"So, what was it like?" asked Emma.

"What was what like?" I replied, my mouth full of a croissant.

"No talking with your mouth full," scolded Helen.

"Yes Mum," I replied.

"It was great," I replied. "We saw inside Notre Dame, climbed the Eiffel Tower and saw the Arc de Triumph."

"How come you got to do all that and we didn't," moaned Paula.

"Because we finished the competition hours ahead of you," I replied.

"How? Mr Hobson wouldn't tell us."

"There is a small shopping centre at the next stop on the RER," I replied. "That is where we got the gloves from. We noticed a photo shop that superimposed people in front famous places."

"That’s cheating," moaned Jessica, thinking of all the time she spent trying to find the gloves. At least with the picture being digital they didn't need to wait to get the picture developed.

"Probably," I giggled, "but it was within the rules."

"We've done a lot of the rides," said Brian. "I wonder if we could go into Paris."

"Why don't you ask Mr Hobson?" Helen replied. Mr Hobson had just appeared with his breakfast."

"Ask me what?" he said, putting his tray down on an adjacent table.

"We were wondering if we could all go into Paris and look at The Louvre."

"You're bored of the parks?"

"We've done the majority of them," explained Brian. "The Louvre would give us a nice balance to the trip."

"That it would," agreed Mr Hobson. "I'll see who I can get to go with you. Why don't you all gather in the reception area at nine? Be wearing neat clothes and no trainers. I want you looking respectable."

At nine, we were all gathered in reception when Rachel appeared with one of the helpers. I recognised him as the mystery man that had spoken to Mr Hobson just before it was decided we would play Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante.

"All of you, this is Mr Taylor. He offered to help out with the field trip and, along with me, will be helping look after you today."

"Hello, Sir," we all politely uttered.

"I've been told who you all are, but I'm only meeting you for the first time, so please forgive me if I get your name wrong."

As we approached the RER station I said, "Why don't we go to the Auber station and we can walk past where we're going to play."

"Ooh, that sounds great," said Jill.

The others just nodded their acceptance, they weren't really that bothered, but knew it would please Jill, so went along with it.

As we walked towards past the town hall, towards the Louvre, I said, "Why don't we go this way? I think we found it was shorter."

"What are you doing," hissed Helen.

"Trying to prove a theory," I replied, slowing down slightly so Mr Taylor, who had been slightly behind, passed me and was in front.

"Well be careful," ordered Helen. "You're playing with fire."

"I will," I giggled, trying to calm her down.

As we walked past the building, I noticed that nobody, other than Mr Taylor, took any notice. The front door was closed, so he didn't get a look inside.

I moved next to Mr Taylor who was slightly behind the others.

"It's a very interesting building, isn't it?" I said, with my opening gambit.

"Very interesting architecturally," he replied.

"Shame the door was shut; the inside must be even more ornate."

"I'm equally disappointed," he replied evenly, not giving anything away.

I was slightly disappointed, as the subtle approach didn't appear to be working. I decided to be a bit blunter.

"By the way, you aren't as allusive as you might want to be," I offered. "I've seen you at the school twice."

He looked at me with a strange glare. I looked away and noticed a man that seemed very interested in us. Nah, it's probably just my imagination. All this thinking about spy stuff is going to my head.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to say anything, but if I didn't tell you, then you wouldn't be able to improve."

He laughed slightly. "Quentin said you were too observant, though you did a good job with Mavis last week."

"That is why you asked Mr Hobson to arrange for the Mozart, isn't it?"

"That was one occasion, what was the other?"

"The fire alarm."

"I thought you would have been too concerned, being dressed for the first time. Everybody else was too worried about the fire."

"Sorry," I again offered, putting my head down. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the man was still glancing at us. Even though we had gone round two corners he was still there.

"You better get back to Helen. She keeps giving you worried glances."

"She thinks I shouldn't be talking to you."

"You know that she's correct."

