milliways_bar | (no subject)

"Hey!" Jools recognises Guppy and Alex, and gets down to the ground to peer into a gap in the boxes.

"What's this?"

"House." Alex says, without looking up.

"Hey Jools." Guppy says. "Want to join us?"

"Okay," he says easily. He finds his way into the fort and makes himself as small as possible as to not crowd Alex and Guppy.

"Kind of a small house."

"Alex is a small kid." Guppy points out.

"Dools." Alex says, looking around at him.

Jools smiles at Alex. But he smiles a lot, so it may not really mean anything.

"I been seeing a lot of small people like him around here," he says. "There was this one elf a bit ago. We had cookies."

"Well Alex is a toddler, not an elf." Guppy says.

"Git-tar." Alex says.

"Yes, Jools has a guitar."

"I got it..." he looks around, realising it's not with him. "I think I left it somewhere."

Oh-oh.

"Oh dear." Guppy says.

"Uh-oh." Alex says, tellytubby style.

He climbs out of the fort to go find the guitar, eventually locating it under a table (don't ask).

It's his red electric one this time, and he brings it into the fort, trying not to knock anything over.

"I can't plug it in any more," he complains. "Mum says it's what started the fire last time."

"Oh dear. Well we don't have any power sockets in the cardboard house anyway."

Concerned look. "You had a fire?"

Jools nods. "Six," he says. "No, seven. But that last one wasn't my fault. The fire man said so."

"Oh dear, what happened with the other six?"

"Well," Jools starts. "There was the one with the toaster, and then my amp did one, and then I was trying to make fish fingers. And there was one in the shed. That's when I went to the young offender's institute. And then the other two were when I fell asleep with a cigarette."

"Did you start any of them on purpose?"

Jools shakes his head. "Uh-uh," he says. "Mum says I did, but she says I do a lot of things that I don't."

"It was mean of them to send you to Youth Offenders when you didn't mean to do it." Guppy says.

"Would you like to learn fire safety?"

"Well, I'm not allowed to do those things any more," Jools reasons.

That's what Guppy means, right?

"Well it may still be good to learn about how not to cause fires, right? In case something unexpected happens."

Jools nods. "Okay," he says.

After a few moments, he realises that this is going to be one of those Very Important conversations, and pulls his notebook out of his pocket, and finds an open page.

Guppy was going to suggest he go on a course, but this works too.

"Okay, number one. For a fire to burn, it needs heat, fuel and air. Fuel is the thing that catches fire."

He pauses between numbers.

"Number two, fires can be caused by something hot, chemicals or electrical things.

If you're using chemicals, read the label carefully and don't put them somewhere hot or with other chemicals unless the instructions are to do so.

If you are using something electrical and it gets warm, unplug it when you are finished. If it gets very hot or starts to smoke, stop using it.

Don't plug too many things into one power socket. If you have to use a distribution board, use the long ones not the cube ones.

If you are cooking, use a timer to make sure your food doesn't burn. And don't leave your food unattended while it's cooking. And don't cook while drunk or very sleepy.

Never smoke on the sofa or in bed if you are sleepy. Always use an ashtray. Or better yet give up smoking."

Jools takes a long moment to write this all down, nodding at each point.

"Mum says I'm not allowed in the kitchen," he says. "It was the only way she'd let me back in."

"Well it won't hurt you to learn." Guppy says.

"Hurry, hurry, fireman Sam." Alex sings to himself.

He nods again, and starts scratching his head. "Right," he says.

"Who's fireman Sam?"

"...You're from the UK and you've never heard of Fireman Sam?"

"Should I have?" he asks. "Is he the one that's on all those posters and stuff?"

Probably not.