Whenever his mum said the word Grandad, it sounded a bit strange. A little prickly. It was like she’d just passed you a hedgehog and you had to be careful how to handle it.

“He’s bought me this seed. It was for my birthday.”

Mum was smiling.

“I don’t even know what it is, but it’s growing. This plant. It’s enormous. I mean, really enormous. He says we’re going to use it for an adventure…”

Mum’s smile fell a little.

“Typical Grandad.”

Marty felt her tone was a little dismissive.

“But really, Mum, I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s growing, and we went to the beach and collected seaweed to make it some tea.”

“Tea?!”

“I know,” Marty laughed, “he says he wants it to grow as big as a house.”

Mum listened as she chewed on her toast.

“Just remember that Grandad’s plans tend not to end too well…”

Marty felt his chest sink.

“Not that…,” she began, “I didn’t mean to throw cold water on anything; it’s just that I’ve lived with his plans all my life…”

“I know,” answered Marty. He watched as she took another sip of her tea. Perhaps she was right. Perhaps it had been the warmth of the sun on his head or the way Gracie kicked up the sand as she danced, but for a moment there, he’d thought that Grandad might actually be onto something.

“Anyway, Gracie thinks…”

Mum lifted an eyebrow.

“Gracie?”

Marty had said her name before even thinking. He hadn’t mentioned her before. Not really. He felt silly all of a sudden.

“She’s my friend…” His voice was smaller now.

“I’ve never heard you mention her before?”

Marty shrugged.

“She lives by the allotments in one of those big houses. She’s nice.”

A broad smile was spreading on his mum’s face.

“Well, you should bring her around.”

“What, here?”

“Yes, here, where do you think?”

Marty looked around, and actually, there was less mess in the house now than there had ever been. His mum, for once, looked genuinely happy.

“It’d be nice for you. You know. To do what normal kids do. I can make you cookies.”

Marty hadn’t told Gracie about his mum. About the house. He’d never really let anyone get as close to him as Gracie before, and although he’d thought about telling her many times, he just didn’t want to weigh her down with all of it. Marty had thought that she must already know something, what with all the rumors in school, but as they had never talked about it, he could happily pretend the whole thing wasn’t there.

“Marty? Are you going to let me meet her or what?” Mum asked.

Marty shrugged. “Maybe.”

“Pffft, there’s no maybe about it. Bring her over. It’ll be fun.”