"Yes, but if I don't understand, then I can't help. I made sure you were who I thought you were before telling you about the two slips. It wouldn't have been fair to tell Mr Hobson, as it would have meant him admitting that you existed. Also, I don't like telling others about mistakes. I like to warn the individual if I can."

"That’s very noble, but you do realise I'm going to have to tell Mr Hobson about this."

"I know," I replied. "Sorry for causing issues, but I couldn't see any other way."

I skipped off and was soon walking next to Helen. She took one look at my face and frowned.

"You're in trouble, aren't you?"

"Probably," I replied. "But it was worth it. I found out what I needed to."

"Which was?"

"That he was glad we came this way," I said softly. "Helen, I have another theory, don't look, but I think we're being followed. Chase me."

I don't know how she stopped herself from looking, but Helen managed. She tried to hit me over my head, but I saw it coming and ran off. The chase must have seemed very strange but the others in year-one just egged us on.

"Helen and Jayne; stop it!" yelled Rachel.

Since we were ahead, I grabbed the PDA from my bag and used it to take a picture of everyone. I made sure the person who had been following us, was also within the picture.

"What was all that about?" asked Rachel angrily, as she caught up. "I thought you could be trusted."

"I'll try to do better," I replied, refusing to say sorry again. I felt I'd said it enough in the last ten minutes.

I attached the picture to a message and forwarded it to Mr Hobson with the message 'The man on the left was following us just south of the concert location.'

The Louvre was wonderful and we all had a great time seeing, not just paintings, but things from around the world. It made a nice change from the excitement of the rides at Disney. This was real, where as Disney, which was fun, was pure escapism.

The day was slightly dampened for Helen and me, because Rachel was keeping a watchful eye over us. I don't think she'd forgiven our behaviour from this morning. A few times I thought about talking to her, but there never seemed to be a chance, there was always someone around.

In the middle of the afternoon I got a message from Mr Hobson. 'Your instincts were correct; it looks like you were being followed. The man is an escaped paedophile who likes to abduct young teenage girls. Your picture, with the rest of your year removed, gave the police their lead and he has been arrested. He admitted to following you.'

I showed the message to Helen and said, "Do you want to join me, while I have a word with Rachel?"

"Oh yes," she replied. "I hate being in the dog house."

"Dr Ruiz," I said formally, "can we have a word about this morning?"

"Do you think now is the time for this?"

"Probably not," I replied. "However, this morning there was a reason for our behaviour. I thought we were being followed, so we pretended to be naughty so we could rush ahead and get a photograph without it being obvious."

"Really?"

"We just got this back from Mr Hobson," said Helen, taking my PDA and giving it to Rachel.

"I don't know what to say," Rachel said after reading the message.

"You did what you thought you had to," said Helen. "It did appear that we were being naughty and it was only correct that you told us off."

"Yes, but I should have asked for detail afterwards. It was so against your character that I should have realised that something was happening."

Helen whispered something in my ear. I turned round and looked at her, aghast at what she'd said.

"Are you sure?" I asked. Helen just nodded and I sighed. "Rachel, you're going to have to punish us for what we did."

"Why?" Rachel asked, puzzled at our request.

"Because it would destroy the others confidence, if they knew we had been followed by a paedophile," explained Helen.

"But that’s not fair on you," complained Rachel. "You spotted a danger and reacted. I can't punish you for that."

"Life is never fair," I said, reiterating something my Dad used to say to me quite often.

"Okay, I'll announce something when we get back to the hotel. Don't forget there is a rehearsal tonight for the concerts."

When we got back to the hotel, the others in year one had learned that we were going to be punished. They all gave words of support, but nothing they said deterred Rachel.

"Helen and Jayne potentially disgraced the school today," started Rachel, putting on a show. "Since this is their first time they've misbehaved, I will be light. When back at school, they will fetch the meals for three consecutive days."

"Yes Dr Ruiz," we both said together, hanging our heads in shame.

