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<h1>17</h1>

<p>Barbara invited me in for a nightcap and Paddy insisted I come up and wish her goodnight, waking up briefly but dopily for as long as it took to get her bundled into her pyjamas, and then she smiled and her eyelids drooped and she was fast asleep in the way that only small children and drunks can do.</p>

<p>Down in the living room, Barbara see-sawed the cord on the blinds and shut out the dusk. She poured me a Drambuie and made herself a brandy with ice, and we sat down in the broad armchairs on each side of the hearth. The liqueur sparked on the tip of my tongue and blazed a hot trail down my throat.</p>

<p>We sat and sipped and spoke about the fun of the festival and other things, the conversation just rolling along nice and easy. Barbara had liked all the old guys that I liked, and she did a quick take-off of Donald's island accent, which was so like him I had to laugh.</p>

<p>It must have been way past midnight when Paddy started crying upstairs, breaking the mellow mood that we had fallen into. Apart from the hassle with Billy Ruine and his mob of nut-cases, I'd had a ball, and when Paddy started up, yelling for her mother, I had a fleeting uncharitable thought which I suppressed a little guiltily.</p>

<p>Barbara gave me an apologetic look and went upstairs. She came down a minute or two later with Paddy in her arms, red-eyed, but still half asleep. Barbara was patting her gently on the back the way all mothers do, and Paddy's arms were tight around her neck.</p>

<p>
    'It's all right honey,' she said soothingly while her daughter snuffled into her.</p>

<p>
    'She's been dreaming again,' Barbara said to me. 'But it's all gone now, baby,' she said, in a different tone, to Paddy.</p>

<p>
    'She'll fine in a minute or two. Must have had too much excitement.' Barbara sat down on the sofa, still patting her daughter between the shoulder-blades, and the girl's panicky sniffling began to fade down. In a few moments the night shakes seemed to have left her. Barbara looked at me over her shoulder.</p>

<p>She was smiling a little.</p>

<p>In a few minutes, Paddy's breathing settled down and she was asleep on her mother's shoulder. Barbara took her back upstairs and when she came back she said: 'She's been waking up a lot these nights. And so have I.'</p>

<p>'Me too. Must be the heat,' I said, and stood up, putting my glass down on the stone mantelpiece. 'I suppose I'd better shoot off. You've got an early start in the morning. I'll come up for Paddy about ten, and we'll think of something to keep us both amused.'</p>

<p>'Thanks a million, Nick. It really is awfully good of you. If I get this job I'll have to get some sort of babysitting service full time.'</p>

<p>I told her it was no trouble at all, and I meant it. Having a day with a seven year old isn't everybody's idea of having good time, but hell, I still wasn't beyond the stage of hankering to go climb a tree or hook a trout out of the burn. It was just that there weren't too many people my age with the same hankering. There are some things which most people outgrow, and some of these things I guess I'm stuck with. Anyway, I was looking forward to it.</p>

<p>Barbara came to the door with me, and I slipped my arms around her back and joined them together. She pulled herself close, brought my head down to hers and kissed me. It was not a friendly kiss. Not a sisterly gesture. Above us, the moon was bright and silver, with that shaved way that tells you it's only a day or so away from a full moon, and the light tingled the needles of the cypress trees that lined the lawn. I returned the kiss with interest and she pressed her body up against mine, lithe and taut and soft at the same time. We held the moment, and each other, for quite a while before we broke away gently.</p>

<p>I held on to her shoulders and she looked down at my feet. At least I hoped it was my feet because that kiss had a powerful effect.</p>

<p>'Right, kid,' I said eventually. 'I'll see you in the morning.'</p>

<p>I took my hands off her shoulders, and she continued looking down, and I went down the stone steps towards the jeep.</p>

<p>I had just reached the driver's door and was fumbling in my pocket for the keys when she called my name, quite softly, from the shadow of the doorway. I had half turned to wave goodnight, and she came tripping a quick-step down the stair and pattered across the pebbles. The moonlight outlined her shape and blued the edges of her hair like St Elmo's fire and she came right into my arms in a rush and kissed me. Hard.</p>

