The Mysteries of Brambly Hollow

side of the coffee table, and it was open. There was no sign of the purse nestling in the opening.
    “Mum, when are we going to eat?” David demanded from the far side of the sofa.
    “Have you been in my handbag?” She ignored his question, her fingers emptying her bag, just to be sure the purse hadn’t slipped to the bottom, although she knew it hadn’t.
    “No. I’m hungry.”
    “Well, no one is going to eat unless we find my purse.” The handbag was upended onto the table now: tissues, a tatty raffle ticket brought at a school fete in Reading two years earlier, strings of fluff and an old shopping list, as well as thirty pence in change poured onto the surface.
    Reluctantly, the two boys joined in the hunt for it. Cal came down while the sofa was being strip searched. “What’s wrong?” he asked, eyeing the chaotic scene.
    “Mum’s lost her purse,” scoffed George.
    “And we can’t go out to eat until we find it,” groaned David.
    “Correction,” Meli told everyone, lifting a rigid finger in the air and jabbing it at the ceiling. “I didn’t loose it. It was in my handbag, and now it’s gone.”
    “When did you last see it?” Cal asked, joining the hunt by pulling the seat off a chair, and running his fingers down the sides.
    “Already done that,” she told him, although he took no notice. “And I’ve already done the usual bits, like back-track to when I last saw it,” her voice was tetchy, after all, she was the master of helping others search out their missing or elusive possessions. “And the answer is that I last saw it in my handbag when I was in the Post Office.”
    “This is getting us nowhere,” Cal announced three minutes later when his patience ran out. “Let’s go and eat. It will probably just turn up. Was there much in it?”
    “I’m not sure, but I think about ten quid and some loose change,” she’d been calculating this during the search. As she spoke, her eyes continued to scan the room, just in case it magically appeared. Luckily she didn’t leave her bank cards in her purse, so they weren’t missing. At least she hoped they weren’t. Suddenly in a panic, she rushed to the cupboard where they lived. To her profound relief, they were still at home, lounging in their favourite spot, between a teapot with a cracked lid, and a jar filled with short grain rice.
    Reluctantly, Meli had to admit defeat and the four of them set off; Cassie once again declining the offer to join them, maintaining that she had eaten out and would make herself a snack if she got hungry. Meli suspected that her daughter, driven by her first flush of romance, had started a diet.
    The bar was already busy by the time they arrived. The boys quickly spied the Grim Reaper, and deserting their parents, set off to join him. Soon the bar was filled with calls of Dave the Grave and George the Morgue. Having ordered the meals Cal and Meli moved across to join Tim and their sons.
    “How long does it take for a squirrel to have babies?” David was asking Tim, his neck craned upwards to meet the giants steely-blue eyes. Meli felt herself blanch guiltily. The boys hadn’t mentioned SS for weeks, and she had hoped they’d forgotten by now.
    Catching Meli’s look, Tim narrowed his cavernous eyes thoughtfully, as he glanced down into David’s earnest face. “Now that depends.” Showing unusual perception for a male, he somehow managed to keep half an eye on Meli, as if trying to interpret the correct response from her expression. “They can be gone for months.” When Meli nodded he added helpfully. “Even years.”
    David’s mouth flapped about, as if he suddenly realised he had a maggot wriggling on his tongue and he wanted to spit it out, but then he snapped it shut on whatever he was going to expel. He threw his brother a look that was pretty much unreadable, even to Meli.
    “Never mind, if he doesn’t come back, I’m sure another one will take his place.” Meli went to put an arm around him consolingly, but found herself grasping fresh air when he jerked away, and moved to sit at another table. George quickly followed. He was obviously more upset than she’d thought. Feeling slighted, she let her arm fall onto her lap. Maybe she should reconsider their request for a pet?
    Returning home later, Meli took Cal to the boys room to help look for the cause of the smell; two noses being better than one. But when they went in, she was stunned to find that the smell had gone.

    Staring