Mum said she’d be glad to have them out from under her feet – which made Daniel think of a lump of squashed chewing gum – and offered them a lift into town after lunch. They were to make their own way back by the evening bus, which took a meandering two-hour route along every possible road, or by hitching a lift. Surprisingly hitch-hiking was a common method of transport on Wragge for people of all ages. In a small place where everyone knew each other and petrol was expensive, it made sense to fill up empty spaces in cars, but Daniel and Louie still hadn’t got used to the sight of elderly women or girls younger than Louie, standing on lonely stretches of road to flag down passing cars. And their mum hadn’t quite plucked up the courage to stop for any of these hitchers – which had done nothing to increase their popularity with the locals. The cinema was a small 1930s Art Deco building on the corner of Main Street. It was only open on Fridays and Saturdays and had one screen showing a different film each week – often years, occasionally decades, after its original release.