<p>Then she stopped and looked right up into my eyes.</p>

<p>
    'Don't go,' she said, like an order. Like a demand.</p>

<p>Stupidly, I said: 'Pardon?'</p>

<p>
    'Don't go tonight. Please Nicky, I don't want you to go. Stay with me, won't you?' She said it quickly, getting it all out in a rush as if she might not be able to say the words if she spoke them slowly.</p>

<p>I didn't say anything at all. I just looked into her eyes, seeing the green shift to blue, and sparkling with little moon reflections. I turned her around with one arm across her shoulder and walked her back up the stairs.</p>

<p>I shut the door behind me and clicked the mortise lock over. We walked up the stairs and into her room and she closed the door and came right into my arms again.</p>

<p>The moonlight was a dim arc-lamp that shone a pillar of fluorescence through the pane.</p>

<p>The tomboy had become a stunning woman whose legs entwined mine, and whose breasts gleamed slick with the heat of our bodies, and whose soft voice moaned low and hungry in the dark and whose tears ran cool on my cheek.</p>

<p>We held each other for a long time and her tears evaporated, and then we whispered for an even longer time, before we slept. Both of us knew, without saying anything, that something had changed, clicked into place, and that we would have to do something about it.</p>

<p>Barbara fell asleep before me and just as she began to fade out she told me in a whisper that she thought she loved me. I felt a surge of happiness welling up inside me.</p>

<p>I slept for a couple of hours, I think, for it was still dark when I was whiplashed right out of sleep by another of those dreams. I was sitting up straight before I knew where I was, before I realised I had been dreaming.</p>

<p>This was one clear as ice; no aftershock fade.</p>

<p>In my dream I saw a thing that swelled and pulsed, a thing that changed as I watched, from a black shadow that shifted in and out of walls and trees and smeared everything it touched with a dead darkness.</p>

<p>In my dream I watched as it changed shape and stalked through the town, spreading its black disease, ripping here, touching there, and burning with the pale white eyes that were so dead they sucked out life.</p>

<p>And as I watched, unable to walk or talk, it changed and the wind took it high where it became a flapping sheet, pale against the dark, that fluttered in the wind and started to spiral down, and I saw a gaping beak open in a screech that sounded like mad laughter and saw that it wasn't a sheet at all. It was a huge white bird lancing down.</p>

<p>And there was Barbara running frantically.</p>

<p>I heard the wind of its wings and tried to call to her, to move to protect her, but no words would come out of my throat, and the wind became a roar and I saw that the great beak was going to...</p>

<p>No!</p>

<p>And I was awake, shattered into the world again, and gasping for breath that wouldn't come, and beside me Barbara was awake and had her arms around me and was asking me what was wrong.</p>

<p>
    'Nothing,' I said, 'just a dream,' and I could still see her running in the distance and that thing streaking down towards her.</p>

<p>'Some dream,' she said, and held me close, the way she had with her daughter. 'Come on, lie down.'</p>

<p>Numbly I did, and she held me and gradually my heart slowed down.</p>

<p>I drifted back into sleep in her arms.</p>

<p>It was just going on nine, and the sun was high enough to make a big square of light on the wall, when Barbara gently shook me awake, ruffling my hair. I opened my eyes groggily and she was lying beside me, propped up on one elbow and looking like a vision.</p>

<p>Everything came back to me and I smiled, a bit sheepishly.</p>

<p>
    'Morning,' I said.</p>

<p>She chucked me under the chin. 'Hiya.' She smiled, and added: 'Tiger.'</p>

<p>
    'Tigress,' I countered. 'What time is it?'</p>

<p>'Too late for any more of that,' she said.</p>

<p>
    'Pity.'</p>

<p>'Aw, come on. I haven't got the energy or the time,' she laughed. Then she came off her elbow, puckered up and kissed me a smack on the lips.</p>

