By the time they neared RaRa's house, Gill had more or less been bought over by RaRa's charisma and enthusiasm, hook, line and sinker. Had she been given the chance to grow up, she would likely have been a force to be reckoned with.

His logical mind, sending loud S.O.S smoke signals at the back of his mind, couldn’t quite wrap itself around the fact that he was so easily sold on the idea. And that he was convinced by Rara that this was best idea anyone had since Benjamin Franklin decided to fly that kite with a bit of metal at the end during a savage lightning storm (and possibly just as dangerous, as RaRa's mother didn't have the slightest sense of humour, not that RaRa would have admitted that to Gill.).

By then, the sky had darkened and the clouds looked threateningly pregnant with rain, all ready to unrelease an unrelenting torrent upon the two. A strong gust of wind carried along dried leaves and the strong scent of rain and grass.

They ran along, hand in hand, excited and giggling. It was just like old times.

This had slowly but surely become exciting for Gill as it had been a long while since he played with RaRa in her house.

As they crept along the fence, Gill made one last attempt to be the very voice of reason.

"Why can't we just ask Aunty for it? Like a normal legal human being, we could actually knock on the front door and like, just ask her, you know."

"Shush! Where's the fun in that. And how are you going to explain it to her and convince her? You would just sound silly!"

"But all this creeping and skulking around IS silly!"

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"You have no sense of adventure! Don't be such a stodgy old man! Anyway this is my own house. I live there. Lived in there. Whatever! You know what I mean! You really can't count going home after a short while "breaking and entering" right? If not, the police would be very busy indeed."

And that was that. Gill knew when he had lost the battle and obediently wriggled through a gap in the fence that had yet to be repaired behind RaRa.

The yard was slightly overgrown at the corners. Invisible to passersby, but glaringly obvious to both RaRa and Gill who knew Aunty well. In the past, Aunty would not have let even a single weed grow or a wilting flower stay. A stray leaf would have been unceremoniously shown to the compost pile, much less a gap in the fence or the slightly out of shape topiary.

Slowly and quietly, they edged towards the general location of RaRa's room located at the corner of the first floor.

They found the kitchen door unlocked and crept in, shushing each other all the way, whilst giggling.

It seemed like no one was home. The house was as dark as a crypt and as silent as a tomb. However, it was better to be safe than sorry and they remained cautious.

Avoiding creaky spots and carefully looking around corners, they finally reached RaRa's room.

RaRa, finally tired of the subterfuge and the effort of trying to be quiet, slammed the door wide open. The slam would have reverberated throughout the house had the crack of thunder not been louder.

Gill was appalled. One did not slam doors open. Or close, for that matter. Not if they didn't want to get their ear twisted. It was just not done. At least not in his household.

Gently, he shut the door.

They stood and stared, the room lit up by the flashes of lightning.

Boxes and boxes. Whatever furniture left was covered with a white tarp. It looked like RaRa had never lived here.

Flash.

Another lightning strike, followed by the boom of thunder. This definitely did not bode well for Gill's hope of getting home bone dry.

He shrugged.

At least we would have that silly umbrella. And at least I could share it with RaRa. That won't all be so bad, would it?