Chapters (75)
- Cover
- Praise
- About the Author
- Title Page
- Intoroduction
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EITHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-FOUR
- FORTY-FIVE
- FORTY-SIX
- FORTY-SEVEN
- FORTY-EIGHT
- FORTY-NINE
- FIFTY
- FIFTY-ONE
- FIFTY-TWO
- FIFTY-THREE
- FIFTY-FOUR
- FIFTY-FIVE
- FIFTY-SIX
- FIFTY-SEVEN
- FIFTY-EIGHT
- FIFTY-NINE
- SIXTY
- SIXTY-ONE
- SIXTY-TWO
- SIXTY-THREE
- SIXTY-FOUR
- SIXTY-FIVE
- SIXTY-SIX
- SIXTY-SEVEN
- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
- CLIMATE EMERGENCY
- Copyright
‘Tell the truth, I’m not always a hundred per cent convinced Carl’s got his head screwed on right, but it’s his opinion and he’s entitled to it. Anyway, I’m going to get back in before they start. Don’t know what nonsense they’re going to talk about tonight, but they seem pretty excited. Maybe we’ll have a chat after it’s done, eh? If you come out, that is?’
There’s another laugh, and a creak as the man removes his weight from the door frame. I hear his footsteps cross the bathroom, the door open then close again. I give it half a minute before I come out.
I run my hands under cold water at the cracked sink, looking at myself in the mirror. I can see my father’s eyes looking back at me somewhere behind my own. Or at least that’s what I want to see. Just listen, I tell myself. What else have you got to do on a Sunday evening?
On my way back into the room, the man in the blue jumper and jeans catches my eye. His face has a sort of open expression. But his eyes seem to be somewhere else. He’s on his own at a table, two large cokes in front of him. He picks one up and raises it in my direction, offering it to me.
‘Cheers,’ I say. That deep voice again. It’s not my voice, but it makes me feel … better, somehow.
‘Catch up in a bit then, eh?’ The man asks. His eyes have an almost desperate quality. ‘My name’s Dan, by the way.’
‘Sure. Nice to meet you, Dan. I’m Josh.’ We clink glasses. I make my way back to Alan and Vince’s table, walking a bit taller.
A few minutes later, Dana slips in and sits on her own in a table in the far corner. She doesn’t look at me as she crosses the room. She doesn’t look at anyone. At the front table, Carl turns and watches her cross the room. For a horrible second I think he’s seen me looking at her, but he simply nods at our table – Alan nods back – and Carl goes back to his conversation with the others.
‘Can you feel it, Josh? That buzz in the air?’ Alan can hardly keep still. ‘Something’s going to happen tonight. It’s all about you, Poster-boy!’
I don’t know what he’s talking about, but there is, despite the smell, something electric in the atmosphere. In ones, twos and occasionally threes, the men in the room are talking in hunched groups or to those men on other tables, raising their pint glasses and clinking them together. And looking at me.