<p>'Thank you. Thanks for staying,' she said.</p>

<p>'No ma'am. Thank you.'</p>

<p>She gave me another kiss then rolled over and out of bed. I watched her walk to where her robe lay on a chair. She picked it up put it on. For a brief and tantalising moment I could see her outline through the line gauzy material.</p>

<p>She caught my look.</p>

<p>
    'Voyeur,' she said. 'Come on, and bring your mind with you.'</p>

<p>
    'I'll leave that behind,' I said. 'I think it would just get in the way.'</p>

<p>She laughed brightly and ordered me out of bed and said she was going to check on Paddy. For some reason, I didn't want her daughter to know I'd spent the night, so I got out of bed quickly and fumbled around for my scattered clothes.</p>

<p>Barbara was bustling in the kitchen and I sat down at the pine table. She'd put out some orange juice which I downed in one swallow and she started to make coffee. There was a plate of cereal on the table for Paddy.</p>

<p>I watched Barbara move about, and I had to say something but I wasn't sure what to say, or how to start. But she got in first. 'You don't have to say anything.'</p>

<p>I looked up, and she must have read the surprise.</p>

<p>
    'It's all right Nick. It was terrific. It was wonderful. But that doesn't mean you have to .... '</p>

<p>'Well, I hope you mean that what you said was what you mean.'</p>

<p>'It was. It is,' she paused and I didn't let her go on.</p>

<p>'Well, that's all right then.'</p>

<p>Paddy came wandering into the kitchen and we stepped apart from each other.</p>

<p>
    'What're we going to do today? You're early too.'</p>

<p>'Yes, I thought we'd make a day of it, so I came as early as I could.'</p>

<p>
    'You're still wearing the same clothes,' she said. 'Didn't you get to bed last night?'</p>

<p>I looked at Barbara and she had to turn away to the sink to hide her giggles.</p>

<p>'Something like that,' I said.</p>

<p>Barbara went upstairs to get changed and Paddy and I sat in the kitchen with our breakfast. The radio was on in a corner and I heard the weatherman say something about storms heading in over the Atlantic, bringing rain to most parts later. I didn't quite catch it, but Paddy heard too.</p>

<p>
    'It's not going to rain, is it?' she said, pulling a disgusted face.</p>

<p>I looked out of the window. The sun was working overtime. 'Nah. Not today anyway, I don't think.'</p>

<p>'Can we go a picnic then?'</p>

<p>'OK, but I'll take you somewhere you haven't been yet.'</p>

<p>
    'Where's that?'</p>

<p>'I thought I'd show you some of the places me and your mum used to play when we were kids.'</p>

<p>'Really? I can't imagine my mom being a kid,' Paddy said. 'What was she like?'</p>

<p>'Well, she could climb better than anybody, and she was good with a slingshot and she could hit a rabbit with a rock.'</p>

<p>Paddy's eyes opened wide. 'My mom? My mom could hit a rabbit with a rock?'</p>

<p>Her face was such a picture of disbelief that I had to laugh out loud and that made her laugh too.</p>

<p>
    'You're kidding me, ain'tcha?' I realised then that I might have been just a bit iconoclastic and that Barbara might disapprove of her image being tampered with.</p>

<p>'Yeah, I'm just kidding. But she was a lot like you. Same colour of hair and same freckles. I reckon you'll be a lot like her.'</p>

<p>'Do you think so? Do you think I'll be like her? I mean, she's awful pretty and all.'</p>

<p>
    'Don't worry about it,' I said, on surer ground now. 'Even prettier probably.'</p>

<p>
    'Don't know if I want to be pretty,' Paddy said, thoughtfully. 'But hey, I'd sure like to hit a rabbit with a rock.'</p>

<p>When Barbara came downstairs I turned around and there she was standing by the door and looking like something from the front cover of Vogue. She had put on a simple white suit and had shoes and handbag to match, and frankly she looked perfect.</p>

<p>I gave her a low wolf whistle that Paddy tried unsuccessfully to emulate, and Barbara shot me a look that conveyed pleasure and incredulity and disapproval all in one.</p>

