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Chapter eight

Funny pictures

The next few days were much the same. Grant walked at the front, and I walked at the back. Grant had us up by eight o’clock in the morning, and ready to leave by nine. Every day we went up mountains and back down them again. We ate our lunch at one o’clock, and we rested at eleven o’clock and three o’clock. By six o’clock in the evening our tents were up, and at seven-thirty we ate dinner. Oh, and there was something else that was the same. It rained. Every day.

One afternoon Ellen was walking next to me. ‘This holiday is no fun,’ she said. ‘It’s more like work than a holiday.’ She looked at Grant, who was at the front as usual. ‘He may look good enough to eat, but he’s just “Mr Clock” - do this at this time, do that at that time. And tonight it’s going to be even worse. No toilets, no restaurants. I don’t know whose idea this camping au sauvage was, but it was a stupid idea. I’m fed up, Tess. Can’t you tell us some bad jokes? That was fun.’

I looked at Ellen - who I now thought of as my friend - and smiled. Maybe I did have something to offer the group. Something Grant didn’t seem to be able to give them. ‘I’ll think of something,’ I told Ellen.

Ellen smiled at me. ‘Good,’ she said. And while you’re doing that, I’m going to have another try at making “Mr Clock” up there take it easy.’

I watched as Ellen walked quickly to the front to join Grant. It wasn’t long before I heard them laughing.

But nobody was laughing very much by the evening. The place where we were to spend the night would obviously be beautiful on a nice evening. But it wasn’t a nice evening. It was wet, and the moon was behind a cloud. Everybody ate dinner together in the cooking tent, but there wasn’t very much conversation.

After the plates were cleared away and washed, I shouted to everybody above the noise of the rain on the tent, ‘If anybody wants a caricature of themselves, I’m happy to draw one,’ I said.

‘What’s a caricature?’ Astrid asked.

‘It’s a picture that makes you look stupid,’ Grant told her helpfully.

I gave him a dirty look. ‘It’s a funny picture,’ I explained to Astrid. ‘It does look like you, but if you have a bit of a big nose, I make it very big. Or if you have small eyes, I make them very small.’

Astrid nodded. ‘I know. I’ve seen those in newspapers sometimes. No, I don’t think I want one, thank you.’

Ellen stood up. ‘Well I do.’ She sat down in front of me. ‘Come on, Tess. Make me look as stupid as possible. Anything for a laugh.’

I moved some of the lamps so I had enough light to see. Then I held my pencil in my hand and sat looking at Ellen while I decided how to draw her. The best thing about Ellen’s face was her eyes. They were beautiful - warm and friendly. She was so full of life too. That was what I liked about her. Things were never boring when Ellen was around. Her hair was very alive - she had a lot of it, and I thought it must be very difficult to brush in the mornings. Suddenly I smiled to myself.

‘You’ve thought of something, haven’t you?’ said Ellen, watching my face.

I smiled at her. ‘Yes,’ I said, beginning to draw, ‘but I’m not sure you’ll like it.’

‘I told you,’ Ellen said with a laugh. ‘I don’t care. Do what you like.’

‘OK,’ I said, ‘but remember you said that!’

As I drew, everybody except Astrid came near to watch. I soon forgot about them as I thought about what I was doing. I’d remembered a little cat I’d had when I was a child - Messy, I’d called her. She’d had a sweet face, just like Ellen, and she’d loved running about and getting into trouble.

The picture took about five minutes to finish. ‘There,’ I said, holding it out to Ellen.

She took it from me and began to laugh. I’d drawn her as half woman, half cat, with lots of wild hair all over the place and a food bowl with chocolates in it. Ellen was always eating chocolate.

‘That’s very good, Tess,’ she said. ‘Just like me on a bad day!’ And she passed the picture round for everybody else to look at.

‘Me next!’ said Sarah.

Even Astrid asked me to draw her picture in the end. Astrid’s neck is quite long, and her eyes are large and sad, so I made her neck very long, and her eyes very large. When I gave the picture to her, she looked at it for a long time. Her face was so sad I began to feel worried.

Then finally she spoke. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘It is very good.’ Then I saw that she was crying. Oh no, what had I done now?

‘Oh, Astrid,’ I said, ‘I’m sorry.’

She shook her head. ‘No,’ she said, ‘it’s OK. It’s just that Christian always loved my long neck. He said. he said it was lovely. Like the neck of a water bird.’

‘A swan?’ asked David, and Astrid nodded.

‘Yes, a swan,’ she said, and then she took her picture and walked sadly away, still crying.

After that, everybody felt a bit flat, and most people decided to go to bed. Soon only Grant and I were left in the tent.

‘Well,’ I said, standing up, but Grant put out a hand to stop me.

‘Wait a minute,’ he said. ‘You haven’t done a caricature of me yet.’