"You have an hour before orchestra practice," she said. "Disney has kindly provided a room for us at the conference facilities in this hotel. If you go to the convention centre, there will be details of the room. Oh, Helen and Jayne, Mr Hobson would like to have a word with you in his room."

As we walked towards his room, Helen asked, "Is this because of your chat with Mr Taylor?"

"Probably," I said. "Though I don't know why you're here."

"Probably because we are a team and we're supposed to keep each other out of trouble. Also the 'no secrets' rule is involved."

I knocked and was ushered in. Inside, on one of the seats, was Mr Taylor and on invitation we took seats near him.

"Why?" asked Mr Hobson.

I looked at Helen and she shrugged her shoulders.

"Why what?"

"Why did you go and ask Mr Taylor the things you did?"

"I didn't," I protested. "I just told him that I'd seen him at school twice. Since he is classified as a helper, I thought it would be beneficial for him to know he wasn't as invisible as it seemed."

"And the talk about architecture?"

"Mr Taylor seemed interested in a particular building. I just remarked that it had a nice architecture."

"Cobblers," interrupted Mr Taylor. "You were trying to find out if I was who you thought I was."

"You only assume that, because you know that I'm aware of that building. I said it like I did to try and make your interest seem plausible, just in case anybody noticed. I wasn't going to tell Mr Hobson that I'd seen you around the school, as it would be like snitching. I'd worked out you weren't supposed to be visible, so I kept it to myself till I could tell you myself. I didn't think it was fair to blab to Mr Hobson that his boss had made a mistake."

Mr Hobson gaped at me and Helen then put her hand over my mouth so I couldn't dig myself into a bigger hole. Perhaps on reflection I shouldn't have said what I had, but seeing Mr Hobson's reaction was interesting.

"Will you be quiet now?" hissed Helen in my ear. I had no choice but to nod.

"Helen, let Jayne go," said Mr Taylor. "I think she's finished."

Helen removed her hand and I breathed a sigh of relief. I had fresh air to breath again, rather than the stale air her hand allowed.

"You certainly have a knack of getting to know information," grimaced Mr Hobson, not denying or acknowledging my assumption that Mr Hobson, in some respect, reported to Mr Taylor. "In some ways that's a useful talent, but you have to temper your eagerness. You don't want to know too much; you can't tell what you don't know."

"I know, it was wrong of me, but Mr Taylor has had me wondering for a few weeks. He was so mysterious. Am I in trouble?"

"No, neither of you are, this time. It wouldn't seem fair after how you used your talents, while grilling Mr Taylor. I was very impressed with your maturity of accepting punishment to hide what happened. Now you better run along or you'll be late for orchestra practice."

"Why do I put up with you?" Helen sighed as we made our way back to our room. Our interrogation hadn't lasted more than fifteen minutes.

"Because you love me?"

"You certainly have come out of your shell. A month ago, you might have noticed things, but you would have kept them to yourself."

"Don't forget that last year I got into trouble hacking into the school computer system. I'm not as innocent as you try to make me out."

"Oh yes, Rachel mentioned it the first day we arrived at Hayfield Hall."

When we got to our room, Jill and Anna were chatting; both were sat together on the bottom bunk their arms around each other. Helen and I both collapsed onto my bed and breathed a sigh of relief.

"More trouble?" asked Jill.

"No," I replied.

"If she'd kept going, then I think we'd have been in far worse trouble than earlier."

"Wouldn't," I retorted.

"Would so," she laughed back, trying to tickle me.

"Hey cut it out," Anna ordered. "No making out in front of us."

"I was only tickling her," complained Helen, reluctantly stopping.

"What was going on earlier?" asked Anna. "It wasn't like you two, to get into trouble."

Helen and I both sat up and gave her a hard stare, which she quickly wilted under, "Well, it must have been bad for you not to say. You also look like you took a punishment that you didn't need to."

"Anna, stop fishing," asked Jill gently.

"Oh you are no fun," replied Anna. "I wish Erika was here. She would have loved seeing you running down the hill like that."

