For Turpin, this wasn’t much of a problem as there was only one person who could see her, but, as they wandered along the road and encountered people returning from the pier, Tanya received some very strange looks indeed. Not only was she wet and smeared in river mud, but the mud had a very unpleasant smell to it; rather like stewed cabbage and week-old fish soup.Turpin was perched on Tanya’s shoulder, and the smell was so close to her nose that it was making her eyes water. However, she hadn’t the heart to tell Turpin to get off, for the cold little body was still trembling into her neck and her damaged wing was quivering.‘That’s going to need looking at,’ Tanya said. ‘It’s singed and torn in a few places. And please,’ she continued, lowering her voice and trying to speak without moving her lips, ‘stop chewing my hair.’Turpin spat out the hair sulkily. ‘Tastes like mud anyway.’Finally, they reached the little path that led to Hawthorn Cottage. Tanya paused and took a breath before starting down it.
