The Extra Place

Snowdrop village had a clear, cold morning, just right for a picnic on Pippa’s sheltered wooden deck. Pippa brought out the blanket. Bo carried a tin of biscuits so carefully that the pom-pom on his blue hat hardly moved.

‘Two places,’ Pippa said. ‘One beside the railing and one beside the basket.’

They spread the blanket, but one edge reached too far across the boards. Pippa tucked it underneath to make a neat square. Bo tested his place with a little wiggle. Everything fitted. He set the biscuit tin between them and looked towards the house, hoping the cups were coming soon.

Pippa returned with two white cups with blue rims. She placed one beside Bo and one beside herself. The warm drink smelled lovely. Bo opened the tin and arranged the biscuits on a plate, with the crooked-edged one nearest his own cup.

Pippa noticed. Bo looked innocent.

‘For easy inspection,’ he explained.

They had just settled when a soft sliding sound came from the snowy path. Una was coming towards the deck, her coral scarf bright against her white fur. She lifted a flipper in greeting.

‘That looks cosy,’ she said. ‘May I sit with you?’

‘Of course,’ Pippa said at once. Bo shuffled towards her, making a small gap beside him. He patted it with his flipper.

Una looked at the gap. Then she looked along her own long, round body. She could put her nose there, perhaps, but the rest of her would still be somewhere else.

Bo shuffled again. Now his hat brushed Pippa’s shoulder. His cup stood dangerously close to his knee, so Pippa moved it before it could spill.

Una smiled politely from the edge of the deck. She had been invited, but she was still waiting for a place to land.

Una tried resting beside Bo, keeping her tail end carefully off the blanket. For a moment, nobody moved. Then Bo reached for a biscuit and bumped Pippa’s elbow. Pippa reached for her cup and had to lean across Bo.

‘Are you comfortable?’ Pippa asked Una.

‘My front is,’ Una admitted. ‘My back is on the cold boards.’

Bo looked at the thin strip of blanket beneath her. ‘We’ve made a place the shape of another penguin.’

Pippa sat back. She had wanted to keep everything neat. But neat was no use if one of their friends could not sit properly.

‘What would make it better?’ Pippa asked. This time she waited for Una’s answer instead of moving something at once.

Una stretched one flipper along the boards. ‘A longer place. And if the plate were closer, I wouldn’t have to lean over your drinks.’

Bo looked at the empty boards behind him. There was plenty of deck. The problem was their little square.

Pippa felt beneath the blanket’s thick edge. Her flipper found the part she had tucked away that morning.

‘Oh,’ she said. ‘We have more blanket. We’ve just been sitting on it.’

Bo lifted his hat in surprise. That was a much better discovery than another tiny shuffle.

First they moved the cups and biscuit plate onto the low bench. Then everyone stood clear. Pippa pulled the tucked edge out while Bo held the far corner. The small square became a long, welcoming rectangle.

Una smoothed one wrinkle with her flipper. She tried the new space, this time fitting from her nose to the very end of her body.

‘Much better.’

Bo sat beside her without pressing Pippa into the railing. There was even space between their knees and the cups’ old places.

Pippa looked at the two cups on the bench. One more thing was missing. ‘Stay there,’ she said. ‘I know exactly what we need.’

Bo returned their two cups from the bench. Pippa came from the house with a third white cup with a blue rim and set it within Una’s reach. Bo brought the biscuit plate and placed it in the middle, where nobody had to stretch across anybody else.

Una looked from her cup to the plate. ‘I can reach everything,’ she said. ‘Especially that splendid biscuit with the crooked edge.’

Bo glanced at his old favourite. Then he pushed the plate a little closer to her.

‘It has passed inspection,’ he said solemnly.

Pippa laughed into her cup. At last they were all having the same picnic.

As a few snowflakes drifted past the railing, Una told them why she had come along their path. She had been following what she thought were her cousin’s tracks.

‘Such neat little marks,’ she said. ‘I went all the way round the shed.’

‘And was your cousin there?’ Bo asked.

‘No. A broom was leaning against the wall. Someone had swept the whole path, and I’d been following the brush marks.’

Bo laughed so suddenly that his pom-pom bounced over one eye. Pippa steadied her cup. Una finished the crooked biscuit and smiled at the pair of them, very pleased she had taken that wrong turn.

When the snow grew thicker, they carried the empty things indoors. Bo counted the cups as Pippa handed them over. ‘One, two, three.’

Una helped shake a few crumbs from the blanket onto a tray. The long rectangle had a crease across it, showing where Pippa had folded it that morning.

‘Shall I tuck this part under again?’ Bo asked.

Pippa looked at Una, who was gathering the biscuit tin. ‘Not yet. We might use the long shape next time.’

It would take a different place in the cupboard. Pippa moved a basket to make room. Una noticed and gave her a quiet smile.

At the doorway, Una wrapped her coral scarf snugly around her neck. ‘Thank you for the picnic,’ she said. ‘And for finding room for all of me.’

‘Bring another story next time,’ Bo said.

‘Bring yourself first,’ Pippa added.

They watched Una slide along the snowy path until she turned and waved. Inside waited three clean cups and a blanket folded loosely for another day.

Bo was still chuckling about the broom. Pippa nudged his crooked hat straight, and together they went in from the cold. The end.