"I miss Erika too," sadly added Jill. "I remember the day she moved to Milton Keynes. I thought that was bad, but the day she moved back to America was worse."

"She used to fancy you."

"No she didn't."

"Yes she did. I think she likes boys who like to live as girls."

"You mean like you do?"

"I know I love you. I used to have a problem being seen going out with a girl. I don't have that problem any more. You could be green with pink spots and I'd still want to be with you."

"I love David and Jayne," said Helen. "I still have a problem though, if I think too much about it. I don't want to be seen as a lesbian."

"I remember having that problem," sighed Anna, remembering the shopping trip just before she moved to Milton Keynes. "I virtually ignored Jill all the time, even though it was me who'd asked for Bill to be Jill that day."

"How did you get over it?" asked Helen, sounding intrigued.

"Beth told me something," replied Anna and then went quiet. when Jill seemed to be overly interested.

"Which was?" prompted Helen.

"I'll tell you after. I promised Beth that I'd never tell Jill."

"Sounds interesting," mulled Helen. "Why don't we go for a walk and then meet Jayne and Jill for the rehearsal."

"You're quite fatalistic about everything," I mentioned to Jill, as Helen and Anna closed the bedroom door behind them.

"How do you mean."

"Well, you don't want to be a girl, but you don't seem to mind being seen as one."

"I was born with a defective body. I suppose I could fight it, but I can get on with life as I am. I'm not one for liking a large amount of surgery and there isn't much a surgeon could do to make me better. So I live with it. I have a girlfriend who has come to terms with my medical issue and loves me. What about you?"

"I don't have a clue what I want. I thought that I wanted to be David, but I seem to fit in better as Jayne."

"Why?" asked Jill. "Were you having trouble fitting in at the school as David?"

"No, but it seemed my life, before I moved, was on hold. I used to hide away and try to avoid life."

"If you'd been Jayne at your old school, would you have got on any better?"

"I'd have been lynched within an hour of stepping out of my front door."

"I don't mean it like that. If you'd always been Jayne, would things have been easier."

"I've no idea how much the bullying was because I didn't act very masculine, because I didn't fit in with people, or what. My Mum certainly suspected I was different, but I've no idea if my Dad or brother did."

While we were chatting about personal things, I thought about asking Jill what happened after her mother died. I opened my mouth and then closed it again when I remember Rachel saying that talking about her mother just brought her forward to talking about Dr Patel. If Jill was blocking talking about Dr Patel, as much as she was about her mother, it might cause her to have another breakdown. A breakdown at anytime is never good, but one away from school would be disastrous.

"Yes?" asked Jill.

"What?"

"You were about to say something."

"Oh yes, do you fancy going down so we can see where we will be rehearsing?"

"I suppose we won't be too early and the girls might already be there."

The convention area was nicely secluded from the general area of the hotel, which was probably great for people trying to have meetings. Seven year old kids screaming they wanted to see Mickey must really be off-putting.

We walked into the convention reception. The area was plush with a thicker carpet than was in the rest of the hotel. It still seemed to keep the hotels basic theme, but was grander. There was a smart looking lady, wearing a red suit, who smiled when she saw us enter. She was standing in what looked like an octagonal reception area.

"Can I help you?" asked the lady, as I helped myself to a cake, as we walked past them.

"We are with the Hayfield Hall Music School," I said with a smile.

"You look a lot younger than I expected. What ages are the students?"

"We are both thirteen and it goes till we are eighteen, so yes we are all young."

"You were going to be in the Providence room, but Mr Hobson asked that if the main conference had finished, if you could use the main Ballroom. The conference finished early and it has been swept, so you will be in there. If you can just wait here a few minutes, the seating is just being setup."

"Is it okay if I have one of your little cakes?" asked Jill.

"Help yourself," she laughed as I tried to hide mine. "That is what they're there for."

"Andy and Lewis will be happy," I said taking another one. They were delicious. I wonder if we could get the school to do snacks like this. Perhaps a cake tin in the common room would be the thing.

