It had taken a few months, but now they could actually start building. The building permit for the discovery centre was in and Simon had long since finished the construction drawings. With Patrick and Bea's permission, he had arranged a work crew and ordered all the necessary materials for the first part of construction. As agreed, all the walls would be delivered ready-made so that once the foundation was laid, they could start building smoothly.

.

One evening Simon walked up to Patrick and Bea. "Is it convenient? Can we have a chat about finishing the centre?" he asked at the front door.

"Would love to, it's all exciting, thrilling and fun! It's getting more and more real now..." Bea replied as she let him in.

Over a cup of coffee, they looked together at the various options Simon showed on his laptop.

" I am showing all this like this," he suddenly interrupted himself, "but maybe you guys had an idea of your own a while ago."

Patrick grinned: "Indeed we did, but there's no harm in looking at other possibilities."

"That's true, but what idea did you guys have?" asked Simon.

"We had thought of some kind of uneven cobbles, which are a bit flat on one side and which you then brick against the walls with that flat side. It feels a bit like a symbol for all the differences between children. Soon, in our centre, they all get to discover, above all, what suits them, what they enjoy. In the past, we have too often made a problem of differences and unevennesses, when in fact they are so beautiful. Let them discover their individuality!" Bea explained.

"I couldn't agree more. Let them go, those little guys! So cobbles, uneven stones with flat bottoms. I have no experience with them myself yet, so I get to discover something new too."

With a grin, he searched the various sites of the suppliers with whom he negotiated the most. Together, they looked at the pictures and chose cobbles that differed not only in shape and size, but also in colour.

"Great, then I'll order those, and we'll glue them nicely to the walls with cement! Looks like a fun job, I am very curious to see how we will experience it! We will start on the foundation in mid-March. As soon as that's in place, we'll bring in the walls, ready-made as you asked. And the rest will follow. I'm looking forward to it, this is such a special project, just like The Shelter. It feels really good! Do you have any further ideas and wishes?"

Patrick nodded: "Yes, a veranda on both sides of the entrance, a wider veranda than is usual for a house, so that the children can also work there when the weather is nice. Shall we commission Huib for that?"

"Good plan, then you can discuss your ideas with him. You could do the same with Sjaak if you like for the garden around it. And then something practical of a totally different nature: does the centre already have its own email address and bank account?"

"Yes, since yesterday!" laughed Bea. "Shall I send them to your email address in a minute?"

"Go ahead! Any other questions, comments, wishes?" asked Simon.

"No, but we'll let you know as soon as anything bubbles up!" promised Patrick.

" Very well, and I will come here every day for construction anyway, if there is anything from my side, I will walk in here."

"Always welcome, Simon!" said Bea.

"Fine," Simon smiled, "it's good to be able to build for you. I'm going home now, just another piece of evening together with Annerieke. Folks, I've been with her for less than a year, but I can't imagine ever being alone before! Coming home is a celebration now!"

Patrick and Bea laughed, happy for him!

.

The next day, Patrick and Bea decided to walk with Rosalie to Bloemenhof to discuss the veranda with Huib. They were cheerfully greeted by him: "Come in to my lovely woodshed! Maureen also has a work corner here nowadays, she sits there behind that sheet, playing hide-and-seek. She makes masterpieces out of candle wax. It went quite well without that sheet, but every now and then she still had to pull shreds of wood out of her work, so then she bought a sheet and hung it here. Going well now isn't it, Maureen?"

"Oh yeah, perfect! I have to get on with it hey, otherwise I'll get unwanted bumps in my work."

"Mind if I peek around the corner?" asked Bea.

"That's fine, as long as I can go on in the meantime," Maureen replied.

Bea looked past the sheet, silently so as not to disturb, but when she realised what Maureen was making, she asked in a whisper, "Is that going to be a volcano? An erupting volcano?"

"That' s right, nice that you can see that already. The mountain is finished, at least in outline, I am now trying to give shape to the volcano's eruptions."

"I see it yes, you have the right colours for it, and I do think the shape of those outbursts is very special. But I no longer interrupt, I don't want it on my conscience to go wrong. Good luck further!"

