Ainsley proved to be a bright and imaginative student. Once she'd mastered the alphabet and a few basics, she re-discovered books and couldn't get enough of them. Bob made sure to read with her often. Ainsley began to draw and soon had a wall covered with doodles of whatever had caught her fancy that day.
That was when she began to complain of a monster living under her bed. After being woken up for the third time in five days, Bob came up with an ingenious solution to this typical childhood phase. He 'invented' monster repellent. Bob borrowed some supplies from Ainsley's stash and relabelled an old, rinsed out cleaner bottle. Then with as much storytelling gusto as he could muster, he informed Ainsley he had been entrusted with the 'secret' solution.
It meant a ritual 'spraying' of the dark space under the bed during bedtime each night, but at least the family was able to get a proper rest.
A rather peculiar thing happened to Eliza at about time. She was taking advantage of a break in the weather to sample the fare at a new coffee kiosk. The street was buzzing, there were people around, when suddenly Eliza lost track of time. One moment she was holding the paper plate on which rested a filo roll when unexpectedly the street appeared deserted with an eerie quiet. Eliza's hands were empty, though she had no memory of eating the roll or disposing of the plate.
She absently checked her watch to see a full twenty minutes had gone by. Her head ached slightly and she felt a bit odd.
The clerk smiled benignly, but with a funny, knowing glint in his eyes.
"Goodbye Eliza" he dismissed her.
It was only later on that Eliza realized that she had definitely never told the strange man her name.
Sydney invited Bob to the Sunday market to hear this great new musician who often busked there. Bob walked past street art and bric-a-brac before finally finding his friend. Turned out the musician was actually Sofia Bjergsen. Bob listened for a while, put some coins in Sofia's case, while Sidney crowed "See, What did I tell you?"
When Sofia finished her set, Bob put his hand up. "Hey Sofia, that was awesome".
Sofia ignored his invitation to high five; instead giving him a withering look. Clara, in matching jacket supporting her daughter, gave him a fierce scowl.
When they had moved off, Sidney tried to cheer Bob. "Don't mind them, some people think they're better than others." her tone emphasising the word think and stating that she had no use for such misinformed people and their rude ways.
"The girl's got talent though, right?"
Bob admitted that Eliza had been friends with the Bjergsens for years, but he had never heard Sofia sing let alone play.
The weather definitely began to get colder. Ainsley entered her second year at school.
Bob joined Ainsley, who was working on some sort of project. A castle made of cardboard.
"Hey kiddo, how's it going?"
"Okay Daddy. I'm just working out how the pieces go together."
"You know, I've got something really cool we can do for this." And Bob went off and returned with a small toolbox and a few pieces of what looked like junk he had salvaged.
"I bet we can make it light up. Yours will be the best castle in the whole class."
Ainsley giggled. Bob set about tinkering. Ainsley chatted about school and fussed with the cardboard template beside him.
It was while Ainsley was working on her castle that the school also had their bi-yearly production. Every class put on a part of the show and all the practice culminated in a week of nightly performances. Ainsley's costume was a big, yellow bear.
The problem was that even after the production, Ainsley insisted on wearing the costume everywhere. She wore it when playing, when writing, when doing homework, to meals.
Bob and Eliza tried to talk to her about it, but she stubbornly refused to give the costume up and continued with her accompanying characterisations.
The Pancakes eventually had to admit defeat and allow the whole situation to wear itself out.
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