“But Mr. Liggard, why do you always assume when something nasty happens in the street that it must have been caused by one of our young people?” asked an only just self-contained Vinney.

“Because it usually has been one or more of them,” said a seething Mr. Liggard. “Well, let’s just go over the main points of your concerns again”. “Oh, very well, it’s simple enough. I got up this morning, opened the door to take in my milk and found that half of my wallflower plants had gone and the drive was covered in soil.”

“And did you see who did this?”

“Well, no; but I heard some of your kids going by late last night”.

“You know them by sound: that’s more than I do!”

“Well, all right. I suppose I have to accept that it could have been someone else”, conceded Mr. Liggard.

Just then there was a knock at the door, followed by the sound of the door opening, and in walked Gary. “Are you talking about Mr. Liggard’s garden?” “Yes, Gary, we are; so just leave us alone for a while”, said Vinney. “Hang on. What do you know about my garden, lad?” snapped Mr. Liggard. “Go, Gary, just go”, urged Vinney.

“I know who did it. It was Dwain and Angi. They told me at breakfast”.

By this time Mr.Liggard had turned a nastier shade of purple.

“OK, Gary, thanks for your help. You can go now”, advised a despairing Vinney.

“I’m sorry about that, Mr. Liggard. Just let me know how much it will cost to replace your plants and I will reimburse you. Some, at least, of the money will come from the young people concerned. I promise you it won’t happen again.”

“Very well, but keep those kids under control. That’s what they are here for, the gang of delinquents”.

Before Vinney could say, “Well, no. They are not here because of delinquency”, Mr. Liggard had slammed the office door and was striding down the drive.

Sarah and Vinney decided it was time to raise the subject of being part of the wider community again, in both the young people’s meeting and in the staff meeting.

“The first point I would like to raise in this meeting,” Sarah told the young people, “is the question of getting on with and being good neighbours”.

“They are just a bunch of moaners”, said Dwain.

“Yer,” agreed Angi, “they moan when we play our stereo, they moan when we call out the window to our mates and they moan when Vinney leaves the house car outside their houses”.

“And they moan when someone pulls up their flowers,” added Vinney. “It was only meant to be a joke and if that little sneak Gary hadn’t snitched on us, no one would have blamed us”, hissed Dwain, looking fiercely in Gary’s direction. “The point is,” said Sarah, “we live in a street with other people. In days gone by, children’s homes used to be out in the country or in big houses surrounded by acres of garden. Is that what you would like to do now, live in splendid isolation?”

“Splendid sounds nice Sarah”, observed Jilly.

“What Sarah means”, suggested Claudia, “is that kids were stuck in homes miles from anyone and were called the orphans and wore poor quality clothes and had their hair kept short so they wouldn’t get nits.”

“Oh. No. I don’t think that sounds so good”, observed Jilly.

“And we have got some decent neighbours,” said Abdul, “that Mrs Stone at number 24 always says, ‘Hello how are you’ and she brought around a box of tomatoes in the summer from her greenhouse.”

“Bully for her”, sneered Nickki, “just because she thinks we are a load of charity cases”.

“That’s not fair, Nickki”, replied Abdul, “she accepted that box of cooking apples we took round to her from our tree, so she knows we don’t want charity, just respect.”

“Yer, man, respect,” quipped Dwain.

“Abdul has got a good point. Neighbours can help each other. They also have a right to expect we all act in a thoughful and considerate way to them, just as we have a right to expect the same from them,” stated Sarah.

“But they think we are all hooligans,” said Angi.

“And we are,” laughed Dwain.

“Speak for yourself Dwain,” snapped Abdul.

“That’s right Dwain; we’re not all like you”, said Jilly.

“Come on. None of you are hooligans. You can all have your off moments, but I think you are a great bunch of kids”, said Vinney.

“Thanks, Vinney, and some of the staff is OK too”, replied Abdul.

“So; what are we going to do to be better neighbours?” asked Sarah.

“Well, me and Dwain are going to write an apology to Mr. Liggard. Aren’t we Dwain?” said Angi.

“That’s a start, Angi, but what else can we do?”

“Keep the noise down, don’t throw litter around, smile and say, ‘Hello’ when we see them; things like that”, suggested Gary.

“Very good, Gary; you should be with the United Nations”, said Vinney.

“He should be with the creepy crawlies, more like”, snapped Dwain.

“Come on, Dwain, stop being so negative. Haven’t you got any ideas?”

“Well, we could invite those girls round from number 28 for a party”, said Dwain with enthusiasm.

“I don't think we should do anything that normal neighbours don't do. The staff don’t live here so it’s harder for them to be proper neighbours but they can still be friendly. I think the kids should be able to invite other kids in from the street if they are real friends, which is what we can do anyhow,” proposed Nickki.

“Spot on, Nickki”, said Claudia.

“Yer, we just want be treated as normal kids”, said Abdul.

“Which will be hard in your case”, cracked Dwain.

“Don’t push it, Dwain”, said Vinney, looking at an agitated Abdul.

“So let’s all agree that we want to be good neighbours who respect others and expect respect from them.; that we will be considerate and friendly; that we make friends in the normal way, through school and clubs and such like, and that we help each other out on the odd occasion that may be necessary. And finally we will come back to this subject from time to time, not just when something goes wrong,” concluded Sarah.

“Yer, OK, Sarah. Do you think number 30 will give us back our football now?” asked Abdul.