ill tugged at ;Come on, come on...quot;

    But ill afraid. ill looked up and doreet in t, along ttle terrace of s tiny garden and its box  mucime. People o stare and comment and notice. It o , but all he could do was persuade her, as usual.

    quot;Mum, lets go in and see Mrs. Cooper,quot; ;Look, ;

    quot;Mrs. Cooper?quot; sfully.

    But o put doo do it, because ill  mig to be seen   would o .

    tooped elderly figure of teac of lavender er about her as he remembered.

    quot;? Is t illiam?quot; t;I  seen you for over a year.  do you , dear?quot;

    quot;I  to come in, please, and bring my mot; he said firmly.

    Mrs. Cooper looked at tidy racted  tig lips, tting ja Mrs. Parry, ills mot makeup on one eye but not on t noticed. And neithing was wrong.

    quot;ell...quot; sepped aside to make room in the narrow hall.

    ill looked up and doightly Mrs.

    Parry o enderly o tting room iced t Mrs. Parrys clotly musty, as if too long in t on traight black brows.

    quot; is it, illiam?quot; t;s tter?quot;

    quot;My moto stay for a fe; ;Its too difficult to look after   no mean s kind of confused and muddled, and ss a bit er. S needs someone to be kind to  quite easily, probably.quot;

    t  seeming to understand, and Mrs. Cooper saaken e.

    quot;S be expensive,quot;  on. quot;Ive brougs of food, enougo last, I s too. S mind s;

    quot;But ... I dont kno;

    quot;No! S ill.quot;

    quot;But t be someone ;

    quot;e  got any family. Only us. And too busy.quot;

    quot; about t mean to put you off, dear, but—quot;

    quot;No! No. S needs a bit of  do it myself for a little  be long. Im going to ... Ive got to do. But Ill be back soon, and Ill take  o do it for long.quot;

    t rust, and urned and smiled at  Mrs. Cooper couldnt say no.

    quot;ell,quot; surning to Mrs. Parry, quot;Im sure it  matter for a day or so. You can ers room, dear. Sralia. S be needing it again.quot;

    quot;t; said ill, and stood up as if o leave.

    quot;But ; said Mrs. Cooper.

    quot;Im going to be staying ; ;Ill pen as I can. Ive got your number. Itll be all rig;

    over and kissed her clumsily.

    quot;Dont ; ;Mrs. Cooper er you better t. And Ill palk to you tomorro;

    tigly unfastened o t door. Mrs. Cooper could see , because ening, but urned, remembering  his hand.

    quot;Good-bye,quot; ;and t;

    quot;illiam,quot; s;I ter is—quot;

    quot;Its a bit complicated,quot; ;but s be any trouble, ly.quot;

    t  ; but someever it  shed never seen a child so implacable.

    urned a ty house.

    tate ical . t garden  a patced some s tering. As ill came around t, Moxie, rose up from e spot under till-living retcing  meoting  his leg.

    ;;

    t. In t of t t ook no notice of ill, and ill didnt look at ice people took, tter.

    ,  in quickly. tened very carefully before putting o y.

    in for Moxie and left o eat in tche men came back?

    telling, so ter move quickly.  upstairs and began to search.

    tered green leating case. to  size even in any ordinary modern  need secret panels and extensive cellars in order to make someto find. ill searc, aso be looking t ematically t of tairs, even o see w  and cleaned herself nearby, for company.

    But  find it.

    By t time it  and sat at tcable  t order to look tairs rooms.

    As he phone rang.

    absolutely still,  ted: ty-six rings, and t stopped.  e in tarted to search again.

    Four er ill  found t  out of reach.

    And almost at once, it seemed (taneously.

    First,  tairs, opening tchen door.

    ed Moxie out of tly est. t on raining every nerve to airs.

    t sounds: a ced and replaced, a s whe creak of a floorboard.

    Moving more silently t iptoed to t top of tairs. It  quite pitcly gray predaen tment at tterns and bobbins .

    for it delicately, listening all t doairs, and ill could see a dim flicker of lig mig at the door.

    tcment and clicked it open, and t as  ing case.

    And noening hard.

    tairs. ly, quot;Come on. I can ;

    quot;Its not ; said t;ell o look upstairs.quot;

    quot;Go on, t .quot;

    ill braced  creak of top step. t all, but   expecting it. t s along tside. ill sa the crack.

    to move. ill ed till t of to truders belly.

    But neit.

    As top step, Moxie ly out of tood ail just beo rub  trained and fit and   t ried to move back, ripped over airs and crasally against table.

    ill  stop to  it. Clutcing case, er, leaping over t lay tc t of t, seized tattered tote bag from table, and  of t door and a of tare.

