockery and cutlery, should be enough. Food deliveries promised for this afternoon, fridges and freezers are all in and working. Hope we have enough of everything, quantities seem a bit random."

The four piled into the back of the Land Rover for the two minute run to the cottage. When he opened the Land Rover's rear door, he called "Out." The tangled heap of girls fell onto the driveway, where they separated and picked gravel off each other. Chloe asked "Why am I always the one at the bottom when we land?" Kitty replied "Because you are the densest." Roy immediately said "Jane won't want to serve shortbread to anyone fighting."

Inside the cottage, Jane welcomed them. After they'd all given her a hug, they sat cross‑legged on the floor. "I'm making a sandwich for Roy, anyone else?" Molly asked "Any shortbread?" Jane laughed. "Latest batch ready in a few minutes." Midge: "Taste best straight …" Molly: "… out of the oven." Kitty: "They're for the workmen, are they? We'd hate to do anything to stop that." Roy answered "The work's tailing off, should still be plenty to go round." Midge: "We'll try to restrict ourselves." Chloe: "No promises." Jane disappeared into the kitchen.

Kitty said to Roy "I haven't been getting alerts from the app." Roy explained "It's being changed, a new router to feed ethernet everywhere, which will help get WiFi in all areas. Hopefully it will be finished sometime Monday, then things should be working again."

They were talking some more about the building's readiness when Roy's phone rang. He answered it, went to the side of the room, talked for several minutes. He came back and said "They're coming tomorrow morning. They know we aren't one hundred percent ready, but they think things will be okay from what I've told them."

The four girls stood up, Roy found himself in a group hug with them all, which is how Jane found them when she came in with a tray. "News?" she asked. "Coming tomorrow" Roy managed to get out "Please, put me down."

They stopped their hugging, Roy sat in his armchair. Kitty went to Jane, pointed to a plate of sandwiches, "Roy's?" Jane nodded. Kitty took the plate to Roy, who said "Thank you, I am a bit knackered." Jane said "He's been hard at it all hours." Chloe got up, went to Jane, asked "Which is his tea?" "All the same." Chloe took a mug, set it on a small table that was beside Roy. "Thank you" he said. "I could get used to this."

From the floor, Molly called out "They're only doing it to keep in Jane's good books." Midge: "So she lets them have the shortbread." Kitty grinned, "You read us so well." Chloe added "We'd do anything for it."

Jane put the tray down, with a smile: "Now you can pass the tea and offer the biscuits to the others." Chloe passed tea mugs to Midge and Molly, got two more, placed one carefully on the floor for Kitty, kept one for herself. Kitty picked up tea plates from the tray, passed them to the twins and a couple for Chloe and herself, then got the dinner plate that was piled high with steaming hot shortbread biscuits, passed them round. Chloe sat and took a biscuit each for Kitty and herself, Kitty replaced the plate back on the tray, she sat down and joined the others eating their biscuits.

Jane said "Take another each, I'll get the rest to the workmen, and some tea. Last batch, run out of ingredients." Through the biscuit in her mouth, Molly said "Could get you more." Midge swallowed hers, then "Supermarket still open." Kitty said "A batch of these for the girls coming would really make them feel welcome." Chloe: "Could be back in an hour." Molly, through the biscuit in her mouth, "Shopping list."

Laughing at their enthusiasm, Jane wrote on a piece of paper flour, sugar and butter, also teabags. She asked "Can you carry that much?" Kitty grinned, "My cat weighs more than that" which had the other three laughing, Jane looking a little puzzled for a moment, then "Oh, yes, I remember, she's a witch." Kitty grinned "Have I got to thump you as well?" Jane replied "No shortbread if I'm bruised." Kitty got up, gave her a hug, "That's what the others get if I can't punch them."

Chloe asked Roy "Does Daniel know?" Roy said "I don't think so. I'll ring him." He took his phone out. The others heard "Hello, yes … Yes, they're coming in tomorrow morning, eleven‑ish … They do, they're with me now … Behaving very well for them … I'll ask them."

He turned to the four, "Daniel's offering to bring you here tomorrow, save you messing with your cycling gear." The four looked at each other, some nods, Midge said "Yes, please, if he's happy to do that." Back talking to his phone, "Yes, they'd like you to." He listened for a bit, then he turned to the girls again, "Pick you up at nine?" Four nods. "Yes, they'll be ready. … No, that's all right, it's well worth the effort. … Okay, see you tomorrow. … Yes, still here … Just a mo."

Roy turned to the girls, "He's suggesting Isabel should be told." Midge and Molly glanced at each other, Chloe and Kitty were already nodding. Midge said "Yes, only right." Roy spoke into the phone, "Yes, they agree. … Okay, bye."

Half an hour later, the girls were approaching the town, Kitty turned her head and shouted "Dresses for them." Chloe shouted "She's right." Molly: "Rachel." Midge: "After delivery."

An hour and a half later, Jane's requirements having been bought and delivered, the four walked from home into Rachel's. They were greeted by Holly, who gave them the obligatory hug. Then "What can we do for you?" Kitty said "We want to get dresses for our schoolgirls." Holly said "Not our usual clothing, let me get Rachel." She opened the workshop door, said "It's the four troublemakers again."

Rachel came out, "Hello, I didn't hear your usual entrance, this must be serious." Between them, they explained they wanted to provide the schoolgirls with dresses, maybe forty‑five or fifty girls, two dresses each as a minimum. Rachel said "Well, that's a lot." Kitty said "The ones you had for us four, the theatre ones? Can you get anything like that?" Chloe: "Or suggest somewhere else we could go?" Rachel: "I really want to help. Leave it with me, I'll see what's available, and I have to know sizes. When can I measure them?"

Midge said "They will be in our building tomorrow morning, but …" Molly: "… they'll need a bit of time." Chloe "Mid afternoon?" Rachel asked Holly, "Would you be available to help?" Holly: "Of course."

Kitty muttered "Shoes." The other three looked at her, Kitty said "Those uniform clodhoppers, horrible. I'm sure they'd prefer trainers."

Molly turned to Holly, "Do you think Henrietta would come in as well, measure their feet at the same time?" Rachel said "I can certainly take her in the car. Holly, can you give her a ring?" Two minutes later, Holly said "She's more than happy to come with us."

Kitty said "We'll be there tomorrow, but you'll never find it. I'll come back, meet you here, guide you. Is that all right?" Chloe said "But we're going in with Daniel." Kitty: "I'll cycle in." Chloe: "I'll cycle with you, don't think you should be on your own." Molly said "Just a moment." She and Midge had one of their silent 'conversations', apparently just staring at each other. Rachel and Holly were both frowning, they'd not seen this before. Kitty and Chloe just waited.

After a few seconds, the twins parted. Midge started "One of us will" "cycle with Kitty." Chloe and Kitty looked at them, both with surprised expressions, Choe said "But you won't be together." "Must keep⁠" "Kitty safe." Chloe asked "Do you think there's some danger?" Midge answered "Nuns might want revenge."

There were other arrangements that would have worked, but this was the one they wanted to do.

Helping prepare the building

Sunday morning, Daniel and Audrey picked up Midge and Chloe shortly after nine. Molly and Kitty had set off a little earlier, they were just getting off their bikes as Daniel pulled up. Midge and Molly immediately hugged each other, pressed their heads together for a few seconds, released each other except for their hands that they continued to hold. After their initial greetings, Daniel said "Audrey wanted to come, and with you two cycling there was room in the car." Roy's Land Rover was parked there, as were a few other cars and a couple of vans.

Daniel and Audrey went straight up the stairs, Molly and Chloe went with Kitty and Midge into one of the rooms on the ground floor while they changed into their dresses. The four then went up to the second floor, where they found Daniel talking to Roy. They could see Isabel just walking into the laundry. When Daniel saw the four, he said "Isabel's here, she's on her own, she'll be taking some photographs with her phone. She's promised not to say where we are, and to let me approve any article before it's published.

"Now, Audrey and Jane are putting bedding on mattresses, they could do with a hand."

The four went into one of the dormitories, where Audrey and Jane were helping each other put sheets and duvets on the mattresses. Kitty just said "Show us what to do." Audrey and Jane started on a bare mattress. "We haven't got fitted sheets. First sheet on the mattress, tuck in all round … Top sheet, tuck in the bottom … put duvet cover on the duvet …" She broke off, "Molly, I know it's tempting, but the duvet cover is to go on the duvet, not on you." Jane and Audrey grinned at each other, then continued. "Lay the duvet on the bed, turn the top sheet over at its top … pillowcase on the pillow … pillow on the bed. If you go to the other dormitory, there should be piles of linen, pillows and duvets. Go."

They paired up, Kitty with Chloe, Midge with Molly. After doing a couple, both pairs got into the swing of making up the mattresses, Midge and Molly were soon managing two for every one that Kitty and Chloe could do, this surprised none of them.

They kept at it until all the mattresses were ready, there were a few sheets, pillows and duvets left in each of the piles. Kitty said "See if Audrey's are finished." Chloe went out, came back a few seconds later, "They're on the last two." Kitty: "We do the staff room and the other bedroom." Kitty and Chloe picked up four sheets and two pillows and pillowcases, took them to the staff bedroom, Midge and Molly took eight sheets and four pillows and pillowcases, took them to the small dormitory. A few minutes later, both pairs were back, they trailed duvets to their respective rooms.

When all four were finished, there were still some items left in the dormitory. Midge said "Put them in the cupboard by the stairs." Kitty and Chloe took the linen that was remaining, Midge and Molly each dragged a spare duvet. In the cupboard, Molly was clearly wanting to have a roll around in the duvets. Seeing Molly's temptation, Kitty said "We can probably help somewhere else." Molly nodded, she walked out.

