way; it made my eyes follow her as she went out and closed the door. But soon it was unearthly quiet. So quiet you feel you have to fill the silence up with some words.
“Who’s that girl your mum was talking about earlier? The one who used to live here,” I said.
I heard the shuffle of the quilt on the bottom bunk.
In the dark Alfie whispered, “She’s called Angel.”
“So that means she must be,” whispered Gem. “She stole ninety-nine horses.”
I thought about when Gem asked if Nell was short for Nelly, like the elephant. And that Gemma was called Gem, like something precious. My name doesn’t even mean anything. And it rhymes with hell and smell.
“It doesn’t mean you’re it just because of a name,” I said.
“How do you know?” whispered Alfie.
“It’s obvious,” I whispered. “Angels don’t steal. Everyone knows that.”
I could hear Alfie’s, and Gem’s wide-awake breath.
“If they had wings, they’d be an angel then,” Gem whispered. “They might hide them under their clothes.”
I turned on my side, curled my knees up and closed my eyes.
“Nobody’s got wings,” I said. “And anyway, nobody could steal that many horses. Not even an angel.”
“Nell,” whispered Alfie. “If you do see her, don’t tell nobody.”
“Why not?”
“She’ll probably kill you.”
Aunt Liv had a few fields. She said Lemon Cottage was a smallholding, not a farm. She had lots of ducks, three chickens and one pig, but all the rest of her land was for growing things. The geese belonged to Rita at the farm next door. Aunt Liv was looking after them for now until Rita decided what to do with them, because she was going to be moving soon.
“Gem, Alfie, you can help clean out the pen,” Aunt Liv said. “Nell…” She looked at my red skirt and white jumper. “Perhaps you could check the water trough, see if it’s full.”
The ground was soft and lumpy with sticky mud, and ruining my shoes. Maggie followed me over, waddling behind me with her barrel belly and rolled ears and wrinkled piggy eyes. She nudged my leg with her flat piggy nose.
“What’s she doing, Aunt Liv?” I said.
“Don’t worry, Nell, she’s just wondering who you are.”
Well, I wished she wouldn’t. I wished she would stop following me.
“Nice Maggie piggy,” I said, and held my hands up because she probably couldn’t understand English. “Wait there.”
Maggie’s ears twitched towards me. She seemed to be listening. But she nudged me again.
She turned her back and flicked her tail against my legs. I supposed she wanted me to pat her. But there I was again, doing something I didn’t want to do. I saw Aunt Liv look over, so I thought I’d better do it. Maggie took a step away from me as I reached out. I felt my shoes sinking. I heard the sucking noise as I tried to free them, as Maggie moved away. Too late. I fell down in the mud.
Maggie squealed and trotted back to her shed.
“Maggie can be a bit naughty if she thinks you don’t like her,” Aunt Liv said, running over, holding her hand out to help me up.
A clever pig then.
I didn’t want my mucky fingers to touch each other, so I stood with my hands spread and my arms away from my clothes until Aunt Liv said to swill them in the trough. Then she wiped them on her apron and I didn’t want to say anything about that. I stared at the dirt stuck in the lines of my hands, like somebody had drawn them with a dark brown pencil.
We cleaned and filled the food and water bowls for the geese and chickens, and after lunch Aunt Liv told us to go and play in the garden. I didn’t mind my cousins too much, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to dig a tunnel to China with them. So I asked Aunt Liv if I could stay with her.
She nodded to Gem and Alfie, told them to get digging if they wanted to reach China before teatime.
“I’ve got some weeding to do,” Aunt Liv said. “You could help me, if you like.”
I think she could tell I hadn’t done any weeding before.
“Otherwise there’s a fence to repair and some herbs to plant.”
I was definitely staying in the house today. I pulled at my muddy clothes. Mum would have said to get changed, immediately, but Aunt Liv didn’t seem to notice dirt.
“Can I phone Mum?” I said.
“You could, only I think she’s going to be busy preparing for the conference right now. Wait until this evening, then you can have a proper chat.”
She tilted her head and tucked her hair behind her ear.
“How about you take some things over to Rita at Keldacombe Farm? Rita’s not been herself since Mr Hemsworth passed away last year. She’s felt rather down.”
She pushed the hair away from my face and smiled. “But I’m sure a visitor would cheer her up.”
My brain woke up. Rita might know something about the horse and also, even more importantly, the girl who stole the carousel case!
“You mean go on my own?” I said.
Aunt Liv looked at me for a long time before she answered. It was the most normal thing for me to say, but obviously not the most normal thing for her to hear.
“Of course. You’ll be fine.”
Aunt Liv gave me a box of eggs and a flask of tea. She explained how to get to the farm next door, which didn’t really mean next door like at our house. You had to go down the track a bit, cut across a field and through a yard.
“Shall I ask Rita about that horse?”
“Good idea, Nell. And later we’ll see about finding you some more suitable clothes.”
