Michael & Bev chapter 1

I come from a largish family, four sisters and one brother. My father was attached to the military and as a consequence we travelled quite a lot during our early years. Both my mother and father were “only” children, therefore we had no real aunties and uncles. We did however have many pretend aunties (I suppose pretend uncles as well but I don’t really recall them as much). My mother’s mother, my Nanna, as we called her also had 11 sisters and a brother so we had many “Great Aunties and Great Uncles” as well.
Being eight of us we didn’t get to travel much once we had arrived back in England “For good!” as my mother would say. Being eight of us brought it’s own problems with transport and expense of course. We did spend a lot of time with our “Nanna & Dadda” though during school holidays etc.
It was during one school holiday that I was told that we would be going on a bus trip to the seaside. Being that it left early in the morning we had been arranged as such that a majority of us would stay at our grandparents as it was nearer to where the bus left, a couple at one of our Great Aunties and I was asked if I would stay with one of my mother’s cousins Debbie. She had a son Michael, one year older than me, at 15, and a daughter, Beverly, two years younger than me. I hadn’t even heard of them never mind met them but was used to being “farmed out” when the necessity arose.
On the Friday evening I was dropped off at my “Aunt” Debbie’s house and introduced to Michael and Beverly. “Aunt” Debbie looked much like a combination of Sharon Stone and Michelle Pfiffer (If you can imagine such a combination?). Micheal reminded me of a young David Hasslehoff but with his hair cropped much shorter and Beverly a little like a young Jennifer Anniston.
Michael showed me up to his room, where I would be staying the night and showed me his collection of music albums, I didn’t really have much interest but tried to be polite and join in with his enthusiasm. Beverly, or Bev, came to join us but sat as an onlooker rather than part of our little club. “Aunt” Debbie called us down. “It’s time you all had a bath ready for tomorrow” she said “We’ve an early start so to bed early, you don’t mind sharing a bath do you” she looked at me.