<p>'Do you think I'll pass muster?'</p>

<p>'I'd say if they don't hire you they'll need their heads looked at. '</p>

<p>'Me too,' Paddy chipped in. 'You look lovely mummy.'</p>

<p>'Well, thank you for that,' Barbara said. 'I take that as a vote of confidence.'</p>

<p>She told us to take care of ourselves and not get up to any mischief, and made us cross our hearts. We did.</p>

<p>Out front, Barbara pecked us both, me on the cheek and Paddy on the top of the head, thanked us for our good wishes and warned us sternly to behave. She swung the estate car out of the gate and was gone with two brief toots on the horn. If it was up to me I'd have hired her on the spot.</p>

<p>'Right, now what?' Paddy said.</p>

<p>'First, down to my place, so I can get changed. Then we'll decide.'</p>

<p>We went in the jeep. I let her ride shotgun.</p>

<p>"Phooey. Boy, do you need a bath,' she said, wrinkling her nose.</p>

<p>'Less of your lip, young lady. I told you I didn't get much sleep last night.'</p>

<p>
    'What's lip?' she asked.</p>

<p>'What you'll have a fat one of, kid, if you don't button it, and pronto.'</p>

<p>I was beginning to enjoy myself already. Yesterday, apart from the scene with Billy Ruine and gang, had been good. The best day I'd had in ages. Last night was just incredible. Today promised to be fun, pure and simple.</p>

<p>At my place, she sat in the big rocker and swung back and forth while I pottered about in the bathroom, trying to convince the shower that lukewarm was not going to solve the problem, but that was all I got, so I just used a lot of soap. I changed into a pair jeans and a light shirt and had a quick shave.</p>

<p>Paddy didn't say no to a couple of bacon sandwiches.</p>

<p>While we were eating and swapping tales - me about being a kid here, and she about being a kid over there - I flipped on the radio and heard the weatherman on the other channel promising a big change. As I'd driven down from the heights of Upper Arden, I'd noticed some cloud piling high over the firth, but there was hardly any breeze at all, so I thought we'd get a last day of it.</p>

<p>Over the roar of the low gears on the steep hill, there had been a low rumble like distant thunder. I hoped the day would stay fine, otherwise Paddy and I would be relegated to playing I-spy and happy families, but it was still hot and bright.</p>

<p>I thought we might head along to Strowan's Well and take the forest path into the valley where our old gang hut used to be. I reckoned I could spin a few tall tales about the old days, what I remembered of them anyway, that still wouldn't spoil Paddy's image of her mother, and retain mine - both versions that is.</p>

<p>One strange thing happened.</p>

<p>She went upstairs to the bathroom and when she was on the second flight she stopped. I could hear the sudden cessation of her footsteps on the treads.</p>

<p>'You okay?' I called up. There was no reply. I cocked a head over the banister.</p>

<p>Paddy was standing at the sixth step, with her right foot poised for the seventh. She was standing stock still, one hand on the banister and the other almost touching the wall. Then, quite deliberately, she lifted her foot higher, and put it on the eighth step up, missing out the one that creaked.</p>

<p>How the hell did she know about that, I wondered.</p>

<p>'Are you all right?' I asked, and Paddy turned on the top landing and nodded. There was a strange look on her face, puzzled but not afraid.</p>

<p>'Yes, I'm OK,' she said. 'That step isn't right, though.'</p>

<p>'What do you mean?'</p>

<p>'It was going to creak at me. Step on a creak makes you weak.'</p>

<p>She went into the bathroom, leaving <em>me</em> with the puzzled expression.</p>

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			`<h1>17</h1>`

			`<p>Barbara invited me in for a nightcap and Paddy insisted I come up and wish her goodnight, waking up briefly but dopily for as long as it took to get her bundled into her pyjamas, and then she smiled and her eyelids drooped and she was fast asleep in the way that only small children and drunks can do.</p>`

			`<p>Down in the living room, Barbara see-sawed the cord on the blinds and shut out the dusk. She poured me a Drambuie and made herself a brandy with ice, and we sat down in the broad armchairs on each side of the hearth. The liqueur sparked on the tip of my tongue and blazed a hot trail down my throat.</p>`

