The cycle to school was usually a good opportunity to listen to music and empty my head but not today. It was as if he’d not listened at all the last time we’d had this discussion. It was like that old film Groundhog Day. Were we going to keep having the same conversation until I gave in and went to work at the dog food factory? My exams had been mixed. I reckon I’d done okay in some but others, like French, I knew I’d messed up. But like Maggie had said I needed to pass six overall and get good marks in the subjects I was considering for A levels and if I could do that I was staying on. Or at least that’s what I’d been working towards. I realised all my conversations about my plans for my future had been with Maggie.

I pedalled faster and left the pavement without looking. My mind fully occupied. I saw a flash of white as the van turned into the road and then nothing.

40

MAGGIE

The vegetable patch was keeping Maggie busy. It had been a little neglected while Tom had been living at the farm but now she was distraction-free she could devote the hours it needed. Once again she had plenty of time to fill. She’d lost a few strawberries and raspberries to rabbits and birds but she repaired her netting and got back on top of picking the fruit and harvesting the vegetables in a timely manner. She’d made one batch of strawberry jam already and had plans for more but it would have to wait until after she’d taken her fleeces to the sale.

The shearing ring had visited, as they did every year, and had done the job in a blink of an eye. They were a group of Australian lads who stayed on a nearby farm and did the rounds of all the sheep farms in the area. They were quick and cheap and it provided a way for them to travel around Europe and amass some cash in the process. Maggie was always amazed by the speed they worked – a whole fleece clean off in under a minute. Sadly the downside of their speedy work meant they weren’t there long enough to chat.