The Grasshopper's Child (38 page)

The operation was a success, and Brook recovered fast. In three weeks she was home from hospital and getting up in the afternoons. Through August and September she seemed better and better. At the end of September she had a setback, and then she got pneumonia again: for no particular reason, except maybe the awful weather that summer, or the lasting effects of the shipwreck night. She died at home, in her sleep, when she'd only been ill five days.

She was buried beside her sister, in St Mary's Churchyard. Everyone came home for the funeral, including Challon; who'd been in the Czech Republic, playing her part in the 21st Crisis Management Tour (Wildly Celebrating The Coming Of Age Of Crisis Europe) when she got the word that Brook was ill again. Even Clancy turned up.

After the summer's storms, and the huge tide surges that had struck East Anglia and Lincolnshire in September, the year's assortment of chaotic weather had suddenly turned golden. Heidi went out in the Gardens, the day after the funeral, in just a teeshirt. Restoration was in full swing. Fallen trees were being dragged out of the Himalayan gorge by giant cranes. Artistic Japanese boulders were being manoeuvred back into place on the Azalea Slope. The greenhouses were being rebuilt. The waters below Swan Lake, which had been swamp for decades, were getting dredged, and restored to their former glory. And it wasn't costing the National Trust a penny. Everything, the specialist workers, the fodder and stabling for the heavy horses, the off-grid power for the machinery, was coming out of the confiscated Carron-Knowells estate. It was brilliant; but it was noisy.

Tallis was in a towering rage, the whole time.

Heidi had come outdoors for a bit of peace and quiet; to read a letter and to meet Clancy. Roddy Scott-Amberley was moving to Mehilhoc, to live with his mother. Clancy would live with them, but just recently (until Brook got ill) he'd been in London. She headed uphill from the lake, away from the crashing and grinding of the dredger, and followed the sign for the
Unmissable Blue Walk
. The autumn gentians,
Sino Ornata
, were in full bloom, under leaves that were turning red and gold. Flowing streams of sapphire, just the way she'd imagined.

She was intent on her letter when Clancy joined her.

‘Hi, Running Girl.'

Heidi put the letter away carefully: it was a treasure she wasn't ready to share.

‘Hi, Hooded Boy.'

They stood on either side of one of winding flowerbeds.

‘They're making a fine old mess of your Gardens,' said Clancy.

‘The National Trust swine? Yeah, tell me. I love it. There'll be visitors, but most of the land will be refuge habitat, a
no take
zone, the way the bad guys promised Tallis. Turns out there was never any danger of the Gardens being turned into Food Plant, really. They're hopeless terrain for farming: much more valuable to us as they are.'

‘Is she going to be okay?'

‘Depends what you mean. She's better than she was, and much happier, but she's not going to make a stunning recovery. Tallis in a smart suit, hair brushed, and looking after her own life: that is not going to happen.'

‘Same with my old dear,' said Clancy. ‘Better, but no miracles.'

Heidi nodded, and they couldn't speak for a moment, thinking of Brook.

No miracles.

‘I've been called up, Heidi. I didn't want to tell you at the funeral. I can go to Ag. Camp on trial. To see how I cope. I've said yes.'

Heidi said nothing, but she looked stricken. He crossed the river of sapphires and hugged her. ‘It's not the East Coast. It's near Peterborough, inland, totally safe.'

Nowhere is safe, thought Heidi. They don't tell us half what happens: Jo still hasn't heard from Sonia. They keep saying things will stabilise. But the tide keeps rising, whatever we do.

‘Well, bully for you,' she said. ‘
I'm
staying here. Far as I know, I'll be here until I'm eighteen. Or twenty five. I'm Indentured, remember.'

‘I can't believe that's still happening.'

‘It's the law. Anyway, I like Tallis, and I'm used to being a carer.'

‘And a poet doesn't worry about how she makes her living.'

‘That's right.'

They smiled, and then, neither of them knowing what more to say, they turned together to walk hand in hand, between sapphire streams, under the blue October sky.

Looking to the future, and hoping they could have one together.

Dear Heidi,

Your friend the Inspector will have told you the news. Jerez has confessed, and I won't
have to be a witness in court, but I will be able to give my testimony about the money and all
about it. I'm glad it's over. I want you to know, my little darling, that what you did when your
Daddy got killed DID NOT do me any damage. It wasn't wise, but wise isn't everything and if
things had even been what you thought I know my Claude, your Dad himself, would have
wanted you to do nothing else. You tried to get me out of trouble and God bless you. So, don't
you worry. It was what Jer did that set me off, and nothing else. I know you never liked him.
You didn't understand what a sweet guy he could be, and how he was your Daddy's bro, and
we'd been friends, him and your Dad and me, all our lives. It was terrible, terrible. But I'M
OKAY, I'M getting better every day.

I know I never answered, but I can't tell you what your messages meant, you kept me
hanging on. I can think about it now, and I know I was very lucky. Your Daddy knew I was
there, he died in my arms. Give my regards to Tallis, tell here I'm really, REALLY grateful to
her for looking after my baby, and for letting me come to stay. I'll see you soon.

Love you, sweetheart.

Sources and Notes:

The Grasshopper's Child
is set in East Sussex where I live. If you know the area, think of Mehilhoc Gardens as Sheffield Park; Mayle as Lewes, the river May as the Ouse; Friston Forest as Mehilhoc Woods; the cliffs where the bunkers build their Tower as the Seven Sisters at Exceat, and Maymere Haven as Cuckmere Haven (aka Cuckmere Estuary, now). It doesn't fit together on any map, but you won't be far wrong.

The Unmissable Blue Walk, although it's not called that, can be visited in Sheffield Park Gardens any October; where you will also find the original of Swan Lake. There are too many smugglers' secret passages in Sussex for me to name one as the inspiration for the tunnels between Knowells Farm and the Garden House. The frogs in the Jurassic Swamp swimming pool are the charming, brilliant green Edible Frog (Pelophylax Esculentus). They're not endangered in our time. A colony of them lives in the Ouse, on the Railway Land just outside Lewes town centre. It's true that hedgehogs are vanishing: currently among the 10 most endangered species in the UK. It's also true about the weasels and the brain-eating nematodes: I found out about their grisly doom when I was researching for
Siberia
(an Ann Halam book)

The Grasshopper's Child
is set in the same post-Dissolution near-future England as the Bold As Love series, a little further down the line, and without much fantasy this time. (I don't count the Sacrifice of the Unfit as fantasy. I think it's happening now, one way or another, all over the world). If you've been following the story you can place these events about ten years after the Chinese Invasion; featured in
Band Of Gypsys
; part of which is also set in Sussex.

A version of the opening chapter of this book was broadcast by BBC Radio Three (The Verb), under the title ‘Grasshopper Child'.

Many thanks to Barry Hacker for expert work on my cover, Peter Gwilliam for encouraging me to make this happen, and letting me use his photo of Ditchling Beacon; Gabriel Jones for insightful and practical feedback, and to all my early readers for their kind support.

The Bold As Love Series:

Bold As Love

Castles Made Of Sand

Midnight Lamp

Band Of Gypsys

Rainbow Bridge