They checked in the dormitory Audrey and Jane had been in, it was empty, all the mattresses were made up. The four went up to the third floor, Daniel and Roy were carrying chairs towards the dining area where there were tables. Daniel asked "Can you finish these, desks are waiting for us downstairs." The girls immediately helped empty the chairs out of the goods lift, Daniel and Roy got in and took it down. The girls carried the chairs to the dining area, positioning them round the tables. They found there were sixty chairs, but only fifty‑two places round the dining tables, the extra eight they took down to the computer room.

Just as they'd finished, Daniel came to find them. "Samuel, Natalie, Charlotte and Sophie are on their way, but they don't know where we are. Samuel said 'What three words' to me, do you know what he meant?" Kitty answered "Yes. He needs to know where the gate is, back in a tick." She raced down the stairs, jumped on her bike, careered as fast as she could, dress flying back from round her waist, until she reached the gate. She skidded to a crashing stop on the gravel, picked herself up.

She got her phone out, opened the 'what3words' app, read the words it showed. She phoned Daniel, just said "Broom, stick, black." Daniel said "That's it?" Kitty answered "He'll know, tell him it's the gate. Anyone else who has to have it, but I don't think the twins want it generally known."

A minute later Kitty was racing up the stairs to the third floor, where she found the other three girls waiting for her, howling with laughter. Coming to her, Chloe said "You were on speaker with Daniel, now we know you really are a witch." Audrey heard the noise, saw what was about to happen, she said "Kitty, leave it for the moment, no time. And you're bleeding." Kitty had grazes on her leg and arm. She looked down at herself, she just said "Oh, fell off at the gate. I'll mend."

It wasn't long before Samuel and the others arrived. They found their way up to the top floor, and after saying their hellos, Audrey took Sophie, Charlotte and Natalie into the kitchen.

Kitty went to Samuel, "While I think about it, I'd like to talk about things sometime soon." Samuel nodded, "I'll come round one evening in a day or so, is that all right?" Kitty said "Yes please, that would be perfect."

Schoolgirls' arrival

Ten minutes later, Daniel's phone rang. After a brief conversation, Daniel turned to the girls, "They're coming through the gate now. I think it would be nice if you four went to meet them, bring them up here."

The girls raced down the stairs to the front door, managing for once without mishap. Outside, they watched a car and a bus pulling up. A man they didn't know got out of the car, he stood back while the bus door opened. The four moved to be near the bus's door, and as the schoolgirls got out, each got a 'hello' and a hug from one of the four girls. They knew the names of about half of them, all of whom knew the names of the four. Many of the schoolgirls were crying, all looked totally lost.

They were asked to wait where they were until all were out. The last person to leave the bus was a lady, again, unknown to the four. Midge walked to the lady, who asked "You are the ones?" Midge nodded, she pointed and said "Chloe, Kitty, we're Midge and Molly." The lady said "We're on the education committee of the council. I'm Margo, my husband Hugh. We've collected all that we would like you to look after, there are forty‑six. Are you ready for them?" Midge replied "We think so. You can come and see, but we'd like to get these settled as soon as possible." "Of course, we'll follow in after them."

Midge nodded to Molly, who said loudly enough for all to hear, "Girls, welcome to the building. This will be your home for a while, we'll get you settled in as soon as we can. If you follow Kitty, she'll lead the way, Chloe and I will join in part‑way through, Midge will bring up the rear. Kitty?" Kitty called out "Follow me, afraid there are a lot of stairs, we're going right to the top. If anyone thinks she can't manage, let one of us know, we do have a lift."

Isabel had been standing unobtrusively with her phone out, she was talking quietly into it and taking occasional photographs. She went in ahead of Kitty, she wanted to see the schoolgirls' reactions when they got to the top.

Kitty led them in through the front door, up the stairs, making sure they were following all right. Some of the schoolgirls were helping others, many were in tears, but there was little anyone could do for them until they were settled and could be talked to individually.

Audrey and Natalie helped Kitty shepherd the schoolgirls to the dining tables, asked them to sit. Kitty was standing partway to the tables, she made sure they all knew where the toilets were. Sophie appeared out of the kitchen, she started asking if anyone would like something to drink, water, tea or coffee. She went back and came out several times carrying a tray of drinks that the girls had asked for, in the end all wanted something. She also brought out dinner plates, each with a pile of shortbread biscuits, she put one on each of the tables, telling them to help themselves.

Last in were Margo and Hugh. Daniel went to them, they introduced each other. They asked Daniel if they could see round to make sure the children would have the facilities they needed, Daniel called Roy to help show them round this floor and the floor below.

When all the children were seated, Midge started talking to them.

"Welcome to the building. We are very pleased you are all out of the convent. Many people have learnt about what was going on there, and have worked together to turn this building into a place where you all can live instead of exist, hopefully get some education that will help you in your future. You can stay here for as long as is necessary.

"Briefly, on this floor, where you are sitting is our dining area, also when not a mealtime, you can use the tables for anything else. I think Kitty has pointed out toilets on this floor, there are also showers there. The doors behind me are classrooms.

"In a little while, we'll take you to the floor below where there are dormitories. I'm afraid we've not got beds yet, but there are mattresses with proper bedding, we may get beds sometime in the near future.

"In a short while we'll be serving you some lunch." Molly butted in: "No need to panic" then from Chloe: "Kitty's not cooking it."

Kitty knew exactly what Midge and the others wanted to do, she immediately attacked Molly, with Chloe and Midge joining in. After a couple of minutes, all the schoolgirls were laughing and shouting, egging the combatants on, they'd all seen these little fights before.

Daniel had been showing Margo and Hugh the kitchen, they came out to witness the fight. Margo and Hugh were about to go to do something, Daniel put his hands on their arms. He said "Leave them. Look at the schoolgirls. Have you seen them this cheerful and excited before? My girls know exactly what they are doing. They actually fight each other a lot, don't know why, but they love it. Just watch."

Two minutes later, the four helped each other up, hugging and laughing. Several of the schoolgirls got up, went to the four, soon there was a huge group hug going on.

After a few minutes, Midge said loudly "All right, we're all pleased to be here. More to tell you." Gradually the schoolgirls went back to their seats. When all were seated, Midge said to them "We'll have you all measured for dresses this afternoon, get you out of those horrible clothes as soon as possible." One of the schoolgirls somewhat hesitantly put up her hand. "Yes, Dana?" She started to speak, but seemed frightened. Kitty went over to her, quietly said "You can say anything you like, no one will be angry with you." The girl said "Can I ask just you?" "Of course, what is it?"

Dana quietly asked "Do we have to wear dresses? Some of us aren't built the same as you four, I'd much prefer jeans and tee‑shirt." Kitty paused momentarily, then answered "Something we hadn't thought of, I'll talk with the others, I'm sure we can do something else."

Kitty went to Midge Molly and Chloe, explained what Dana had said. She added "If it costs more, I'm sure I can fund it." The other three nodded. Midge said "I'll give Rachel a ring now, see what she says." Midge got her phone out, walked out of earshot. A few minutes later, she returned, "She says it shouldn't be a problem. Just a matter of sizes and numbers and who wants what. " Kitty added "Just thought, underwear as well, just because we don't …" Chloe: "And don't forget shoes."

Midge turned to the schoolchildren, she said "We think we can do alternatives to dresses, maybe jeans and tee‑shirts at least. Also shoes, we'd suggest trainers. There is no uniform here. As far as we can help, you can dress how you please. The lady who will be coming to measure you for dresses is Rachel, her assistant is Holly, and Henrietta will be here to measure your feet. Tell them what you'd like, also underwear, we'll do our best for you. Maybe first and second choices if it's anything a bit different." She stage whispered "Kitty likes to dress as a witch." Chloe added, also as a stage whisper, "That's because she is one." Molly, not to be outdone, "She comes here on her broomstick."

Before Kitty could start punching them, Sophie had come to the four. She said "Lunch in about ten minutes." Kitty announced "They're saved by the bell. Lunch in a few minutes, I suggest you use the toilets. Those on that table, I'll take you down a floor, you can use the ones there, save at least some of the queuing."

Kitty led the fourteen who were sat at the table nearest the kitchen down the stairs to the floor below, Chloe ran on ahead to make sure none got lost. Kitty showed them the bathrooms inside the dormitories, she said "If anything is wrong, please let one of us know, they've only just been installed. Is there soap there? One of them said "Soap, but no towels." Kitty said "Oh, sorry, you'll just have to shake your hands off for now, don't know where we are on towels."

After all the schoolgirls were ready, Kitty and Chloe escorted them back upstairs. When they were sat at their table, Kitty asked Midge "Towels?" Midge shook her head. Before they could do anything more, Sophie, Audrey and Daniel were bringing out steaming plates of food which they put down, starting with the furthest table. Daniel called to Midge, "Come in here, there's cutlery, get out spoons and forks for them."

Soon all the schoolchildren were tucking in to spaghetti and meatballs in a rich sauce. Not a word was spoken, every single one was just eating, all clearly enjoying it. Charlotte came out of the kitchen, went to where the adults, including Isabel, were watching. "There's enough left for all of us as well, unless they want seconds." Midge said "Let's wait and see."

As the schoolgirls finished eating, the noise level went up as they started talking to each other. When all had placed their spoons and forks down, Midge went up to them, had to nearly shout "Girls" to get their attention. Then "Anyone want any more?" General murmurs, no one did. One of the girls called out "Fabulous meal, thank you, but too much to even finish what's on my plate." General noises of agreement. Midge said "Thank you, Zoe." Charlotte went to Midge, spoke quietly to her. Midge nodded, grinned, "Anyone got room for pudding?" Zoe immediately piped up "Oh, yes please, separate pudding tummy."