			`<p>We sat and sipped and spoke about the fun of the festival and other things, the conversation just rolling along nice and easy. Barbara had liked all the old guys that I liked, and she did a quick take-off of Donald's island accent, which was so like him I had to laugh.</p>`

			`<p>It must have been way past midnight when Paddy started crying upstairs, breaking the mellow mood that we had fallen into. Apart from the hassle with Billy Ruine and his mob of nut-cases, I'd had a ball, and when Paddy started up, yelling for her mother, I had a fleeting uncharitable thought which I suppressed a little guiltily.</p>`

			`<p>Barbara gave me an apologetic look and went upstairs. She came down a minute or two later with Paddy in her arms, red-eyed, but still half asleep. Barbara was patting her gently on the back the way all mothers do, and Paddy's arms were tight around her neck.</p>`

			`<p>`
			`'It's all right honey,' she said soothingly while her daughter snuffled into her.</p>`

			`<p>`
			`'She's been dreaming again,' Barbara said to me. 'But it's all gone now, baby,' she said, in a different tone, to Paddy.</p>`

			`<p>`
			`'She'll fine in a minute or two. Must have had too much excitement.' Barbara sat down on the sofa, still patting her daughter between the shoulder-blades, and the girl's panicky sniffling began to fade down. In a few moments the night shakes seemed to have left her. Barbara looked at me over her shoulder.</p>`

			`<p>She was smiling a little.</p>`

			`<p>In a few minutes, Paddy's breathing settled down and she was asleep on her mother's shoulder. Barbara took her back upstairs and when she came back she said: 'She's been waking up a lot these nights. And so have I.'</p>`

			`<p>'Me too. Must be the heat,' I said, and stood up, putting my glass down on the stone mantelpiece. 'I suppose I'd better shoot off. You've got an early start in the morning. I'll come up for Paddy about ten, and we'll think of something to keep us both amused.'</p>`

			`<p>'Thanks a million, Nick. It really is awfully good of you. If I get this job I'll have to get some sort of babysitting service full time.'</p>`

			`<p>I told her it was no trouble at all, and I meant it. Having a day with a seven year old isn't everybody's idea of having good time, but hell, I still wasn't beyond the stage of hankering to go climb a tree or hook a trout out of the burn. It was just that there weren't too many people my age with the same hankering. There are some things which most people outgrow, and some of these things I guess I'm stuck with. Anyway, I was looking forward to it.</p>`

			<p>Barbara came to the door with me, and I slipped my arms around her back and joined them together. She pulled herself close, brought my head down to hers and kissed me. It was not a friendly kiss. Not a sisterly gesture. Above us, the moon was bright and silver, with that shaved way that tells you it's only a day or so away from a full moon, and the light tingled the needles of the cypress trees that lined the lawn. I returned the kiss with interest and she pressed her body up against mine, lithe and taut and soft at the same time. We held the moment, and each other, for quite a while before we broke away gently.</p>

			`<p>I held on to her shoulders and she looked down at my feet. At least I hoped it was my feet because that kiss had a powerful effect.</p>`

			`<p>'Right, kid,' I said eventually. 'I'll see you in the morning.'</p>`

			`<p>I took my hands off her shoulders, and she continued looking down, and I went down the stone steps towards the jeep.</p>`

			`<p>I had just reached the driver's door and was fumbling in my pocket for the keys when she called my name, quite softly, from the shadow of the doorway. I had half turned to wave goodnight, and she came tripping a quick-step down the stair and pattered across the pebbles. The moonlight outlined her shape and blued the edges of her hair like St Elmo's fire and she came right into my arms in a rush and kissed me. Hard.</p>`

			`<p>Then she stopped and looked right up into my eyes.</p>`

			`<p>`
			`'Don't go,' she said, like an order. Like a demand.</p>`

			`<p>Stupidly, I said: 'Pardon?'</p>`

			`<p>`
			`'Don't go tonight. Please Nicky, I don't want you to go. Stay with me, won't you?' She said it quickly, getting it all out in a rush as if she might not be able to say the words if she spoke them slowly.</p>`

