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bumpy, fist-size lumps into it. Then he clapped his hands together. A black cloud hovered around him for a second.
    There was a huge kettle that my young granddad had to lift with both hands to put on the stove. The tea he made was strong and brown, and when he took a sip, he sighed and said, “Ah, fantastic.”
    Being a stable boy at Blackbrick was the first job he ever had. They’d taken him out of school when he was young so he could help take care of the horses. I told him that was the most excellent thing that could probably happen to anyone.
    He said that the only reason I thought that was because I didn’t know how much work was involved, especially now that all the farriers had gone off to the war.
    I pulled Ted’s black notebook out of the bag and asked my young granddad if I could take a few notes as long as it was okay with him. He said I could if I wanted, it was all the same to him.
    And the whole time I started to warm up. It was mainly because of the stove and the tea. But it was also because of how I knew I was going to be able to give my old granddad a full briefing when I got back home, where he needed to be reminded about a few things, and he’d definitely pass Dr. Sally’s test and would be able to stay at home with me and my gran. All I had to do was keep my head and remember everything, and not panic and try not to think about how weird the whole situation was.
    â€œSo, you want to help me?”
    â€œYes,” I said, “I do.”
    â€œWell, that’s grand, because there’s an errand that I’ve been wanting to run for quite some time, and it requires getting out of here on two horses and a cart someday soon and then coming back, without anyone knowing.Would you be interested in giving me a hand with that?”
    It sounded pretty easy, so I said, “Sure, no problem at all.”
    And then he was delighted, like someone who was realizing something that they hadn’t realized before. He shook my hand and kept saying, “Well, sir, that’s good news. Thank you, sir. Thank you very much indeed.”
    I told him that he didn’t have to call me “sir” or anything like that. I told him that we were equal. I said I didn’t want to get anyone into trouble with this plan and that I hoped he had thought the whole thing through as carefully as possible.
    According to him there was nothing to worry about. Even though what we were going to do might seem a bit illegal, in actual fact it was an extremely good deed I was getting involved in. Apparently there was a person who needed a break because the person had about a million brothers and sisters whose parents could barely afford to feed them all, and the person would be much better off here at Blackbrick Abbey, where there was food and a lot more room.
    I told him it sounded as if whoever this guy was, he was in a pretty socioeconomically disadvantaged situation. I said that it sounded like a very good idea to help him out.
    And Kevin said, “It’s not a him. She’s a girl, and I’m bringing her here to Blackbrick. And now that you’re prepared to assist me, there’s nothing to stop us from going tomorrow. Tomorrow after my chores are done.”
    â€œA girl?”
    â€œYes, a girl. The girl. The girl I’m going to marry.”
    He was only sixteen years old, which was pretty young to be talking like that, but at the time I didn’t care, because I could feel a thrill rippling through me. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that he was obviously talking about my own gran, Granny Deedee. And it was exciting to think that I was going to meet her, too. I knew that as soon as I did, things were going to take a massively brilliant turn for the better. The much, much better.
    My gran was the one who was always saying how there are things in life that we can’t understand. She was the one who had this theory about there being so much in this world