The schoolgirls started stacking their dirty plates, several got up to carry the piles of plates. When one of them dropped a couple of forks off her pile, Chloe went to help pick them up. As Chloe approached her, the girl seemed to shrink to the floor, she managed to put the pile of plates down then cowered from Chloe, her arms held protectively over her head. Chloe knelt down beside her, put her arm round her. She whispered "You are safe now, no one is going to hurt you. Come on, let me help you up. You are Leila, aren't you?" Everyone was watching this play out. For the first time since she'd arrived, Isabel asked a question of Midge. "Is that really what it looks like?" Midge nodded. "She would have been clouted for dropping something."

A little later, steam pudding and custard was being consumed with similar gusto to the first course. Isabel asked Midge "Would you mind if I sat at one of the empty seats so I can talk to them? I won't record anything, I just want to get an understanding of how they are feeling." Daniel heard this, he and Midge nodded to each other. Daniel suggested "Get Charlotte to dish you up some spaghetti. If you are eating, that will relax them."

Twenty minutes later, all the schoolgirls had got tea to drink, the adults were taking it in turns to sit and eat something. Isabel had left the table and was talking with the four. "They're all traumatised, they are frightened, and they don't really know what's happening. It's horrifying what's been done to them." Midge said "We've got to make them feel safe, but it won't be easy."

Not long after, Molly said "Kitty, time to go for Rachel." After Midge and Molly had spent a couple of minutes holding hands and staring at each other, Molly and Kitty left, they returned three‑quarters of an hour later with Rachel, Holly and Henrietta. They gave the three a quick tour, introducing them to schoolgirls as they came to them. The schoolchildren were scattered around the two floors, they'd all been shown the dormitories and into the other rooms. Molly broke off when she could see Midge, they had a long hug and kiss. Margo and Hugh saw this, they looked a little taken aback by it. Audrey went to them, she said "It's rare for the twins to be out of sight of each other. They're bonding again." Margo said "I'm not sure the rest should see them like they are, it's a bit lascivious, surely not a good example." Kitty answered her, "They've all seen the twins before. Look around, anyone seem surprised?" "Well, no."

Rachel, Holly and Henrietta soon had queues of girls lining up to have basic measurements taken. They all had notebooks in which they were writing each girl's name, her measurements, and preferences for their clothing or, in Henrietta's case, shoes. At one point, Audrey found the four girls, "Have you had any lunch?" All shook their heads. Audrey said "Come to the kitchen, see if there's anything left."

In the kitchen, they found Charlotte and Sophie washing up plates by hand. Both of them looked very tired. Kitty asked "Would you like some help?" Both nodded, Sophie said "We're pretty much flaked out." Molly immediately went just outside the kitchen door, she called out "Molly wants volunteers for the washing‑up detail." Immediately just about every girl who wasn't queuing for Rachel was running to the kitchen, pretty much fighting each other to get through the door. When four were through, Molly called out "Enough." As they turned away, some of those left outside gave Molly a quick kiss.

Hugh asked "What just happened?" Daniel smiled, "It seems they want to do Molly's bidding. It doesn't look like they're frightened of her or anything, just eager to please." Meanwhile, Molly had gone back into the kitchen, where Charlotte had scraped out some spaghetti from a large pan and got the remaining meatballs from another. She put them on the last clean plate, apologetically said "I'm really sorry, it's cold, and there's no microwave. And only the one clean plate."

Kitty laughed, "The last time we ate a cooked meal cold, we shared and didn't even use a plate." Chloe added "And in the kitchen." Midge said "We'll put this on the table, I don't think they'd want us to eat off the floor." Molly pouted, "Shame, Molly enjoyed that" which left Charlotte and Sophie both with puzzled frowns. Kitty carried the plate to the smaller dining table, Molly and Midge sat at one end, Kitty and Chloe on the sides next to them. Each had a fork and a spoon, but they were feeding each other, not themselves. Hugh asked "Have they no manners?" This time Margo came to their defence. "Unconventional, but they're not hurting anyone. And none of the schoolgirls are taking any notice." Daniel added "I know they take some getting used to, but I can assure you they are doing their best for your girls." Hugh said "Yes, I can see that, as are all of you."

Daniel asked "Who have you got to look after them and to teach them?" Hugh replied "We'll be staying until we find someone who can do that long term. We haven't sourced teachers yet, that's proving very difficult." Audrey asked Daniel, "What about Fea and Tom? Might they know anyone?" Hugh queried "Fea and Tom?" Daniel explained "They are tutors who are currently teaching my four. I'll give them a ring, see if they have any ideas."

While the four were eating their cold spaghetti and meatballs, Isabel came over to them and sat down. She said "Some of them have opened up to me. They are all very anxious about what is happening, how things will work out. One thing I have learnt, they all love you four and have total trust in you." Midge rapidly shook her head to make her hair untidy, slouched a bit, started sucking up a long piece of spaghetti. Chloe grinned, "You've embarrassed Midge." Isabel smiled, "Well, it's true. Anyway, I'm going to find somewhere quiet and write something of what I've seen here, I'll show it to Daniel before it goes to the newspaper." She got up and left them.

As Isobel went, Zoe came over to them. She said "Sorry to disturb you while you're eating, but …" Kitty said "Sit down, we can talk between Molly's slurps." That made Zoe smile, then she said "We know you are working hard for us, but there are a couple of things, silly really, but …" She tailed off. Midge said "Come on, tell us what you are thinking." Zoe said "Well, none of us have things like toothbrushes and toothpaste, not really important but …" Kitty said "Yes, I'm sure we can find some tomorrow." Molly: "Come on, something's embarrassing you. You know us, out with it." Zoe said "Well, some of them could use tampons. The nuns made them wear sanitary pads, they're horrible, and one or two are already full. The poor girls don't know what to do."

Midge: "We've got some tampons at home, we'll get those in an hour or so, and we'll get a load in tomorrow. Now, there's something else, isn't there?" Zoe replied "It's little Isha, she's crying, won't say what's wrong." Midge asked "Where is she?" "Hiding by the fire escape." Midge just said "Kitty." Kitty got up and went past the kitchen, where she found Isha crouched in a corner. Kitty knelt down, put her arm round Isha's shoulders. "Tell Kitty what's the matter." Isha sobbed "There's no bath here." Kitty asked "Can't you use a shower?" Isha: "Can't lie down in a shower." "Why do you want to lie down?" "I have to sleep in the bath." "What's wrong with your bed?" "I get beaten when I …" she paused. Kitty: "You sometimes have a little accident in your bed?" Isha sobbed some more, she nodded.

Kitty pulled her up, managed to pick her up and carry her to where Midge, Molly and Chloe were sitting. Sitting with Isha on her lap, Kitty asked "Do we have a waterproof mattress cover?" Midge said "Yes, there's one on our bed, we used to play games in it." "Can Isha have it on her bed just in case there's a little accident?" Midge "Of course, we'll get it today." Kitty whispered to Isha, "We'll put a cover on your mattress, then even if you do have an accident, it won't matter. In any case, no one here is going to punish you whatever happens. We're not like them."

Chloe said "We need a list." Molly: "Kitty's the list‑witch." Kitty whispered to Isha: "They're taking advantage of you sitting on me." This made Isha smile, which is what the girls had hoped. Kitty said "Can Zoe look after you, we need to get things organised." While Kitty was asking this, Midge was beckoning over Zoe. Midge asked Zoe "Can you look after Isha for a little while for us, please?" "Of course." Zoe held out her hand to Isha, who slipped off Kitty's lap, turned and said "Thank you" as Zoe led her away.

Kitty got her phone out. She said "Two, no, three lists. What we can get now, what we think we can buy tomorrow, and anything that needs sourcing." Chloe asked "Should we stay here tonight?" The other three looked at each other, all nodded.

The four came up with items they needed, Kitty wrote them into one of three notes in her phone. They talked over what they should do immediately, decided they should discuss things with the adults. They could only see Daniel, he was sat at another dining table with Isabel, reading from her laptop computer.

He was just finishing as the four came over, he said to Isabel "Yes, that's fine." Then "Yes, girls?" Midge and Molly started alternating, "Need to go" "home, pick up" "things straight away." "Come back on" "bikes, stay here over" "night." "Please", the last from them together. Kitty added "We've lists of things we have to get, we'll need a shopping expedition tomorrow." Chloe: "There are also some things that we don't think we can get enough of locally."

Isabel, having heard all this, "Would it help for me to ask our readers for anything?" Kitty showed her their lists. Isabel said "If Daniel is happy, I can put the bulk items onto the end of my article, just time to do it and get it into the next edition." Daniel just said "I don't need to vet that. Thank you, that would be very useful." Isabel asked Kitty to email her list.

Daniel said "Right, I can take you now, we can put anything you like into the car, you can come back on your bikes if that's what you want." Daniel went off to tell Audrey what they were doing, Molly stood up on a table and announced "We're just going to disappear for a little while, back in maybe an hour." There were a few worried looks, but between them the schoolgirls seemed to be able to comfort each other. Chloe and Molly went with Daniel, Kitty and Midge cycled home. About half an hour later Daniel was back, another ten minutes and the four girls returned. They wheeled their bikes in, put them in one of the rooms on the ground floor, changed into their dresses.

They went up to the top floor, the first thing they did was to make sure the schoolgirls knew they were back. They found Daniel, he told them "I've put your laptops and your other stuff in the computer room, I know you four can deal with the bed arrangements. We don't know who will finally be looking after them, I think Margo and Hugh will stay until then. I expect they'll use the staff bedroom." Kitty said "I'm going to sleep by Isha, the poor girl is still in a right state." Midge agreed, "I'm sure they'll all be happier if we join them in the dormitories."

