Ned hugged the top of Mallos' head.
"I'm sorry about your friend, Papa," he said, feeling sad. He'd been thinking about it the entire trip down to the garage. It would be awful if Mama, Papa or even Angie went away and never came back. He missed them dreadfully when they went away anyway, but at least all he had to do was wait. Poor Papa! He could wait and wait and wait, get terribly bored and lonely, and his friend wouldn't come to play with him. Ned tightened his grip on Sir Hugs' paw. He'd hate to lose him too.

"Is he the little voice in your head when you're thinking about taking a bit of cake without asking and then you get a squirmy feeling in your tummy?" Ned continued, tottering between the cars. His footsteps echoed around the garage as his shoes tapped against the concrete floor. The cars were all very shiny. He wondered how his Papa managed to get them so bright. There was a man in their house who lived in the basement who always seemed to be polishing spoons and things. Maybe he polished the cars too...although, he would probably need a larger cloth. When you looked at yourself in an extra-shiny spoon they made your nose look huge. The shiny cars had a similar effect but on your entire body. Cars were a lot bigger than spoons though...

And bluer!

"I like this car!" Ned enthused, running over to Mallos. He wrapped one arm around his Papa's leg and stroked the metal pony on the bonnet with the other. "Are these go-fasterer stripes?" He pointed at them and looked up, grinning. "I like going fast. Sir Hugs does too, but it messes up his fur." Ned giggled, thinking of Angie.

There was nothing strange about the sudden appearance of his car seat. His Papa made far stranger things happen all the time. He held his arms up out of the way whilst Mallos lifted him into the car and stayed still whilst he fastened the straps. The quicker you got into the car, the quicker you got to whichever exciting place Papa was taking you! Ned settled Sir Hugs in his lap and looked expectantly out of the front window whilst Mallos climbed into the seat beside him.

They were off.
"Wow!" Ned enthused, clapping his hands, "it sounds more like a lion than a pony!" As they neared the end of the driveway he started to make out the other cars moving along the road. They were all boring compared to Papa's and they didn't make anywhere near as much noise. He wiggled his feet in excitement and then adopted a thoughtful expression. The ponies in Madrid sounded cool. He didn't know a lot about roads and he wasn't entirely sure where Toledo was, other than 'away.'
"Papa..." Ned said thoughtfully, "I know we can't go see dragons...but are there dinosaurs in Madrid?" He grinned imploringly up at Mallos his left hand twisting Sir Hugs' ear anxiously, waiting for the reply. "Ponies and dinosaurs would make a great adventure!"