Chapter 1
18th October 2001- 8:00 P.M in Bristol, UK
A white Citroen was dashing through the high way and it was raining cats and dogs on the street. The driver could barely see anything on the road and it was almost zero visibility. In between he was checking his watch as if he was already late to reach somewhere. The driver then noticed through the rear mirror of the car that a truck was following him since a long time.
The truck slowly started accelerating and then suddenly advanced and slammed the car from behind. The impact was so huge that the car turned a half circle. The driver lost his control and the car swirled and hit a post on the side of the road. A guy wearing a long black jacket jumped out of the truck and took a pistol out of the jacket and aimed at the driver sitting in the car.
He fired his first shot at the driver and the bullet went fiercely through the front glass of the car. The glass broke and got scattered on to the driver’s face and the driver started bleeding. The driver was so terrified that he got out of the car and started running. The black jacket guy fired his second shot which went directly through the driver’s head from behind and pierced his skull. The killer immediately got back into the truck and fled away.
The police came to the scene and started clearing the area which was by then crowded. The detective Mr. Bruce Dermot was checking the dead body and found a wallet inside the driver’s trouser. The wallet had the driver’s license which read “Name – Alfred Scott, Profession - Lawyer”.
3 months later…
It was a freezing Monday morning of December 2001 in Bristol. As usual Robin was getting ready for his school and his mom Janet Malcolm, a lawyer by profession was busy making breakfast for Robin and also getting all the files together of the case for which she was supposed to appear on court that day.
She heard the door bell ringing and asked Robin to check who was on the door. Robin dashed to the front door in a flash and opened the door to see a bright looking old lady on the doorstep. The old lady introduced herself as Mrs. Sandra Grant and in the mean time Janet also reached the living room and greeted Mrs. Grant into the house.
Janet remembered Mrs. Grant calling her up the previous day evening as a response to her advertisement on the newspaper for a nanny to take care of Robin as she was busy most of the time with her official work.
Mrs. Grant looked around the living room. The room was well lighted and decorated with beautiful Scottish paintings on the walls. There was a Scottish bagpipe on the left corner and some antique Chinese and Italian art crafts in the room.
The floor was made of Italian marble and had an elegant Arabian hand made carpet on top to add to its majestic look. She also saw a huge laughing Buddha on the right corner of the room and well upholstered German furniture with beautiful cushions near a cozy looking fire place. The room was well arranged and was kept neat and tidy and every aspect of that living room seemed to echo the character of the person to whom the house belonged.
Mrs. Grant appeared to be somewhere around 50 with a round silver plated spectacles on her face. She looked healthy and energetic and still seemed to have a young lady within her. She looked very calm and organized and was wearing a long white woolen pullover to protect herself from the ruthless cold wind outside and her white hair was made into a bun.
She had a very pleasant smile on her face which any kid would love and she had the look of our very own sweet grand moms. Janet was very much impressed by Mrs. Grant’s appearance that she decided to take it forward. Janet asked Robin to get ready for school and offered Mrs. Grant a cup of hot coffee. Mrs. Grant was vey much delighted to sip the hot coffee after enduring the cold weather on her travel to the house.
Mrs. Grant felt very much cozy and comfortable on the sofa and after a couple of sips placed the coffee mug on the glass table in front of the sofa. She then slowly adjusted her specs and looked up to Janet as if waiting for her to start a conversation.
“I had gone through your details which you had sent to my office. Robin is my only son and I am sure you would take good care of him” said Janet.
“You can be rest assured of Robin. I am sure he would love my company, dear” replied Mrs. Grant.
“Robin is a very hyper active kid and is very mischievous. He may not be like the other kids you have taken care in the past” said Janet.
“Don’t you get worried about him, dear. Kids of his age would be mischievous and it is very much normal. After all he is only 6”. Janet felt very much relieved at these words from Mrs. Grant.
Suddenly Robin ran into the room with his bag ready to school. His shoes were not polished and the laces were left untied. His brown hair was not combed and was left loose in a very careless manner falling over his forehead and his shirt was not tucked into his trousers and totally he looked messy but he had a vey cute smile on his face which had the power to melt even the hardest of hearts.
Janet was really furious on seeing this and asked Robin if this was how he was planning to go to school. Robin just winked his eyes and got on top of the sofa and started jumping on top of it.
“Get down from that sofa Robin!” screamed Janet.
Robin got down from the sofa biting his lower lips and with a grin on his face looked up at Mrs. Grant.