Midge: "We'll leave both of the bedrooms free, all right, Chloe?" "Oh, yes, of course. Much better all round." Daniel said "Towels. While we were out, Audrey spoke with the hotel manager, they're going to lend us some. Not enough for one each, so I hope it'll work out all right." Kitty asked "How are they getting here?" "Samuel's on his way there now." Molly said "I'll make an announcement, they'll cooperate." Daniel added "We've asked for advice from the manager about running this place. He's being helpful, he says he still feels he owes you something for the disturbance during the wake. He's going to ask the previous manager if he could help us, he retired a few years ago, so isn't working at the moment."

Kitty asked if the girls had been told of the arrival of the tampons, Audrey said they had, and were very relieved and grateful.

Midge asked Daniel "What about food? Who organised what we ate today?" Daniel replied "I don't know. Maybe Margo or Hugh. Where are they?" At that moment, Zoe came to them, she seemed a little hesitant. Chloe said "Hello, Zoe, what can we do for you?" Zoe said "All of us are really grateful for what you are doing, we can see you are incredibly busy. They want to know if they can help, you know, like the washing up, any cleaning that will be needed, helping any way we can." She hesitated a moment, then "Possibly even cooking, in case the only one available is Kitty."

All at the table laughed, Kitty gave her a playful punch, saying "Playing with fire. Good." Midge said "Zoe, spread the word, we would be very grateful for any help." Molly added "We'll ask like we did for the washing up, though any volunteering for anything would be appreciated." From Chloe: "Particularly the cooking." Kitty grinned, it was Chloe's turn to receive a playful punch.

Midge asked "Have they elected you as spokesman?" "Not exactly, but I think they are all nervous about approaching you, they saw me do it for Isha." Molly: "Make sure they know any of them can come to any of us at any time. We don't mind in the least." Kitty "Though for something affecting many of you, just the one coming to us would ease things." Chloe: "But several if it's about the cooking." Kitty: "They think you'd be safer, that I can only punch one at a time." Laughing, Daniel asked "Do you know where Hugh or Margo are?" Zoe replied "I think they are in one of the classrooms, they're asking some of us about the schooling we were getting." Audrey got up, "I'll find them."

Zoe seemed to want to say something else. Kitty smiled to her, "Come on, out with it." Zoe said "It's just that the meal you did for us, best any of us have ever tasted." It was Midge's turn to smile, "Afraid that's likely to be the best you'll ever get here, it was prepared by Charlotte, who can't help normally, it was just for today." "Oh. Well, please let her know we really enjoyed it."

Molly said "Chloe, you're thinking." "Yes" said Chloe. "Would it be worth asking if any of the girls want to go into catering or hospitality? They could get a bit of a practical education, though it would be throwing them in at the deep end." Zoe: "Do you want me to ask around?" Molly: "Yes, please, it would help everyone."

The afternoon progressed. They found that there was enough food for a couple more days, Hugh told them that the council would provide them with a budget for food, they would have to organise buying it and delivery, they had contact details of some food wholesalers.

Rachel, Holly and Henrietta finished their measuring, made sure they'd got everyone. All three seemed very down as they were saying goodbye, Kitty asked "What's the matter?" "Just what we've gleaned from talking to them. Also how they seemed afraid of us, and would flinch at any sudden noise or movement. It must have been hell." All four girls, in unison, said "It was."

Tom and Fea came late afternoon, Kitty and Chloe showed them round, after which they sat down with Hugh, Margo, Daniel, Audrey and the four to talk over things. Tom said that they did know some retired teachers, they would ask and see if any were prepared to help. Shortly afterwards Tom and Fea left, with Midge telling them they wouldn't be able to do their ten o'clock lessons for a few days.

When tea‑time came, five of the schoolgirls were in the kitchen helping Charlotte and Sophie make sandwiches and tea to drink. More schoolgirls carried out piles of plates and dinner‑plates with sandwiches that they placed on the tables, followed by trays with mugs of tea.

Not long after, Charlotte and Sophie came to them, saying they were going, Isabel had offered to give them a lift. They were both worn out, both got profuse thanks. As a parting word, Charlotte said "You haven't forgotten the wedding, have you? Three weeks yesterday."

Sleeping arrangements

A little later, Kitty suggested they get the schoolgirls to choose where they would be sleeping, so they each knew which bed was theirs. Molly made the announcement: "Time for everyone to find their beds. Down a floor." Chloe and Kitty went down the stairs first, Chloe waited at the foot of the first flight to make sure no one went down the next. Kitty got them all to congregate in the open space, Midge and Molly came down last. Kitty indicated to Midge that she wanted to sort something before anyone else, then asked Zoe and Isha to come to her and led them into one of the dormitories.

"Isha, you can be here, I've prepared this one for you." 'This one' was nearest to the bathroom. "Can you sit on it? Then they'll know it's yours. Zoe, I will be sleeping next to Isha tonight, but I'd like you to take over my place when I'm no longer staying here. Perhaps if you take the bed the other side of me? Then no one will think anything of it." Zoe nodded, "I understand." Kitty was trying to prevent as much embarrassment for Isha as she could, Zoe had realised this.

Kitty went out, nodded to Midge. Molly said loudly enough for all could hear, "Okay. You'll be keeping to where you start off tonight unless any agree to move later, but we want no fighting. That includes you, Kitty." There was some laughter. "We four will be with you at least for tonight, I suggest Chloe is in the dormitory with Kitty, Midge and I in the other one, so perhaps you could leave a place free in each. Yes, Kitty?" "Just to say I've put Isha and Zoe where I want them, I'm in the place between them." Molly added "One little thing, there won't be enough towels for you to have one each, we'd like you to share for now. Okay, go."

The schoolgirls started doing what the four hoped they would, little friendship groups were staying together as they went into the dormitories. There was some shuffling between the two rooms, but soon all seemed happy enough.

All the adults had been watching this. Hugh and Margo went to Kitty as Midge, Molly and Chloe were going into the dormitories to make sure all were okay. Hugh asked Kitty "Can you explain why you are so specific? If we are looking after them we should understand your thinking." Kitty replied "Obviously we want the dormitories to have two of us in each for now. Molly and Midge would never be settled if they weren't at least in the same room, and, if they're not actually comforting someone, they will be sleeping in the same bed. So will Chloe and me. Which won't matter when we've not staying here, of course.

"As for what I've done with Isha and Zoe, poor Isha has been beaten for having little accidents in her bed. She'd taken to sleeping in a bath in the convent, she must have been frozen stiff at night. We've put a suitable mattress cover on hers, put her nearest to the bathroom so she feels she can get there quickly, help her feel secure.

"Zoe seems to want to help her. If Isha trusts her, and I think she does, Zoe will take over from me at night when we're not here. Between us, Isha should feel much happier, in which case I'm pretty sure her accidents will stop.

"Can I ask you something? None of them seem to have any possessions of any sort with them. Didn't they have anything?" Margo replied "When they came out of the convent, all they had were their nightdresses. As soon as they learnt that they were coming here, they had something of a ritual disposal of them. When I asked one about it she said they wanted no connection left to the convent, and in any case the nightdresses were like shrouds."

While they were talking, Midge, Molly and Chloe had come to them and heard what Margo said. Molly: "Molly approves." Midge asked "Did any want nightdresses?" Chloe said "They're all together in their dormitories, I'll find out." She came back a few minutes later, "None of them want them at least for now. I think they far prefer the feeling of sheets on their skin rather than what they had." Kitty said "We can sort that later if any decide they do want them."

It wasn't long before Samuel and Natalie left, but before they did, Samuel asked Kitty what she wanted to talk about. She said it was about the debit card account she'd been given in Australia, how much tax would need to be paid. Samuel said he'd need to look into it, it wasn't something he'd come across before. Samuel and Natalie both got thanks and hugs from the four girls.

A bit later Daniel and Audrey said they were leaving, they were also hugged and thanked. Daniel said he and Audrey couldn't come in during the day, but would in the evening if they could be useful, they might ring occasionally to see how everything was.

The schoolgirls all seemed tired, but they were beginning to look a bit happier. They'd started to spread out, some were exploring the lower floors. One of them came from the stairs, went to the girls. Kitty said "Hello, Leila. Everything all right?" "Oh, yes thank you. Are they your bikes downstairs?" Kitty: "Yes, we got them so we could come here without needing someone to bring us." Leila: "One or two were wondering if they could ride them." Molly answered. "Molly thinks better not." Then Midge: "They were presents, we wouldn't want them spoilt." Chloe: "And if they were damaged, we couldn't get here." Leila, a little disappointed, "Okay, I'll tell them." She walked back to the stairs.

Kitty said "There's nothing for them to do, really." Chloe: "What about outside? We've no idea about the grounds, maybe we could all explore?" Kitty: "That sounds good, better check with Roy first in case there's anywhere they shouldn't go, or might be dangerous. Is he still here?" Hugh said "I think he might be in the services room on the ground floor, something to do with the electricity supply in the laundry." Chloe: "I'll go down, see if he's there. And I'll check up on the bikes." She got up, went to the stairs.

Midge asked Hugh "What about school equipment? There are no exercise books, pens, anything like that, let alone text books." Hugh said "We are supposed to get a stationery delivery tomorrow which should include exercise books and pens, as well as whiteboards and suitable markers. No text books, we are hoping any teacher we can get will tell us what is needed after they've seen where the pupils are."

