After the building was finished, the woodwork above the windows was completed, and Simon delivered the building, the walls were painted and wallpapered in creamy white and the lightest form of beige, linoleum with the pattern of wooden slats was laid and the first furniture, for a cosy seating area, was delivered by the thrift shop.

The quartet, consisting of Patrick, Bea, Rosalie and Ineke, had received help from people at Bloemenhof, both help at the centre itself, and invitations to join Huib and Margreet for dinner in the evening.

In the beginning, they had put together an article for the local and regional newspapers, the website link had found its way through various accounts on Facebook and Twitter, and the first e-mails and phone calls had already arrived. This had not yet generated any sign-ups, but for the time being they were happy to get publicity. The rest would come!

Thanks to the article in the newspaper, the staff members of the thrift shop were enthusiastic, thinking along with them, keeping things aside for them that they might need. They didn't only think about furniture, but also toys and even laptops. When something came in anew, they would send a note, so that someone from the quartet could stop by to see if they wanted to take the items.

For the time being, the center consisted of four rooms, a toilet group, a bathroom and a kitchen. A small room would serve as an office for administrative work. Meetings or something like that would be fine in the large room with the cozy sitting area.

Although all the rooms had a door, they had decided to basically leave them open so that the centre would be one unit. Should anyone need seclusion, there were plenty of opportunities for that. They had first planned to buy mobile screens, but they had decided together not to do that yet, as there were no people who needed them at the moment.

To get started on something, though, they had bought a couple of laptops, a stack of notebooks, pens and pencils. And reading books, read-aloud books, scrapbooks and all kinds of craft stuff.

In the beginning, they had struggled to decide what to buy. What would they need? Whatever had crossed their minds to purchase, they had first consulted within the quartet. Together, they tried to get a feel for whether they should proceed to purchase.

Ineke had come up with the question of whether to have plants inside, to which Rosalie came up with a counter-question: "Do you like taking care of plants? Do you feel like doing that?"

Ineke had thought deeply and replied, "Sometimes I do, but not as a 'task', like every week it has to be done."

"Patrick and Bea don't like them either and neither do I, so I don't think we should buy them for now. Maybe later, a few, when someone comes along who absolutely loves them."

And so they had been working on everything that should or should not be bought. As long as there were no applications yet, they would be fine to go and buy something in between.

.

They were busy setting up, when Huib came to the centre with a trailer behind him.

"Hey Huib!" Rosalie greeted him happily, "that cart belongs behind a car you know!"

"That's what they say yes, but it can be done this way, it's close anyway! It seemed easier, I can easily reach everything like this. I've come to bring the wood for the veranda. What do you think, Rosalie, can I get started on that already, or will I get in the way?"

"That's easy! You're working on it outside and we're inside, so just do it!"

"Shouldn't I ask Patrick and Bea or Ineke first?" asked Huib.

"No way, I get to make decisions too, and I know I can decide this because we're not going to be bothered by it anyway. I like it when you start making that veranda, then it will become more and more real outside. Did you see that there is already a swing behind the centre? And a play rack, a climbing frame? And benches, picnic tables, it's really cosy."

"Behind here? No, I haven't seen it yet, I'm going to have a look, will you walk with me?"

Together they walked happily talking to the back of the centre.

"Nice, two swings even, of different heights. And those rings, that was the only thing I used to like at school, great swinging!"

Huib grabbed the rings, adjusted them to his height and gave it a try to see if he could still do it. Rosalie stood by beaming: "Higher Huib! You can still do it!"

He surprised her by flipping over on a high and flipping back on the other side. Then he dragged on the big mat below and jumped off at the last. He adjusted the rings back to the lower position so Rosalie could reach it.

She shook her head: "Don't feel like it, maybe another time."

Bea came around the corner with a tray of mugs and a coffee pot. "Hey Huib, will you have a drink with us? Patrick and Ineke are coming soon too."

Rosalie picked up a large glass of water from the tray. "What do we get now, you don't drink coffee anymore?" asked Huib in surprise.

"No, I was suddenly fed up."

Huib looked at her grinning: "Can happen young lady! I feel like it, thanks Bea. Hey Patrick, Ineke! Say, does it suit you guys too, if I get to work on the veranda?"

"Oh yes, we're busy inside anyway, go ahead!" replied Patrick.

Rosalie nudged Huib and looked at him with a tilted head and raised eyebrows, as if to say, 'I already said that, didn't I?!'

