Go Fish!

Spending a day by the river was just the thing to keep three lively children entertained...

THE queue at the checkout edged slowly forwards, and Pauline exchanged commiserating smiles with the man behind her.

He eyed the contents of her trolley and raised an eyebrow.

"Looks like you're having a busy weekend," he said, smiling and looking almost envious.

He had a very nice smile, Pauline thought, but then she realised that the customer in front of her was paying so hastily began to unload her trolley.

A few minutes later Pauline took her receipt from the smiling cashier with an inward sigh.

Having her grandchildren to stay had lots of upsides, but the supermarket bill was not one of them.

She wheeled the laden trolley back to the car and fished her car keys out of her coat pocket before heaving the bulging bags into the boot.

They wouldn't go hungry, at any rate.

Now that the food was sorted she could transfer her attention to the exciting activities she was planning.

But there was a small snag: she couldn't think of anything exciting that wasn't too old-fashioned, expensive or unsuitable for this cold weather.

She cast her mind back to what her own daughter had done when she was young, but had to conclude that she'd enjoyed rather girly things, which her three grandsons were unlikely to appreciate.

Given a choice, they'd spend every waking minute on their iPads, but her daughter had strict rules about limited screen time, so that wouldn't occupy them for very long.

"Wait!" Someone was calling urgently from across the car park.

Pauline turned round out of curiosity.

They couldn't mean her.

Then she saw that it was the nice man she'd been talking to at the checkout.

He was walking in her direction, holding up a familiar-looking handbag.

Pauline glanced down at the handle of her trolley where she always hung her bag.

Her hand flew to her mouth. It wasn't there!