They talked a little more about what might be required, then Chloe and Roy came to them. Midge said to Roy "You look shattered." "Yes", he said, "but it's got to be done. Now, Chloe said something about them going outside." Midge explained they wanted something for them to do, that exploring outside would not only help pass the time but also be good for them both physically and mentally.

Roy told them that the grounds were quite extensive, a few hundred acres, much of it woodland. All boundaries had decent fencing, but they were only boundary markers rather than trying to keep anyone in or out. There were a few outbuildings, and, although they were pretty derelict, they were all safe enough. There was also a lake along much of the boundary, no fence there. He said that basically it's all safe except for the lake, and (winking at the twins) anyone climbing a tree and falling out of it. He then asked if there was anything else, he got thanks, a hug and a kiss on his cheek from each of the four girls, he left them.

"I'm putting whistles on the list" from Kitty. "Good" "thinking" from Midge and Molly.

They noticed that many of the schoolgirls were beginning to congregate. Kitty beckoned to them. Several came to the table, Chloe asked "Something the matter?" One of them said "I think we're all a bit tired, do you think we could go to bed?" Midge replied "Yes, no problem. You don't need our permission. Does anyone want anything more to eat or drink?" - this last loud enough for all to hear. No one seemed to want anything. Kitty called out "You are all welcome to go to your beds if you want. Please remember you're having to share towels, by all means have a shower, though I think you'll have to queue." Molly added "Or share the shower as well."

"What about some using the showers on this floor?" from Kitty. Molly called out "Could about a half of you from each dormitory take your share of towels up here, use these showers?"

Hugh said "If they're going to do that, I'll have to disappear somewhere, they've not got any nightclothes." Margo said "We'll be in the bedroom with the sitting room. I think you'll have to stay in there unless there's an emergency."

Within a minute, girls were returning from the dormitories, none were wearing anything. Hugh dashed towards the lift, calling out "Margo, could you get my case from the car, please? I'll go directly to the apartment." Midge asked Margo to make sure the front door was locked when she came back in.

Half an hour later, the dormitories were quiet, Margo had gone to the apartment. The four girls looked in on the two dormitories, all seemed peaceful. They noticed that quite a few of the girls were sharing beds, Kitty pointed out Zoe curled round Isha, Leila was in the next bed. They'd untucked the sheets so that all three were sharing two beds. Kitty quietly said "Couldn't be better. Perfect."

Shortly after, the four used a shower in one of the bathrooms, just washing each other, but no real play, all were tired. Without bothering to dry, the twins went to an empty bed in their dormitory, Kitty and Chloe went to the bed next to Leila. All four were asleep in seconds.

In the morning, Kitty and Chloe found themselves being woken by Midge and Molly. "Come on sleepyheads." They got out of bed, gave the twins and each other kisses. Looking around, most of the schoolchildren had gone, just a few still putting on their clothes. Midge said "Hugh and Margo are overseeing some of the kids making breakfast." Molly: "So far, so good."

Kitty and Chloe used the bathroom, put their dresses on, the four went upstairs where they found Hugh and Margo in the kitchen, just watching as some of the schoolgirls were preparing scrambled egg on toast. They'd whipped up something like a hundred eggs in a big bowl and were cooking it in batches in a saucepan, adding milk, butter, pepper and salt as they went. All of them seemed enthusiastic, laughing and joking. One of them saw the four looking into the kitchen, she said "Back off, Kitty, we've got this covered." Kitty gave her a playful punch, "Pleased to hear that, Sadie."

The four moved to where Hugh and Margo were standing, Kitty asked "Sleep all right?" Both Hugh and Margo nodded. Molly said "We did have a nightmare in our dormitory." Midge: "She started to wake others with her screams." Both together: "So we put her to sleep."

Margo and Hugh both looked puzzled, Hugh asked "What do you mean, 'put her to sleep'?" Chloe answered "Don't worry, they can help people sleep. Call it hypnotism." Kitty, trying to change the subject, "Isha slept right through, no little accident. It's amazing what a little care and understanding can do." Margo: "We were very impressed by how you dealt with that, you'll make a wonderf… what's wrong?" Kitty had turned and was almost running away. Midge said "None of us can have babies. Hurts us all, Kitty especially. Please don't ask."

Chloe: "Everything looks okay here for the moment, why don't we four go home, have our breakfast there, then see about getting stuff on Kitty's list?" Midge nodded, "Good idea. All right Margo?" Margo said "Yes, everyone looks all right at the moment." Chloe found Zoe, told her what they were doing. Zoe asked "You won't be too long, will you? Some of them will get worried." Chloe said "We'll be as quick as we can. but there's stuff we must get." She gave Zoe a quick kiss.

Midge, Molly and Chloe found Kitty, told her what they were doing. They went downstairs, changed into their cycling kit. As they wheeled their bikes through the front door, Kitty said "Keys." Midge cottoned on immediately, "We'll get some cut, but we must keep track of them." Molly: "Don't want the ungodly getting one."

When they reached home, they put the bikes in the garage. In the kitchen, they took off their cycle gear, Kitty said "Put our dresses in the washing machine, we can put on clean ones." Chloe: "Yes, miss." Kitty gave her a playful punch, "Sorry, don't mean to sound bossy, thinking about other things." Chloe gave Kitty a kiss, "I know, just teasing." Meanwhile, the twins had started grilling sausages and bacon, eggs out ready to fry. Kitty put the kettle on, prepared the teapot. Chloe collected their dresses, she asked "What about our cycling kit? Mine's getting smelly." Molly said "Put it in, at worst it'll still be wet when we need to go back. It'll dry soon enough when we're riding."

They ate their breakfast, washed up, went upstairs for a quick shower. Dresses on, they collected all the shopping bags from the kitchen and walked to the shops. Without a word, Chloe passed the shopping bag she was carrying to Kitty and disappeared into the photographers. Molly grinned, "Guess she missed Riana." Kitty: "Do we wait for her?" Midge: "No, let's get on with it. Kitty, list."

They started in the shoe repairers, asked him to duplicate half a dozen keys, they'd come for them in about an hour. Then into the chemists where they found Ann serving. They asked for toothbrushes, toothpaste, boxes of tampons. Needless to say, the shop didn't have enough, and Ann asked to keep a few boxes of tampons back for customers who might come in desperately needing some. She suggested the supermarket for much of their requirements. Kitty paid for what they had, she made notes in her phone list about how many of each item they had.

The supermarket next. They took some tampons, toothpaste, and emptied the shelves of toothbrushes, putting them into a trolly. They found an employee to ask if they had any more, they did have enough toothbrushes in their stock room. Leaving the supermarket, their shopping bags were almost completely full. Kitty checked her list, "Whistles." Midge: "Don't know where to get whistles." Molly: "We'll ask Griff if he knows somewhere." Kitty: "Good idea, it is an outdoorsy sort of thing."

They went to the bicycle shop, where Griff was serving a man. They put their bags down, started wandering around the shop, just looking. A few minutes later, the customer left. Griff called out to the girls "Hello again. Only three of you? Hope, erm, Chloe is it? hasn't come off and hurt herself, has she?"

Kitty replied, "Oh, no, she's occupied elsewhere, she's fine." "So, what can I do for you?" Midge asked "Do you know anywhere we could get some loud whistles?" They explained about the children exploring in many acres of woodland, wanting to be able to call them back. Griff said "There's a shop that sells stuff for walkers and suchlike, maybe they could help. It's the other side of the supermarket." Midge and Molly alternated "Never knew" "that was" "there."

Three cheek‑kisses, and they were gone, shopping bags snatched up as they ran. Just outside the shop, Midge said "Chloe." Molly: "She'll never find us." Kitty: "Rachel first, see what she can do." "Rachel's" from Midge and Molly together.

They went into Rachel's shop, there was no one there, but within a few seconds, Holly came from the workroom. "Oh, hello, come through, I think Rachel wants to ask you something." They trooped into the workshop, where they found Rachel sitting at her cutting table with pieces of a dress spread out on it.

"Oh, good, glad you're here." Without a pause, she was straight down to business. "It's going to be quicker for us to run these dresses up rather than getting them ordered and made outside, provided I can use the material I have. We do have the four bolts that we made your dresses from, they won't do them all, but I can get more in before we run out of those. Would you be happy with that?"

She got three yeses, then "Where's Chloe?" Molly, with a grin, replied "Stopping Riana from working, we think." Rachel shook her head, and continued "There are about five sizes that will do amongst those who want dresses, it would be quickest if we made a batch all one size at once."

Kitty immediately said "Start with the smallest." Midge and Molly looked at her questioningly, "I want Isha out of that bloody uniform as soon as possible." No one argued. Kitty asked "Can you do them in two sets so everyone gets one dress as soon as possible, second dresses can wait?" Rachel nodded.

Kitty then asked "Name tags?" She got prods from Midge and Molly. "What's that for?" "Asking the" "right question." Another shake of the head from Rachel, "I suggest we make them, use ribbon and we program the sewing machine with the names, it can run off a number of each name. You could use them for any clothing, even shoes."

Kitty asked "Could one of the girls do that? They would very much like to be involved." Holly suggested to Rachel "Could they do any of the sewing? We hem the edges, chalk‑mark the joins, they use a machine to do the stitching?" Kitty: "I'm sure some would really love to do that, but …"

"But what?" from Rachel. Kitty: "They couldn't easily get here to do it."

Rachel: "Tell you what. We cut out, hem and button‑hole as many as we can until mid‑afternoon. I can bring them to you, with, what, three sewing machines, two to sew, one for the labels. We can show your girls how to use the machines, how to sew on buttons. We've enough buttons and cotton for quite a few, I can get more in time for the next batch. How's that sound?"

Midge and Molly said "Perfect." Kitty asked "Are you sure? They might damage the machines?" Rachel shook her head, "Worth the risk."