“Meet Mrs. Grant. She is your new nanny and don’t you dare scare her also away like the others Robin” said Janet. “Otherwise I will be forced to send you to a boarding school.”
“Oh! There… there… my dear, I am sure Robin would be a nice kid from now on” said Mrs. Grant trying to rescue young Robin. “Miss Janet, you may please go ahead with your daily routine and I will get little Robin ready for school”.
Robin was always excited about going to his Bristol central public school as he could play around with his friends. Robin hated coming back to his house as there was no one in the house to play with him. Janet was always busy with her work and she seldom found time for little Robin.
Mrs. Grant knew that she had a big task on hand which was handling of Robin. She took little Robin to his room upstairs and helped him to polish his shoes and tie them up neatly. She also did his hair and finally when she was done, Robin looked like a prince.
Robin ran down the stairs and reached the breakfast counter. All the three had their breakfast and Robin bid goodbye to his mom and he turned around and hugged Mrs. Grant and gave a kiss on her cheeks. Janet was astonished to see her son’s transformation.
Mrs. Grant accompanied Robin till the road and then to the bus stop from where the school bus would be picking him up. There were already two young girls and a boy waiting for the bus at that stop. Robin introduced them as his classmates and friends to Mrs. Grant.
The short girl with blond hair, lean body and wearing a short skirt and top was Stacy Todd and the long girl with tan colored skin and wearing glasses was Annie Morris. The boy with spikes hair and stout body and wearing a leather jacket was Archer Kilby. The kids were really happy to see Mrs. Grant who promised to take them out to the park on Sunday and also narrate fascinating stories when ever they visited Robin.
Soon the school bus approached the stop and Mrs. Grant was delighted to hear lot of noise made by kids from the bus. In fact she loved kids who were mischievous and made lot of noise and enjoyed their lives. All the four kids including little Robin got into the bus and bid farewell to Mrs. Grant and set off to school.
Mrs. Grant slowly made her way back to the house and found that Janet had already left for office and had left a note on the breakfast counter regarding what needs to be done in the house, the time when Robin would be back and that Mrs. Grant need not wait for her for dinner as she had to attend an important conference and also the time when Robin had to be slept.
Mrs. Grant started off with her house hold activities. In the mean time Robin was enjoying with his friends in the bus on his way to school. They were singing, making strange noises, howling and flying paper rockets inside the bus and Robin was also busy squeezing water from his water bottle on to other kid’s faces.
In between one boy tried pulling Stacy’s hair and Robin and Archer started beating up that boy with their bags. Finally as usual the driver had to stop the bus and ask Robin and his friends to behave or otherwise he would complain about them to the headmistress of the school.
Robin slowly looked at the driver and smiled and the driver melted like a puddle. He was trying hard to look angry at Robin and in the mean time was struggling to control his smile watching Robin and his actions.
Finally they reached school and Robin was asked to stand out of the class for all the sessions as usual for not completing his homework. The only session Robin loved in school was physical education where he could play his favorite soccer. Robin was the captain of the under 8 soccer team for his school.
In the evening Mrs. Grant was waiting at the bus stop to receive Robin. As soon as they reached home Mrs. Grant helped Robin to fresh up and then asked him to finish his home work so that she would make him chocolate pudding. Robin’s face lightened up but started asking for chocolate if he was to start his studies.
“Don’t be stubborn Robin” said Mrs. Grant. “I shall make chocolate pudding for you only after you complete your studies”.
Robin pushed the books aside and started looking outside the window as if he was not interested in doing his homework. Mrs. Grant knew that she had to use some other tactics to get Robin do his studies. She remembered seeing story books of vampires and song books and all sports equipments including posters of Mara Dona and Pele on the walls while cleaning Robin’s room. She immediately knew that Robin was interested in listening to songs, horror stories and in sports, especially a die hard fan of soccer.
Mrs. Grant took Robin’s book and started reading the lines as if she was singing. Robin looked at Mrs. Grant and started smiling. He was enjoying every bit of it. Finally Mrs. Grant made little Robin finish all his homework through songs and stories.
She made Robin feel that homework is a football match and that he had to finish it as soon as possible correctly to win the game. Completing each page of his homework was like scoring a goal and completing each line of the page was like dribbling, blocking, striking, passing and defending the ball.
Robin started loving Mrs. Grant’s company and her way of dealing things. Whatever he was looking forward from his mother was getting fulfilled through Mrs. Grant, his nanny.
Check out - http://2012theend.weebly.com/