Then Sam had purposefully listed all the shitty things that would happen if they told people that Gordon had kicked Owen off the cliff. Gordon’s parents would die of grief. The old men would flog them both. Gordon would be put in a home. Bluebird would be over. That’s what Sam had said: ‘We tell them what happened, and Bluebird’s over. Life is over. It’s down to us, brother. It’s all down to us. We were playing, right? And Owen slipped? Got it?’

And even though Gordon was only eight, he held a perfect understanding of the necessity of the lie. It was more powerful than a threat. He needed something to believe in, and if Owen was not going to jump out from the bushes laughing, this was the next believable thing.

‘Why was he smiling at me?’

‘I didn’t see that.’

‘Was he happy I’d kicked him? Did he want to go?’

Sam grasped Gordon’s shoulders and shook them so hard that Gordon thought the big boy was going to pitch him off after Owen.

‘Owen fell while we were playing stupid armies! It’s not your fault! Listen! You did nothing wrong!’

‘I’m not going to a home,’ Gordon said.

‘Right! You spread some crap about it being your fault, we might as well all die.’

Gordon looked down: his shorts were drenched with pee, its warmth turning to chill. It was the thought of leaving Bluebird that made him piss himself. And when he looked across at Sam’s shorts, also wet, he knew he had to lie. In the distance they heard the ring of the shark alarm: an emergency. Already a surfboat was charging out through the waves. Someone had seen a floating body. He caught a glimpse of a piss-yellow mop of hair. Tony Eastaugh and the lifeguard crew were on their way.

‘But why was he smiling?’ Gordon asked again.

Gordon did not know what time it was. Clouds covered the stars and moon. He had done something unbelievably stupid, even by his own epic standards.

‘I don’t know if we can get safely back across that bridge,’ he said, gesturing to the blackness behind him.

‘Wait, what?’ Ben said.

‘It’s dangerous.’

‘It’s okay, Dad.’

‘Is it?’

‘Sure it is. Let’s go.’

‘Is it really okay?’ Gordon was not speaking about the safety of the rock bridge.

‘My phone has a torch.’ Ben got up and led. From the far side of the bridge, which he crossed easily, he shone the light to show Kelly and then Gordon the path. Without being able to see the drop on both sides, Gordon felt no fear.