the nurse said. “Have you got a fan club, or what?” Gus’s heart sank when he saw his greatest fan walking humbly towards his bed, clutching a large bunch of red roses. Must have cost her a fortune, he thought. He did not miss the significance of red roses, and was not sure that he felt strong eno...
She was happiest without four walls around her, and along with the others preferred to sit outside round a fire, eating and drinking and telling stories. Skinning rabbits, plucking chickens, chopping vegetables, all were best done outside in the open air and the sun, or in the bender tent when it...
“Do you feel this is your home, Ivy?” Roy said to her one afternoon as they rested in her room after lunch. She did not talk much about Round Ringford, unless someone asked her questions about her former life, but he knew that she must miss it dreadfully. Maybe not all the time, but even he, who ...
He instinctively curled up under the bedclothes. When he came to his senses and realised it was probably a bird flying into his bedroom window, he decided to investigate. Downstairs, he unlocked the back door and went outside. It had been a sharp crack, and he guessed the bird would be either unc...
“I’m ringing the vet straight away,” she said. “I want to know exactly how he died, and whether he was poisoned. Poor old thing, he’s been in the family for so long I can’t remember how old he was.” She shivered, and asked Gus to be careful with Whippy. “When you come back...
He was late, having been drawn into an anxious discussion with Kate about three spots on Celia’s chubby cheek. Was it measles? No, she’d had the jab. Chicken pox? Not the right kind of spots. Ringworm, then, caught from other children at the Mums and Tots group? Finally they had agreed that Kate ...