It was a peculiarly nice day in London. After monotonous grey skies day after day, any visible patch of blue was eagerly welcomed.
When I arrived at the cafe, Jack was standing outside rather than sitting at our usual table.
"Why aren't you inside already?" I asked. I poked my head around him to see inside the cafe; as I had expected, there were plenty of spaces.
"You do realise there are places free."
"I thought we could go somewhere else. It's not very often you get a partially sunny day in London, in early spring nonetheless."
"You sound like an old lady."
He sighed, "you know, Matilda, I'm still waiting for the day that you don't insult me in some way."
"Just keeping your ego in check," I said with a wink.
He scoffed, and muttered something under his breath about being bullied.
"So, where are we going?"
"I was thinking St James' park? The one near Buckingham palace."
"That's fancy."
Jack shrugged his shoulders, "it's nice. And there shouldn't be too many people there in the morning."
"I don't think I've been there before."
Jack looked at me incredulously. "Seriously? But you live in London."
"Never really had a reason to go there."
"Well, I guarantee after you've seen in today, you'll want to go back."
"We'll see."
"Right." Jack said suddenly. "Less talking, more walking."
"Since when were you eager to do any form of exercise."
"What did I say about the talking, Matilda?" He said, with a stupid grin on his face.
So we headed off towards Buckingham palace; only, instead of Jack trying to keep up with my pace, I found myself stumbling after him for once.
Like Jack had said, there weren't too many people, which was nice. We chose a picnic bench so that Jack could sprawl his notebooks on it; he also insisted that we found one that faced the lake.
It was a nice spot; the morning sun filtered gently through the trees, making dappled patterns on our skin. And the grass beneath our feet, and plants that lined the lake, glistened vibrantly with dew drops.
"So, are we ready to go work?" Jack asked, but it was most likely rhetorical, as he already started pulling out a folder from his bag.
"What's first?"
"I was thinking scenery and setting."
"Jack, just out of curiosity, why don't you do this yourself? I'm even less creative than you are."
"Doing things on my own is boring. Besides, I'm paying you, so I may as well get my money's worth." He teased.
I rolled my eyes, "but what I'm trying to say is, that I don't think my input will be very helpful."
"Well, we'll just have to wait and see."
The next couple of hours mostly consisted of Jack rattling off suggestions for places in which the novel could be set.
He wanted London, I wanted Paris.
Naturally, we decided on Paris.
He also read out some rough drafts of scenes, which I approved or disapproved, based on how realistic the setting would be for a thief.
YOU ARE READING
This is From Matilda.
AdventureA successful thief is invincible, indomitable. However, once a thief is caught, freedom is a thing of the past. There are certainly no second chances. Which is no exception for Matilda. But then, was she ever really a thief in the first place? Aft...