"Thank you!"

"Really cool, a real-life lava spewing volcano... but anyway, we came for the discovery centre. We want to ask you if you could make a wide, especially deep veranda at the front on either side of the entrance, with a sloping wooden roof, all the trimmings," Bea explained.

"All the trimmings is a lot, then I fear the roof will collapse," Huib teased.

Bea gave him a friendly punch. "Crazy guy!"

"I am, pretty crazy! That veranda, I'd love to make it for you. Just tell me, how wide, how deep."

Patrick had expected him to ask about that and handed him a note. "These are the measurements, and we'd love it if you could come up with your own decoration for the slats of the balustrade. Something to match the centre. And another thing, so between those two verandas is the entrance. We think it would be a good idea to just keep the floor and roof of the veranda in front of the entrance, hence there is only one size on the note. And we were wondering, whether the access to the front door through the veranda would not be best to be a sloping ramp, in case a child comes in a wheelchair."

Huib nodded: "Good idea, then you won't have to adjust that later unexpectedly. Any other wishes?"

"No, I don't think so. If anything else comes to mind, can we report it to you?"

"Of course," Huib said, "I'll have a quote made, and if you want any changes or additions, we can always see if we need to adjust the quote. Shall we arrange it that way?"

"Fine, and then practically about the centre's email address and account number. Shall I send those to you? Or to Ilse?" asked Bea.

"Just do it to me. If I pass on all the details about the veranda to her for an offer, I'll have to include your details there anyway."

"Agreed! We'll go and ask Sjaak for advice first, and then I'll email the details to you at home."

Huib nodded. "I'm happy for you that everything is going ahead. Good luck with all the hustle and bustle! I'll start working on the slats for your balustrade after this assignment. I already have an idea for the decoration. Even though your construction is not that far advanced yet, I can already start working on that. If necessary, I will store them in our shed at home until the veranda really needs to be made. I'm looking forward to it!"

.

With Sjaak, they discussed the garden. Sjaak advised keeping it simple for now. A few pieces of playground equipment, but not too much else yet.

"It could be, that at some point children will come and feel like gardening themselves, maybe making a vegetable garden. That would be the best time to start doing more about it. If we did everything now, it would be finished, and the children wouldn't have many opportunities to think of something themselves..."

"And that's just what we want so badly!" responded Bea. "I think you have a good point!"

Sjaak, as a parent of at least one of their future discoverers, offered to volunteer to help them with a play area. He would already look around and consult with them if he came across something nice.

"Wonderful, thank you!" said Patrick happily.

"It should be good and beautiful guys, because the plan is good and beautiful!"

.

At Margreet's place, they looked for Rosalie for a second. In Margreet's hobby room, Gloria was lying on the floor on an old sleeping bag, from which Margreet had removed the zips and lined the edges with fabric. Rosalie played around her, occasionally involving her in her play. It was a fun sight how Gloria tried to follow her, her little body twisting in all sorts of turns to see Rosalie.

"Rosalie, we are going home again. Do you want to come along already, or will you come later?" asked Patrick.

"I'll come later, this is so much fun, Gloria watches me all the time. She gets strong muscles from that in her little body here." Rosalie stroked Gloria's tummy, tickled her a little and laughed along with her crowing laughter. "When Gloria goes to sleep, I'll come back home, okay?"

"Fine girl, we'll see you later!"

Bea made a questioning gesture to Margreet for a moment. Margreet raised her thumb and winked.

"New tapestry?" asked Bea. "Have you finished the one with the three-dimensional flowers yet?"

"No, I put that one aside for a while, this one came in between. The one with the flowers was an extra I made in between. That one wasn't commissioned by somebody, this one was, themed 'Waves'. Nice to do again, a little different from all the others I made. And also a quarter-turn, I've always done the length vertically, but this one had to be horizontal, the client specifically asked for that."

"The beginning is already beautiful, and I think it's a special way of crafting anyway." Silently Bea continued to watch, while Patrick sat down on the floor with Gloria and Rosalie, enjoying their interplay.

To chapter 47. Looking for a place of their own

Or to the Table of contents