Songs For Your Mother Gordon MacMillan (good books for 7th graders .txt) 📖

‘On you get then,’ I say.

‘I’m going to run alongside in case you fall off,’ Georgia says.

‘You seem to be bringing up a natural-born pessimist,’ I say to TSP.

‘You know it’s not that, Johnny. It’s that she isn’t as confident in everyone else as she is in herself,’ TSP says.

‘Do you remember what I said was the most important thing to keep doing?’ I ask.

Luke gives me a big smile. He tells me of course he remembers. ‘Keep pedalling!’ he declares, throwing his arms in the air.

‘That’s right, and I cannot overestimate how important pedalling is to the overall success of bike riding. Final time, are you ready?’

‘Ready, ready,’ he shouts.

‘Okay, here we go,’ I say.

I put my hands on the back of his saddle and begin to push as Luke pedals. We start to move a little quicker, and Luke tucks his head down, chin in, and pedals harder. Georgia runs alongside shouting ‘faster, faster’ as we head across the grass. TSP and I run behind, and we’re like a flock of geese in a v-formation preparing for flight.

I’m still holding on to Luke as he furiously pedals. The trouble is that I’m not quite sure when to let go. TSP calls out that I need to let him go although I don’t want to. I’m worried what will happen next. I know that I have to and so I bow to the inevitable, and I prepare to set him free.

‘Keep pedalling, and I’m going to let go,’ I say.

‘Let me go, Daddy,’ Luke says, and I take my hands away, and he flies forward. He’s on his own now, cycling across the grass, and he shouts out as he goes.

‘I’m riding my bike!’

For a moment, I fear he is going to throw his hands in the air in celebration and swiftly crash. He keeps going, and I’m feeling so proud as I watch him. That’s Luke, I’m saying, and he’s my son, who I taught to ride his bike. Okay, so there wasn’t a great deal of teaching involved. It was more about a few essential tips, and pushing. All Luke had to do was to get on and make sure he didn’t stop pedalling. However, it feels like an achievement all the same. I only wish I could tell Lauren about this, and that we could share this achievement. More than anything else, I want that.

Luke has gone at least twenty metres, and is already doing better than I did. He is still going strong as we run along. Luke pedals with an inimitable look of determination on his face. No one is running more enthusiastically than Georgia, who is still under the impression that Luke isn’t going fast enough.

‘Faster, faster, Luke,’ Georgia shouts.

Luke is grinning at her and calling back.

‘I am fast, I am,’ he says.

The two continue to call to each other and laugh as Luke heads across the grass, right up until the moment he comes crashing down as tries to turn. Luke lands in a heap and the bike skitters and stops.

‘Luke, Luke, you fell off!’ Georgia is laughing and pointing.

‘What happened there?’ I ask.

Luke shrugs mystified, as if it might have been a technical issue beyond his control. ‘I was pedalling fast, but it wouldn’t turn.’

‘You have to steer the handlebars,’ Georgia says.

‘We’ll cover steering in lesson two,’ I say.

We have another couple of attempts, and steering remains an issue. He’s great at going straight. When it comes to deviating from his chosen path, then it is all over faster than you can say ‘I’m five’. Even after Georgia decides that the best way to show Luke is to do circuits around the green on his bike, he still can’t quite get the hang of it. Georgia, however, reassures Luke that she will teach him.

‘Don’t worry, I can show you. Johnny’s not a very good bike teacher, are you?’ Georgia says.

‘Apparently not,’ I say. ‘I’m about to be replaced by a five-year-old, although I’m okay with that.’

‘Are you sure?’ TSP asks.

‘Well, up to a point, as it also means that I’m being replaced by a mini-you and that’s, I don’t know, so strange,’ I say.

TSP hugs Georgia. ‘You’re not a mini-Mummy, are you?’

‘No, Johnny. I’m a mini-me,’ Georgia says.

‘Why does Georgia call you, Johnny?’ Luke asks.

‘Because that’s his name, silly,’ Georgia says before I can say anything.

‘Can I call him Johnny too?’

‘No, you have to call him Daddy as that’s the rule,’ Georgia says. ‘That’s why I call my mummy, Mummy, and you can call her TSP. I wish I could call you TSP. I like that name.’

‘I know you do, sweetheart. But, as you said, it’s the rule and we can’t go around breaking all the rules,’ TSP says.

‘We can break some of them, can’t we?’ Georgia asks.

‘Yes, we can, although we have to think very carefully about which ones we choose to break,’ TSP says.

‘Is that the rule?’ Luke looks up and asks me.

‘That’s the rule,’ I say. ‘Now come on, we’ll have another ride in a bit.’

We walk over to the café and buy drinks before we move over to the sectioned-off children’s play area where there are climbing frames, slides and swings. As Luke and Georgia run off, TSP and I sit down on a bench and watch them on the swings.

‘I like that they still have swings, but I miss those classic ones,’ I say.

‘Oh, you mean the ones that went really high? I loved those,’ TSP says. ‘I seem to remember them being fairly dangerous.’

‘There was definitely a sense of danger. Holding on for dear life was part of the fun,’ I say.

‘That does explain why they don’t have those particular swings anymore. Are you counting the formative experiences you had in the park?’ TSP asks.

‘I’m not sure that I remember having many of those. Maybe one, maybe my second girlfriend, a girl called Lisa. I’m not quite sure how formative it was, it was definitely a moment,’ I say.

‘We’re all having a moment.