"Sorry Rosa, are you angry now?" asked Huib played meekly.

 "No, not at all, you have to learn things too, you'll be fine!"

Huib burst out laughing: "I hope so too!"

.

After coffee, Huib cheerfully went to work. He hammered a few poles into the ground and from there he started placing horizontal beams that he would use as a base to place the floor of the veranda. By the end of the afternoon, the floor was ready and from the front door, he had attached a walkway and stairs that he had already prepared in his work shed, so that even wheelchair users could easily get to the front door.

Huib thought enough was enough for today, and went inside briefly to tell the others he was going home. "Tomorrow I will come and fix the balustrade slats. I have them all ready to go, so that's just a matter of securing them."

"Let's see how it turned out," said Ineke, and with her the others also walked to the front door.

"Wonderful boy, how wonderfully wide!"

"That's why I also pounded some smaller ones of these beams into the ground below and laid such horizontal beams over them as extra support. We don't want anyone sinking through the boards, do we?"

"Well thought out Huib, and so is that gangway with those stairs, really handy and beautiful! I'm curious about the balustrade. Will those be smooth slats or...?"

"No, those are special slats, I won't tell you about them yet, you'll see tomorrow!"

"All right, thanks so far! And see you tomorrow!"

Huib grabbed the trailer, raised his hand in greeting and went home.

.

The next morning after breakfast, he neatly loaded all the slats into the trailer. He had decorated them by sawing out letters, numbers, musical notes, tools and many other things. It looked cheerful and varied.

He was barely on the road when Sjaak approached him.

"Are you going to the discovery centre? OK if I walk with you for a while? I'd like to see it there, see if I can do some more gardening."

"I suspect not, I have a feeling, that with that they are waiting for a newcomer to join them who wants to explore gardening a bit. I understand they do it that way with almost everything, although they have already put up a picnic table and some playground equipment."

"I'll just come along, and we'll see!"

It turned out to be around landscaping as Huib had suggested.

"No problem," Sjaak said, "if you need my help sometime, just give me a call."

He walked in with Ineke to see how it was progressing.

"Beautiful, simple, but really nice. When will you start?"

"As soon as we are ready. Then we'll just spend the days here and see what there is for ourselves to do and to discover. Rosalie can then just get on with what she's doing, and Patrick, Bea and I can quietly expand. I suspect that will happen as early as next week. There's not much more to prepare."

Patrick came in with Rosalie and caught Ineke's last words. "As far as I'm concerned, we'll start as early as tomorrow. And actually, we have already started, living here together, looking for what is needed. I would just love to have a few more children. Doesn't have to be massive right away, but gradually expand a bit. Parents have already inquired, but have not yet requested a registration interview. What do you think Ineke, shall we do another article with some photos?"

"Seems like a good idea, shall I take some interior and exterior photos in advance?"

"Can I try that sometime? Taking photos?" asked Rosalie.

"Sure, go ahead," replied Ineke. She chuckled, "That's something new for me too, just handing over my mobile and letting someone else take the photos."

Rosalie chuckled after taking a few photos: "I think it's quite nice, there's just a crazy stain on the photos."

Ineke almost bit herself on the tongue not to answer immediately. She watched as Rosalie turned the mobile over and discovered the small eye of the camera. "Is this the little glass through which you take a picture?"

Ineke nodded: "Yes, that's the lens. Extraordinary huh, such a small glass and then you still get a whole picture."

Rosalie nodded: "And that stain, that must have been from my finger, I think it got in front of it a bit. Try again..."

She made sure she didn't hold a finger in front of the lens now and noticed that it went better as a result. She walked from room to room with the mobile, taking pictures from all sorts of angles and then continued it outside. She discovered that Huib had already fixed some of the balustrade slats and took pictures of that too.

Ineke walked quietly after her, looking surprised at the slats Huib had nailed down. "How nice they are, those slats, you've cut out all kinds of things to do with discovery and learning! Ingenious, so appropriate!"

As she and Huib bent over the slats, Rosalie took a photo of them and walked on to the play equipment. Truly every corner she put in the picture. Then she turned off the mobile, as she had seen her parents do so many times before, folded the case and handed it back to Ineke.

"I think everything is there. Shall we look at the pictures on a laptop?"

Ineke winked at Huib and went inside with Rosalie. With the laptop used for the centre's business stuff, they sat down together on the sofa. Ineke connected her mobile with a cable and looked for the photos.

