A red car pulled up to an old looking house.

Freddie, a boy with brown hair and freckles, hopped out

“Ding Dong, Ding Dong,” went the doorbell.

Keys rattled behind the door, until the lock clicked off

As Grandpa appeared through a crack in the door.

“Freddie! Hello what a pleasant surprise” Said Grandpa.

Freddie sighed and laughed as he said,

“Silly old Grandpa you knew I was coming,

Mum told you, nearly an hour ago.”

Freddie bounced into the house

He ran from room to room and all over the place.

He stopped at a photo he’d not seen before,

“Grandpa, who’s this and where is she now?”

Grandpa took a deep breath and said,

“Your Grandmother, bless, her name was Bev.

She left us, quite a few years ago.”

A confused look came over Freddie’s face,

“What do you mean? When will she be back?”

“She won’t be back,” said Grandpa. “she’s gone away.”

Grandpa sat down, in his big armchair.

“what do you mean she’s gone? And where did she go?” Freddie asked

He lifted Freddie up, up onto his lap.

“Let me tell you a story about your Grandma Bev.

Your Grandma Bev used to sit in that seat.

By the jacaranda tree.

She’d sit there most days.

Just watching the birds that play in the tree.

She would sit there through all seasons

Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring.

She’d be out in her spot on the seat.”

“Everything changes eventually, doesn’t it” She said to me one day.

“Just yesterday there were three birds in that tree, but today, only two.

Every autumn, the leaves turn a beautiful colour but then disappear, one by one.

But without fail, in spring, the green leaves sprout again.”

“Your Grandma Bev knew that changes were normal.” Grandpa said