			`<p>I didn't say anything at all. I just looked into her eyes, seeing the green shift to blue, and sparkling with little moon reflections. I turned her around with one arm across her shoulder and walked her back up the stairs.</p>`

			`<p>I shut the door behind me and clicked the mortise lock over. We walked up the stairs and into her room and she closed the door and came right into my arms again.</p>`

			`<p>The moonlight was a dim arc-lamp that shone a pillar of fluorescence through the pane.</p>`

			`<p>The tomboy had become a stunning woman whose legs entwined mine, and whose breasts gleamed slick with the heat of our bodies, and whose soft voice moaned low and hungry in the dark and whose tears ran cool on my cheek.</p>`

			`<p>We held each other for a long time and her tears evaporated, and then we whispered for an even longer time, before we slept. Both of us knew, without saying anything, that something had changed, clicked into place, and that we would have to do something about it.</p>`

			`<p>Barbara fell asleep before me and just as she began to fade out she told me in a whisper that she thought she loved me. I felt a surge of happiness welling up inside me.</p>`

			`<p>I slept for a couple of hours, I think, for it was still dark when I was whiplashed right out of sleep by another of those dreams. I was sitting up straight before I knew where I was, before I realised I had been dreaming.</p>`

			`<p>This was one clear as ice; no aftershock fade.</p>`

			`<p>In my dream I saw a thing that swelled and pulsed, a thing that changed as I watched, from a black shadow that shifted in and out of walls and trees and smeared everything it touched with a dead darkness.</p>`

			`<p>In my dream I watched as it changed shape and stalked through the town, spreading its black disease, ripping here, touching there, and burning with the pale white eyes that were so dead they sucked out life.</p>`

			`<p>And as I watched, unable to walk or talk, it changed and the wind took it high where it became a flapping sheet, pale against the dark, that fluttered in the wind and started to spiral down, and I saw a gaping beak open in a screech that sounded like mad laughter and saw that it wasn't a sheet at all. It was a huge white bird lancing down.</p>`

			`<p>And there was Barbara running frantically.</p>`

			`<p>I heard the wind of its wings and tried to call to her, to move to protect her, but no words would come out of my throat, and the wind became a roar and I saw that the great beak was going to...</p>`

			`<p>No!</p>`

			`<p>And I was awake, shattered into the world again, and gasping for breath that wouldn't come, and beside me Barbara was awake and had her arms around me and was asking me what was wrong.</p>`

			`<p>`
			`'Nothing,' I said, 'just a dream,' and I could still see her running in the distance and that thing streaking down towards her.</p>`

			`<p>'Some dream,' she said, and held me close, the way she had with her daughter. 'Come on, lie down.'</p>`

			`<p>Numbly I did, and she held me and gradually my heart slowed down.</p>`

			`<p>I drifted back into sleep in her arms.</p>`

			`<p>It was just going on nine, and the sun was high enough to make a big square of light on the wall, when Barbara gently shook me awake, ruffling my hair. I opened my eyes groggily and she was lying beside me, propped up on one elbow and looking like a vision.</p>`

			`<p>Everything came back to me and I smiled, a bit sheepishly.</p>`

			`<p>`
			`'Morning,' I said.</p>`

			`<p>She chucked me under the chin. 'Hiya.' She smiled, and added: 'Tiger.'</p>`

			`<p>`
			`'Tigress,' I countered. 'What time is it?'</p>`

			`<p>'Too late for any more of that,' she said.</p>`

			`<p>`
			`'Pity.'</p>`

			`<p>'Aw, come on. I haven't got the energy or the time,' she laughed. Then she came off her elbow, puckered up and kissed me a smack on the lips.</p>`

			`<p>'Thank you. Thanks for staying,' she said.</p>`

			`<p>'No ma'am. Thank you.'</p>`

			`<p>She gave me another kiss then rolled over and out of bed. I watched her walk to where her robe lay on a chair. She picked it up put it on. For a brief and tantalising moment I could see her outline through the line gauzy material.</p>`