Midge asked "What about those who don't want dresses? Rachel answered "There aren't many, maybe half a dozen. It's funny, those that want dresses, they don't want a uniform. But they want to look like you four, including the short skirts for most, just a few who want nearer knee length. Five want jeans and tee‑shirts, they're on order.

"There's one, Sadie, wants a dark dress." Holly muttered "She's a natural Goth." Kitty grinned, "She's got the right colouring, jet black hair and eyes."

Rachel smiled, "It would look beautiful on her, but would take us a few hours." Kitty: I'm happy to pay for it, she'd look delicious." Midge: "Do her a standard dress for now, then one exactly as she wants it, please." Kitty, frowning, "Black trainers." Holly said "I'll ring Henrietta, tell her black as well for Sadie."

"Right" said Rachel, "If there's nothing more, clear off, we're busy." She got three cheek kisses, as did Holly, and they were gone. Next call was at the shoe repairers, he'd finished their keys. They went to the photographers, inside the shop was Derek, working at a computer. When the three came in, he said "Hello, girls. They're in the studio, I can't go in there." The three girls grinned, Molly said "We can."

They opened the door, stepped inside the studio, te flour chorused "Wow". Hearing them, Riana, gasping, managed to get out "Wow is right. I think she missed me." Chloe opened her eyes, seemed unable to move or speak.

Riana got up, they all had to help Chloe get off the settee. With Kitty leading Chloe, the five went into the shop, where Riana went straight to Derek, leant over him, gave him a kiss. Chloe received a kiss from each of Kitty, Midge and Molly, but she just stood there. Molly said to her "Come on, things to do." Chloe went to Riana and Derek, touched Riana's cheek. Riana turned to her, they gave each other a quick kiss, Chloe then kissed Derek's cheek, she was still apparently unable to speak.

Kitty said "Got to go, hope she wasn't too much." Derek didn't say anything, Riana just muttered "Wow" as the four left the shop. Outside, Kitty put a shopping bag into one of Chloe's hands, she held the other, Chloe seemed in a daze. Midge said "Let's see about whistles."

With Midge and Molly in front, Kitty leading an unresponsive but compliant Chloe, they walked round to the far side of the supermarket where they did find a shop displaying anoraks, walking boots, tents amongst other things. Inside, Midge and Molly explained what they wanted. Kitty was just looking at Chloe, who was ignoring everything, just staring into space, a slightly crooked little smile on her face.

The man behind the counter went into a back room, he returned with four whistles, he said "These are emergency whistles, they should work for you." Molly took one, blew it. Midge, Kitty and Chloe dropped their shopping bags, put their hands over their ears. The noise seemed to make Chloe aware of her surroundings, she looked round, "What ‑ where …" Kitty grinned, "In a shop. Are you awake now?" It was Chloe's turn to grin, "Oh, yes, more awake than I've been since Lenny."

Molly grinned at Chloe, then "Molly thinks these will do."

Kitty got out her debit card out, she said to the man "We'll take all four." He said "They're yours. I know what you're doing, these are my very small contribution. If you need anything else that I sell, it's at cost." As Kitty was thanking him, Molly hoisted herself up to lean right across the counter and kissed his cheek. All four girls said "Thank you", they picked up their shopping bags and left, leaving the man staring at the door, gently rubbing his cheek with his fingertips.

Back at the house, they transferred everything from the shopping bags into their bicycle baskets. There was too much for the lids to close, they carefully packed them together with their dresses and used some string to tie the lids down so nothing could fall out. Their cycling shorts and shirts were wet from the washing machine, they took a bit of getting into, but they managed. As they set off, Molly shouted out "Molly's bottom's all squidgy!"

When they reached the building, Kitty suggested leaving the stuff on the bikes and to get some of the schoolgirls to bring it up, make them feel useful. The four just changed into their dresses and took the whistles. Molly was very tempted to blow one again immediately, Chloe stopped her, "Molly, don't. It might frighten some of them when they hadn't heard the whistles before, they'll think it's a fire alarm or something."

At the top floor, Molly gave the briefest of puffs on a whistle which got everyone's attention, she called out "Molly wants volunteers to bring stuff up from the bikes." She counted off the first eight, then "That should be enough." Kitty called out "Put anything extra in the cupboard by the stairs on the first floor." Midge asked Kitty "Why there?" "It's the only one with shelves." She got three prods. "What's that for?" Midge said "Remembering that from our first visit."

Before a scuffle could break out, Hugh came over, he asked "Don't you ever say please?" Kitty immediately answered "She doesn't need to." Chloe: "Anyway, that would spoil her character." Molly grinned, "They know me so well."

They told Margo and Hugh about their discussion with Rachel, between them they decided they could use the computer room, a sewing machine on each table for making the dresses, the one for the name labels would go on the bench. Once again, Molly peeped her whistle, "Who wants to use a sewing machine, and who wants sew buttons on? Lots to do."

Several girls came to them, two of the last were Zoe and Isha, Zoe was leading Isha by her hand. Zoe said "She was too shy to come, though she wants to help." Molly asked "Who's for sewing, who's for machines?" Six wanted to sew, three wanted to learn about sewing machines, Zoe and Isha were two of the machinists, the third was Abigail. Kitty, Chloe and the twins explained what was going to happen. For the machinists, they decided that Isha, as the smallest, would be better doing the name labels, the other two, being larger, would be better able to manipulate the dress material.

Lunchtime, the schoolgirls prepared sausages and mash with baked beans. It seems there were too many volunteers even for the more menial tasks like peeling potatoes. Margo was looking on as they did everything, but needed almost no input.

Not long after lunch, Midge got a phone call from the hotel manager, he said he was with the previous manager, he would like to help, but he didn't know where the building was. Midge asked to speak with him, he said his name was Ernest, call him Ernie.

After a brief discussion, Midge, trying to control her laughter, said "Broom, stick, black", followed half a second later by "Ouch" as Kitty prodded her, muttering "That's for laughing."

Twenty minutes later, they heard a 'ding-dong' that echoed throughout the whole top floor. Kitty picked up on it, "Door bell. Roy must have got one going." The four raced down the stairs, picked themselves up from the last flight, where they found the door open with Roy talking to a man. Midge immediately said "Ernie?" The man nodded. To Roy, "We're expecting him, and thanks for the doorbell, good idea."

Roy said "Yes, seemed best to keep the door shut normally for security. I'll leave him with you, I've got the ethernet installers here."

The girls thanked Roy, he left, going towards the services room. Midge introduced herself and the other girls to Ernie. Ernie was not a young man, he was limping, leaning heavily on a walking stick. Chloe just said "Lift, but I'm using the stairs." Ernie said "Yes, sorry, knee's playing up a bit."

Kitty went up the stairs with Chloe, they got there just as Ernie and one of the twins were sitting down at one of the dining tables, Midge had gone to get Hugh and Margo from the kitchen.

When all were sat and introduced to each other, Ernie started, "I've talked to a few people, I have a good idea of what you are trying to do. I'd really like to help, but a hotel isn't quite the same as the, sorry, no other word for it, institution you have here. But we will sort it. Can you tell me about numbers and budgets, these are the most important factors."

They told him the number of schoolgirls, there would probably be two adults full time though that might change, plus hopefully four teachers during the day. Midge said that the four of them would be around for the next day or so, they would be there occasionally afterwards. They told him the council budget for food, Kitty said that within reason, they could fund a bit more, also they would like him to organise normal living consumables as well as the food and drink.

Knee therapy

Ernie was taking notes in a notebook. He asked if he could see round where they were sleeping, also arrangements for cooking, cleaning, laundry and so on. As they stood up, Ernie gasped, sat down. Midge and Molly looked at each other, after half a second both nodded. Midge turned to Ernie, "Can we try to help your knee?" "How?" he asked. Kitty knew what was coming, "Pull your chair out a bit, they want to kneel either side of you." Chloe added "And roll your trouser leg up." Ernie looked puzzled, "What are you going to do?" Molly said "Just put our hands on your knee."

With Kitty and Chloe nodding encouragingly to him, he managed to move his chair so that he could turn it round, he rolled up his trouser leg. Hugh and Margo were both just looking on, neither knew what was happening. Midge and Molly knelt down, each put a hand on his knee, one each side. Moments later, the three of them seemed to be asleep, Ernie slumped on his chair, the twins leaning on each other. Margo asked "What's happening?" Kitty replied "Nothing. But they'll be like that for maybe twenty minutes." Hugh said "I seem to remember hearing some rumours. I don't believe them, but …"

Moments later, Isha came to the table, she found Kitty's hand, held it. She asked "Has someone kicked him?" Kitty said "No, it's just hurting him a bit. What made you think he's been kicked?" Isha replied "They were like that on my knee after one of the nuns kicked me there. I could walk properly again when they'd finished." She ran off towards some girls who looked like they were playing a game of tag.

Kitty said "I'm going to see what Roy's up to." Chloe nodded, "I'll wait here, make sure they're all right." Kitty walked off, leaving Chloe trying to convince Hugh and Margo that whatever they might see, nothing was happening.

After about fifteen minutes, Chloe helped each of the twins to a couple of chairs, Midge muttering "Can't do any more for him." Ernie had woken, he was feeling his knee. "It's a lot better, whatever they did." He rolled down his trouser leg, he asked "Are they all right?" Chloe said "Yes, they need to rest for a few minutes." Ernie tentatively stood up, walked a couple of steps. "That's a lot better. It's gone from really hurting to just a bit of discomfort. I don't know how or why, but it's marvellous." Chloe said "Please, don't say anything to anyone." "What about my wife?" "I don't know, maybe say it got a bit better while you were sitting with us? Just don't say what Midge and Molly did." She added "We don't know what happens, whatever it is, it seems to accelerate the body's healing process. Judging by what they said, I presume there's damage to your knee that can't mend naturally."

