The two weeks were like a late summer. I spent hours reading and walking on the beach, and watching the waves barrelling in from Bass Strait. When Uncle Leo came to visit, I played with Chester on the beach. I threw a ball and he raced furiously to pick it up, and then he stood covered in sand, wagging his tail, refusing to give up the ball until I prised it from his mouth. Chester made me laugh. We had a barbecue lunch in the garden that day and there was no sign of old ‘Mr Grumble Bum’, as Uncle Leo called Grandpa behind his back. Perhaps it helped that Trent was working that day and couldn’t be there.
Grandpa was kind to me, but not in a pushy or smothering way. He showed me photos of my grandmother, and she was just as lovely as Uncle Leo had said. Grandpa also told me I was like her,
