Leonora plans her revenge

The trouble was Leonora couldn't immediately think of anything suitably nasty for her revenge.

She disappointedly gazed out of the window searching for inspiration.

But the scenery was far too soft and pretty to inspire her with any wickedness.

It had definitely been a mistake to come back. Why had she let Leonard manipulate her? He had planned the whole thing to laugh at her and make her uncomfortable. She hated him.

Leonard, being a good driver, regularly checked his mirror. Although it had to be said he was also interested in catching Leonora's eye. She resolutely avoided his glance, but curiosity got the better of her and she peeked in the mirror once - only to be met with one of Leonard's best winning smiles. She quickly looked away again.

Tata still had her head on Leonora's shoulder. She was whimpering away to herself thinking of the fun they would have digging holes in the sand together and running in the streams and rivers. She didn't know whether Leonora would be any good at either of these activities but she was quite happy to teach her.

Really Leonora couldn't go wrong. She had offers coming out of her ears to learn about geocaching, digging holes in the sand, and running around in freezing cold water. It was a shame she didn't want to do any of those things.

Leonard pulled up at the first parking space. He decided to take the two little crutches who had been chattering away quietly in the back of the Land Rover. They had tried to talk to the walking poles, but the poles were rather snooty and had no intention of socialising with a couple of temporary little crutches. The poles were permanent members of the household and expert cachers. Mrs Leonard took the poles so they could safely look for the hidden treasure.

Leonora sulkily got out and made a big fuss of Tata so that she could avoid speaking to Leonard. No such luck.

"So you've decided not to stay in the Land Rover then Leonora?" he said cheerfully. "I'm so glad you've decided to come with us."

"There's not much point me sitting there on my own with nothing to do is there?" she replied churlishly. If only I had brought a book, she thought. I could have sat there quite sulkily for ages making my point.

"In fact, if I had known you were going caching, I could have brought a book. Or not come at all."

"Aw Leonora, come on, don't keep sulking at me. It's not the end of the world, and you know you'll enjoy the walk."

Why was he always so reasonable and accommodating when she was bad-tempered? It really wasn't fair. She so wanted to argue with him and he wouldn't play.

"Do you want to take the GPS?" he added, rubbing it in.

"No."

"What about the map then? You can pretend we are just doing an ordinary walk," he said laughing.

She hesitated. And as she hesitated, she noticed Leonard's brand new tyres. That was it. She needed to find something suitably sharp to give him a puncture. That would serve him right. Hit him in his pocket where it would really hurt. She smiled to herself. But where on earth was she going to find something in the countryside? Such a good idea but nothing to achieve it with. If only she had a Stanley knife with her.

"Yeah, OK, I'll take the map," she said, with half a smile. Best to pretend she was over her sulking and disarm Leonard. And after all, revenge was a dish best eaten cold.

Leonard breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness the silly woman wasn't going to continue acting like the spoilt brat of the year and ruin the day for everyone else.