Mummy was not feeling very well. She had a bad cold and lay in bed. She sniffled and coughed, then blew her nose so hard it sounded like an elephant, “snrrt.” There were tissues all over the bed. Cold tea on the nightstand. A dry biscuit half eaten. Mummy called us and wanted our help. Mummy said, “Olly and Verity you need to be a big boy and girl today.” We wondered what she was going to say next. She said, “Come sit on the bed and listen to what I must tell you.” We slowly moved towards the bed. I helped Verity up on to the bed, as she is still too small to get up herself, “ungh, grrr, grrr.” Once we were settled and after a few more coughs, “kaff, kaff,” Mummy started to speak. In a very firm voice, Mummy said, “I need you to catch the Buckleberry Butter Box and go into town. We have no food or drink and since Daddy is working away, you need to do this for us.”

At first, I was excited to think that Verity and I could go on the Buckleberry Butter Box but, I knew this was going to be something of a challenge as we had not done this on our own before. I would need to remember everything that we needed to do. Mummy explained about using the ticket from her purse and where we should sit. She told us to tell the driver we needed to get off at Market Place. We then needed to go to the supermarket and buy milk; sausage rolls and cream buns. We could then get back to the square to catch the Buckleberry Butter Box home. It all sounded amazingly simple but, I was nervous. I went over the instructions in my mind. Mummy also made quite sure that Verity knew to always hold my hand. Verity agreed to this, “Yes, let’s do this.”

I had to be in charge now. So, I told Verity to get ready. She wanted to wear her pink wellington boots even though it was not raining. I put on my dinosaur jacket and got Verity to wear her floral coat. We went to see Mummy for the last time, and she went over the instructions again. She handed me her purse and told me again about the ticket and what to do with the money. Mummy said, “Take care and look after one another.” We kissed her goodbye and left the house.

We were familiar with the bus stop as we could see it from our bedroom window. I looked back at the house and wondered if Mummy was looking through the window trying to see us. I gave a wave just in case as I thought it would make her happy to see we had made it to the bus stop. Verity thought the same and blurted out, “Hi Mummy, we are here!”

Verity and I waited and waited. It seemed a long time before the Buckleberry Butter Box would arrive. Verity became restless and wanted to go home. She said, “Please let’s go home.” I told her “No, what we were about to do was important for Mummy and we wanted Mummy to get better.” She reluctantly agreed, “Ok.”

Not before long a big, bright, yellow blob came bouncing along the road towards us. We could hear the rattle, bung, bump. The Buckleberry Butter Box arrived and luckily, we knew the driver. “Good morning, Olly and Verity,” Mr Fitzgibbons said. “Where is Mummy today?”  We politely said, “Hello.” Verity then followed up with, “Mummy is sick and we need to get food and milk.” MrFitzgibbons nodded and said he understood. He told us we could get off at Market Place, and he would pick us up after shopping. I was relieved that we were on our way.

We took a seat at the front of the bus. Verity sat by the window so she could look out. I sat next to her so I could look through the front window to know where we were going. The Buckleberry Butter Box took turns right and left. Each time, Verity and I would slide across the seat, "swoosh, swish." It went over bumps and up and down hills, “shhhk, shhhk.” We stopped from time to time to pick up passengers. Mr Fitzgibbons beeped the horn to let everyone know we were moving on, “beep beep.”

All the passengers knew who we were and where we were going and what we were going to do. Farmer Ted got on with a cart with a duck in it. It smelt as it passed by. It quacked loudly and rustled its wings. Mrs Pepperpot shuffled by with lots of empty bags. The bags rustled as they went down the aisle. Verity thought she was going to do a big shop and might be going to the supermarket too. She suggested we could follow her. It seemed like a clever idea, but I was worried she would go to the wrong supermarket. Tall Tony also got on the bus, but he was busy listening to something on his headphones and then got off at the next stop. Before long, the Buckleberry Butter Box pulled into Market Place. Mr Fitzgibbons shouted in a loud voice, “Market Place.” He then told us that it was our stop. “Your stop Verity and Olly, see you soon.”

I asked Verity to hold my hand, and we got off the Buckleberry Butter Box. We started to follow Mrs Pepperpot and then I realised she was going a different way to what Mummy would go. I told Verity that we needed to think and follow Mummy’s steps. Verity agreed and then we saw the large building that housed the supermarket. I was glad that we had followed Mummy’s steps.

Once inside, we could smell different types of food, flowers, and coffee beans. Because it was close to Christmas, we could also smell fresh pine Christmas trees. Both Verity and I stood for a moment and took in a huge breath. “Ahhh, mmm.” We both looked at one another and smiled.

First, we went to the dairy section to get milk. It was too hard to get the milk we wanted as it was on the top shelf. I told Verity to stay still and let me try to reach. I reached for the milk. “Kyaaaa, got it!” It was very heavy and I struggled then to put it in the shopping bag. Once it was in the bag, I was pleased we had got our first item. So concerned about how heavy the milk was, I did not realize that Verity was not at my side. Where had she gone? Mummy would be terribly angry as she told Verity to not let my hand go. Sometimes she can be very adamant and say, “I do, I do.” But this was not the time for that. I had to think, what would Mummy do? I asked the lady behind the counter to help me find Verity.