Traces of Narnia...featuring Peter Pevensie

Section 2 - The Knowledge of April: Chapter 3 - Time Together and The Book

April came down the stairs feeling groggy. She had slept soundly, surprising herself after the stress of yesterday. She almost ran into Peter as she came out of the stairway. He caught her by the upper arms and steadied her.

"'Morning, beautiful," he said kissing her lightly and quickly on the cheek.

He continued on to the lavatory to wash up for breakfast she assumed. Entering the kitchen she saw her mother was putting the food on the table.

"Are you all eating earlier now?" she asked.

"No," her mother replied. "Peter helped your father with the chores this morning, so they got done very quickly".

"Mmmm," Peter slid into his seat. "This looks great. They don't feed us like this at school, do they April?"

As April sat down she wondered at his mood. She looked at her father. He looked happy too. Well, maybe she didn't have to worry about the two of them anymore. She tried to clear the cobwebs from her brain and felt Peter looking at her.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

She nodded and was about to reply. When a voice asked, "So, what are you two kids doing today?"

Kids? She never thought of herself as a "kid" anymore. She thought she might be a little grumpy today. Everyone was waiting for her to reply.

"Um, I thought Peter and I would bicycle around the village."

That seemed to appease them. Her mother was saying something about shopping for food and Peter was agreeing, and Elisa was chattering about going to Sophie's to play after school. She just wanted to sit still and collect her thoughts. She also planned to show Peter the book today, but she couldn't say that out loud. Soon her father and Elisa left. She heard Peter help clear the table. Then, she felt him grab her hand and walk her into the living room. He sat her down on the couch and perched beside her.

"Now, are you really all right?" he asked, peering into her face with a worried expression.

"Yes, just feeling a little grumpy," she said. "Don't tell me you're a morning person!"

He laughed, "Most of the time. I've never seen you grumpy...this could be fun." He gave her a mischievous look. "I could tickle you. Are you ticklish?" He started poking her in the side.

"Peter, stop that! Oh, now quit," she said, squirming away and trying not to smile.

"Ha!" he exclaimed. "I've discovered the secret to get rid of April's morning grumps!" Hearing the back door shut, he said, "I bet I know another way to get rid of them..." and he kissed her until the door opened again.

"Mmm, I like the second way best. I could wake up like that every morning and be happy all day long."

Peter stood and pulled her off the couch. "Now where are those bicycles?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They had a great morning. April, sufficiently woken and cheered up, led Peter around the outskirts of the village pointing out interesting spots where she would talk about the history. They stopped in front of a very large tower and Peter asked about it.

"Oh, that's Sway Tower. It can be seen from most points in The New Forest. It is 66 meters (200 feet) tall and is sometimes known as 'Peterson's Folly'. It was built by Andrew Peterson in the late 1800's. Peterson had seen towers like this in India. It's made entirely out of concrete. Only the windows have iron supports. It is the tallest non-reinforced concrete structure in the world. Our industry is stone work and mining the limestone that they use in the concrete. Peterson used this structure to advertise the superiority of the cement that we help to make here."