{"id":1575,"date":"2023-04-16T15:55:48","date_gmt":"2023-04-16T15:55:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/?p=1575"},"modified":"2023-04-16T15:55:53","modified_gmt":"2023-04-16T15:55:53","slug":"bad-eggs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/bad-eggs\/1575\/","title":{"rendered":"Bad Eggs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Charlotte takes another sip of champagne and tilts her face towards the sun, letting the chatter and children\u2019s laughter wash over her. The annual Easter festival at the Red Lion is always a blast, bringing everyone in the town together. But this year feels extra special with the unseasonable heatwave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She\u2019s jolted out of her reverie by a sharp poke in the ribs from her daughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going on an Easter egg hunt!\u201d Meg giggles, trailing a chocolate-covered hand over Charlotte\u2019s lap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cMeg! Watch my new jeans. Have fun!\u201d she calls, but Megan is already running, a blur of blonde curls and ribbons as she follows the bright procession of children marching behind the Easter bunny. They disappear through the gate at the bottom of the beer garden just as the sun is covered by a patch of dark cloud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The chill in the air is immediate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLet\u2019s go inside!\u201d Charlotte says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They flock around the bar. It takes Charlotte several attempts to prop herself up onto one of the stools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve outdone yourself this year, Jude!\u201d she slurs at the landlady. \u201cThe Easter bunny was the best idea! I\u2019ve never heard the kids laugh so much. What time do you think they\u2019ll be back from the Easter egg hunt?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jude places the pint of Guinness she\u2019s pouring onto the bar to settle and looks at Charlotte, her features scrunching closer together in confusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEaster bunny? I didn\u2019t hire an Easter bunny.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Charlotte stares at the swirling Guinness and her stomach churns. The parents all take a collective sobering intake of breath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Panic spreads like wildfire. Within moments, everyone is out in the garden, frantically calling their children\u2019s names.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then, relief. The Easter bunny, a ray of yellow sunshine, steps through the gate just as the rain begins to fall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there are no children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhere are they?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Easter bunny throws its arms out dramatically, and a muffled female voice floats out of the mask.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYour lovely children!\u201d she says. \u201cWhile you were too busy getting drunk to question where they were, I was getting to know them all. How well do you know them? Or do you take them for granted? Some of us aren\u2019t lucky enough to have children. Anyway, your little darlings and I have made you an Easter egg hunt. Inside each egg is a question about your child. Get it right, and you see them again. Should be easy, right?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A clap of thunder splits the air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Megan looks around at all the little tearful faces. Even the tent they\u2019re in is crying, rain dripping off the porch. It\u2019s been three days now. They\u2019ve eaten so much chocolate that they feel sick, and the grown-ups still haven\u2019t returned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the Easter bunny has.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhere are our parents?\u201d Meg cries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Easter bunny laughs. It doesn\u2019t sound like a friendly laugh anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh, they were bad eggs. It\u2019s just us now, kids. We\u2019re going to have so much fun! More chocolate, anyone?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Charlotte takes another sip of champagne and tilts her face towards the sun, letting the chatter and children\u2019s laughter wash over her. The annual Easter festival at the Red Lion is always a blast, bringing everyone in the town together. But this year feels extra special with the unseasonable heatwave. She\u2019s jolted out of her […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10158782359051062_103813597863211":"","twitter_1225722811282530305_1225722811282530305":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[695,718],"tags":[721,720,7],"class_list":["post-1575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-695","category-april-2023-missing","tag-charlotte","tag-easter","tag-her"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbrNJE-pp","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1575"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1575\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1577,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1575\/revisions\/1577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}