I mentioned that idea to Jill who just shook her head. "It'll never happen. They try to give us a balanced diet. They would make the cakes healthy ones."

As we waited, others appeared and the reception area started to fill up. More cakes appeared and so did jugs of juice instead of coffee.

"This is just the thing," said Andy, munching away. "I wonder if we could get school to do this."

"Not a chance," said Mr Hobson, entering the room. "Enjoy these holiday indulgencies!"

After talking to one of the members of staff Mr Hobson said, "Okay, finish off your cakes. I've been told the room is ready. Your instruments should be on, or by, your chair."

As we walked towards the room, I heard some gasps from people in front. I gasped myself as we walked through the doors onto a stage, where we were setup. Beyond was a huge hall that, I later found out, could seat just over two thousand people. In a daze I made my way to my seat and found my instrument. I sat down and stared out into the hall, totally stunned that I'd be sat in such a large hall.

I eventually came slightly out of my daze and felt someone gently shaking my leg. I looked up and smiled at Kevin.

"Impressive, isn't it?" he laughed.

"Very," I responded, my brain kicking back into gear. "I've never seen anything like this. It's much bigger than what we have at the school."

"I think that’s why they had us practice in here. Get the year one students over the shock now, rather that in a concert situation."

All I could do was nod.

"Do you know the Royal Opera House in London could only seat two hundred more people than in here?"

I looked at him in shock and he laughed, "You better get warmed up, we will be starting soon."

"Listen up," said Mrs Russell, bringing everyone back to focus. "I know there are a lot of seats out there and it seems overwhelming. Afterwards, go and have a look and it will be just a large room. The main concert will be in a large hall, but not this large, so don't panic. Tomorrows bit of fun will be in the Disney Park, so you'll be playing outdoors. Therefore, sound will be lost so you have to increase your volume slightly. We only have a thirty minute slot, so we will be doing the Handel and the Tchaikovsky. Both are light and people will probably recognise them. Don't be disappointed if people don't sit through the entire thirty minutes, as they will want to get on rides. Now let's go through this in concert order, so get out the Debussy."

There was no stopping; it was just a run through of the concert. If we didn't know the pieces by now, it was too late. As we played the pieces we seemed to have developed a growing audience. By the time we had finished the 1812, the back of the hall was filled with Disney employees.

We all had a surprise, when it came to the 1812. Lewis came forward and conducted. He'd done very well in some later rehearsals, but I didn't think he would be used in this concert. Perhaps he shall.

"Could you hear it okay from the back," called Mrs Russell.

A man came forward so he could be heard. "I was outside the hall and heard it," he said in French with a strong Italian accent. "That was very well played. When we heard your talent, the word spread and people wanted to hear these young geniuses."

"Thank you, but enough of that," Mrs Russell bustled, "you'll give them all big heads." She then turned to us and said, "Well done all of you, if you play like that tomorrow and Thursday, then you will have done me proud. Apart from the percussion players, please take your instruments with you, but please, no playing in your hotel room; we don't want you to disturb other people. Talking of rooms, in your rooms you will find a uniform for tomorrow. Please make sure it fits, but keep them neat."

"Uniforms?" someone asked.

"Girls have long flowing dark skirts, with a pale yellow top. Boys have dark trousers and a pale yellow shirt. The top and shirt have the school logo on them."

"Can you all count back forty-three bars from the end of the 1812. It should have a tempo marking of allegro vivace. I want you to mark that with a B."

There was a scramble to get pencils and count back in the scores. When we were complete she said, "Now count back another twenty-two bars from point B. That one should have a tempo marking of largo. I want you to mark that with an A."

There was no need to ask why those points were being marked. If the concert went well and we were asked for an encore, those were two obvious places to do it from. I presume the two points were there, depending on how tired we were. The 1812 was a very hard on all the players. The brass and woodwind had very tired lips and the strings had very tired arms. From point B it would last about ninety seconds. From point A it was about a minute longer.

"That was amazing," Helen sighed as we entered our bedroom.

