Sarah's father's shoulders began to shake. Tears poured down his cheeks. He took first one hand, and then the other, off the steering wheel to mop his eyes. He drove, weeping and groaning, at 140 kilometres an hour. Sarah's mother would not look at him. Sarah and Saffron stared, dumbstruck. Then it gradually dawned on them that he was laughing.

Make a wish," said Indigo.
Rose made a wish and then asked, "Why?"
"That's what I always do. Wish on the moving ones."
"Does it matter how fast they move?"
"I don't think so."
"Can you wish on airplanes, too?"
"Oh, yes.

He likes driving very fast on the wrong side of the road," said Sarah. "Which I can completely understand.

Caddy came home on Friday evening. Perfectly Harmless Patrick brought her in his battered old car...

"Crikey, Caddy!" said Indigo, and he disappeared upstairs to tell Rose.

Eve murmured, "Sweet," rather doubtfully.

Sarah said, not doubtfully at all, "Horrendous! The worst yet. Rock bottom."

"He had a very difficult childhood," said Caddy....

"Who didn't?" asked Saffron unsympathetically. "Gosh, he's ancient, Caddy! Look, he's going bald! All that long trailing stuff is just a disguise!"

"If I was going bald," said Sarah, "I would face the fact and have it all shaved off."

"Well, I thought Mummy would like him," said Caddy defensively. "...Anyway, I can always take him back."

"I think you're going to have to, Caddy darling," said Eve... "Hello, Rose darling! Come in and see what Caddy has brought home to show us!"

She escaped, and Rose, who had already heard the news from Indigo, glanced at Patrick and began laughing.

"See?" said Sarah. "Rose knows! Absolutely rock bottom! You cannot be serious, Caddy!"

"Oh, stop looking at him!" said Caddy, uncomfortably. "I'll find something to cover him up with in a minute!"

"How long are you leaving him there for?" asked Rose.

"Just until Sunday," said Caddy, trying to sound casual.

"Till Sunday!" repeated Saffron. "So is Micheal dumped?"

"Of course he isn't!" said Caddy indignantly. "I've never dumped anyone!"

"Start!" said Saffron. "Otherwise they just pile up, taking up the sofas...

It had not seemed to matter that Rose was only eight years old.
"More than eight," said Rose. "Nearly nine."
"Darling Rose, even almost nearly nine-year-old's don't fall in love," said forgetful Caddy.
Caddy tried very hard to comfort Rose when Tom had left. It was not an easy job. It was like trying to comfort a small, unhappy tiger.
"Who said anything about falling in love?" growled Rose crossly. "Falling! Falling is by accident! I didn't fall in anything!"
"Oh. Right. Sorry, Posy Rose."
"And I am definitely not in love!

They arrived home again to a most peculiar sight. The small garden at the front of the Banana House had been transformed. A tidal wave of cushions, beanbags, quilts, hearth rugs, and sleeping bags appeared to have swept up the lawn and broken at the wall. From Indigo's window a multicolored rope of knotted bedsheets came snaking out and ended among the cushions. As Micheal and Caddy watched, a mattress emerged and fell to the ground, followed by a rain of pillows.
"Indigo!" shouted Caddy, jumping out of the car.
Indigo's and Rose's heads appeared in the window above.
"It's all right, Caddy!" Indigo called cheerfully. "We've been doing it all the time you've been gone."
"We keep finding more stuff to land on!" added Rose. "Look!