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Back Stargazing for Beginners Save as PDF
Contents ( 64)
  1. A Letter from the Author
  2. ONE
  3. TWO
  4. THREE
  5. FOUR
  6. FIVE
  7. SIX
  8. SEVEN
  9. EIGHT
  10. NINE
  11. TEN
  12. ELEVEN
  13. TWELVE
  14. THIRTEEN
  15. FOURTEEN
  16. FIFTEEN
  17. SIXTEEN
  18. SEVENTEEN
  19. EIGHTEEN
  20. NINETEEN
  21. TWENTY
  22. TWENTY-ONE
  23. TWENTY-TWO
  24. TWENTY-THREE
  25. TWENTY-FOUR
  26. TWENTY-FIVE
  27. TWENTY-SIX
  28. TWENTY-SEVEN
  29. TWENTY-EIGHT
  30. TWENTY-NINE
  31. THIRTY
  32. THIRTY-ONE
  33. THIRTY-TWO
  34. THIRTY-THREE
  35. THIRTY-FOUR
  36. THIRTY-FIVE
  37. THIRTY-SIX
  38. THIRTY-SEVEN
  39. THIRTY-EIGHT
  40. THIRTY-NINE
  41. FORTY
  42. FORTY-ONE
  43. FORTY-TWO
  44. FORTY-THREE
  45. FORTY-FOUR
  46. FORTY-FIVE
  47. FORTY-SIX
  48. FORTY-SEVEN
  49. FORTY-EIGHT
  50. FORTY-NINE
  51. FIFTY
  52. FIFTY-ONE
  53. FIFTY-TWO
  54. FIFTY-THREE
  55. FIFTY-FOUR
  56. FIFTY-FIVE
  57. FIFTY-SIX
  58. FIFTY-SEVEN
  59. FIFTY-EIGHT
  60. FIFTY-NINE
  61. SIXTY
  62. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  63. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  64. ONE

It doesn’t matter. I’ve decided to take the day off to look after Elsa and it won’t take me long to tidy up. It was nice having him here this morning. Messy, but nice.

‘Are you sure you don’t want me to take her?’ Grandad asks as he leaves the flat.

Elsa’s hands tighten round my neck.

‘A day off school won’t kill me,’ I say. I know that what Elsa needs is a calm, quiet day at home, and Grandad’s incapable of doing either calm or quiet.

Even though Elsa hasn’t got a temperature any more, she’s sleepier than usual so in between watching Peppa Pig and building towers, I have a lot of time to think. I think about Mum being my age and going to live with her dad, a man she hardly knew, and I think about Elsa. When she’s fifteen, I’ll be over thirty! That’s so old …

I realise I’ve never included Elsa in any of my big plans for the future. I try putting her in a few of them, just to see how it feels, but it’s hard because I don’t know what she’s going to be like. As the day goes on, though, I realise that there are some clues about who grown-up Elsa will be. Stubborn, I think, as she refuses to put on the red socks I’ve chosen. When I watch her study a jigsaw piece, then turn it and slot it into place, I see that she’s already clever. And when I’m lying on the sofa and she’s playing, she tries to feed me increasingly bizarre things – my phone, a fairy, her shoe – and the more surprised I am by what she produces, the more she laughs.

Stubborn, clever and funny.

I decide I’m looking forward to meeting future Elsa. And just like that, I realise I can see Elsa and I together in the future. Mum might bring her to visit me at university and I could show her the experiments I’m working on … Or we could go to Chile together to see the Giant Magellan Telescope. It’s supposed to be finished in 2025 and will be ten times more powerful than the Hubble telescope. Elsa will be eleven and I’ll be twenty-five. I know Mum will let me take her.

Suddenly, I’m flooded with ideas for things we can do together, and I realise I don’t even have to wait until she’s older. I know she already loves it at the science centre – we can go back when she’s better. And in a few years she’ll be riding a bike and we can go up on the Downs together. ‘Elsa,’ I say, and she looks up from her puzzle. ‘Do you want to go to Chile with me to look into space?’

She gives me a big smile and says, ‘Da!’, then just to prove she’s really up for it, she throws a piece of jigsaw puzzle at my face.

THIRTY-NINE

Back in school the next day, I get to science early only to discover Ed is already sitting at our table. There’s no sign of Bella or Raj. When our eyes meet I want to turn round and walk straight out, but instead I check my blazer is tightly buttoned over my geek-rack and take a deep breath. I’d better get this over with.