The girls ran to Sjaak and Lisa's house. At the front yard they stopped, trying to look inside. But even there the glass was not very transparent from the outside, so they did not see much. Silently they stayed listening.
When Lisa started a new part, they were surprised by the upbeat nature of the music. "Like dance music," Nancy whispered, and she began to move like a happy dancer. Tanja soon danced along with her. They were totally into it, until Lisa closed.
The girls looked at each other: "How beautiful hey, how well they can do that! And I do wish we could really dance..." sighed Nancy.
"I don't, I just liked this. But I don't have to learn it very well, I don't like that at all!" thought Tanja.
They were a little startled when the front door opened. Sjaak and Lisa came out.
"You girls can dance so well," Sjaak said, "I saw something move out of the corner of my eye while we were playing and I enjoyed it. Yes really, it was fun to watch, it fitted so well with our music!"
"I didn't see it," said Lisa, "I had my eyes closed while I played."
"It was beautiful, so beautiful, your music! The both of you are really good at that! Are you Lisa?"
"Yep, that's me! And which one of you is Tanja, and which one is Nancy?"
Both girls shouted their answers interchangeably, to which they all burst into laughter.
"You and Margreet bought that bear and rug, didn't you?" asked Tanja. "We liked that so much! We didn't feel like spending the whole vacation in a stupid guesthouse with all the adults, but it's not stupid here at all, it's different from a cottage, but it's really nice! You're all so nice and..." Suddenly she began to cry violently.
Nancy looked at her sister in bewilderment, her big, strong sister, whom she had always looked up to so much. Why was she crying all of a sudden?
Lisa stepped forward towards Tanja, sat down on her crouch and put her arms wide, invitingly. Tanja responded immediately and plunged into Lisa's arms. Lisa stroked the girl's back until she calmed down.
"So Tanja, I think that was long overdue to come out. Good that you let your tears go, that must have relieved some of the tension!"
Tanja nodded, wiping her nose with her sleeve. She began to speak quickly: "Mom has been sad so often lately. And I found that so hard. And now we had to go to this guesthouse because Mama didn't have to take care of anything, and we didn't feel like it. It seemed so boring to us, all those grown-ups. But Koos and Olivia are really nice, they are just a bit like grandpa and grandma. They like it that we are there, they even think that we should just be cheerful and noisy, as long as we are quiet at night, because then they would like to sleep. That was so special, they didn't say that at all sternly or anything like that. And Annerieke is sweet too, she bakes delicious cakes, every day. And Huib is nice, we just looked in his barn and talked about squirrels and bunnies. And with Sjaak we laughed so much... Oh, and now I'm rambling! I'm just so relieved that it's not boring here at all! And I like you so much!" she concluded, and Nancy confirmed her story by nodding with big eyes.
"We just haven't seen Margreet yet, and the other man, Simon from Annerieke, him neither. Does Simon work at the guest house too?"
Sjaak smiled at her, "No, he's an architect, a contractor and a builder. He has a vacation now, but the last few weeks he has been busy with a few other builders to build two floors on our house. Come with me, to the back of our house," he invited them.
Together they walked around the house and discovered a big mess.
"The walls are already there, but there's no roof on it. Then when it rains, it gets soaking wet in those rooms!" exclaimed Nancy.
"No, fortunately not," replied Sjaak. "There is no real roof, but there are ceilings in the bedrooms and the bathroom, the floor of the attic. They were able to place them just in time, but you can't see that from here. And they've put some of that sturdy plastic in the window openings, you see? So its no problem when it starts to rain or snow. The attic with a pitched roof will come after the vacations."
"And what's this then? What are they going to do here then?" asked Nancy, as she stood jumping on a bare floor on which nothing had yet been built.
Lisa laughed and pointed with her hands: "They're going to build a shed here, that's where the washing machine will be, and a drying room here, which will be open just like at the guest house, so the wind can blow through it nicely. But on a different note: didn't you think those teddy bears were too childish?"
"No, they are fun, they're so soft and big! And those rugs are nice too. Can we really take them home after the vacation?" asked Tanja.
"Yes, definitely! They are really yours!"
"Thank you!" exclaimed Tanja, as she wrapped her arms around Lisa's waist and snuggled up against her. Nancy looked on, doubtful. Lisa saw it and extended her arm invitingly to her: "Come on, room enough for two sweet girls!"
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