			`<p>She caught my look.</p>`

			`<p>`
			`'Voyeur,' she said. 'Come on, and bring your mind with you.'</p>`

			`<p>`
			`'I'll leave that behind,' I said. 'I think it would just get in the way.'</p>`

			`<p>She laughed brightly and ordered me out of bed and said she was going to check on Paddy. For some reason, I didn't want her daughter to know I'd spent the night, so I got out of bed quickly and fumbled around for my scattered clothes.</p>`

			`<p>Barbara was bustling in the kitchen and I sat down at the pine table. She'd put out some orange juice which I downed in one swallow and she started to make coffee. There was a plate of cereal on the table for Paddy.</p>`

			`<p>I watched Barbara move about, and I had to say something but I wasn't sure what to say, or how to start. But she got in first. 'You don't have to say anything.'</p>`

			`<p>I looked up, and she must have read the surprise.</p>`

			`<p>`
			`'It's all right Nick. It was terrific. It was wonderful. But that doesn't mean you have to .... '</p>`

			`<p>'Well, I hope you mean that what you said was what you mean.'</p>`

			`<p>'It was. It is,' she paused and I didn't let her go on.</p>`

			`<p>'Well, that's all right then.'</p>`

			`<p>Paddy came wandering into the kitchen and we stepped apart from each other.</p>`

			`<p>`
			`'What're we going to do today? You're early too.'</p>`

			`<p>'Yes, I thought we'd make a day of it, so I came as early as I could.'</p>`

			`<p>`
			`'You're still wearing the same clothes,' she said. 'Didn't you get to bed last night?'</p>`

			`<p>I looked at Barbara and she had to turn away to the sink to hide her giggles.</p>`

			`<p>'Something like that,' I said.</p>`

			`<p>Barbara went upstairs to get changed and Paddy and I sat in the kitchen with our breakfast. The radio was on in a corner and I heard the weatherman say something about storms heading in over the Atlantic, bringing rain to most parts later. I didn't quite catch it, but Paddy heard too.</p>`

			`<p>`
			`'It's not going to rain, is it?' she said, pulling a disgusted face.</p>`

			`<p>I looked out of the window. The sun was working overtime. 'Nah. Not today anyway, I don't think.'</p>`

			`<p>'Can we go a picnic then?'</p>`

			`<p>'OK, but I'll take you somewhere you haven't been yet.'</p>`

			`<p>`
			`'Where's that?'</p>`

			`<p>'I thought I'd show you some of the places me and your mum used to play when we were kids.'</p>`

			`<p>'Really? I can't imagine my mom being a kid,' Paddy said. 'What was she like?'</p>`

			`<p>'Well, she could climb better than anybody, and she was good with a slingshot and she could hit a rabbit with a rock.'</p>`

			`<p>Paddy's eyes opened wide. 'My mom? My mom could hit a rabbit with a rock?'</p>`

			`<p>Her face was such a picture of disbelief that I had to laugh out loud and that made her laugh too.</p>`

			`<p>`
			`'You're kidding me, ain'tcha?' I realised then that I might have been just a bit iconoclastic and that Barbara might disapprove of her image being tampered with.</p>`

			`<p>'Yeah, I'm just kidding. But she was a lot like you. Same colour of hair and same freckles. I reckon you'll be a lot like her.'</p>`

			`<p>'Do you think so? Do you think I'll be like her? I mean, she's awful pretty and all.'</p>`

			`<p>`
			`'Don't worry about it,' I said, on surer ground now. 'Even prettier probably.'</p>`

			`<p>`
			`'Don't know if I want to be pretty,' Paddy said, thoughtfully. 'But hey, I'd sure like to hit a rabbit with a rock.'</p>`

			`<p>When Barbara came downstairs I turned around and there she was standing by the door and looking like something from the front cover of Vogue. She had put on a simple white suit and had shoes and handbag to match, and frankly she looked perfect.</p>`

