Page 37 of Dear Daisy

‘Of course.’ Dan had flipped his mood again, and was pulling his coat from the chair to put it back on. ‘We’ll meet you there, I can drive Winter in my car and we can talk about . . .’ and the merest pause, just a break in rhythm that only I would notice, ‘work. We’ll find you a guinea pig to rescue. Do you have the hutch and stuff? Only . . . guinea pigs? Tricky little critters, they might not dig and they might not chew but they can forge escape papers and be over the border before you can say “Supercalifragilisticexpealidocious”.’ He winked at Scarlet, who giggled again and then walked out of the door, dragging his coat around him as he went, and vanishing into the shoppers outside.

‘T-that guy is w-weird.’ Alex let go of my arm. ‘No w-wonder you w-want to k-keep away from him.’

‘He’s funny,’ Scarlet said. ‘And he knows about guinea pigs.’

He knows about lots of things. Things that hurt. ‘Let’s open those buns,’ I said.

Daniel Bekener @EditorDanB

Is there a word for when you do something and you don’t know if it was stupid or not?

ElliottTravels @Tripsky02

@EditorDanB Yeah. Life.

Daniel Bekener @EditorDanB

@Tripsky02 Seriously, mate, I have no idea what I’m doing. Making it better or worse.

ElliottTravels @Tripsky02

@EditorDanB Sometimes things have to get worse before they get better.

Daniel Bekner @EditorDanB

@Tripsky02 And if they don’t get better?

ElliottTravels @Tripsky02

@EditorDanB Then at least you know.

Daniel Bekener @EditorDanB

@Tripsky02 Wise, mate.

A.N. Editor Blog

You know that thing, when you go back to something and you think it’s all different now and then suddenly it isn’t? When everything comes roaring back at you to remind you of what was so great and what went so wrong, and it’s all still there, going round and round like one of those fairground rides that you want so much to go on and then can’t wait to stop so you can get off?

That.

Is it better to ride the tiger, or get off and look it in the face, tell it what it is? If I carry on riding this tiger — well, it could just run off into the darkness with me. And if I face it? Ah yes, looking her in the eye and telling her what is going on, tried that one. And yet, here we are again, giving it another go. Another attempt to explain to the tiger what is wrong. And why? Because I feel it’s worth it, because, deep down, there is something here, something that means so much to me that I can’t let it go. Can’t turn that tiger loose into the jungle and watch it vanish, not when that tiger is wounded and in danger.

From: [email protected]

To: [email protected]

Subject: New arrival

We’re doing it! We’re getting a guinea pig! I thought about what you said about Winter’s idea, and your hamster suggestion, but a hamster might be a bit too small, you know how excited she can get, and I worried that it might not stand up to the amount of cuddling I can foresee in its future, so we’re off to the RSPCA in the morning. Maybe you could come by in a couple of days, say, after school? Pop in and say hi and meet our new arrival? Or maybe you’ll be sick of hearing about it by then!

Mum says to tell you that she’s ordered that book you wanted, and it should be in at the library by next week. I told her she could email you herself but you know what she’s like.

Al x

I thought about faking every disease known to man and even a few that, I suspected, were actually diseases of sheep. Daniel is worming his way back in, doing what he did before, being just there. Wild and unpredictable and around every corner, until you just have to give in and ride the crazy-train along with him. But at least now you know. Know what he’s capable of, know that he’ll whip around and betray you without a second thought.

He double-parked the big silver car outside the cottage and leaned on the horn until I couldn’t pretend any more and had to come out.

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