Our little owlets. Gone?

But they hadn’t even said good-bye.

Not even, “Woo-hoo, see you later.”

Ruby said, “And that Beverley Bottomly has gone on a hunger strike, and she says she won’t stop until her mum stops stalking Cain with her shotgun.”

I said, “Isn’t Beverley glad about the stalking thing? She must hate Cain after what he’s done to her. He’s awful. He dumped her twice. And he made that song up about her called “Put Your Coat On, Girl, You’re Leaving.” And the second line was “You were all right in the dark but then I put the light on.” At The Jones gig. He sang it straight at her. Everyone could see.”

Ruby said, “I know. But she LUUUUUVS him. She thinks he’s a dog wi’ a bad name.”

“He IS a dog with a bad name—that’s because he’s a bad dog.”

Ruby said, “I know. But you let Cain the bad dog lick your nose.”

Oh no, the nose-licking incident rears its head again!

As we lay in the dark with the wind howling and the rain sluicing down, I quickly said, “I wouldn’t like to be out in this. I hope the owlets have got little owl umbrellas.”

Ruby went on snuggling down. I couldn’t settle, though. I kept thinking about Dog.

“Do you think he saw us—Cain? Do you think he was out there with his dog, watching us?”

I shivered.

Ruby said, “Mebbe. You know those Hinchcliffs. . . . They can be anywhere at any time. Like a reight bad smell.”

As she said that, I nearly fell out of bed because there was a massive farty noise from Matilda. It was so loud it even woke Matilda up. Ruby went mad.

“Get down, Matilda!! Bad girl, you’ve let yourself down AND you’ve let the bulldog breed down.”

Matilda looked all shamefaced and tottered about on the side of the bed. She got tangled up in her nightcap and then one leg got stuck. It took so long that in the end Ruby unfastened the stuck leg and said, “Oh, for goodness’ sake, get in bed again. And no more trumping.”

Matilda blinked sorrowfully at Ruby.

She was still harrumphing about. “She hates it when I’m cross with her. Serves her right for trumping. She’ll worry all night and not get any slee—”

She was interrupted by little snuffling snoring noises from Matilda.

We settled down again.

I said casually in the dark.

“Have you . . . er, heard how Alex, you know your brother . . . erm . . . is getting on?”

Ruby said sleepily, “Dun’t start that again. Anyway, I thought you liked that Charlie?”

Ah yes, Charlie. I do like that Charlie.

The boy from Woolfe Academy for naughty boys.

But he was gorgeous. Not naughty.

Well, not very naughty.

Where’s the harm in wiring up your headmaster’s door handle to a minor electrical circuit? As Charlie said, “It was just high spirits, an innocent schoolboy prank.”