			`<p>I gave her a low wolf whistle that Paddy tried unsuccessfully to emulate, and Barbara shot me a look that conveyed pleasure and incredulity and disapproval all in one.</p>`

			`<p>'Do you think I'll pass muster?'</p>`

			`<p>'I'd say if they don't hire you they'll need their heads looked at. '</p>`

			`<p>'Me too,' Paddy chipped in. 'You look lovely mummy.'</p>`

			`<p>'Well, thank you for that,' Barbara said. 'I take that as a vote of confidence.'</p>`

			`<p>She told us to take care of ourselves and not get up to any mischief, and made us cross our hearts. We did.</p>`

			`<p>Out front, Barbara pecked us both, me on the cheek and Paddy on the top of the head, thanked us for our good wishes and warned us sternly to behave. She swung the estate car out of the gate and was gone with two brief toots on the horn. If it was up to me I'd have hired her on the spot.</p>`

			`<p>'Right, now what?' Paddy said.</p>`

			`<p>'First, down to my place, so I can get changed. Then we'll decide.'</p>`

			`<p>We went in the jeep. I let her ride shotgun.</p>`

			`<p>"Phooey. Boy, do you need a bath,' she said, wrinkling her nose.</p>`

			`<p>'Less of your lip, young lady. I told you I didn't get much sleep last night.'</p>`

			`<p>`
			`'What's lip?' she asked.</p>`

			`<p>'What you'll have a fat one of, kid, if you don't button it, and pronto.'</p>`

			`<p>I was beginning to enjoy myself already. Yesterday, apart from the scene with Billy Ruine and gang, had been good. The best day I'd had in ages. Last night was just incredible. Today promised to be fun, pure and simple.</p>`

			`<p>At my place, she sat in the big rocker and swung back and forth while I pottered about in the bathroom, trying to convince the shower that lukewarm was not going to solve the problem, but that was all I got, so I just used a lot of soap. I changed into a pair jeans and a light shirt and had a quick shave.</p>`

			`<p>Paddy didn't say no to a couple of bacon sandwiches.</p>`

			`<p>While we were eating and swapping tales - me about being a kid here, and she about being a kid over there - I flipped on the radio and heard the weatherman on the other channel promising a big change. As I'd driven down from the heights of Upper Arden, I'd noticed some cloud piling high over the firth, but there was hardly any breeze at all, so I thought we'd get a last day of it.</p>`

			`<p>Over the roar of the low gears on the steep hill, there had been a low rumble like distant thunder. I hoped the day would stay fine, otherwise Paddy and I would be relegated to playing I-spy and happy families, but it was still hot and bright.</p>`

			`<p>I thought we might head along to Strowan's Well and take the forest path into the valley where our old gang hut used to be. I reckoned I could spin a few tall tales about the old days, what I remembered of them anyway, that still wouldn't spoil Paddy's image of her mother, and retain mine - both versions that is.</p>`

			`<p>One strange thing happened.</p>`

			`<p>She went upstairs to the bathroom and when she was on the second flight she stopped. I could hear the sudden cessation of her footsteps on the treads.</p>`

			`<p>'You okay?' I called up. There was no reply. I cocked a head over the banister.</p>`

			`<p>Paddy was standing at the sixth step, with her right foot poised for the seventh. She was standing stock still, one hand on the banister and the other almost touching the wall. Then, quite deliberately, she lifted her foot higher, and put it on the eighth step up, missing out the one that creaked.</p>`

			`<p>How the hell did she know about that, I wondered.</p>`

			`<p>'Are you all right?' I asked, and Paddy turned on the top landing and nodded. There was a strange look on her face, puzzled but not afraid.</p>`

			`<p>'Yes, I'm OK,' she said. 'That step isn't right, though.'</p>`

			`<p>'What do you mean?'</p>`

			`<p>'It was going to creak at me. Step on a creak makes you weak.'</p>`

			`<p>She went into the bathroom, leaving <em>me</em> with the puzzled expression.</p>`

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