The little man in the red coat

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While it is the school holidays, I thought I would write a little story that Grandmas or Grandpas might like to read to their grandchildren.

You may be aware that I have written and published a couple of children’s books about furry little creatures that live in the garden called ‘The Pipsies’.  When I was a youngster, I had a very vivid imagination and I just loved to play in the garden, especially at my grandparents place.  As a result, many of my ideas have stemmed from my childhood fantasies.

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Hugo and Fergus were cousins and they both loved to come and stay with their Nannie and Granddad.

Nannie and Granddad had a wonderful garden; there were lots of trees, flowers and colourful bushes.

Hugo and Fergus loved to explore and would often imagine all sorts of little creatures running around in the garden.

One day the two boys were outside playing when Hugo saw movement in the bushes.  “Hey Fergus, did you see that tiny little man in the red coat?” called out Hugo.

“Where, where?” replied Fergus.

“Just over there under the tree.  He has a wheelbarrow” answered Hugo.

“Yes I see him now,” replied out Fergus excitedly, “I wonder what he is doing?”

“I don’t know, shall we ask him?” replied Hugo, in an eager voice.

The two boys quietly crept over to where the little man was.

“Hello sir, my cousin and I want to know if we can help you,” said Hugo to the man in the red coat.  With this, the tiny man in the red coat turned around, very surprised to hear a voice coming from the bushes.  The top of his little hat only came up to Hugo’s waist.

“Oh yes young people!  You are so much bigger than I am, you can both help me.  Thank you”.

The man in the red coat sometimes saw the children playing in the garden but they never called out to him, so this was quite a new experience.

The boys could see the man was quite old.  He seemed to be struggling, and he was gathering wood.

“I am trying to gather wood for winter and put it in my wheelbarrow”, said the old man, thinking he should make conversation with the boys, “I am getting old now and each year it gets harder for me to gather wood for the winter.  I am no longer a young man.’

“Oh I see”, replied Fergus.

“Your help would be appreciated.  You both look big and strong.  Only if you want to of course…” the little man continued.

Hugo and Fergus looked at each other and agreed they would like to help the old man.

“Sure, we would be happy to help,” said Fergus looking at his cousin for reassurance.

Hugo gave Fergus a wee nudge, “Come on, it will be fun”, Hugo said, grabbing Fergus by the arm.

For the next hour, the boys were busy gathering wood for the man in the red coat.  They loaded up the little wheelbarrow several times and took it through the trees and dropped it at the door by the mans little house.

“You have been so kind,” said the man in the red coat, “this is enough for the whole winter!”

“We enjoyed helping you sir,” replied Hugo.

“I would like you boys to come back and visit my wife and I tomorrow for afternoon tea, if that’s alright?”

‘Oh yes, we would like that!” exclaimed Fergus, “we will ask our Nannie if we can play in the garden tomorrow”.

“I will look for you in the garden,” said the man in the red coat before waving the boys goodbye.

“Oh that was such fun”, said Fergus to Hugo as they made their way back inside.

As they got near the house, they could hear their Nannie calling them.

“Boys where are you?  Its almost dinner time, come along inside now”, she said,

“What on earth have you been doing?  Your clothes are so dirty.  I think a bath is called for before dinner”, she added as she shook her head.

“Oh just playing, sorry Nannie” said Hugo looking at Fergus, as they both gave a little giggle.

Both the boys had decided that this was their secret.  They were not to tell Nanna and Granddad about the man in the red coat or their adventure.  This was their secret and theirs alone.

The next day the boys asked to go out and play in the garden.  When the boys arrived at the spot where they had met the man in the red coat they were sad to see he was not there.

“Was it just a dream Fergus?” said Hugo, “did we really meet the man in the red coat?”

“Yes of course we did!” replied Fergus, “he was real and we helped him gather his wood”

Both the boys felt sad.  They were about to head back when suddenly they heard a noise in the distance.  Through the clearing, they could see the shape of the man in the red coat.  As he drew near, they could see he was limping.

“I am sorry I am late, but I did not want to let you down”.

“That’s alright,” said Fergus, “but why are you limping?”

“Well my cow Bessie got stuck in the creek this morning and I hurt my leg trying to get her out” said the little man.

“Oh that’s a shame.  We do hope it will soon be better.  We can try and help you while we are here on holiday.” replied Hugo.

“Thank you boys.  Now come and meet my wife Millie and have some raspberry lemonade and cake”.

“We would love to, thank you,” said Hugo, excited at the thought of lemonade and cake.

Hugo and Fergus skipped along the path to the little house made of twigs at the edge of the clearing.  Both boys had to get on all fours to fit in the front door.  The house was cute, inviting and it felt warm side.  The boys soon felt quite at home.  Millie was a homely woman with rosy red cheeks.  She was very small, just like the man in the red coat, but they were lovely and kind.

After spending an hour with the little man and his wife, Hugo suggested they had better leave, as their Nannie would soon be looking for them.

“We will see you again” called out Fergus as they were leaving.

Over the next week, the boys would play in the garden as often as they could.  A couple of days were rainy and Nannie noticed how fidgety the boys were when they could not go outside to play.

On the last day of the holidays the boys went into the garden to find the man in the red coat, it was time to say goodbye.

“We will come and look for you again when we come back for a holiday,” said Hugo.  “I will look forward to it,” said the man in the red coat as he waved goodbye to the boys.

Just before he left, he had pressed a little piece of wood into each of their hands with a carving of a pukeko on it.

“This is a small ‘thank you’ gift,” he said to them.

Both Hugo and Fergus were so excited with their little gift.  It meant a great deal to them and they would treasure them forever.

“I cannot wait until next holidays to come back,” said Fergus.

“I know, me too,” said Hugo to his cousin, “We will have to keep our little gift a secret”.

“Yes indeed we will.  It has been such a wonderful time. See you here next holiday Hugo,” replied Fergus.  With that, the boys gave each other a big high five as they went inside to get their bags.

Both the boys put the little wooden carving into a safe place in their pockets.  This was their secret – a secret only special cousins could share.

By Kay Rayner