Hazel Wood Girl

by Judy May

  ‘For the first time ever, put your hands together for … FARMER!!’

  The others bounded up onto the stage, Beau cracking his drumsticks together above his head, Em-J giving the crowd a thumbs up, and Christophe grinning and nodding and raring to go. I somehow got up there and looked out at the pool of people, all of them eagerly waiting to know what we were made of.

  What was I made of?

  I looked from one face to another, so many people from school who had laughed at me, ignored me, snubbed me. Then there were others, maybe people that I had ignored because I was feeling so sorry for myself. I knew in that moment what I had to do. No messing it up for the first few notes, no faltering before I found my feet. I glanced over to Beau, Em-J and finally Christophe, letting each of them know with a look that I was ready to sing, ready to finally be the person I was put here to be. I know that sounds dramatic, but I really felt it.

  Em-J started with a slow riff, then Beau joined her with a steady hi-hat and soft snare. Then I could hear Christophe slide into the opening phrase and before I knew it, my voice was resonating through the speakers and throughout the stone barn. The audience came even more alive with each verse, each chorus, and with their cheers and applause at the end. We sounded amazing! My moves and gestures and little dancey bits went down well with the crowd, but even better with Beau who whooped at one hip move I made, and Christophe who yelled out,

  ‘You move it, girl!’

  Then it all became a blur as I grew stronger and more confident as one song followed another. Em-J and Christophe introduced all the numbers, until it came to the song I wrote that night not long ago, ‘Whisper Me A Morning’.

  I announced,

  ‘This song is for anyone who has ever felt that they are alone. It’s to let you know that you are always surrounded with people who want you to be happy and who want to share your life.’

  People even applauded my intro! I sang that song as I have never sung in my whole life. I felt like everything that happened over the last year was leading up to that moment. The cheers were louder than ever and Christophe strode across the stage and kissed my cheek. As we kept playing, the audience moved in so close that the first six rows were squashed right up against the side of the stage, and the whole room seemed to be dancing.

  Near the end, Christophe, while lining up the next song, said something really cool about a community not just being about old photos and documents, but that it was about creating new memories together, and you could tell everyone felt goosebumps all over.

  When we reached the end of the set the crowd kept cheering for an encore. So we did the duet, even though we had decided that it might not be ready. It’s kind of a love song, and I caught myself scanning the crowd for any girl that might be Christophe’s girlfriend. There were so many likely candidates.

  The applause and cheers went on for ages and my mouth was hurting from smiling so much. We all hugged each other and Em-J whispered to me,

  ‘This is one of our dreams come true, supergirl, now we can get all the others in place.’

  The yoga ladies had all brought brownies, mini-strawberry tarts, and all kinds of cakes and pastries, plus a huge vat of non-alco fruit punch for the younger people and a wine cooler for the adults. So the party carried on for two hours after we got off stage.

  So many people were coming up and talking to me and I got to know about two dozen people who live in town and the farms around, who I didn’t even know existed before. One or two people from school said they were sorry they didn’t get to know me better during term time. Matthew Blondel from my class asked me to his party next week! At first I was going to say, ‘I’ll see’, but I’m not that kind of person, so I thanked him very much instead.

  Beau was mostly with his parents, aunty, uncle and cousins who looked so proud of him. Em-J was entertaining half the room with her stories, and I could tell that she was thinking how this was the first night of thousands like this, and that when she’s famous she’ll remember that tonight was when it all got started. We caught each other’s eyes and winked.

  I could see a whole crowd of girls around Christophe as he joked and hugged, and I just smiled, thinking about the notes and pictures from him that I’d be able to look at later on. I might not be his girlfriend, but I’m his friend and his fellow band member and that means a lot.

  Sammy-boy was popular with all the younger kids because he was the only one who had a sibling in Farmer. Having a hedgehog probably helped too. He must have been tired because he went home early with Mrs Hooper.

  Just before people started drifting back to their cars, my dad got up on stage and announced that we had raised the funds for Barry to be able to return to college. He then said that a private donor had added enough to buy Barry a scooter as a token of the town’s thanks for his caring and bravery during the fire. I knew instantly that the donor was my dad, and I felt really proud to be his daughter.

  I so wish we had all grabbed a minute together before we left, but Beau was going off to a friend’s house, and Em-J had to get a lift with her mum and dad. Christophe went at some stage too, but I didn’t even get to say goodnight to him. I’m glad he didn’t introduce me to Helen, that might have put a downer on a perfect night.

  I still can’t believe it, I’m a singer in a rock band and I just did my first gig and people loved it! Maybe those peanut-butter toast-sandwiches I’d eat on the way to school did have magical powers after all!

  Mum just came up to wish me good night, which she hasn’t done in years, as I usually go and find her downstairs and just tell her I’m off to bed. She told me that she was so happy that everyone got to see the girl that she always knew was special. I said,

  ‘I wish Mindy had been here.’

  And I meant it. Mum says it will be fun for us all to relive it, telling her about it when she gets back. I can’t sleep. It’s a quarter to one and I’m wide awake. They’ll have taken out all the equipment by now, but I want to stand in the barn and enjoy the feeling while it’s still fresh.