"Tell me about it," I replied, imagining the hall full of people.

"I never knew it could be so thrilling," replied Anna, her eyes awash with the joy we all felt when we played. "I'd been concentrating so much on the music, which is very hard for me, and never had chance to enjoy it. Tonight, I relaxed and it was amazing. I've never felt so-"

"That never goes away," reassured Jill, putting her arm round Anna.

Jill seemed to be the only one from year-one, that hadn't been affected by the hall. I presume that Jill had played in large halls before.

Sleep didn't come easily that night. I kept thinking about being in such a large hall. I was also still on a high from playing in such an environment. Eating after the practice had helped me calm down a little, but my mind wouldn't settle.

I heard Helen tossing, as she tried to calm down, so I asked, "Are you okay?"

"I can't settle," she quietly replied, so she didn't disturb the snoring Anna or the silent Jill. I recon Jill could sleep through an earthquake.

I slipped out of my bed and joined Helen in hers. It was a bit tight in a single bed, but we managed. Helen turned onto her side and I spooned into her.

"That was real?" I asked.

"I hope so," she replied. "It was amazing and wasn't the concert. It was even better than the one last week, at the school."

"Tell me about it. It didn't take us as long to settle."

"Well you did have a bit to tell me first and we did have each other."

Being in the same bed, in each other's arms, we both settled quickly and we drifted off to sleep.

I'd hoped to be awake before Anna and Jill, but luck wasn't on our sides. When we awoke, we found them just finishing getting dressed. I'm still unsure how they managed to wake up and have a shower, without disturbing us.

I almost yelped when I saw the time. "Why didn't you wake us?" I asked rushing into the bathroom, praying that they didn't see my reaction to Helen.

"You looked so happy and peaceful," solemnly replied Anna.

* * *

For the concert, we hadn't entered via the route that guests went through. We'd been ushered through a staff entrance. We were shown into a room where we were able to get our instruments ready and tune up. As it approached four o'clock, we were all ready.

A Disney employee, sorry cast member, escorted us through a gate and into the theme park. We came out near the first aid building, at the top of Main Street and we walked at a leisurely pace towards the Royal Castle Stage, where we would be playing. Visitors saw us, in matching outfits and with our instruments, and pointed at us, wondering what was going on. A few even seemed interested enough to follow us.

The weather couldn't have been better, it was warm, sunny and without a breeze. The lack of a breeze was very important; otherwise it could play havoc, blowing the sheet music everywhere.

Even though there was five minutes before we started, the seats were already mostly taken. There were even some younger children sitting at the front, on the stone floor. Just before we were to start, we were introduced in five different languages; French, English, Spanish, German and Italian.

Mrs Russell raised her hands and I was soon playing in my first live concert, on my first field trip away. I expected people to move away, but they didn't. Perhaps they needed a rest from all the walking around.

When the applause from 'The Music from the Royal Fireworks' had died down, Mrs Russell turned round to the audience and said in French followed by English, "The next piece can get rather loud, with some sudden bangs and we don't want any children to be frightened. It might be best for young children to be with their grownups."

None of the children moved, in fact some of them giggled when Mickey Mouse suddenly appeared, waving a conductors baton and took Mrs Russell's place at the podium. What also was a shock was during the 1812 Overture, the crowds grew. All the seats were gone when we started and nobody seemed to have left. People were sitting on the ground, with people standing behind them. It was just before half way into the piece that I noticed that the children put their hands to their ears, the music soon faded and they lowered their hands.

About three minutes from the end, the cannon was fired for the first time. I nearly needed a clean pair of panties myself and I was expecting it. Some of the children were brave and just covered their ears; others were more sensible and ran to their parents. I don't know where they got the cannon from, but it wasn't like the one we'd used at the school concert. This was an outdoor concert cannon, which included a smoke effect, and looked as impressive as it sounded.

