Andrew’s Mum was expecting a baby.  Being the middle one between two sisters, Andrew desperately wanted the coming baby to be a brother.

There were four bedrooms so everyone had their own room, except Mum and Dad who shared.  When Mum told the children about the new baby, she had already thought it all through and had made a suggestion about the new bedroom arrangements. 

If the baby was a girl, Megan would give up her slightly larger bedroom and take over Flora’s room, and Flora and the baby would share Megan’s room.  If the baby were a boy, as soon as he was old enough to leave Mum and Dad’s bedroom, he would move into Andrew’s room.  Megan would move into Flora’s room and Megan’s slightly larger room would become The Playroom. 

Mum left it open to discussion.

 Megan said that as she was the eldest, she should still have a room of her own.  Flora said she didn’t mind sharing.  Andrew just shrugged his shoulders.   Megan said that he wasn’t allowed to just do that, he had to say something, so he asked a question.
 “If I say something, what happens then?” 
“We think about it and see if it is sensible of course,” answered Megan using her big sister voice.
“Well!  I think what Mum says is a good idea.  We all want a new baby don’t we?”  Andrew said, thinking that he sounded even more grown up than Megan did.  The girls looked at each other for a moment, and then nodded and the decision was made. 

There would be The Girls’ Room, The Boys’ Room, and The Playroom, but only if the baby was a boy.  If the baby was a girl, there would be three girls to one boy, and Andrew did not like the sound of that at all.

Andrew liked the idea of calling his bedroom The Boys’ Room.  He found a white cardboard box, which had held Dad’s new shoes, and carefully tore one side off.  Then he found a bright red felt tip pen, and wrote the words in large capital letters, then he added a single line border also in red, to finish it off.  It looked really good!  He didn’t want anyone to see it yet, so he slid it carefully in behind his toy-box looking at it from all angles to make sure that it couldn’t be seen.                                                                                           
 Mum knew how much he wanted a brother, and kept trying to tell him that there were no guarantees.  The baby had an equal chance of being born a girl or a boy, and as he had two sisters already and his newest cousin was a girl too, maybe the family leaned more towards girls than boys anyway.   She warned him not to set his heart on definitely getting what he wanted.  
“That will only lead to disappointment,” she said, ruffling his hair.

 Every time Mum talked about the baby being a girl, Andrew crossed his fingers behind his back, just in case she was jinxing everything, and would make it happen just by saying it was possible.  He tried thinking instead, of what it would be like to be the one to teach his baby brother how to kick a ball or how to climb a tree, and hope that his thinking would be more likely to influence the outcome than his mother’s would. 

It was time!   Andrew knew Mum and Dad had been up for ages.  He heard them talking quietly in the family room, and heard the clinking of tea cups, long before it was time to get up.  He had heard Dad on the telephone when he had rung his boss, and knew he had started his holidays.   Mum was ready to go into the hospital.
 
 Andrew and the girls normally liked going to school, but just this once they would rather not have gone.  They dawdled over getting dressed, took their time eating breakfast, and brushed their teeth for longer than they ever had before.  Flora lost her ribbons that she wore for school, and Andrew could only find one shoe.

 Mum said that Flora, just this once could borrow some of Megan’s (who had more ribbons than anyone else in the world), and Andrew was allowed to wear his runners.  The only concession Dad made was to take them to school in the car rather than make them go on the school bus as they usually did.  Dad promised he would come down to the school and let them know as soon as anything happened, but he stressed that the baby might not be born for ages yet.  Maybe not until tomorrow even.

It was very hard to concentrate on schoolwork, but break time came, and then lunchtime, with still no sign of Dad.  Maybe Dad was right; maybe nothing was going to happen until tomorrow.   Andrew didn’t know how he was expected to live through another minute of not knowing, never mind another whole day!  He finished his sums, put his sheet of paper on Mr Welsh’s table and put away his book, then he took out his library book, which was a new ‘Goosebumps’ adventure. 

He soon became so engrossed in the story that Mr Welsh had to call him twice to tell him that Dad had arrived, and it was alright for him to gather up his belongings and go.

 Dad was grinning from ear to ear, but all he said was for Andrew to get into the car, and put his seatbelt on.  Andrew started to ask him what the news was, but he dashed off to get the girls out of their classrooms without answering.

 Dad could be so annoying sometimes.  He refused to answer any questions until they were all sitting in the car with their seat belts fastened. He turned round to face them and looking directly at Andrew he said, “You didn’t really want a brother did you?” Andrew felt a hard lump starting to form inside his stomach.  Dad’s eyes then moved to include the girls.  “Well! I think you girls had better get used to the idea of sharing a room,” Dad finished, turning round in his seat.

As Dad started the car, and set off for the hospital, Andrew slowly opened his eyes wider and wider, as it dawned on him what Dad had said.  He grinned at one sister, and then the other.  They were equally stunned.  They just couldn’t believe that after all the waiting and wondering, it was over, and they had a brand new baby brother.  Gradually the noise in the car grew in volume, until they were all cheering at the tops of their voices, and Dad was laughing fit to burst.

 Mum was sitting up in bed, with a crib at her side, and although she was smiling, Andrew thought that she looked tired.  Dad walked over to the crib, picked up the sleeping baby, and gave him to Mum.  All three children crowded silently round the bed to see this wonderful sight. 
 
 “Come and say ‘Hello’ to Tom,” Mum said, as she moved the sheet away from the tiny, red, wrinkled face.  “You can all have a nurse, and then Dad will take you home, and let us both have a little sleep.  You can come back after tea for a proper visit”. 

 Andrew let his sisters hold Tom first; he smiled up at Mum, and asked if it was all right to give her a hug.  She swept him into her arms and very nearly squeezed the breath from his body. 

He watched as first a smiling and confident Megan and then a very nervous Flora took a turn at holding the newest family member.  He was so happy! When it came his turn to hold his new baby brother, it felt a bit scary, and he asked Dad quite quickly to take Tom back just in case he accidentally hurt him.

Dad had fetched the camera from the car and he took some photographs, and then there were more cuddles all round.  Dad organised the reluctant children back into the car, with a promise of ‘take away’ for tea if everyone was good, and they set off for home.

 As soon as he got inside, while the girls were giving the good news to some of the neighbours, and Dad was getting on the phone to talk to the grandparents, Andrew sped to his room, and retrieved his notice from behind the toy-box.  He found some sticky tape he had hidden in his sock drawer, and proudly taped the sign to the outside of the bedroom door.

     
THE BOYS' ROOM