“Now, I want you to remember that all of your diaries are wonderful.” Miss Conteh held back a yawn and pushed the remaining pile of summer diaries to the front of her desk. “Could someone give them back out? Maddie? Maddie Cruise? Could you give out the diaries, please?”

Maddie.

Maddie Cruise. Maddie-middler.

There’s no point even trying, really.

No point even trying.

Not unless you’re prepared to do something as brave as the eldests. Like go to camp.

Or catch a wanderer.

I put my chalk down on my slate. Pushed my chair out.

I was going to do it. For real. I’d start today. Get home as soon as possible after school and take those antibiotics from Dad’s bag.

Take them to the wanderer girl. Una.

Get her to trust me.

Catch her good and proper.

Then everyone’ll remember my name, even if I am a middler.

I walked over to Miss Conteh’s desk. Was everyone looking at me? Did I look different now – now that I was going to be a wanderer catcher?

I picked up the diaries and turned round. Everyone was just sitting there, same as ever. Fidgeting, doodling, scratching, whispering. No one was looking at me. No one was taking any notice of me at all.

Just like always.

I handed out the diaries.

My stomach curled and twisted inside me.

We walked home across the square, the quickest way. I wanted to get back fast and find Dad’s visiting bag.

The sun grilled the backs of our necks.

“Maybe they were close, the diary competitions.” Trig hadn’t won a prize in his class either. He skittered around us, trying to keep up. “D’you think they were close? Maybe me or you would’ve got third place, Maggie, if there’d been a third place. D’you think me or Mags would’ve got a third place, Jed?”

“We weren’t ever going to get first or second or third or fourth or even a hundredth, Trig. We weren’t ever going to get anything.”

“S’just a stupid diary competition.” Jed kicked a stone. “Dunno what you’re worried about.”

A bunch of pigeons were strutting about in the middle of the square underneath the statue of Andrew Solsbury. They peckered around his cold stone feet. I didn’t even bother going round them, just walked straight through. They flapped up, all in a panic. Some of them landed on Andrew Solsbury’s shoulders. Some of them flew all the way up to the mayor’s roof, the tallest house in town.

I looked up into Andrew Solsbury’s face. I could never tell if he was smiling or frowning.

“What’s going on over there?” said Trig.

The mayor’s house had a triangular gable over the front door. A huddle of people were gathered under it.

“What are they doing? Can we go and see? Can we, Jed? Can we, Maggie?”