Cuckoo by Julia Crouch Page B

played out there. Well, ours was in the middle of a big town and there were a few roads between the school and the beach, so it was quite different, and the weather was very chilly and rainy that day, so everyone felt a little mean and cold. Not like in Karpathos, where the sun shines almost every day.
     
    ‘Anyway, we were all sitting down at our desks, when the teacher said there was a new girl, and in walked your mum. She was thin as a stick, and tiny, and her hair was like a frightened black cat sitting on her head.’
     
    Nico let out a snort of laughter from the bed above.
     
    ‘She was soaking wet, and looked like a little ferret, staring out with her beady eyes. And she was wearing what looked like a purple tutu, stripy pink and black tights and big silver boots that made her feet look like a hooligan’s. Everyone in the class laughed.’
     
    ‘No one laughed at me today,’ Yannis said.
     
    ‘No. They’re nice at your new school. Back then, everyone laughed at your mum, except me. I stood up and said, “Can she come and sit by me, Miss?” And I looked after her. I took her hand and said, “We’re going to be best friends”. And we were.’
     
    Nico had turned round now, and he hung his head down from the top bunk, listening.
     
    ‘That afternoon, I took her back to my house after school. We stopped off at her little flat on the way to let her mum know, but her mum was sleeping on the sofa, so we left her a note. Did you ever meet your granny?’
     
    ‘I did, when I was a baby,’ Nico said. ‘But I don’t remember her.’
     
    ‘Well, she was very beautiful. She was a model and her photo was in a lot of magazines when she was younger. But by the time she had your mum she wasn’t all that well, and she wasn’t able to look after her properly. So we went back to my house and we had tea, and Polly told me all about her life. She and her mum had just moved down to Brighton from London, and they had spent some time in Italy before that, and Morocco. But they stayed in Brighton when they got there, because her mum was too tired to move anywhere else. Which was lucky for me and Polly.
     
    ‘So if we weren’t at school together, we were round each other’s houses. My house was a sort of hotel, and we’d play in the empty bedrooms.’
     
    ‘Can we go there, to that house?’ Yannis asked.
     
    ‘Oh, it was sold a long time ago,’ Rose said. ‘Still, we’ve got this house now. And I hope you two and Anna will grow up to be as great friends as me and Polly.
     
    ‘Now then, it’s time to call it a day,’ she said, tucking them both in again and smoothing their duvets down. ‘There’ll be plenty more evenings for stories.’
     
    ‘I can’t sleep, Rose,’ Yannis said, his lip trembling.
     
    ‘Oh dear, Yannis, come here.’ Rose lay down on the bed next to him. She knew that Flossie would be wanting a feed soon, but she couldn’t let this poor little boy lie here in the dark on his own. She held him close and hummed and stroked his head, sure she could still smell wild oregano in his hair. In a matter of minutes, he was asleep, a tiny smile traced across his lips.
     
    Rose got up. ‘Is it OK if I go, Nico?’ she whispered.
     
    ‘He’s asleep?’
     
    ‘Yes.’
     
    ‘Then go, Rose. I’ll be fine.’ He reached over, and rubbed her shoulder.
     
    Like a little old man, she thought as she made her way back through the main room, past Polly’s bed.
     
    ‘Liar,’ Polly muttered from her bed.
     
    ‘What?’ Rose said, startled.
     
    ‘It wasn’t like that,’ Polly mumbled, half under her breath as she turned and huddled back down under the duvet. Then she sighed and softly started to snore.
     

Eleven
     
    The next morning there was a deep frost. Pale gold sunlight was just beginning to soften the crunch underfoot as Rose, Flossie, Simon and Trooper crossed the field towards The Lodge on the way back from the school run.
     
    ‘So, I hear she caused quite a stir