‘One of the things my Granny Seren told me that never made sense was that her bottle glowed. I think it must have been her imagination – she was a great one for finding magic and meaning in everyday life. She always claimed she had gypsy blood from her ancestors.’

‘Did you ever see it glow?’

‘No. I can remember watching but nothing happened. Later, when it was mine, I didn’t dare test it because I didn’t want to be disappointed. I wanted to believe Seren.’

‘I hope you don’t mind me saying this but I think you might have some serious trust issues.’

‘Yeah, probably. Doesn’t everyone?’

Thora came over to where I was standing and flicked a switch on the side of the shelving unit. The entire display of uranium glass lit up, each vessel the most incredible, luminous, bright yellow to vivid green I’d ever seen.

‘It fluoresces under ultra violet light.’

I couldn’t respond.

‘Take a look at your grandmother’s bottle.’

I saw how the scalloped design glowed as if lit from within.

‘In the old days, before everyone had bright electric lights, people would notice these bottles glow at twilight – that’s when red begins to fade and the violet end of the spectrum dominates. Your bottle dates back to the 1890s, so if it belonged to your great-grandmother she might have noticed it.’

‘Seren was telling the truth.’

‘Yep. It’s beautiful, isn’t it?’ Without turning off the black light she reached forward for my grandmother’s bottle and pressed it into my hand, closing my fingers around it with her own. She then turned back to the shelf and quickly rearranged some of the smaller items to close the gap, filling the space once more.

My caravan is parked beside a small dam in the lee of a long row of poplars that provide shelter to the orchard where I’m currently employed. I ended up in Central Otago because it seemed simpler for me to relocate to the caravan I bought off Trade Me than the other way around. I signed up with a local employment agency, a collective made up of growers and orchardists, and began working in a vineyard. I found that I enjoyed the work, finding solace in the quiet retreat. After a few weeks working on the vines I shifted to cherries, and now I’m in an apricot orchard, a family-run business on the outskirts of town.