Page 69 of The Silent Appeal

Morning yoga with Emma

So, grab your sleeping bags, pillows, and woolly hats and sign up via the form below (giving details of your allergies and access needs). The cost is £10 per person. Please send your sponsors the following link for their donations—it goes straight to Crisis via JustGiving.

Sarah-Jane MacDonald

Producer & cochair, The Fairway Players

Message exchange between Sarah-Jane and Kevin MacDonald on February 5, 2025:

11:43 a.m. Kevin wrote:

I’d better check with Father Josh whether we can have the hall on that night. Seeing as you’ve sent the email already.

11:43 a.m. Sarah-Jane wrote:

You haven’t booked it?

11:46 a.m. Kevin wrote:

No. And I’m assuming you can get hold of board games, Ping-Pong and foosball tables, crafting material, a virtual fire, a chocolate fountain, and provisions for a feast and breakfast for all dietary needs. Because I can’t.

11:47 a.m. Sarah-Jane wrote:

For your dreams to come true, first you must have a dream.

11:48 a.m. Kevin wrote:

Another inspirational quote from the AI app?

11:48 a.m. Sarah-Jane wrote:

Yes. Build it and they will come.

11:49 a.m. Kevin wrote:

To knock it down.

To: Sarah-Jane MacDonald

From: Isabel Beck

Date: February 5, 2025

Subject: Re: The Big Sleep (Out)

Hiya SJ!

OMG! This is so exciting! Are crafting materials provided? I’ve been trying to keep a daily bullet journal ever since I won one in the raffle at the Fowey Christmas Fete. In all honesty it gets a bit dull because I’m the same person with the same goals every day. Also, what I have to say won’t fit into bullet points.

I’d LOVE to decorate the pages to make them all different, but the bits and pieces are so expensive and my wages at Specsavers just about cover rent and food, boo. I’d better not venture near the chocolate fountain because my New Year’s resolution was to eat healthily, and although I haven’t so far, now I’ve got a part in the play I really should start. I want to look my best when I play Gerda. Ping-Pong sounds like good exercise if I can find someone to play with. Even though I’ve only been to one rehearsal, I can see the others have their special friends already.

I thought Fran might take me under her wing again, as we were so close before. At rehearsal on Monday, she barely stood still long enough for me to speak to her. She seems very close to Amelia and Lucas.

Georgia is as quiet as me. It’s only because Fran and Amelia talk to her that she’s not on her own, like I am. I wonder if she regrets giving up the part of Gerda? It might be one of those situations where you stop doing something because you don’t enjoy it, then suddenly you realize what you liked about it and wish you hadn’t, only it’s too late to go back. I expect she realizes now just how dull being prompt is!

I was listening to Joyce and Denise chatting during tea break and Joyce said your sister has come back from Jamaica, that her name is Nicky-Rose, and that she was “a dance prodigy” as a teenager.

I would love a sister (and had no idea you had one). It must be like having a guaranteed friend. You can swap clothes and talk to each other when there’s no one else to talk to. Did you stay with her in Jamaica? I bet it was hot!