  DAY FIFTY-TWO

  Of course, just when you think nothing more can happen… I was sneaking over to the barn last night around one am after failing to get to sleep, when I saw in the distance something moving near the Hazel Wood. I knew it must be Christophe because no one else apart from me goes there. More than anything on earth I needed to talk to him about the gig, so I ran across the cattle field in the pitch dark, stumbling every now and then. It was too dark to venture into the wood without getting whipped by branches, so I sat cross-legged just nearby. Some sounds vibrated a short way off, around the ruined cottage, which made me feel quite scared because it occurred to me that it might not be Christophe, it might be the Grangers, or worse.

  Then my name was being spoken softly behind me.

  ‘Poppy? Poppy is that you?’

  ‘Who’s there?’

  ‘It’s me.’

  It was Christophe. He had a torch and I could tell he didn’t have anything else in his hands.

  ‘No note?’ was all I could think to say.

  ‘I just needed to be here. I figured …’

  And right then we both heard it clearly, a sound from the ruined cottage.

  ‘Come on,’ he said, and led the way.

  I knew we just had to find out who it was, and what was going on. It sounded as if things were being moved around inside, dragged from here to there. ‘Bodies!’ was my first thought, and not a helpful one. I’ve never been inside because of all the warnings we’d been given about the walls collapsing.

  Christophe took a deep breath and we walked inside, and then he shouted in a slightly wobbly voice, ‘Who’s in here?’

  For a moment his light searched around, hitting only bits of wall and floor, and then it landed on a person, perhaps the last person we expected to find.

  Sammy-boy.

  We just stood there looking at Sammy-boy who was sitting on the ground with his mouth open, shaking all over, and not able to speak. Around
him were piles of old eggs, vegetables, unripe grain, and rotting raspberries sitting on little beds of unprocessed wool. Nothing mattered suddenly, no details or questions, and I went over, sat beside him and put my arms around him. He started crying then and couldn’t stop, so I just kept hugging him and telling him that it was OK, that no one was angry with him. When he could talk he said,

  ‘But now I have to go to prison,’ and started crying even harder.

  I thought I would break from it.

  ‘No, no, you’re staying right here with us.’

  With that, Christophe, who had been just standing there, picked up his little brother sat with him on his knee on a low piece of wall. Sammy-boy seemed even smaller than usual. Christophe gently asked him,

  ‘Tell me what this is about Sammy-boy. That’s it. I’ve got you.’

  He said it in a broken mixed-up way and with loads of sobs between the words, but we finally understood that Sammy-boy heard their mum on the phone to their dad one night soon after they had moved here. She was sounding upset and asking,

  ‘And how are we supposed to pay for food and basics this winter?’

  Frightened that there was no money and they’d all starve after the summer was over, Sammy-boy then started to save small bits of food from his meals, like apples and cereal bars, and hide them under his bed. Eventually he got too hungry to keep that up, and began to sneak out really early in the mornings or last thing at night and take things from our farm. He said because we were kind. Soon there was so much stuff under his bed that he had to find another hiding place and knew that no one came near this old cottage. During this last week he started to get really worried because the food started to go rotten and he couldn’t sleep at all at night for worrying about it.

  Sammy-boy was crying in little whimpers by now and said,

  ‘What are we going to do to eat this winter? If Mum’s hungry she’ll have to go to hospital again.’

  I could hear a catch in Christophe’s throat as he said,

  ‘We will always have enough, Sammy-boy, always. Mum just wanted to make Dad think a bit more about the money he sends us, that’s all, it’s all sorted. And I have a Saturday job once school starts again. And it’s OK, but you have to understand that Mum will be going into hospital every now and again, and then she’ll be out after a while like always. I promise you never have to worry about anything. I’m in charge.’

  Then Sammy-boy looked over at me and said,

  ‘Poppy looks after me when you’re not there.’

  ‘I know,’ he said, ‘we’re really lucky to have her.’

  That made me feel sad, but also it made me feel good, like I make a difference. Most of my life I’ve felt as if I’m in the way or not as good as Mindy, and that things would be better if I wasn’t around. Now I feel that I do matter. When I go back to school I’ll remember that, and even if Barbara and her lovely bunch go back to making fun of me, and even if people steal my lunch (not that they’d get away with it now!), at least I’ll know that I make a difference to one little boy.

  Christophe said we should all go home to bed, and he made me take the torch so I could see my way, and he carried his little brother home in the darkness.

  When I woke up this morning I felt happy about the gig and also really sad to think that a teenager has to feel like he’s in charge of his whole family.

  Liza stayed over and it feels like she’s always been here. At breakfast I told Mum, Dad, Adam and Liza about what happened in the ruined cottage. Liza and Mum had tears rolling down their faces and that set me off too. None of them are even a tiny bit annoyed with Sammy-boy, they just feel really bad that he had all that going on inside his poor little head.

  Dad got really furious, which is not like him at all, and started pacing up and down the kitchen. I think he was angry that he didn’t work it out, or didn’t help the Hoopers more. He kept saying,

  ‘I’ll sort this out, I’ll think of something.’

