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Jinnie said, “I’m sorry, Dawn, did you say my new Spanish teacher was in Reception?” “That’s right, Dame Jinnie, Professor Carlos Sanchez from Cambridge University.” “Please give him a visitor pass and ask him to take a seat. Ask Alice to collect him and bring him up here.” Turning to Alberto, Jinnie said, “I’m sorry, we will have to continue this discussion some other time. I have an unexpected visitor I need to see. But quickly, the other thing I wanted to raise with you was, do you think there is room for a chain of mid-market French restaurants in the U.K., something similar to the Sybaritic chain? I’ll tell you my thinking when we continue this conversation.”
Janet led Professor Sanchez into Jinnie’s office and introduced him. Jinnie asked the Professor to take a seat and Janet to shut the door on her way out. The Professor explained he was often used by the SIS to run crash courses in Spanish for agents. He said that the course was to be intensive and, from tomorrow, they would only converse in Spanish. He would prefer it if she wasn’t working for the next fortnight, but if she had to, then the idea was she would operate as an interpreter for him.
The Professor explained that he was booked into a local hotel for the duration of the course and would come to her house every morning at 8 o’clock, including weekends. He would then work with her on her Spanish until 5 o’clock every evening. Jinnie thought for a moment and then said, “I have a French friend and her family staying with me next week. I have several meetings arranged with her and colleagues as we are sorting out a position for her in the company. This is going to be very difficult.”
The Professor said, “Sir Alan said you wouldn’t like it, but he said that the alternative was that the army will immediately activate your service and we do things in a military base, away from your family. The choice is yours.” Jinnie said, “You haven’t given me much choice. I suppose I will have to see you in the morning and try to still handle business.”
As Professor Sanchez stood up to leave, he said, “I’ll be at your house at 8 a.m. sharp. Oh, I nearly forgot, Professor Dirk Scholz sends his regards.” “You know Dick?” said Jinnie. “Yes,” replied the Professor, “we are good friends. I suppose it makes sense, as we both work for Sir Alan.”
***
Willie and Millie learned over their evening meal that Mummy was going to have an intensive course in Spanish, and she was going to have her own full-time teacher. Jinnie told the twins a white lie, saying that the company was expanding into South and Central America, where many countries spoke Spanish, and someone high up in the company needed to be able to lead negotiations in the country’s own language. Willie said, “Gosh, you are lucky. Two whole weeks of Spanish lessons. We only get five lessons a week with Miss Manson.”
The twins were waiting for Professor Sanchez to arrive and were determined to try out their Spanish on a real Spaniard. As soon as he drove his Peugeot into the drive, Millie shouted, “He’s here, Mummy,” and they rushed out to try their Spanish on him, starting off by greeting him in Spanish. A surprised Professor said, “So you are learning Spanish like your mummy.” “Yes,” replied Willie. “We have lessons at school, but our teacher is not very good, so Miss Manson is teaching us, and she is much better.”
“Tell me,” said the Professor, “how long have you been learning Spanish?” “Since September,” replied Millie. “And how many lessons a week do you have at school?” Sanchez asked. “One each day,” said Millie. “But we are on the advanced course on the iPad,” added Willie. “Really,” said Sanchez, “do you speak Spanish with Mummy?” “Oh no,” said Millie, “she only knows a little bit of Spanish. We talk to her and Izzy in Italian, French, and German. “Who is Izzy?” asked the Professor, switching to not very good French. The twins looked at each other before Willie answered in his perfect French, with his mother’s Parisian accent, “Izzy is our nanny, and she is married to George, who is a policeman.” The Professor just shook his head in disbelief before he was rescued by Izzy calling the twins and Jinnie coming out of the house.
Jinnie struggled to say to the Professor that she hoped the twins had not been annoying him, and he replied, “If, at the end of these two weeks, your Spanish is as good as theirs, I will have succeeded.” Jinnie listened carefully to what he was saying and translated it slowly in her head, and had to get him to repeat it slowly before she thought she understood what he had said. They switched to Jinnie’s Lexus, she had the Maple House parking permit, and headed to Potters Bar.
