Is it warm enough yet?

Little B wanted to go and play outside. Badly. Mid May and the temperature had yet to go beyond over 15 degrees except for one notable day when it poured rain.

Even though the temperature on this day had edged to a balmy 17 Celsius, Simone wasn't quite ready. "You need to clear your dinner plate first," she instructed. It took 20 minutes for little B to comply - only because he didn't WANT to clear his plate before going outside - but comply he eventually did.

The boy and girl who live next door were also in their backyard. While Simone cleaned up the kitchen, mopped the floor and put away laundry, she could hear them all talking through the screen door that gives out on the deck. Once she got outside, she saw that the children had managed to remove one of the boards from the fence.

"How did this happen?" Simone asked. Of course, nobody knew although it is likely that the girl, who is verging on 7 years of age, had a considerable hand in the plank's demise. Simone sighed, asked for the fence board and more or less managed to put it back in place so that her puppies would not inadvertently run into the neighbour's yard and get eaten by their very large dog.

She then invited the kids over to play in her yard before any more planks got removed. Once there, the children proceeded to carry the puppies all over the yard, use up all the bubble liquid to make bubbles (that's what it's for!), chase one another and generally make a lot of noise.

"Is this what it was like when I invited friends over?" Asked the 13 year old, clearly apalled.

"Worse," said Simone. But the kids weren't done yet: they plucked the flowers off the magnolia tree, invited another child from another yard over to play, grabbed sticks and hit the plants and, for the grand finale, hurled little stones at the side of the house (including the windows).

"You can go home now," said Simone to the neighbours.

No child was happy with Simone, least of all little B. Still, it had to be done - for Simone's sanity.

"I don't want to go home!" Wailed the little boy next door.

"You can come back another time," said Simone. "But you'll have to behave."

"I can..." the little boy struggled, his face crumpling with the effort. "I'll 'haive now."

"Bye," said Simone, closing the gate behind the departing guests. Sigh...