BooksBarbecue
Back Grow Save as PDF
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

I watch Dana go from place to place around the small, square plot, pointing at places in the ground where things will rise, or where they used to be. She shows me where birds nest in the higher branches of the buddleia and on the tops of the walls. She finishes the tour at another large bush. It has dense glossy leaves and small red stems are pushing out of the ends of the green ones. I’m not sure, but Dana seems to stiffen slightly as she pulls back a few leaves and sticks her head into the gap.

‘Look in here.’

It takes a few seconds to get used to the gloom. It’s getting dark anyway, and inside the bush there’s not much light to see by. But I can just make out the outline of a circle, about a metre across. It’s made of bricks – crumbling now. A little, circular wall about a foot high.

‘That’s a well,’ Dana says. ‘My dad reckoned it might link up to all the caves that run under this hill – you know, the old mines?’

I nod. The leaves rustle.

‘He tried to send me down there once, my dad. Tied a rope around my waist when I was about seven, six maybe, and starts lowering me down, telling me to be brave. I was screaming so loud he pulled me out, said I’d bring the social services round. That was just before he left.’

We stand a few moments longer, our heads in the bush, staring at the bricked circle that swims and twitches in the fading twilight.

‘I should go,’ I say eventually.

‘Yeah, home to get to. Mum worrying about you. I get it.’

‘Something like that,’ I reply.

‘Listen, before you go…’ The wall comes back behind Dana’s eyes, bigger than before, harder, as if she’s building something that will never be knocked down. ‘If you tell anyone about this place, or about me showing it to you, I’ll tell Carl you were with me, OK? That you hurt me. And he loves me. You get it? He. Loves. Me.’

As I leave, Dana is still standing in the middle of the grass, the key clenched tightly in her fist.

SEVENTEEN

SEVENTEEN

I have to pick films carefully with Mum. Anything too dangerous or adventurous and she won’t watch it, and will get angry if she knows I’m watching it on my own. And anything where people die is also risky, particularly if they’re the henchmen of some evil villain, and not really people, just things that the hero has to clear out of his way as they stop him doing his job of heroing. That’s why I watch so many films in my room. Films, online videos, stuff that Mum needs protecting from.