***
Midway through the morning, Jinnie’s head was spinning. So far, she hadn’t spoken a word of English but had conducted meetings with Belinda, Caroline and Sir Nigel, who thought the whole situation was highly amusing. Sir Nigel was the only one in the office who knew the true reason for her crash course in Spanish, as he still got a daily top-secret briefing from both Richard at No. 10 and Alan at the Cross on his encrypted iPhone. The others were all fed the same line as the twins, that she was trying to learn Spanish ready for the expansion of the business into South America. In the meetings, the others had, of course, spoken in English, but she had replied in Spanish, with the Professor’s help and prompting, and he had translated her replies. Sometimes it didn’t come out quite as she intended, and she had to try to correct the words he said, but it wasn’t easy with her limited vocabulary.
Jinnie decided that, for once, she needed a proper coffee break, and she and the Professor headed for the Artisan Coffee outlet in Reception, where she wanted a latte but struggled to find the Spanish and ended up with a flat white, which was the Professor’s translation of “café con leche.” They sat in reception and tried to chat, but Jinnie found it difficult as her vocabulary was so limited. It was then that Sanchez produced a small notebook and an ink pen and suggested she write down the new words he told her, and he even helped her to spell them correctly.
Sanchez asked about the twins. He wanted to know if their German and Italian were as good as their French. Jinnie explained that they were fluent, “fluido” went in the notebook, in Italian, as their father was Italian and they had learnt it as babies. They were also fluent in French, but their German, although excellent, was not quite so good, as they had only been learning it a little over a year. Sanchez shook his head and said, “And now they are learning Spanish. I have students who have done years of Spanish but do not speak it as well as they do. Tell me, can they read and write Spanish?”
Again, Jinnie struggled to reply but explained they were learning to read and write Spanish but had only had a few lessons with Miss Manson, and were reading a book aimed at children a little older than them. Sanchez muttered, “extraordinario, extraordinario,” which Jinnie guessed meant “extraordinary.” He then said, “At the weekend, do you think they would like to join in with your class?” Jinnie replied, “I think they would love it, but I will ask them and tell you tomorrow.”
***
The twins stood on the doorstep and waved goodbye to Professor Sanchez. Millie turned to her mother and said, “Gosh, that was a super day, I can’t wait until he comes tomorrow. He makes learning Spanish so much fun.” Jinnie replied in English, “He’s gone now, you can speak in English until 8 o’clock. Don’t forget that we are going to collect Juliette and her mummy and daddy from the airport, and they don’t speak Spanish. She will want to practise their English, and you can practise your French.” “So, we can’t learn more Spanish with you then,” said Willie.
“Well, their plane doesn’t arrive until lunchtime,” said Jinnie. “So perhaps you can spend the morning with us. Then Daddy is going to drive to the airport to collect them. You can go with him, I know that Juliette would like that. Their plane is due to arrive at Terminal 5 at 13:10, so I don’t expect Daddy will leave before noon, so you will have all morning to learn more Spanish. Besides, I want you to go to the new Artisan sandwich shop in the arrivals hall and buy three dozen assorted artisan doughnuts. I know you like the chocolate ones best, but I want all different ones because I don’t know who likes what best, and there are going to be a lot of people for a tea party on Sunday.”
“Who’s coming?” asked Millie. “Lots of people,” replied Jinnie, “let’s count them. You two, me and Daddy, Izzy and George, it’s his rest day, Juliette and her mummy and daddy, that makes nine. Then there is Granny and Grandpa, Aunty Penny and Uncle Dan, and Uncle Nigel, I make that fourteen, and I nearly forgot Caroline and the girls are coming with Cathy.” “That’s only two doughnuts each,” said Willie. “But some people might not like doughnuts,” said Jinnie, “in any case, there is going to be lots of other things. Izzy has made a Victoria sponge with real cream and jam, and a big chocolate cake filled with buttercream and with chocolate icing and hundreds and thousands. There is going to be all sorts of sandwiches and bridge rolls with egg and cress, smoked salmon and cucumber, and prawn cocktail.”
“Will there be sliced egg and tomato sandwiches?” asked Willie. “I expect so,” answered Jinnie, “Izzy is in charge of making the sandwiches, and she knows what you two like. I understand she has also got those assorted Belgian biscuits you like, and I hear she is making home-made brandy snaps filled with whipped cream.” “We don’t know what that is,” said Millie. “Well, if you go into the kitchen now, Izzy might let you try a brandy snap, but they are no good until they are cold, because that’s when they crisp up.”
