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‘Mum wanted me to know all about the stars. She asked you to take me out starwatching one night but it rained and so we couldn’t go. Tell me now, show me the stars?’
‘Well, over there is … um … Orion, that’s definitely Orion because there’s his belt, you see those stars in a line, that’s part of a picture of Orion. Those stars there are the Plough … and then there’s … um … Piraticus and … um …Albertus and Victorious …’
‘You’re making it up!’ Oliver said accusingly.
‘Olly, I don’t know much about stars. If I could get a phone signal I’d look them up, but I’m afraid —’
Suddenly, to Amy’s amazement, she saw a tiny streak of light flash across the sky.
‘I think I saw a shooting star!’ she said. ‘Keep your eyes open boys. There might be another one!’
They watched the skies in silence, Oliver planted firmly in between Amy and Matt.
‘Yes! Yes, I saw one!’ Harry yelled.
‘No, you didn’t,’ said Oliver.
‘I did. Up there, there was a shooting star. I saw one.’
‘There’s one, Oliver!’ Matt pointed upwards. ‘Did you see that one?’
‘Stop it! There aren’t any, I can’t see them. You’re making it up.’
It was almost as if he was determined not to see what was in front of him.
‘Just wait … just wait …’ said Amy as the fire crackled and sparks flew upwards into the sky.
‘They’re not stars, they’re bits of the fire,’ Oliver pointed out. ‘That’s all it is. You’re all seeing bits of the fire.’
He was starting to get frustrated now everybody else had seen them and he hadn’t.
‘Do you know what you’re looking for, Oliver?’ Amy said quietly, kneeling down beside him to try and get an idea of what he was seeing. ‘You need to look right up, beyond the mountains, where the stars are thickest, and then look for a star that might start to move. It’ll be very quick; a spark, shooting across the sky like a — There! Did you see that one?’
His face was intent on the sky.
‘Yes, I think I did. It wasn’t big, it was a little star moving fast?’
‘That’s it! That’s a shooting star.’
‘A shooting star,’ he said thoughtfully, and fell quiet for a moment. ‘Do you think it was mum?’ he said to her. ‘My granny says people go up into the stars when they die. Was that Mummy trying to get back to me?’
‘Perhaps it was. Perhaps she was trying to send you a message, to tell you she’s up there, and she’s thinking of you and she’s missing you.’
‘Because her name was Stella and that means star. So, she’d know I’d understand.’
‘Shooting stars are special, aren’t they? If your mum was ever going to try and tell you something, I think she’d choose a night like this, don’t you? A special night in a special place.’
He nodded solemnly and she could see tears in his eyes. She squeezed his hand, and Oliver squeezed back. ‘And perhaps,’ he said thoughtfully, ‘one of them is Harry’s granny. Perhaps she’s trying to send messages, too.’
‘What do you think, Harry?’ She turned to him. ‘Do you think Granny might be trying to tell you she misses you?’
‘Dunno,’ he said, but he still wouldn’t meet her eye.
‘I think she is. I think her and my mum are up there together, and they’re telling us not to be sad,’ Oliver proclaimed.
‘I’m not sad,’ Harry said.
‘It is all right to be sad about missing people,’ Oliver insisted. ‘It shows you loved them. That’s what my granny told me when Mummy died.’
