imagine Danny rowing, Danny running round with a racket. Another house has a huge Alsatian that leaps towards us as we peer through the gate. It canât get at us but we run anyway, frightened its loud barking will alert someone.
âThat canât be Dannyâs house. Heâd never have a mad dog like that with children around. It would swallow little Ace for breakfast,â Mum pants.
Iâm starting to think weâll spend the rest of the night stumbling around Robin Hill, probably going backwards and forwards past Dannyâs house several times without ever realizing. But right at the end of the lane thereâs a big gate with limp bouquets of flowers and little teddies tied to it, and all along the wall there are smudges and blobs of writing, though we canât read them in the gloom.We donât need to. Itâs obvious they are passionate messages from fans. This
must
be Dannyâs house.
Mum squeezes my hand tight. âWeâve found it, Destiny!â She gives a little chuckle. âTheyâll be so surprised when we knock on the door!â
âMum! We canât knock
now
. Itâs much too early.â
âOh, darling, we canât wait now,â says Mum, pacing up and down in her punishing high heels. âI canât wait, I canât wait!â
âMum, what would we think if there was a knock on
our
door at three oâclock in the morning? Itâll worry them so â and theyâll get angry too.â
âNot when we explain,â says Mum, but sheâs started to waver. âMaybe youâre right. Weâll wait till itâs daylight, OK? Itâll give us a chance to get a bit of beauty sleep.â
So we sit down on the path and lean against the wall. In spite of the cold and the worry and the excitement we both fall fast asleep.
4
SUNSET
I wake up early, even though I was awake half the night. Mum and Dad rowed for hours and hours. They were yelling so loudly that Ace woke up and started crying too. I got to him before Claudia and lifted him out of his bed and took him backinto my room. Sweetie came too, burrowing into me with her little sharp elbows and knees, her long hair tangled all over my face.
We lay there uncomfortably while the shouting went on. I tried pulling the duvet up over our heads. I made Sweetie and Ace pretend we were bears in a cave, but it only distracted them for a minute or two and then they got hot and poked their heads out of the duvet again. Mum was screaming now and Dad was shouting very, very rude words. Ace started muttering them too, but I put my hand over his mouth.
âStop it, Ace. You mustnât say that.â
âDad is.â
âDadâs being very bad.â
âWhy is he so cross with Mum?â Ace mumbled. âI hate it when Dadâs cross.â
âMumâs
crying
,â said Sweetie. âShall we go and stop them, Sunset?â
âNo, then theyâll be cross with us. Shh now.â
âI want Mum!â Ace said.
âWell, youâve got me just now. Come here, little Aceman Spaceman. Time to dream your way over the moon and in and out the stars.â
I stroked his hot head and his silky straight hair while he nestled close, and in a few minutes he was breathing deeply, fast asleep.
âHe didnât do a wee in his pot,â Sweetie whispered. âWatch out, Sunset, heâll wet the bed.â
âNo he wonât,â I said firmly, though I worried she might well be right.
The bedâs still dry now, and I should lift him out quick and put him on his pot, but if he wakes up heâll wake everyone and itâs so quiet and peaceful. Sweetieâs stayed in my bed too. Sheâs stretched out like a starfish, taking up most of the space. Sheâs still got purple shadow on her eyelids. I stare at my sister, sighing. Itâs so unfair. Why canât
I
be little and pretty. Iâd give anything to be tiny and
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