That was the only time as I stood there looking at that strange rubbish feeling the wind coming across those empty fields that I started to imagine just a little fantasy thing because this was Norfolk after all and it was only a couple of weeks since Id lost him. I was thinking about the rubbish the flapping plastic in the branches the shore-line of odd stuff caught along the fencing and I half-closed my eyes and imagined this was the spot where everything Id ever lost since my childhood had washed up and I was now standing here in front of it and if I waited long enough a tiny figure would appear on the horizon across the field and gradually get larger until Id see it was Tommy and hed wave maybe even call. The fantasy never got beyond that --I didnt let it-- and though the tears rolled down my face I wasnt sobbing or out of control. I just waited a bit then turned back to the car to drive off to wherever it was I was supposed to be.
