The tree trunk had a funny smell, a musty, fusty smell like the wood Daddy stacked in piles by the fire at home. It was dark and there were a few little bugs too, creepy-crawlies busy going up and down the inside of the bark, but she didn’t mind them, not really, because if they got close she would just do what her daddy did when there was a spider or a fly or any sort of little beastie. She would take her shoe off and just whack it with the heel. Splat. No more bug. Mummy tried to save them with a glass and a postcard but Daddy never did. He just whacked them.

Odette sat, her chin resting on her knees, and wondered what a sardine was. Daniel said a sardine was a fish but that couldn’t be right: fish lived in the sea. Maybe it was like a kind of mouse? Or a hamster? Sardine sounded like a funny name. She wished that Lucy was playing the game with them; Lucy was so pretty, the prettiest girl she’d ever seen. She looked like a princess, or maybe even more beautiful than a princess. Sometimes she’d wished on the holiday that Lucy was her big sister so they could play together every day and do each other’s hair and all those things that sisters did. But Lucy wasn’t there when they started the game, so she couldn’t play.

She froze. There was a noise, footsteps on the path. Voices talking, laughing, deep voices. Grown-ups? No. The boys.

She tried to keep herself very still, as still as a statue like when you played that game at a birthday party, holding her breath until the boys passed by. They were talking in low voices. When she peeped through the gap in the tree trunk she could see their feet on the path, see them walking in a line and whacking sticks on each tree as they passed. Her cheeks burned with indignation. They weren’t supposed to be together, they were supposed to be searching on their own. Doing it in a team was cheating, it really wasn’t fair. Boys always cheated. That was why she didn’t like playing with them. Not normally.

She felt like crawling out of her hiding place and telling them off, telling them the proper rules and how sardines was supposed to be played. Making them do it properly. But then she’d have to give away the secret place she’d found inside the fallen tree trunk.

Their footsteps moved away, further into the trees. When she was sure they were gone, she shifted position a little bit inside the tree trunk to get more comfortable, resting her back against the smooth curve of the bark. It was actually quite nice in here, she could make a proper little nest with her dolls and have tea parties with—