"Wow, how many you took!"

"We don't have to use them all though, just the nicest ones, and keep the rest maybe for fun. Then later we can see what it was like in the beginning..."

"Clever thought..." said Ineke, moving quietly from photo to photo. "Ha, there you have Huib and me at the balustrade! And Patrick and Bea! Really nice, Rosalie! And now, how do we move on?"

"Well, the ones with those stains from my finger on them, those can go ahead."

Rosalie watched Ineke do that.

"Don't you have to do that with a mouse?" she asked.

"I don't have to, but honestly I find it more convenient. Actually, we need some kind of shelf for on your lap to put the laptop on there and use the mouse with it."

"No way, then the whole mess will tilt off your lap!" laughed Rosalie.

"Tell you what, we'll just sit down at the table, and I'll grab a mouse with it."

Moments later, they went past picture by picture, picked out the best ones and copied them to a separate folder by simply sliding them there.

"Can I try that?" asked Rosalie.

Ineke slid the laptop and mouse her way. "Of course!"

"And what if I accidentally do it wrong? If I delete a photo?"

"All the photos are still on my mobile, so we still have everything."

"OK," said Rosalie, "what do you think of this photo? Shall we include that one too?"

Ineke nodded: "That's a nice one, yes."

"We'll soon have far too many," Rosalie thought, "I think we'll have to get rid of some more photos in that folder for the article. Otherwise they'll go crazy at the newspaper!"

Ineke chuckled: "I think we'll soon have to get rid of so many that two or three will remain. And then we'll have to type in some text. There's no need to add much text, maybe we can tell most of it with pictures, then maybe we can choose three or four pictures."

Rosalie nodded and continued scrolling past the pictures.

"That picture of the playground equipment and in the background that picnic table, you did that cleverly. Then you have the whole outside corner at once."

"That one is quite nice to include, and actually I want one of the veranda too, but it wasn't finished yet. I'm thinking about a picture of the entrance, with the steps and the gangway, and a piece of the balustrade. Shall I see if Huib has finished the balustrade there?"

Ineke nodded, enjoying the way she could do this with Rosalie. The vision, as they had described it on the website, was coming to life. They lived together, taking each other seriously as equals, trying things out, discussing the things they ran into. She thought back to her internships in primary schools, how she had struggled with the system. How happy she had been, that she would get to join this discovery centre, but she really had had no idea it would be so special, living together so truly, without looking at Rosalie's age. She was curious to see how that would go with newcomers.

"Say Rosalie, I have a little question. Patrick, Bea and I are 'companions' here and you are a 'discoverer'. Usually we call people your age children, toddlers, students. How does that feel to you?"

Rosalie shrugged nonchalantly. "Just keep it to 'discoverers', students I think is really just a weird word?"

Ineke shot into laughter: "I totally agree. Shall we also just use the word 'discoverers' for the article later?"

"Good plan Ineke, only one thing is not right. In my opinion, people will always remain discoverers, not just from 4 to 18 years old, here at the discovery centre."

"That's right yes, but somehow, to make it clear to other people who don't know this, I think we have to use two different words. For the adults, the staff, 'companions', and for what they call at school the students, 'discoverers'. Does that feel right to you?"

Rosalie let it sink in for a moment. "Yes, what you say is right, there has to be a difference for those around us, and we can also call each other that in here. Let's use those two words, then everyone will understand. And that's important too!"

"Okay, let's do that! How did your new photo turn out?"

Rosalie had already attached the mobile to the laptop via a cable and transferred the new photo. She clicked it to enlarge. "Huib did a really nice job huh, with all those little figures he cut into it. Funny, he didn't saw them out, he sawed around them so they stick out a bit outside the slat."

"Kind of sturdy," thought Ineke, "if he had really sawed out all those figures, they would have become holes in the laths, and then the laths might not be sturdy enough anymore. Your photo turned out nicely, too, by the way. Hey, he already fixed the nameplate next to the door too! I want to see that one in real life! I'll be right back!"

Rosalie went after her: "I hadn't even seen it a moment ago when taking the photo! How beautiful that sign turned out, 'I discover myself !' Those waves..."

Ineke stroked over it with her fingers... "They really are wave-figures! So beautiful!"

"Artist, that Huib! Shall we move on?"

They went back to the laptop, decided that the picture of the entrance with the beautiful nameplate should be in the paper anyway.

