Screw Pile Developments

Morning – Kitchen (Summer Year 3)

Baking day. The smell of baking had drawn Seb to the kitchen, in the hope that something fresh and warm may have just come out of the oven. As Seb wandered into the kitchen Rebecca greeted him warmly. Rather than shooing wandering boys away, she was more likely to ask if they would like to help with something and she knew just the right thing for Seb.

Chocolate chip cookies. Three words that Seb firmly believed were made to go with each other. He readily agreed.

Rebecca motioned with her paw towards the sink. On return with suitably clean hands and apron on, Seb set to work measuring out the familiar ingredients. Flour, butter, sugar… and chocolate chips. From the very first time he had ever helped with the cookies, he remembered Rebecca’s words well.

“The secret to making good double chocolate chip cookies is to get the chocolate chip to cookie dough ratio correct. Technically, it’s about 1½ to 2 cups of chips to 2¼ cups flour, or 60–80%; that’s the correct answer. However — and this is important — the more correct answer is: however many feels right plus a handful more.”

Seb had taken Rebecca at her word ever since — always measuring — a handful more.

Today he was making double chocolate chip cookies, plain dough with both milk and dark chips. Seb measured out extra generous amounts of milk chocolate and dark chocolate chips. He looked at the bowls thoughtfully before disappearing into the pantry and returning with white chocolate chips. Seb proceeded to measure out the same amount again in white chocolate chips, plus a handful more.

Rebecca tilted her head and eyed him curiously. Seb, catching her side-eye, simply grinned.

Seb added the three bowls of chocolate chips to the mix. And so, the Headwall Station triple chocolate chip cookie was born.

Rebecca knew that tone. The way Seb said her name. She knew what was coming; they’d had several of these, ‘Rebecca’ conversations over the last couple of years; over a number of batches of cookies.

Rebecca opened her mouth in a gentle pant and smiled.

Seb’s eyes lit up in anticipation.

Rebecca suddenly realised, somewhat belatedly, that she had let something slip that would very likely need extra ice cream added to the shopping list.

Seb just grinned, already on his way to the freezer.

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Later that day — Veldmeer

On a day that seemed destined by providence to involve and revolve around ice cream, Seb, Raven and Lewis had cadged a ride into town with Daan in one of the Hundeerwagons. Daan had various errands to run for the station, so he dropped the three boys off down near the harbour, to meet up with Timo, Hans and Toby at one of their favourite haunts, the Eisstein Creamery. As it was a warm day, the store was busy with various groups of teenagers sitting in the booths that ran down one side. The boys placed their orders and then crammed all six of themselves into the last free booth.

The voice in question belonged to one Anja French, the very pretty Swiss Shepherd, that Seb had secretly, or not so secretly, been keeping an eye on for most of the last year at school. Seb had been busy talking to Timo about his solo flight, and hadn’t registered who it was asking about the misplaced order.

Both Toby and Raven had been speaking just a little bit more loudly than was strictly necessary, and were thoroughly enjoying themselves in the process. Finally, Seb caught up with the situation and who it was making the enquiry.

Anja, who had been politely standing there this entire time thinking that boys really were just a bit bonkers, passed the Knickerbocker Glory across to Seb.

Seb, who had gone as bright red as the cherry and strawberry sauce on the top of his order, stammered out a reply.

After Anja had returned to her booth, Raven looked pointedly at Seb.

Toby winked and dug Seb conspiratorially in the ribs.

Seb, turning an ever deeper shade of scarlet, said nothing and just started digging into his dessert a little more vigorously than was absolutely required.

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Evening — The Stone Bridge

After dinner, Grandpa Jake was on the stone bridge with his camera and tripod, waiting for just the right moment as the evening summer sun lowered in the sky, sending waves of golden light up the valley, catching the Greyfalls, turning them into two blazing ribbons of golden fire.

Raven came and sat on the bridge wall watching Grandpa making adjustments to the focus and other settings on the camera. As the golden light deepened, Raven watched as Grandpa Jake clicked a button on top of the camera, and then quickly moved a small lever with his thumb, then repeating the same process several times. Raven, careful not to get in Grandpa Jake’s way, stood and took a few photos of his own on his phone, in the few moments the sun lit the falls into ribbons of golden light. Once the light faded, Raven swiped through his photos, quickly deleting the ones he didn’t want and keeping the best.

Grandpa Jake gave a snuffle and laughed.

Grandpa Jake laughed again, and dug in his pocket and took out a small plastic cylinder with a lid. He popped off the lid and pulled out another cylinder made of metal, which had a plastic looking tail coming out of it. Grandpa Jake explained how the film had to be loaded into camera, and that each press of the shutter button let just a very fast flash of light expose the scene onto the film. He also explained that you only got between 24 and 36 shots per film, so you needed to think carefully about what pictures you wanted to take. Once at the end, the undeveloped film had to be sent all the way to Theden and to a laboratory to get developed with chemicals and then finally, the images printed onto photographic paper. It would take about a week for the developed photos to come back, and even then, you might only get one or two out of the whole film that you wanted to keep.