"That makes some sort of sense, I tore something in there a few days ago, it seems to be back to just the normal arthritis that I had before."

Kitty came back while he was speaking, she heard the last part of what Ernie said. She glanced at the twins, then said "Please don't tell anyone." Ernie nodded, "Chloe's already asked me not to."

Kitty suggested they got back to why he was here. He asked whether they should wait for Midge and Molly to wake, Kitty said "No need, I'll tell them whatever we discuss. They wouldn't want things held up."

Leaving Chloe sat by the twins, Kitty, Hugh and Margo started by showing Ernie the kitchen and the laundry. They showed him the shower block, Kitty making sure no one was there. Then they took him down to see the dormitories, once again Kitty first checking that no girls were in them or their bathrooms.

When they returned to the top floor, the twins and Chloe were chatting. As he sat down, Ernie said "Thank you so much, my knee's back to normal, I'm very grateful." Midge said "Please, we didn't do anything. Now, what do you think?"

Before he had a chance to reply, Molly called out "Molly wants tea." Several girls came up, the first two went into the kitchen. Molly called "That's enough." Zoe was one who had come but turned down. Grinning, she said "What's the matter, didn't you want Kitty to make it?" This time, Kitty went for her, they started grappling, fell to the floor. Hugh and Margo got up, Midge just said "Leave them." By the time Hugh managed to say "But they're hurting each …", the two had got up, they were hugging, both laughing. Zoe, seeing the stares, said "I've really missed Kitty since she left." She gave Kitty a brief kiss and ran off, still laughing.

Kitty, smiling, sat down again. "Right", she said, "Let's get on with it." Chloe interrupted, "Just got to say, for some reason everyone likes fighting Kitty, especially me. Sorry, please continue."

Ernie told them that he could probably help them. They talked about some of the practicalities, who would do the ordering, how money would be transferred. About what sort of food, about the skill levels available to prepare it. Then on to non‑food items, consumables for laundry, bathrooms and the like.

Ernie suggested he would come up with some sort of guesstimate on how things would go, it would take him a day or two, perhaps he could come back then? All agreed.

As he got up, he said "Oh, thank whoever made that nice cup of tea. Maybe it's a good job Kitty didn't make … ow" He'd received a prod from Kitty on his shoulder. "Careful" she said. Chloe, grinning, "She usually doesn't hold back." Laughing, Kitty and Chloe escorted Ernie down, he was happy to take the stairs. Just as they reached the front door, Isha came running down and handed him his walking stick. "Oh, thank you, shows how good my knee is now."

About half past three, Rachel and Holly arrived. Hugh, Midge and Molly carried the three sewing machines from her car to the lift, then to the computer room, Hugh was obviously surprised at how easily Midge and Molly each carried a very heavy machine. Molly called out for the sewing team, the nine duly appeared. She first sent them down with Rachel and Holly to fetch the dress pieces that they'd prepared ready for sewing, which were separated into rolls tied with tape, each with a piece of paper with the appropriate girl's name.

When they were all back in the computer room, Rachel first took one of the rolls, it had Isha's name on it. This was one they'd completed, so the machinists and sewers could see the result. Rachel explained how the pieces were put together to be sewn, the chalk marks to align them, the width of the hem as it was sewn. She demonstrated on another dress exactly how it was to be done, then showed how the buttons were to be positioned and sewn.

Meanwhile, Holly was showing Isha how to put the correct foot on the machine, how to program it with a name, then how to run the tape under the machine's foot. There was one snag, Isha's legs were too short to reach the machine's pedal on the floor. Chloe ran off to see if she could find something to put the pedal on to raise it. She came back ten minutes later with Roy, each was carrying a two‑foot length cut from a builders plank. Stacked one on top of the other, they barely gave enough height for Isha. Roy and Chloe disappeared again, when they returned, Chloe was carrying a third length, Roy had a power drill and some long screws. He screwed the three pieces together, giving a perfect height for Isha.

Holly watched Isha as she ran off ten labels with her own name on, then as Isha reprogrammed the machine for the next name on the list and continued.

Rachel and Holly oversaw the machinists as they proceeded to sew dresses together, helping where necessary. As the first two were completed, they were passed to button‑sewers. Soon there was something of a production line going, machines whirring, the sewers sitting cross‑legged on the floor chalk-marking then sewing on buttons and name tags.

Midge, Molly, Chloe and Kitty were watching the whole thing, they might need to help if there were any problems that the nine couldn't deal with.

When the four dress kits were completed, Molly said "Let's try some on." Isha immediately stopped what she was doing, took off her school uniform, slipped on her dress. She did up the buttons, looked down at herself, and with a broad smile said "Wonderful." She ran out of the room, shouted "Hey, everybody, look at me!" She ran along and started doing cartwheels, after the third she collapsed in a heap on the floor, laughing.

Immediately a crowd gathered, two helped her up. They all rushed to the computer room, clamouring to see whose dress might be ready. Molly went to the door, said "We'll call names as dresses are ready, no crowding. Now, the following …" she listed four names "… stay, the rest of you, go away."

As most of the crowd were leaving, a couple of brave girls gave Molly a quick kiss, they ran off laughing. Isha went back to her sewing machine, the four were given their dresses, all seemed very pleased with them. They went away to show them off.

When Rachel and Holly were happy the sewing girls were all okay, they left, promising to come back with more kits sometime the next morning.

A bit later in the afternoon, Roy came to them, said the WiFi should now be working at least on the top two floors, but someone needed to go round, check it reached everywhere it should. He gave Kitty a list of WiFi names and their passwords, she wandered off, phone in hand.

A little later on, Kitty asked the other three "Should we thank everyone who's helped here in some way? I don't know, a party maybe? I'm sure I can pay for something." Midge said "We'll ask Daniel, he'll know." Immediately Molly was on her phone, she got through to Daniel. "Hello … No, nothing wrong, everything's going well. Kitty's come up with a thought, it's always her with the good ideas ouch … no, she prodded me. She thinks we should throw a shindig for everyone who's helped here … No, not her words, but she says she would pay for something … Sounds good, though we would have to be very careful … Okay, thank you. Love you, bye."

She turned to the others, "He thinks that's a very good idea, he's suggesting a do at the hotel, he'll look into it for us. Kitty, Chloe, you'll have to look after us if we do it."

Two days later, Ernest had got things organised for catering and other domestic consumables. He'd set up a list of all the items that might be needed to be purchased, with indications of when to order dependant on amount left and delivery time for each item. Food was the same, with suggested rotas for variations in meats, vegetables, puddings etc.

Sadie's dress

With the first lot of dresses finished, the schoolgirls all looked much happier, generally more relaxed. As some of the second lot were being sewn, Rachel and Holly came in with more dress kits. When they got to the top floor, Rachel found the four girls, told them she'd brought a special dress for Sadie. Kitty immediately said "Get her to try it on with none of the others knowing about it." When Midge asked why, Kitty said "Two reasons, it might possibly want adjusting if it's not exactly as she wants it, then there's the surprise factor when the rest see it on her." Holly added "I've brought in some suitable lipsticks and eye makeup, easier to put it on her somewhere quiet."

Midge said "Use the small dormitory." Molly gave a little blow on a whistle, yelled "Sadie, here, now." Choe poked a grinning Molly, "You're rotten." Sadie came running up, she stopped six feet from Molly, looking somewhat frightened. "What have I done wrong?" Molly couldn't keep a straight face, laughing she said "Nothing. Go with Rachel, you're wanted."

Ten minutes later, Rachel came out, followed by Holly, who was leading Sadie by her hand. Midge, Molly, Chloe and Kitty all just said "Wow."

The dress was mainly black, the skirt was flared from the hips, finishing about six inches above the knee. The front had a dark red panel from top to bottom, covered with black spider's web lace, with black ribbon lacing across it. The neckline was a shallow vee across the top of Sadie's bust, just a bit of cleavage showing, the back was a shallow curve a little below the level of the front. The sleeves were of black spider's web lace, covering from over the shoulders to a few inches above the elbows.

Round Sadie's neck was a black choker necklace, also of a spider's web design, with strands hanging from it, beaded to look as though drops of black liquid were running down them. She'd been made up with black lipstick and black outlining to her eyes.

Sadie didn't speak, tears were running down her cheeks, mascara trailing down, if anything this added to the overall effect.

A few of the nearby schoolgirls noticed her, they immediately stopped talking, just stared. The silence spread rapidly throughout the floor as Molly led Sadie right round the floor, showing her off to everyone.

By the time Molly brought her back to where Rachel, Holly and the other three were standing, Sadie's tears had stopped. Sadie went to Rachel, gave her a kiss. Soon, Holly, the twins, Kitty and Chloe all had black lipstick smeared on their mouths. Perhaps curiously, Sadie remained completely expressionless.

Sadie walked back to where other schoolgirls had grouped, they all started talking, full of admiration, feeling the dress, giving Sadie hugs. Whenever someone touched her or her dress, Sadie simply stopped and stood still until whoever it was took their hands away.

The twins, Kitty and Chloe were watching all the while, looking for any signs of jealousy, but there didn't seem to be any.

Kitty asked Rachel, "How on earth did you manage to make that in such a short time?" Rachel smiled, "Labour of love. Holly and I did an all‑nighter, we were so excited about it." Kitty: "Make sure you charge your time fully, it's absolutely beautiful, it's on a par with our black dresses." Nods from the other three.