***
Paolo and the twins arrived at the Terminal Five short-stay car park in plenty of time and strolled the short distance to arrivals. Millie immediately spotted the Artisan Sandwiches shop and, tugging on her daddy’s hand, said, “Daddy, are we going to get the doughnuts now or when Juliette and her mummy and daddy arrive?” Paolo looked at his watch and replied, “We have plenty of time, let’s go now.” They joined the long but rapidly moving queue, and Paolo ordered three dozen assorted artisan doughnuts. When Willie said, “Please make sure that there are lots of chocolate ones,” the girl behind the counter said, “OK, I’ll make sure there are plenty of chocolate glazed, chocolate sprinkles and chocolate cream.” Millie said, “I like chocolate sprinkles.” Willie said, “That’s because you are a girl.”
Paolo paid with his Banco BPM Visa card and asked if they could pick up the boxes on the way back from meeting their friends. The three moved over to the doors from customs and waited as the arrivals board switched over to “baggage on conveyor”, and Willie said, “Not long now, Daddy.” Juliette burst out of the door and ran over to them at full pelt and hugged and kissed them all. By the time the hugs were over, they had been joined by Jan and Simone, who greeted them much more sedately.
On the way out of arrivals, they stopped to collect the doughnuts, and Juliette said, “They look good, are they Krispy Kreme? They have just opened a shop in Nice. I like the strawberry and cream one.” Willie said, “These are Artisan Donuts, that is Mummy’s company. They are better than Krispy Kreme, and there is a strawberry one with cream in the boxes.” As they walked the short distance to the Lexus, Willie told everyone how the doughnuts were for Sunday tea, lots of people were coming, and Izzy was making lots of party food.
The three children sat in the back row of three seats, with Juliette in the middle. Jan sat in the front next to Paolo, while Simone sat in the middle row of the seven-seater. Jan said, “Gosh, this is some car.” Paolo replied, “It’s not mine, it is Jinnie’s company car, and now she’s a big boss, she gets a big company car.” The conversation was interrupted by giggles from the back seat, where the children were watching Bluey on the seat-back TV. Paolo said, “Those three get on well.”
As they headed round the M25, Paolo explained to Simone and Jan that Jinnie was taking a crash course in Spanish for work, as they were looking to expand into Latin America, and that Professor Sanchez would be there every day from 8 to 5, and Jinnie was only allowed to speak Spanish in that time period. Willie had obviously been listening because he said, “Mummy’s Spanish is getting as good as Millie’s and mine.” Paolo explained that the twins were learning Spanish at school, and Simone replied, “So is Juliette, but neither Jan nor I understand a word.” Millie said, “Professor Sanchez is a really good teacher, we often join in, and he is even better than Miss Manson at school.”
***
While the conversation in the car was happening, Professor Sanchez said to Jinnie, “I suppose you realise that your twins are extremely gifted with languages. I was amazed when I first spoke to them, their grasp of Spanish is better than any of the first-year students I teach at Cambridge and many of the second years. But I gather they also speak German, French and Italian.” Jinnie smiled and explained, “As you know, when we were occupied, we were all expected to learn German. I was above average and was allowed to go to a Berlin university, but I didn’t finish the course, as the war of liberation broke out.”
Jinnie continued, “After the war, I went to Cambridge and continued my German under Professor Dirk Scholz. But as you are aware, my employer at the time wanted me to speak French, so I had a crash course in French and got my degree in German with French. But I had met Paolo in Germany, and we were separated by the war, so I also learnt Italian. I was sent to Italy as an interpreter when the Italian war of liberation was over, and Paolo and I got back together. Obviously, we brought the twins up to speak both English and Italian, and they are fluent in Italian.”
“When Paolo and I wanted to talk to each other so the twins didn’t understand, we talked in German,” Jinnie explained, “but we soon discovered they were learning from listening to us, so they now speak German with my Berlin accent and then French with my Parisian accent.” Sanchez shook his head and said, “Remarkable, quite remarkable.”
“Of course, I know Dirk very well,” said Sanchez, “with us both undertaking work for the Cross, it is fairly obvious that we should know each other, and he often spoke of a particularly gifted pupil of his who was also in the Cadet Force and a fabulous shot. But she had a younger sister who also learnt French and German and was nearly as good a shot.” “That would be my sister, Penny,” said Jinnie.
