‘See, if we flank them on the left,’ James was saying, ‘then move into formation as we come down the hill . . .’

‘Hmmm,’ agreed Stinky. ‘Should be easy enough to scoop them up . . .’

Down at the bottom of the hill, Lana and the others were now in their places. Lana gave me a wave, and I ran at the largest group of sheep. As usual they continued staring and eating until I was only metres away and then, with a sudden spurt, they bolted down the hill. Other, scattered sheep joined them, in a panicked run towards the bumpy tarmacked path. Shoaling and turning in perfect formation, the herd flowed smoothly over the bumps and dips in the grass, twisting towards Lana and Kate. But as the two girls waved and shouted at them, the sheep turned and ran towards the road instead. They ran down past the houses, stopping at an occasional piece of overhanging vegetation for a nibble, but unable to get into any of the gardens. Kate and Lana followed behind, urging them on to a run. A river of white now, they edged down towards Long Street, where Dr Jones and others were now blocking the top half of the road. The only place for the sheep to go was down towards the sea. They turned the corner and on to the seaweed and sand of the shore. Lana and Kate raised their arms in a silent cheer.

‘So, Plan A . . .’ Soldier John’s voice was booming and clear, as usual. ‘But Plans B and C as back-up . . . With one of those, we’ll definitely get those sheep.’

Chapter 31

31

Sheep wrestling is much easier than you’d think. Particularly if you refuse to have anything to do with it and go off to have breakfast instead.

From the inside of Kate’s white house we could still hear the occasional angry shout or burst of swear words from the shore, but I was confident James, Soldier John and Stinky were just putting on a show to let us know they were working really hard.

‘All of these,’ said Lana, adding another two tin cans to the line we’d got laid out on the table. ‘I’m going to eat all of these.’

On the front of each tin there were pictures of what was inside, and they were so beautiful, so colourful, offering such a fantasy of taste. There were these magical little picture details, like a tiny drop of water on a piece of sweetcorn to make it look really fresh, and hazy steam rising up off a plate so that you could think about what the food inside would be like when it was hot. There were also things I don’t remember having noticed before, and would have liked to know more about, like why there were other pictures on the cans – there was a lion on one, and a small green man on another. What were those supposed to show?