Then Rachel asked "Are you sure she really likes it? She hasn't smiled once since she's had it on." Holly gave her the answer, "Goth."

Dormitory shuffling

Towards the end of the week, things had settled down. The schoolgirls were all getting used to their new accommodation, lessons were starting with some retired teachers that Fea and Tom had found. The four girls stopped sleeping in the building overnight, all there were settled enough not to need the security that they brought, though the four were still coming in at some stage for a couple of hours every day.

The schoolgirls were allowed to explore outside, with warnings about the lake and not to go beyond the perimeter fence. They were also told to stay out of sight of the road, never to be on their own, and to come back if they heard a whistle (Molly had really enjoyed them all putting their hands over their ears when she demonstrated it with a long hard blow).

On the Thursday afternoon, the four rode in. When they got to the top floor, Margo and Hugh came to them, asked them into the apartment so they could talk privately. Shutting the door, Margo said "I don't know what's going on, many of the girls have swapped dormitories, they've even moved some mattresses and taken over where Kitty and Chloe were, so I think there are twenty‑seven in the far dormitory. At night, that dormitory seems to get quite noisy after lights out, I don't know what they're doing. we daren't say anything in case we upset them."

Midge asked "Do any of them seem unhappy at all?" Margo replied "No, they're all very cheerful. I did check the nearer dormitory, they are all quiet at night, all seem to just sleep, so they're not being disturbed."

Molly grinned, she said "Molly thinks there's nothing to worry about." Midge added "We'll stay tonight, see what happens."

Margo thanked them, then "It seems strange that, as the adults looking after them, we are asking you what to do, but with all you've gone through …" She tailed off. Kitty and Chloe looked at each other, Kitty said "We understand, and we probably know them much better than you. We're with Molly, nothing to worry about unless anyone shows any signs of distress."

Dormitories after mattress shuffling

"Oh, where's Isha sleeping now?" Margo replied "Still where you put her, only her mattress is squeezed in by one of the moved ones, but she seems to be doing very well. No accidents at all, at least as far as we know, but if she did have any I think the others would hide it from us. They're very protective of her, but I think we would have noticed a sheet being changed."

They went back to the top floor, just as girls were coming out of the classrooms. Immediately, the four were surrounded, plenty of hugging and a lot of kissing going on, until the crowd gradually dispersed. Four teachers had emerged, they waited until the four girls and Hugh and Margo were clear, came to speak with them.

Margo introduced them, they'd not met before. "Hailey, Ivy, Payton, Madeline, these are the four responsible for all this, Midge and Molly, Kitty and Chloe." Hailey immediately said "We are so pleased to meet you. We've heard so much about you, all of it good." Ivy said "Well, they did say one or two things about Molly, but …" Kitty laughed, "Yes, it would be about her. Can we sit and talk?" All four teachers nodded, Hailey said "We really want to." Chloe asked "Tea?" Madeline said "Love some."

Molly turned her head, she yelled "Tea." This surprised the teachers, but Margo laughed. "Let's go to the table, sit down, just watch what happens." What was already happening was that about twenty girls were racing towards the kitchen. The first three went in, numbers four and five stood in the doorway to stop any more entering. Kitty, seeing the looks of amazement on the teachers' faces, just said "Some of Molly's, er, one or two things can be very useful." Hugh added "We've seen this a few times, they all fight to do anything Molly wants." Ivy asked "Molly, are they frightened of you?" Molly grinned, "Yes and no." Kitty tried to explain, "Molly has something of a reputation for dealing with anyone who threatens any of us, but they are not frightened of her like this at all." Chloe added "But she likes to pretend she might do something." Molly was grinning to herself.

As they sat down, Midge asked "So, what are your impressions?" Ivy replied "Very, very mixed." Hailey nodded, she said "Two main things. Firstly how far behind they all are from where they should be, and in total contrast, how much they want to catch up. I've never seen such complete enthusiasm to learn in a class before."

Kitty asked "Are you four happy to continue teaching them?" Payton replied, "Yes, but …" "But what?" from Chloe. "Text books. We need a lot." Kitty asked "Can you put together a list? If the council won't fund it I will." Kitty could see the hesitation in Payton, "What else?" Madeline replied "Computers, I know there are a few in the computer room, but it would really help if they all had tablets and we had computers, also printers as well so we can use them in class." Kitty immediately replied "Add them to your list. Would you like large display screens in the classrooms?" "Yes, but all this would cost a fortune, the council will never fund it." Kitty just said "Please, give me a list, and anything else that will help them."

As they were talking, two schoolgirls came to them carrying trays with mugs of tea for them all. Kitty said "Thank you, saves them from my tea." The two grinned, each gave Molly a quick kiss, they ran off laughing, taking the empty trays back to the kitchen. Kitty smiled, "I expect they were dared to give Molly a kiss."

They talked a little more about the schoolgirls and how the teachers found them. After a while, and with a promise of a list tomorrow of musts and wants, the four teachers left.

Kitty noticed several girls going in the kitchen. "Are they doing the meal tonight?" Margo nodded, "They're very good, they just get on with it. They work from Ernest's list, note when anything needs to be ordered, we take care of that. Others have taken it upon themselves to keep an eye on bathrooms and so on, make sure everything's all right." Hugh: "They seem to have organised rotas for cleaning and laundry, some of it hasn't happened yet, but they're preparing for it." Margo: "Basically, we are doing nothing but keeping an eye on things." Hugh: "And handling anything to do with money, of course."

Kitty asked "How are things looking financially?" Hugh replied "Okay at the moment. The council budget for food and consumables is, as you might expect, a bit mean, we are liaising with your man Daniel about dealing with shortfalls, it looks like we will be relying on your generosity a bit." Kitty said "That's fine. Daniel knows what can be done, he'll make sure things are kept reasonable. Which reminds me, I'd better warn him about computers and stuff." She walked away a bit, started talking on her phone. Only a minute later she returned, "He and Audrey are coming in this evening."

They carried on talking for a while, but were interrupted by someone yelling "Eats in fifteen, whistle monitor, please." Seconds later, Isha came running up. She gave Kitty and Chloe each a quick kiss, went to Margo, said "Whistle, please." Margo put her hand into a pocket, she handed a whistle to Isha. "Thank you." She gave Midge her kiss, turned to Molly, put the whistle to her mouth. Molly raised a finger, moved it from side to side, signalling a very clear 'no'. Isha promptly grabbed the finger with her other hand, kissed it, and sprinted towards the stairs, laughing loudly.

All of them sat there were laughing, Midge managed "What a difference."

When they'd recovered, Kitty said "I presume that's to call in anyone playing outside?" Margo nodded, "Yes. We are letting them play pretty much as they please, we hope we can trust them." Chloe grinned, "It was Molly who gave them the rules. They'll behave."

Twenty minutes later, all the schoolgirls as well as Hugh, Margo and the four girls were tucking in to cottage pie, which had been made with a lot of vegetables mixed in with the mince, there were large jugs of gravy on each table.

The two adults and the four were sitting at the smallest dining table, together with four of the schoolgirls, two of which were Zoe and Isha. Isha had managed to sit next to Molly, she seemed to be wanting to play a little. She put some of her pie on her fork, held it in front of Molly, who dutifully opened her mouth for Isha put her fork in. Hugh and Margo looked a little concerned. Molly grinned, and Kitty, also smiling, said "That's our fault, she'll have seen us doing that at school a lot, we'd do it whenever we thought a nun wasn't looking. Amused the others." Chloe added "We still do it."

Hugh spoke, "With my psychologists hat on, not that I am one, it's a way of bonding." Isha, smiling, said "It's fun." Midge: "Hope you don't mind, we all enjoy it, whatever the reason." Margo: "I suppose there's no harm done, so long as no one has a cold." Molly quietly said to Isha, "I like it, but better not, don't want to upset anyone."

A little later they were eating a fresh fruit salad, tins of evaporated milk were on the tables. Hugh said "It seems they've decided there's less waste, the milk keeps better in the tins than in jugs."

Their puddings finished, tea was brought round. As the schoolgirls finished theirs, they left the tables in twos or threes, all taking their mugs into the kitchen. As Isha and the other three left their table, Isha got off her chair, gave Molly a quick kiss, ran off laughing towards the kitchen with her mug.

The sounds of washing up could be heard coming from the kitchen, together with noisy chattering and laughter. Margo said "They're remarkably good about the chores, just seem to accept them." Kitty smiled, "Here it's fair. At the school it was a punishment." Chloe added "Or just plain vindictiveness."

Many of the schoolgirls were going into the classrooms. Chloe asked "Homework?" Margo nodded, "As Hailey said earlier, they all want to catch up. It's really rewarding to see their attitude. They will help each other with what they're doing, occasionally one will come to one of us with a question, though they would rather ask another girl." Molly muttered "Nuns wouldn't or couldn't answer questions." Kitty's turn to mutter, "Just as well, what they did try to teach was often wrong."

They heard the doorbell sound. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, while Molly and Chloe were picking themselves up, Kitty and Midge opened the door to Audrey and Daniel. After the greeting hugs, the six went upstairs where they joined Margo and Hugh at a dining table. Drinking tea (made by Kitty, no one complained), when Daniel and Audrey were satisfied that things were going pretty well, Kitty told Daniel they would probably want to spend several thousand pounds on equipment for the classrooms. Daniel said there was still a fair bit of money in Kitty's account, if that's what she wanted, that was fine.

After another half hour of talking, Daniel and Audrey said their goodbyes, the four showed them to the front door.

Back upstairs, Midge said to Hugh and Margo "We'd like to wander round, chat with them, update ourselves." Hugh and Margo nodded, Margo said "We've some catching up to do of our own, we'll leave you to it."

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Introduction