“So, the ability with languages runs in the family,” said Sanchez. “I suppose it does,” replied Jinnie, “I thought I had finished learning new languages, but the Cross wants me to learn Spanish for a mission, so here we are.” “Yes, here we are,” said Sanchez. “Do you realise that you are picking up Spanish very fast? I suspect that if I were to put you through a final degree paper tomorrow, you would pass, and so would your twins.” “But they are only eight,” said Jinnie. “Yes,” said Sanchez, “but their oral Spanish is excellent. I suspect their ability to read and write it is at a lower level, but, as you say, they are only eight, and they speak English, Italian, French, German and Spanish like natives. Would you mind if I spoke to Dirk about their German? Mine is basic, but he is much better placed to assess them.”
Jinnie thought for a moment before replying, “I would rather they didn’t realise they were being assessed, but I have an idea. You know we are having a family and friends party for our French visitors on Sunday, because you will be there. Do you think we could get Dirk to come? He already knows me, Paolo, Simone and Jan from our time in Berlin. They would be delighted to see him, and it will be a lovely surprise for them. In fact, I know another person who I think I will try to get to come as well.”
***
The Lexus pulled into the drive, and Millie said, “I hope you like cats, because we forgot to tell you we have one called Larry, and he is very old and very special. He will be waiting for us in the hall when Mummy opens the door. He is really Mummy’s cat, and he makes it obvious who he likes and who he doesn’t.” “But I adore cats,” said Juliette, “but Mummy said it is not fair to have one in a top-floor apartment without a garden. If we had a big house like this, I’m sure she would let me have one.”
Larry was waiting right behind Jinnie and Paolo, with Professor Sanchez and Izzy. The twins made the introductions and told Larry that Jan and Simone were Mummy and Daddy’s special friends from France, and that Juliette was their daughter and was their special friend who loved cats. Larry walked up to Juliette, sniffed the hand she offered, and began rubbing himself around her legs. Willie said, “See, he really likes you, he doesn’t do that with many people.”
Juliette squatted on her haunches and stroked Larry, saying, “I think Mr Larry and I are going to be great friends.” Suddenly, she turned to Millie and whispered, “You didn’t tell me he could talk. He just told me to call him Larry, not Mr Larry.” Millie whispered back, “He only talks to people he really, really likes.”
***
The twins were super excited about the party on Sunday, and they and Juliette helped Izzy lay out the buffet tea on the dining room table. It had been opened out to its full extent and pushed back against a wall so, as Mummy said, people could mingle. Izzy had put the huge white tablecloth on the table, the one Jinnie used for big dinner parties, and Larry had secreted himself under the table, having seen the tray of chicken thighs and the bowl of peeled prawns. He was already sending out messages to the children. The table was laden with all sorts of party food, but the children were under strict instructions that they were not to touch anything until the guests had arrived.
The first to arrive was George, but that was hardly surprising, as he had the shortest distance to come. The twins explained to Juliette, in a mixture of English, French and Spanish, that George was Izzy’s husband, and he was a special sort of policeman whose job it was to protect the King and Queen, the princes and princesses. The room started to fill, and soon Granny and Grandpa arrived. Willie explained Grandpa was an MP, and Uncle Nigel was the former Prime Minister. They told Juliette how Larry had been the cat at No. 10, the Prime Minister’s house, for many years before he retired.
Poor Juliette was not sure if she was being told the truth or if the twins were playing an elaborate joke. She was further disbelieving that the father of Annabelle and Anastasia was the captain of an aircraft carrier until she heard Paolo telling the same thing to Simone. The twins were happy to see Aunty Penny and Uncle Dan arrive, because that was everyone Mummy had said was coming, and they wanted to eat some of Izzy’s scrummy food.
Jinnie told them they still had to wait, as two more special guests had yet to arrive. The twins counted everyone again and said to Mummy that everyone she had said was coming had arrived, but Jinnie insisted two special guests still had to arrive. It was then that a station taxi arrived in the drive, and two men got out. The one with a stick paid the taxi, and the other man was huge, over two metres tall.
Simone stood with her mouth open, then turned to Jinnie and said, “Is that really Dirk Scholz and Big Willie? I thought they were both dead, Dirk in a car crash and Willie when the Germans raided the university cell.” Jinnie replied, “It really is them, it suited everyone to think they were dead, but both got away to England, and both live and work here now.” Simone ran to them, kissed them on both cheeks and hugged them hard. Millie said, “Good, now we can eat.”
