I said, “You should see them in their leaf hats.”

He laughed again as we went out of the gate. “This is fun, Lullah. Nice to see you. I thought we could go to the woods and see if we can find the feathery fools and have our picnic there.”

I said, “I’m very much looking forward to our picnic. It’s just the weather for an outdoor meal.”

Charlie said, “I’d better get used to outdoor meals. We’re off on a country skills camping week in Scotland on Monday. Still, we’ll learn to track a wild pig. So that’s, you know, something.”

As we went down the back path, I heard a bit of a snuffle. Without turning round, I shouted, “Good-bye, Ruby.”

Ruby came out of the bushes with Matilda. She said, “I weren’t following you or owt. Matilda wanted to . . . to . . . see Charlie.”

Charlie bent down and kissed Matilda on the nose. She wagged her stump. Ruby said, “What about me?”

So Charlie gave her a big kiss on her nose, too.

She said, “Cor, I were right—you have got just the right amount of lip.”

Charlie said, “Well, thank you, that’s a relief.”

Matilda and Ruby scampered off.

As we tramped down the back path, it was crunchy and silvery beneath our feet. You could see your breath in the air before you. I hunched my shoulders and shivered. Charlie said, “Are you cold?”

I said, “No, no, I’m sooo, you know, just a bit, well, you know, excited really. . . . I feel like, like a dog shaking its back leg.”

There was a pause as Charlie looked at me.

I thought, Why did I say that thing about the dog leg?

Charlie said, “Yep, that is exciting indeed.”

I smiled at him. I can feel the warmth coming from him, sort of all over. The dark trees rustled with a sudden tremor of wind from the moors and I shook my hair.

“You know it’s nearly the Big Night Out bonfire thing and there’s something in the air and you can just feel that something really exciting and great is going to happen. . . .”

Charlie suddenly stopped, so I did, too. He was looking at me without saying anything. He has such smiley eyes. Eyes that say, “Hello . . .”

Should I blink or would that make him stop looking at me?

I wish I could remember what you were supposed to do. What was it Cousin Georgia said you had to do? Look up and then look down?

I tried that. After I’d done it twice, Charlie said, “Have you got something in your eye?”

He stroked my face.

Wow. This was it.

He said, “Your eyes are really green. They’re amazing.”

But then we heard hooting off towards the old barn and he said, “That might be them—that might be the owlets!” And we ran towards the barn calling “Twit twoo, Little Lullah and Little Ruby . . .”