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Chapters (75)
  1. Cover
  2. Praise
  3. About the Author
  4. Title Page
  5. Intoroduction
  6. ONE
  7. TWO
  8. THREE
  9. FOUR
  10. FIVE
  11. SIX
  12. SEVEN
  13. EITHT
  14. NINE
  15. TEN
  16. ELEVEN
  17. TWELVE
  18. THIRTEEN
  19. FOURTEEN
  20. FIFTEEN
  21. SIXTEEN
  22. SEVENTEEN
  23. EIGHTEEN
  24. NINETEEN
  25. TWENTY
  26. TWENTY-ONE
  27. TWENTY-TWO
  28. TWENTY-THREE
  29. TWENTY-FOUR
  30. TWENTY-FIVE
  31. TWENTY-SIX
  32. TWENTY-SEVEN
  33. TWENTY-EIGHT
  34. TWENTY-NINE
  35. THIRTY
  36. THIRTY-ONE
  37. THIRTY-TWO
  38. THIRTY-THREE
  39. THIRTY-FOUR
  40. THIRTY-FIVE
  41. THIRTY-SIX
  42. THIRTY-SEVEN
  43. THIRTY-EIGHT
  44. THIRTY-NINE
  45. FORTY
  46. FORTY-ONE
  47. FORTY-TWO
  48. FORTY-THREE
  49. FORTY-FOUR
  50. FORTY-FIVE
  51. FORTY-SIX
  52. FORTY-SEVEN
  53. FORTY-EIGHT
  54. FORTY-NINE
  55. FIFTY
  56. FIFTY-ONE
  57. FIFTY-TWO
  58. FIFTY-THREE
  59. FIFTY-FOUR
  60. FIFTY-FIVE
  61. FIFTY-SIX
  62. FIFTY-SEVEN
  63. FIFTY-EIGHT
  64. FIFTY-NINE
  65. SIXTY
  66. SIXTY-ONE
  67. SIXTY-TWO
  68. SIXTY-THREE
  69. SIXTY-FOUR
  70. SIXTY-FIVE
  71. SIXTY-SIX
  72. SIXTY-SEVEN
  73. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  74. CLIMATE EMERGENCY
  75. Copyright

Dana’s back at her mum’s house. There’s a social worker who she doesn’t talk about much, and she’s been going to school every day, and going to every lesson. And she’s doing pretty well, considering. Even Miss Amber has told her so. If she gets her English and Maths, which she will because she’s brilliant, she’s going to go to the sixth-form college in a different town. Which is one town closer to where I’ll be. I’ve got the brochure for the college at home. Alongside A Levels in biology, they do courses in horticulture, and plant sciences. So who knows, maybe we’ll keep on growing together after all.

As spring moves towards summer, just before the exams start, with butterflies starting to gather around the huge cones of purple flowers on the buddleia bush, we close the door on the garden for the last time. We spent one last, long, sunny evening lying on the grass, looking up, the shouts of men from the building site drifting across the top of the walls from behind the repaired wooden hoarding. Now the roofs are all finished, you can actually see their ridgeline if you sit with your back on the opposite wall. Soon, they’ll probably pull down the wooden hoarding and replace it with a proper fence. People will be able to see in. I hope they like it.

There’s a heavy quiet over us both as the lock, which Dana fitted, clicks shut for the last time. Taking the key from her keyring, Dana pulls one of her shoelaces out of her shoe and threads the key onto it. She ties the key to a low branch of the bush we stand beneath, and we watch it for a while, swinging under the premature twilight of the canopy. Someone will find it, perhaps, one day.

Or maybe they won’t.

We weave between the nettles on the way back to the main road, stepping clear of the undergrowth as the streetlights shimmer into life, a faint shadow drawing itself beneath the brambles, thistles and shrubs at the roadside, and a few early and heavy-headed poppies loll and nod to each other. The headlights from passing cars start to turn on as we cross the road.

Looking back, you can barely see the gap we’ve come through. A single, green frond has fallen away from the rest, and hangs across the path. We watch its dip and rise, buffeted in the wake of the passing traffic.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS