‘You’re going to see things you’ll never forget.’ Uncle Robert glances sideways at William, concern all over his gentle face. He turns back and looks straight ahead. ‘You know, your mother’s not far from Aberfan.’ He slides a piece of paper into William’s pocket. ‘You could call in on her.’

‘I can’t. You know that.’

His uncle’s mouth turns down as it always does when they mention her. He breathes in and out slowly. ‘And you know I’ve never accepted that, and I never will.’

3

It’s half past midnight when William leaves Nottingham with his two passengers, heading home along largely deserted roads. Roy Perry, an embalmer from Erdington, reads out reports from the armful of newspapers that the hotel receptionist gave them on their way out.

Just after 9.15 yesterday morning, waste tip number seven on the upper flank of Merthyr Vale colliery, loosened by two days of heavy rain, had slipped and descended the mountainside. Half a million tonnes of coal waste gathered trees, boulders and bricks on its way. It had been sunny on the mountaintop, but foggy down in the small village of Aberfan. So while the tippers had seen the slag start to move, the villagers had no warning that the 40-foot wall of debris was coming their way at over 50 miles an hour. Having laid waste sections of the railway line, a disused canal and a farm, its finale was to rip through Pantglas primary school and two rows of houses.

Frantic parents dug through the rubble with their bare hands. Miraculously, some children were pulled out alive in the first two hours, but since 11.00 that morning, there had been no more cause for celebration. Over 140 bodies needed rescuing.

With water and mud still flowing down the mountain, miners came straight from their shifts armed with shovels. Volunteers flooded the village, clambering over the slurry. Police voiced concern that well-meaning, untrained volunteers were hampering the work of the rescue teams now on site.

The recovered bodies of children were wrapped in blankets and taken to Bethania Chapel, the nearest communal space to the school. The police set about trying to clear off the viscous slurry so the children could be identified, but with no electricity, water or experience, they struggled.

▪ ▪ ▪

Once Roy finishes reading, the three men continue their journey in silence, and soon William’s passengers have settled deep in their seats to doze while they have the chance. He is wide awake, the blood romping through his veins. The treacly black coffee has done its job. Well, the coffee and Gloria.