A Happy Birthday to Rebecca!

Here's my testimonial to Rebecca, who is spending her summer holiday in Cornwall working, so she can save enough money to fly and visit me somewhere soon!

So, Rebecca Jane CherryAngel Huggins. Now, that is what I call a full-name, it pretty much covers all the bases. With a name like that I suppose you would expect to meet a lovely intelligent girl; someone down to earth, yet imaginative, creative and hard working. Well happily enough you’d be almost entirely correct. In fact Rebecca has all these abilities in spades, plus an unsurprising talent for dance and drama (unsurprising if you know me, that is).

The night Rebecca was born Daniel was very sad, he cried and cried because he was confused by our unfamiliar house at Cairns Road, while Sharon was rushed to the Maternity Ward. He fell asleep finally in his buggy, an oasis of familiarity for him. The excitement was palpable, and we were all delighted to meet Rebecca the day she arrived. As I remember, she had an unmistakeable strawberry mark on her left cheek, and I’m not talking faces here, which quite drew the attention.

“So how’s Rebecca then?”, asked Ellen, her smile glinting from beneath her glasses.
“She’s a little bit Goth”
“Does she wear all black clothes?”
“No, she wears jeans, with a studded belt. A little bit Punky , but she’s also Indie. You know, a bit Punky and a bit Indie”, said Pete; he was imagining a combination of a stripy shirt and a studded belt, with black eyeliner. He was describing to Ellen how his sister had looked to him during the last visit home.
“Oh she’s Emo”, said Ellen, with a certainty in her voice and expression that was at once convincing, “you should look it up!”

Not long ago in London, at Christmas time, sitting at a table in the Shakespeare pub next to Victoria Station, David and Peter were enjoying a drink together before going their separate ways into the night. It was early evening and the pub was full of revellers, the pub’s gaudy Christmas lights surrounding them. For fun the two of them were making predictions on the futures of their younger siblings, and writing the predictions down for posterity. I’m unable to tell you what those guesses were exactly, but I know that they talked of big things for all three.

This year, while Rebecca spends her Birthday away in Port Isaac Cornwall, I am thinking of her and wishing her many happy returns. At fifteen she is as delightful as ever, and I miss seeing her very much.