and Adam questions for ages. That made me feel scared, like it was closer to us and we might be in trouble, but Mum was all no-nonsense about it, and said that they have to talk to everyone in the town and the outlying farms because that was their job. They had to interview Dad first because he had been spending a lot of time at the town hall.
Luckily we all had alibis (not that we really needed them!). Sammy-boy and I feel like even closer pals because we are each other’s alibi. He even drew a picture of the two of us sitting in the greenhouse and a speech bubble coming out of both of our mouths saying, ‘We didn’t do nothing!’ It’s so cute I can’t help laughing every time I think about it.
Em-J just phoned. She let Christophe know about not doing the band anymore. Barry Finch is going to recover but he’ll be in hospital for a few weeks. That means that he won’t be able to earn enough money this summer to do his next year of university. It seems so unfair. It’s funny how you can care so much about someone you’ve never met. I wish there was something I could do.
LATER
It’s the middle of the night and I just woke up with a GENIUS (if-I-do-say-so-myself) PLAN. If Em-J reforms her band, they can play a concert in the stone barn and use the money collected at the door for Barry! We could make enough that he’ll be able to go back to university in September like he originally planned. I just know they’ll go for it.
It’s going to take some major hot milk to get me back to sleep now, I’m buzzing enough to run all the way to Em-J’s. Instead I’ll phone her first thing. Also, I want to show Christophe that I don’t care about him and that he isn’t better than me. Maybe if he hangs out with me more he’ll want to actually talk to me and then I can just tell him I’m too busy to be his friend. God, my head is like strange soup, all these unidentifiable bits of weirdness floating around endlessly.
DAY THIRTY-SEVEN
I didn’t fall asleep for two hours. Every time I tried to think of boring things like rainy car journeys, and cows and sheep, images of a couple of hundred people at a gig in the stone barn would crash about my brain again. Finally, after dawn, I nodded off and ended up sleeping in until ten in the morning, which around here is pretty much the same as sleeping all day.
Em-J wasn’t in when I phoned, and Dad wanted me to go with him to visit some farm where they were doing something environmental. So I left messages for her to meet me at the Hazel Wood at nine o’clock tonight, and explained to her how to get there.
I feel like the Hazel Wood is such a magical place that if we do the planning there, then it just has to happen. I also want to make it a place where I think about lots of things, not just The Watcher.
It’s now six o’clock and I’ve just had a long bath after the day visiting the green farm.
LATER
I thought I saw Em-J in the middle of the Hazel Wood and went running over, only realising as I got right up close, that it was Christophe. It was a MAJOR cringy moment. We both just mumbled ‘Hi’, and he said something about Em-J asking him to be there and her being on her way. He was wearing dark, slightly baggy jeans, a long, ripped sweater, and an old pair of sneakers covered in artwork he’d designed himself. It’s like ancient symbols done in a cartoon way. He is too cool. I so wanted him to draw on my sneakers like that, but was too shy to ask. In fact, we didn’t say anything for the next two minutes. He’s so much easier to talk to when he’s The Watcher than when he is Christophe and in front of me.
Eventually he decided to speak to me and said,
‘Thanks for looking after my brother, he really loves hanging out with you, especially drawing and eating, those are his favourite things to do.’
It didn’t occur to me that he’d know what Sammy-boy and I got up to, so that twisted my brain a bit. I just said,
‘Oh, yeah.’
Just when I thought
Luckily we all had alibis (not that we really needed them!). Sammy-boy and I feel like even closer pals because we are each other’s alibi. He even drew a picture of the two of us sitting in the greenhouse and a speech bubble coming out of both of our mouths saying, ‘We didn’t do nothing!’ It’s so cute I can’t help laughing every time I think about it.
Em-J just phoned. She let Christophe know about not doing the band anymore. Barry Finch is going to recover but he’ll be in hospital for a few weeks. That means that he won’t be able to earn enough money this summer to do his next year of university. It seems so unfair. It’s funny how you can care so much about someone you’ve never met. I wish there was something I could do.
LATER
It’s the middle of the night and I just woke up with a GENIUS (if-I-do-say-so-myself) PLAN. If Em-J reforms her band, they can play a concert in the stone barn and use the money collected at the door for Barry! We could make enough that he’ll be able to go back to university in September like he originally planned. I just know they’ll go for it.
It’s going to take some major hot milk to get me back to sleep now, I’m buzzing enough to run all the way to Em-J’s. Instead I’ll phone her first thing. Also, I want to show Christophe that I don’t care about him and that he isn’t better than me. Maybe if he hangs out with me more he’ll want to actually talk to me and then I can just tell him I’m too busy to be his friend. God, my head is like strange soup, all these unidentifiable bits of weirdness floating around endlessly.
DAY THIRTY-SEVEN
I didn’t fall asleep for two hours. Every time I tried to think of boring things like rainy car journeys, and cows and sheep, images of a couple of hundred people at a gig in the stone barn would crash about my brain again. Finally, after dawn, I nodded off and ended up sleeping in until ten in the morning, which around here is pretty much the same as sleeping all day.
Em-J wasn’t in when I phoned, and Dad wanted me to go with him to visit some farm where they were doing something environmental. So I left messages for her to meet me at the Hazel Wood at nine o’clock tonight, and explained to her how to get there.
I feel like the Hazel Wood is such a magical place that if we do the planning there, then it just has to happen. I also want to make it a place where I think about lots of things, not just The Watcher.
It’s now six o’clock and I’ve just had a long bath after the day visiting the green farm.
LATER
I thought I saw Em-J in the middle of the Hazel Wood and went running over, only realising as I got right up close, that it was Christophe. It was a MAJOR cringy moment. We both just mumbled ‘Hi’, and he said something about Em-J asking him to be there and her being on her way. He was wearing dark, slightly baggy jeans, a long, ripped sweater, and an old pair of sneakers covered in artwork he’d designed himself. It’s like ancient symbols done in a cartoon way. He is too cool. I so wanted him to draw on my sneakers like that, but was too shy to ask. In fact, we didn’t say anything for the next two minutes. He’s so much easier to talk to when he’s The Watcher than when he is Christophe and in front of me.
Eventually he decided to speak to me and said,
‘Thanks for looking after my brother, he really loves hanging out with you, especially drawing and eating, those are his favourite things to do.’
It didn’t occur to me that he’d know what Sammy-boy and I got up to, so that twisted my brain a bit. I just said,
‘Oh, yeah.’
Just when I thought
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