  Christophe arrived right after that and asked to speak to my dad, who took him straight through to the living room. I ran up to Mindy’s room, which is just above the living room, and put my ear to the floor. I heard enough to understand that he was trying to pay Dad for the stuff Sammy-boy hid in the cottage, but Dad wouldn’t have it and was telling Christophe not to worry and all kinds of good things that made the tears start rolling down my face again.

  Mum came in just now and told me that we are having the Hoopers over for dinner, so I have to hurry to help Liza get the chairs back to the school.

  DAY FIFTY-THREE

  Last night was another one to remember. I think I need a day off from amazing things! When the Hoopers arrived for dinner, Sammy-boy said sorry for taking the stuff and we all hugged him and told him that we love him. He had a box under his arm and looked at his brother, as if to ask what to do next.

  Christophe said that they had a bit of an announcement to make, so we all sat around the kitchen table. The Hoopers had spent the afternoon clearing out the rotting food from the ruined cottage, and while they were doing one last check, Christophe found this old tin wedged at the bottom of what would have been the old fireplace. At first he thought that Sammy-boy had put it there and opened it up expecting to find carrots or beans inside. That’s when he found a bundle of papers wrapped in plastic, and instantly wondered if they might be the second set of papers that the Grangers were talking about.

  Back at home, Mrs Hooper and Christophe read through them, and it seems that they are all about the stone barn. They say that the stone barn belongs to this farm and always did. And there’s more. There were also papers proving that the Egg Farm was sold to Adam’s dad just before he died. That means that the Egg Farm belongs to Adam and not to the Grangers after all.

  We couldn’t believe what we were hearing and we made Mum read the documents there and then. Being all lawyer-y, she doesn’t get overly excited, but she did say that it seems to be true and they will need to get it all verified.

  Adam was dazed. He said that he’d love the chance to turn the Egg Farm into a real chicken ranch where birds can roam and scratch about in the sun and rain.

  ‘But what about your teaching job in the far east?’ I asked.

  ‘Well, I’d already decided not to take that job,’ and he squeezed Liza’s hand, ‘but I’ll still be going there in late October for a couple of weeks … on our honeymoon.’

  That was just way too much new stuff, way too quickly, and we all sat there trying to work out what he said. Then Sammy-boy saw the ring on Liza’s finger and told her it was a very nice ring, very big (and it is!). Then there were hugs and kisses all round and Mrs Hooper, Liza, Mum and me were crying with being so happy, and the guys all laughed at us. Then Mum and Mrs Hooper had a million questions for them about the wedding and when did they know, and all that.

  Good thing I was there to finish the cooking and serve up, otherwise everyone would have starved and not even noticed. We all talked and talked about the Egg Farm, the Grangers, the engagement, the gig, over and over until it was really late. I don’t even think about talking or not talking any more, I just do it as much as anyone.

  This afternoon the police confronted the Grangers with paperwork and told them that the place doesn’t belong to them. Of course they already knew that and were livid that the evidence had been found. Mrs Granger then went on a rant, spitting that they should have burned down all the farms, not just the town hall. Which is how the police discovered that the fire had been started by them. Mum said that they will need more proof like fingerprints or confessions if they are to put the Grangers in prison for it, but at least they’ll be out of everyone’s way for now. Within two hours, they’d packed up the basics and fled. They left the boat (which is, of course, an important landmark on the ‘fancying Christophe Hooper’ trail).

  We all trooped over to help tend to the chickens; they were in an awful state. Mr Granger hadn’t cleaned the sheds out properly in years. Dad even let me put on a mask and gloves
too, and had me collecting the fresh eggs. Some dead birds were left in their stalls, which was the saddest thing, but Dad dealt with them first.

  Adam explained to me that even when he has the new open runs built, many of the chickens will just stay motionless in one place, that it’s hard for them to change from the way they have lived for so long. I know what he means, but I hope that one day, if they really want to, they can do things differently. I hope that even chickens can change.

  After dinner we had a meeting of all band members at Em-J’s house.

  We laughed like crazy people, and demolished the best part of a giant pizza, going over every tiny moment of the gig, what everyone did, felt, saw, heard. When you’re in the band you notice and care about little details that other people would find boring.

  We also talked to Barry Finch on speaker phone. He’s out of hospital and thrilled about the money and the scooter. He claims to be the biggest Farmer fan in the world and will be there in the front row for the first gig after he’s fully recovered.

  Liza and Adam have asked us to play a few numbers at their wedding reception, and the café have told us we can play every Friday night as long as we give them a cut of the profits. Em-J has already got calls from people saying they are starting their own bands, so hopefully they can come and play at our nights in the café, which we are calling The Harvest Nights.

  Christophe and I sat beside each other on the couch all evening, and at one point he started playing with the zip on the corner of my jacket. Em-J noticed and immediately started teasing him saying,

  ‘So Mr Guitar Man, what would Helen think of you snuggled up so cozy beside another girl?’

  He looked confused and said,