Granny Lotta's Trampoline Tea Party

Granny Lotta did not believe in sitting still, which is a problem when it comes to tea.

"We'll have it on the trampoline," she said.

"Granny," said Finn, "you can't have tea on a trampoline."

"Watch me," said Granny Lotta, and she climbed up with the teapot.

Finn climbed up after her, because somebody had to hold the cake.

For a moment it was fine. Granny Lotta sat down in the middle with her legs crossed and poured two cups, and the trampoline only wobbled a little, and the cups only slopped a little, and Finn thought that perhaps Granny Lotta knew what she was doing.

Then the cat jumped on.

The cat was called Admiral and he weighed as much as a small dog and had never once in his life landed quietly. He landed now. The trampoline went down. The trampoline came up. The teacups went up with it, and stayed up slightly longer than the trampoline did, and then came down, and Finn caught one and Granny Lotta caught the other and the Admiral caught nothing because he was already running away.

"Lovely," said Granny Lotta, and took a sip. "Pass the cake."

Finn passed the cake. The trampoline wobbled. The cake, which was a Victoria sponge, began to slide. Finn leaned to stop it. Granny Lotta leaned the other way to balance him. The trampoline bounced, gently, just once, and the whole cake rose into the air in a slow and dignified way, turned over, and landed jam-side down on the Admiral, who had come back to see what was happening.

The Admiral left again.

"More for us," said Granny Lotta, and scraped a bit off the mat.

By now Finn was laughing so much he could not hold his cup. Granny Lotta took it from him, which meant she had two cups and no hands, so she stood up to put them on the edge, and that was the mistake.

Granny Lotta on a trampoline, standing, with two cups of tea, is a thing you only see once.

She bounced. She did not mean to. Her knees did it. The two cups went up like two small birds and she went up after them, and at the top she caught them both, one in each hand, and came down in a sitting position with her bun slightly to one side and not a drop spilt.

"Granny!" shouted Finn.

"Oops," said Granny Lotta, and bounced again, on purpose this time.

So then, of course, they bounced. They bounced with the tea and they bounced without it. They bounced until the sky went pink, and then purple, and then the colour that is not a colour but is just evening. The Admiral came back with jam on his ears and sat on the grass, judging them.

At last they lay down on their backs in the middle of the trampoline, which is the best place in the world to lie down, because it holds you like a hand.

"Granny," said Finn, "why did you want tea on the trampoline?"

Granny Lotta looked up at the first star.

"Because one day you'll be as old as me," she said, "and someone will tell you to sit still. And I want you to remember that you don't have to."

Finn thought about this. The trampoline rocked a tiny bit under them, settling, the way it does when the bouncing is over.

"Granny?"

"Mm?"

"The cake was really good."

"It was," said Granny Lotta. "The Admiral thought so too."

Above them the stars came out one by one, and somewhere in the house the kettle was waiting, but neither of them got up to put it on. They were busy lying very still, which, it turned out, Granny Lotta did believe in after all. Just not before bouncing.