    Even in e ill er him, or chase him.

    ter o do was run.

    urning into ts of ric cart pallid in t o t-door garden, do garden  lao tangle of srees betate and the main road.

    ting and trembling. It oo early to be out on t till later, ed.

    get out of ruck table, and t so far and in sucche man was dead. hed killed him.

    get it out of  o. te enougo t.  tell, urn up as , no hed killed someone.

    And Moxie.  o follohem?

    It ting lige. It e bag: est letter from te bars, toote, spare socks and pants. And ting case.

    Everyto plan, really.

    Except t hed killed someone.

    ill  realized  from ot o look after , and to put an item in t only o look all around and ; and scin or a packet from t it silently into t. hey became invisible.

    It   on for a long time, because turday morning and t t it and ogetrusted eacen told old he same.

    So ed and  find   of too, even ; but ill ting tired by time, and oo, and Mummy  so ened, and t around and around putting t time to be extra careful because tracking t card numbers, whey had her purse....

    And ill got more and more frigo make to a game so t  be alarmed, and  ruto pretend not to be frigo reassure her.

    So ttle boy pretended it ill, so s o  ened, and t  any s safe from table any to t, and opened anot to be sure. t sometime during t fe t in t t in  made tening and dangerous; it just meant o protect  in t end in order not to  to ies. o protect her.

    As for ills fato remember ely curious about o plague ions, most of w answer.

    quot;as ;

    quot;;

    quot;;

    quot;Is ;

    quot;ill he come back?

    quot; was ;

    t question  to become an explorer and lead expeditions to remote parts of to  ting togeto gaze out across stormy seas from torco deciperious inscriptions in a bat-infested cave. ... t of friends, tless times, talked togeto t.

    But t, to , riding -bearded men on Arctic sledges or examining creeper-covered ruins in tropies   ten about him in a book?

    kno one tuck in his mind.

    S;One day, youll follosteps. Youre going to be a great man too.

    Youll take up le.quot;

    And t kno meant, ood t, and felt uplifted o come true.  some  life, if you  aim like t.

    So  rouble secret. times o learn from o s  iced at sc to attract attention from tate of fear and madness t s ill  ties  about ake  rangers. Any difficulty ter t.

    Because times  ter companion, and ed noto live h her alone forever.

    But the men came.

    t police, and t social services, and t criminals—at least as far as ill could judge. t tell  ted, in spite of s to keep to ate  then.

    But ened outside t  h come more quickly.

    ted to knoo  act h any foreign embassies.

    ill ting more and more distressed, and finally o told to go.

    neit  and deadly.

    So t. Naturally, trengtion: rouble some rue, and o be .

    And not long aftering t ills moto tell t sc alking doairs  ill came  t.

    to kno  go to to ties, and t more and more persistent. Finally to to fetc ting ouce slat in every separate benco get it done quicker.   day t of t inside to find t t of the drawers and cupboards.

    ter. t precious possession;  , and  even kno. But  contained letters, and imes, and cried, and it  salked about  t ter, and kne it.

    to find someay.  and t, but o ask, and t rust  , and to go to Oxford,  too soon.

    And now hem.

    So ter oo.

    ell,  not being noticed. o not be noticed  up as long as ill eit,  care hem he killed.

    Later t day, to of ty of Oxford, forty miles ao coo late to do  a Burger King and gone to a cinema to  t even as c), and now h.

    No one iced nun so far. But  ter find someer it got, ticeable rouble  to able ill no sign of open country.

    o a large traffic circle . At time of nigtle traffic, and tood , able  back beed along t tly symmetrical close-leafed croreetligificial, like a stage set. ill upefied ion, and  o t rees and slept; but as ood trying to clear .

    Sabby, like Moxie. S of a garden on tanding. ill put doe bag and   came up to rub   as Moxie did. Of course, every cat be, but all t suc tears scalded his eyes.

    Eventually t turned a, and territory to patrol, to . So beyond trees, and topped.

    ill, still c behave curiously.

    S a pao pat somet of e invisible to ill. tail  stiffly. ill kne becly as t approac again, just an empty patcted the air once more.

    Again s less far and ime. After anotouccy overcame wariness.

    t stepped forward—and vanished.

    ill blinked. tood still, close to trunk of t tree, as a truck came around t its lig ,  ing. It  easy, because to fix on, but  about to look closely, .

    At least,  from some angles. It looked as if someone  a patc of t tchan a yard across.

    If you c it   ely invisible from be only from t t see it easily even from t ly t lay in front of it on tc by a streetlight.

    But ill kne test doubt t t patc world.

    possibly  at once, as strongly as  fire burned and kindness hing profoundly alien.

    And for t reason alone, it enticed o stoop and look furt  t  ate: ote bag to another.

    anding under a rorees. But not rees: tall palms, and trees in Oxford, in a ro ter of a broad boulevard, and at tly bt, all open, and all utterly silent and empty beneatars. t nig of flo smell of the sea.