The eleven cannon shots in the last minute took the toll on most of the orchestra's ears and then to top it off, the quadruple forte was played as interpreted; played as loud as we possibly could. The smoke from the cannon gently blew across towards the audience and there was a silence. Was that because I'd lost my hearing? The sound of the applause soon filtered across. They weren't just clapping, but standing up to do it. Mickey pointed to us and clapped. Lewis, in the costume, was certainly enjoying himself.

My euphoria soon died down as Mrs Russell turned to us and asked us to turn to letter A. We were doing the longer encore. My lips were tired but I'd be able to manage, there were a few rest bars for me. I felt sorry for the strings as this was one of the hardest parts for them. We might have grimaced inside, but outwardly we smiled; we were on show. Mrs Russell conducted the encore while Mickey disappeared.

After the encore, we again were heavily applauded. However, we had no more to give and Mrs Russell knew it. She smiled at the audience, nodded at Stacy and started to walk out of the stage area. We took the hint and filed out in an orderly fashion behind. The audience also got the message and were soon on their way back to the rides, having had a thirty minute rest from walking and queuing.

"Well done all of you," said Mr Hobson. Mrs Russell was standing next to him and was beaming. "We've never done a public concert like that before and it seems to have gone down very well. I am very proud of every one of you."

Just then Lewis appeared and all of year one mobbed him. Mr Hobson stopped and smiled, letting the year bond.

"How was it?" asked Brian.

"It was great fun," replied Lewis. "But it was very hot under that costume. I don't know how they do it."

"Why don't we all go back," said Mr Hobson. "You then can change and have some fun. Tomorrow we will be playing till late, so if you can have a sleep in, then you might not feel so tired tomorrow night. Tomorrow evening, you need to be ready by five and waiting in your hotel reception."

As we got changed, I said to Helen. "I don't know about you but I could really do with something to eat. All that playing has left me tired, but very hungry."

"I know what you mean," she laughed. "You know we can eat in any of the hotels in the park, well why don't we go to the Chuck Wagon Café, at the Hotel Cheyenne? It is traditional American food. Very simple and should make a nice change to the fancy stuff we had the other night."

"Sounds good to me, lets see what the others think."

The others thought it was a great idea. There was a path besides a steam and we walked down towards the hotel.

"Jessica," I said, moving next to her. "Why don't you ring your sister and see if she wants to get her year down here? It might be nice for you to catch up some more."

"That’s a wonderful idea," she replied and contacted her sister.

The Hotel Cheyenne was themed on the American frontier and as we walked down the centre, all the rooms were decked out like you saw in the Wild West movies. There were even rocking chairs on the veranda.

As we sat down with our meals, the whole of year three arrived, followed shortly afterwards by the rest of the school. The rumours must have spread and we were soon having a wonderful evening. There wasn't a teacher, or member of staff from the school, in sight.

During the meal, we spotted a young girl, who looked no more than four, wandering round looking very sad. Since she was passing us, Emma moved across and asked the girl, "Are you lost?"

"What?" sniffled the girl in English.

"Are you lost?" said Emma in English, getting out of her chair and kneeling at the girl's height.

"I've lost my Mummy," she cried. "And no one helps."

"I speak a bit of French, so let me see if I can help," offered Emma. "What's your name?"

"Tina," said the little girl proudly.

"Well Tina, why don't we go and tell the lady behind the till. See if they can help."

Tina held onto Emma's hand, as they went to the till. We all watched, hoping that things would work out. A telephone call was made and five minutes later a young couple, who looked to be in their mid twenties, rushed into the room. Tina gave a yell of "Mummy" and rushed towards her frantic parents.

Emma smiled and watched, glad that things were okay, before rejoining us.

"Well done Emma," I said. "That was so wonderful to see."

"It felt so good to help others," she said. "Anyway, I'm sure you would have done it if I hadn't."

"Perhaps," I replied. "But you did it first. You also were so gentle, that she wasn't frightened. I'm sure you will be a wonderful mother one day."

"Thank you," sobbed Emma, with tears of happiness. "Thank you."

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