‘Carrots. They come in other colours than orange you know.’ I did not know that. Everything on my plate tasted good. The chicken was full of flavour, not like a KFC bucket, but still good. The roast potatoes were crispy like Mum used to do them, and although the carrots were in all these weird colours they tasted amazing. I was sad when I’d eaten it all. I sipped my Coke and waited for Maggie to finish. She was smiling the whole time she was eating.

She placed her knife and fork together on her plate and leaned back into her chair.

‘Thanks. That was great,’ I said.

‘Crumble?’

‘Yeah. Please.’

At the end of the crumble I was full up. I wasn’t sure it would last long but it was a good feeling.

‘Do you have plans for this afternoon?’ she asked.

‘Nope.’

‘You’re welcome to stay here. I need to check on the sheep but otherwise I’ve no plans.’

‘Sheep? Cool.’ I hadn’t realised she had animals. It got better and better. I had nothing to rush home for.

When she got up I followed her to the sink with my plate. I was hoping she had a dishwasher but I couldn’t see one so I picked up a tea towel to show willing.

‘I’ll wash up but there’s no need to dry. They’ll drain on the board. Life’s too short for drying up.’

We were soon tugging the wellies back on and heading outside. It wasn’t warm but it wasn’t raining, not that I think that would have bothered Maggie. ‘Wait there,’ she said forcefully. She strode off at the pace of someone younger. A few moments later she reappeared riding a quad bike. I must have looked surprised, mainly because I was. It wasn’t the sight you expected to see – an old lady revving up a quad bike. The sound rippled through me.

‘Well, get on,’ she said, indicating behind her with a thumb.

‘Err, yeah. Okay.’

I didn’t need asking twice.

‘There’s a bar on the rack behind you. Hold on.’

I had moments to grab it before she revved the engine and the quad bike scooted out of the yard. She had a bucket hooked over one of the handlebars and it swung about violently. A sharp left turn and we were heading away from the farm. The dirt track gave way to soft ground and the quad made easy work of it, racing along a ridge with fields rising to the left and dropping away to our right. I stuck my head to one side to get a better view.