Court of Henry VIII, Anne kneeling meekly with her head on the block; an Egyptian scene, complete with Pharaoh and handmaidens; a Victorian tableau that might have come straight out of A Christmas Carol.
All too soon it was over and Heather and her friends joined the scramble to run down the alley to the High Street so they could see the end of the procession pass by again.
The High Street was even more crowded than the spot from where they had watched the procession and the nearer one got to the town centre the more frenetic it became. Here the street fair was already in full swing, with dodgems and a switchback known as the Noahâs Ark in the Island and a big wheel on the wide pavement outside Wiltonsâgrocery store. There were booths and sideshows too and as they passed a shooting gallery Heather spotted David taking aim at the tin ducks that sailed across a make-believe river. She stopped to watch as he picked them off one by one and squealed with delight as the stall holder handed him his prize â a huge pink teddy bear.
âDavid â you fool!â
He turned, pleased with his performance but embarrassed by his prize, and saw her.
âHey â you can have this!â
âItâs yours! You won it!â
âNot bloody likely!â He thrust the teddy bear into her arms, moving on, laughing with his mates.
Heather looked around for her own friends but they had disappeared into the milling crowd. She began making her way towards the rides, looking for them. They couldnât have gone far. But in the wake of the procession the Island had become a mayhem, a cacophony of the whirr of the generators and the music blaring from the Noahâs Ark, the crashes and flying sparks from the dodgems and the general gaiety which had escalated a notch too far into frenetic merrymaking. An unsolicited squib scattered the crowd, carving a zigzag path through the revellers, then hopping in a totally new direction, heading straight for her.
Heather made a dive for safety as the squib followed her like a guided missile homing in on its target â or so it seemed to her. Once when she had been a little girl a Bonfire Night rocket had gone off course, zooming horizontally across the garden and catching Heather on the shoulder as she stood watching. Her thick woollen coat had saved her from injury, but she had fallen off her stool in terror and been too upset to watch the rest of the fireworks. Ever since then they had reawakened echoes of that terror; now, for a moment, she became a child again, faced with a danger over which she had no control.
She screamed, trying to get out of the way, but the crowd was thick and she cannoned into a solid body. Then, without warning, as the squib changed direction yet again, popping its way across the street, she turned to apologise to the person she had bumped into.
âIâm sorry â¦â Her voice trailed away, her heart pounding suddenly not from fear but something quite different.
It was Steven.
He smiled at her, that slow, almost lazy smile that she had been seeing every night in her dreams.
âHello. Having trouble again?â
âWell ⦠yes ⦠it does seem like that, doesnât it? I donât know why ⦠Iâm not usually like this â¦â
âPerhaps it is me. I cause chaos for you.â
âOh no! Iâm sure thatâs not true â¦â
They were shouting to make themselves heard over the noise of the generators and the blaring music, but to Heather they might have been in a world of their own.
Steve spotted the teddy bear.
âYou win that?â
âThis?â She looked down, almost surprised to see she was still clutching it. âOh no â not me. David did. He gave it to me.â She saw his face go closed-in and realised what he was thinking. âDavid is my brother. Donât you know him? He works at Starvault Pit. David Simmons.â
âOh â yes.â But
All too soon it was over and Heather and her friends joined the scramble to run down the alley to the High Street so they could see the end of the procession pass by again.
The High Street was even more crowded than the spot from where they had watched the procession and the nearer one got to the town centre the more frenetic it became. Here the street fair was already in full swing, with dodgems and a switchback known as the Noahâs Ark in the Island and a big wheel on the wide pavement outside Wiltonsâgrocery store. There were booths and sideshows too and as they passed a shooting gallery Heather spotted David taking aim at the tin ducks that sailed across a make-believe river. She stopped to watch as he picked them off one by one and squealed with delight as the stall holder handed him his prize â a huge pink teddy bear.
âDavid â you fool!â
He turned, pleased with his performance but embarrassed by his prize, and saw her.
âHey â you can have this!â
âItâs yours! You won it!â
âNot bloody likely!â He thrust the teddy bear into her arms, moving on, laughing with his mates.
Heather looked around for her own friends but they had disappeared into the milling crowd. She began making her way towards the rides, looking for them. They couldnât have gone far. But in the wake of the procession the Island had become a mayhem, a cacophony of the whirr of the generators and the music blaring from the Noahâs Ark, the crashes and flying sparks from the dodgems and the general gaiety which had escalated a notch too far into frenetic merrymaking. An unsolicited squib scattered the crowd, carving a zigzag path through the revellers, then hopping in a totally new direction, heading straight for her.
Heather made a dive for safety as the squib followed her like a guided missile homing in on its target â or so it seemed to her. Once when she had been a little girl a Bonfire Night rocket had gone off course, zooming horizontally across the garden and catching Heather on the shoulder as she stood watching. Her thick woollen coat had saved her from injury, but she had fallen off her stool in terror and been too upset to watch the rest of the fireworks. Ever since then they had reawakened echoes of that terror; now, for a moment, she became a child again, faced with a danger over which she had no control.
She screamed, trying to get out of the way, but the crowd was thick and she cannoned into a solid body. Then, without warning, as the squib changed direction yet again, popping its way across the street, she turned to apologise to the person she had bumped into.
âIâm sorry â¦â Her voice trailed away, her heart pounding suddenly not from fear but something quite different.
It was Steven.
He smiled at her, that slow, almost lazy smile that she had been seeing every night in her dreams.
âHello. Having trouble again?â
âWell ⦠yes ⦠it does seem like that, doesnât it? I donât know why ⦠Iâm not usually like this â¦â
âPerhaps it is me. I cause chaos for you.â
âOh no! Iâm sure thatâs not true â¦â
They were shouting to make themselves heard over the noise of the generators and the blaring music, but to Heather they might have been in a world of their own.
Steve spotted the teddy bear.
âYou win that?â
âThis?â She looked down, almost surprised to see she was still clutching it. âOh no â not me. David did. He gave it to me.â She saw his face go closed-in and realised what he was thinking. âDavid is my brother. Donât you know him? He works at Starvault Pit. David Simmons.â
âOh â yes.â But
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