***
Big Willie and Dirk were introduced as old friends who had known Simone and Jan in their university days. A few of the guests knew the full story, but they all knew how to keep a secret and said nothing. The party was in full swing, and Jan and Simone were delighted to meet their old Berlin cell commander and his deputy after many years, and were told cover stories about how Big Willie worked for an import/export company in London. Jinnie thought that sounded too much like James Bond’s cover story and tried not to laugh, but that Dirk was a Professor of German at Cambridge was more believable, because it was true.
Willie was just getting his third chicken thigh and feeding bits of it to Larry when Dirk spoke to him in German, saying, “Your mummy tells me you speak German, did you know I taught her German at university, who taught you and Millie German?” “No one really,” replied Willie. “We heard Mummy and Daddy and picked up a lot from them. Then Mummy helped a bit, and we also had a couple of courses on our iPads.” “But you have a Berlin accent,” said Dirk. “That’s because we copied Mummy,” replied Willie.
Millie arrived to find what was taking Willie so long, and Dirk continued the conversation. “Tell me, which of you speaks the better German?” Millie and Willie looked astounded, and eventually Willie replied, “Neither of us, we are equal.” Dirk smiled and asked, “How about reading and writing in German?” Millie answered this time and said, “We know a bit, but not a lot, we have never had proper lessons, not like Spanish, where Miss Manson lets us read the newspapers and has books in Spanish, and we write stories in Spanish.”
“But can you read and write in Italian and French?” asked Dirk. “Oh yes,” answered Willie, “Mummy and Daddy taught us Italian when we were babies, and Miss Pilbeam taught us French when everyone else was reading books we read years ago.” Dirk chuckled and asked, “Would you like to learn to read and write in German?” “We are trying to,” said Millie, “but all the courses on the iPad are about speaking it. How are we going to be restaurant critics and spies if we can’t read and write German? We couldn’t read a menu or read secret messages.”
Dirk laughed and saw the serious look on the twins’ faces. Still talking in German, he said, “Tell me, have you two ever taken an IQ test?” “Yes,” answered Millie, “when Mr Excel became our class teacher in September, he gave the whole class a test. It was fun, all sorts of logic tests. When he marked them, we both scored 137, he said we cheated because we both had exactly the same answers, but we didn’t. So, he made us take another test, but this time on our own, on opposite sides of the classroom.”
Dirk said, “Go on, tell me what happened.” Willie answered, saying, “This time we both got 149, and still on the same questions. It was easier because we knew what sort of puzzles we were getting.” Dirk asked, “What did your teacher do then?” “He sat there shaking his head,” said Millie, “and sent us to join the others in the playground,” said Willie.
***
Dirk sat down beside Jinnie, who was on the patio, and said, “I have been talking to the twins, and I have decided that Sanchez is right, they are bordering on genius. Tell me, what do their teachers have to say about their English and arithmetic? Do they do any science, history or geography?” Jinnie said, “Well, I know they are advanced readers, and Miss Pilbeam, who was last year’s class teacher, said they were hard work, not because they were naughty, it was exactly the opposite, they were so far ahead of the rest of the class it was difficult to find them work to keep them occupied.”
Jinnie continued, “This year they have virtually skipped a year and are in a combined Year Four and Five class with Mr Excel, the deputy head teacher. He started them on Spanish, but they had been doing lessons on their iPad and were miles ahead of the rest of the class, all except one boy who had a Spanish nana, and he talked to her in Spanish all the time. It was then that Miss Manson, the head teacher, stepped in and has been teaching them to read and write in Spanish. They seem to have a natural aptitude for languages.”
“I think it goes further than that,” said Dirk, “I think they are exceptionally talented. I bet they are also top of the class in maths and are always asking questions that even Mr Excel and Miss Manson find hard to answer.” “There is an open evening next week,” said Jinnie, “I now have lots of questions I need answers to.” “Would you mind if Professor Sanchez and I came with you and Paolo? Cambridge has a special programme for talented children, and I think your two are ideal candidates.” “But they are much too young for university,” said Jinnie. “This works the other way around,” replied Dirk, “we loan lecturers to schools a couple of days a week so the talented children aren’t taken from their classes but are nurtured in their abilities.”
Chapter 28 – Open Evening
© WorthingGooner 2026