"Actually, we should also have a photo of the four of us. To show that we are going to start, or actually have already started!" thought Ineke.

They walked to a room next door to ask Patrick and Bea to join them and went together to Huib. They decided to take the group photo inside, a relaxed session on the two sofas in one of the rooms.

"Thanks Huib, we're going to put those in the paper!" reported Rosalie, reconnecting the mobile to the laptop and in one motion shoving the new photo into the folder where they kept the photos they might use for the article.

"So, you do that cleverly!" thought Huib. "Did you learn that from Ineke?"

"I copied it from Ineke, it's easy," agreed Rosalie.

"Make something nice together, for the newspaper," Huib encouraged, "I'll go on with the veranda for a while."

After Rosalie and Ineke had selected four photos for the newspaper, Rosalie opened a new file in Word, and started typing:

.

Discovery centre 'I discover myself!' is almost ready.

Tomorrow we will start. There are four of us now.

Patrick, Bea and Ineke are companions. They also like to discover new things themselves.

Will you join us too, to discover who you are and what you like?

Will you also come and discover what you need in this world?

I already know what I want to do: write books! Really great fun!

Greetings from the companions and discoverer Rosalie

.

Beaming she looked up. "I just gave it a try. Do you like it for the newspaper?" asked Rosalie to Ineke.

"Like it? Yes, just so real, like talking to people. And also so clear, discovering who you are, what you want and what you need in this world... You really are a writer, young lady! Tell you what, we'll show it to Patrick and Bea later on, and if they like it too, we'll just send it to the village newspaper and the regional paper, all right?"

Rosalie nodded, and saved the file. For a moment it went wrong, it did not end up in the folder for the article, but in Explorer. She cut out the Word file, and pasted it into the article folder after all.

"Actually, we should rename that folder, also with the date," thought Ineke. "Later there will probably be more articles, then we can keep the folders nicely under each other."

"That is something you can do," Rosalie said, "because I don't really know what to type then."

"Shall I tell you?"

"No, you do it, I think I've done enough for a while."

Ineke shot in laughter: "You have, you did almost everything for the article yourself. I enjoyed seeing how you did it!"

Ineke took over the laptop, and changed the name of the folder. She made a new folder, which she called 'newspaper', and slid the other folder into it.

"Why are you doing that?" wondered Rosalie.

"If we want to make another article in a while, we make a new folder in the 'newspaper' folder, put our text and photos in there, and put the date in the name of that new folder."

"Oh yes, then in the 'newspaper' folder we get all the articles we make. I get it! Handy companion you are!" she joked to Ineke. "Come, then we'll find those other two companions."

Patrick and Bea completely agreed on the choice of their photos and were happy with the piece of text Rosalie had written.

"One more thing," Patrick suggested, "shall I use the photo editing programme to put our names in that picture we are in?"

"That's possible, but we can also just put that next to the photo, underneath. I think they always do it that way. I can write it there in that file, that they should put that with that photo." Rosalie looked at him questioningly.

"That's a good solution too, do that. And when it's ready, will you send it to both newspapers?"

Ineke nodded: "We will! And another thing, opening hours, shouldn't that be included?"

"I don't think it needs to be in the newspaper, it's on the website and at registration we can also tell it. Maybe it would be useful to add the website again. Just finish the article, and I am sure they will still manage to have it in the paper the day after tomorrow!"

.

Two days later, both newspapers arrived on the doormat, both at home and at 'I discover myself'. The photos were nicely arranged in it, with the names under the group photo and Rosalie's text in the centre.

At the discovery centre, Rosalie, in consultation with Bea, cut out the article generously, wrote the newspaper's name and date in the border and glued it in a scrapbook. She picked up a folding sheet of a slightly lighter shade than the front of the scrapbook and wrote on it:

.

'I discover myself !'

Articles in the newspapers

.

She glued the sheet on the scrapbook, deliberately at an angle, as she thought she would probably not be able to get it neatly straight on it. Bea responded enthusiastically, thinking it was a nice idea to collect all the articles this way.

"We have another article, from a while ago. I'll look it up, then you can stick it on the inside of the cover."

Bea found the newspaper and let Rosalie enjoy using it. Again, she wrote the name of the newspaper and the date and stuck it in the place Bea had mentioned. There, now it was in order after all!

To chapter 54. Ellen, more fiery than ever

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