When the meal was finished, they lay on the grass, comfortably full, while they waited for the kettle to boil to do the washing up. They were lying facing the long valley. The sun had just dropped beyond a distant high peak and from its dying there gushed up a spray of orange, pink and mauve colour which spread across the sky like a soft tide, the edge of which was advancing towards them. ‘It’s bonny,’ said Joe. ‘Aye,’ said Matty. There was a pause. Then Willie asked, ‘What’ll we do the morrow, eh?’ When he received no answer he repeated, ‘I said, what will we do the morrow, Matty?’ ‘Oh, go for a hike.’ ‘Where?’ ‘Oh, I don’t know. We should have got a map.’ ‘Mr Walsh will tell us where to go,’ said Joe. ‘Do you think she’ll want to come along?’ Matty had raised himself sharply on his elbow, and, addressing Willie pointedly, he said, ‘Well, if she does or not, she’s not coming.’ ‘Well, I only thought . . . ’ ‘She’s only a kid, just on twelve.’ ‘Okay, okay, Matty man, I know that.
