Clay by Melissa Harrison Read Free Book Online Page A

Love from Daisy.’ And she ran downstairs to where Steven waited with a box of wine bottles for the big hopper at the end of the road. The council took glass in the weekly recycling, but Daisy loved to push the bottles into the hoppers’ rubber mouths and hear them crash satisfyingly inside.
    It was only a few minutes further to Sophia’s flat. Unlike his wife, Steven had no problem visiting the Plestor Estate. He couldn’t understand why she behaved as though the place was some kind of ghetto, when it was only just round the corner from Leasow Road’s sought-after properties. Cities could be like that, of course; different areas, different people, all butting up against each other. But he felt that it was good for Daisy to spend time there. Her private school was like a little hothouse, and most of her time off was managed or educational in some way.
    When they had first got married they had lived on the other side of the city – almost as far from the estate as it was possible to get. Then, when they were trying for a baby, they decided to move, and the pull of family, an area they knew and a good school, had led them back. Neither of them had meant to end up quite so close to Sophia, yet there were things in life you chose without meaning to, and sometimes – although his wife would never admit it – sometimes the world you grew up in turned out to be stronger than you could predict.
    ‘I’ll pick you up at about five,’ he said, kissing Daisy goodbye at the entrance to the estate and waving to Sophia where she looked out from her kitchen window.
    ‘I saw a hedgehog!’ shouted Daisy by way of greeting, as she barrelled into the flat and began kicking off her shoes.
    ‘Hello, Daisy. Did you now? How exciting,’ replied Sophia. ‘What was he up to?’
    ‘I don’t know because I didn’t actually see him, but I think he was eating slugs,’ Daisy replied. ‘I heard him, and Mummy heard him. He made a snuffling noise.’
    ‘Goodness,’ said Sophia, wondering to herself that there were any slugs left in Linda’s tidy garden. ‘I expect he’ll want to hibernate soon.’
    ‘Yes, and he’ll probably do it in our garden, I think,’ said Daisy.
    ‘Let’s hope so,’ said Sophia, trying to think whether there was anywhere untidy or undisturbed enough for a small mammal to sleep safely for several months. ‘Now, today we have a very important job to do, and I especially need your help.’
    ‘Is it outside? Can we have a picnic while we’re doing it?’
    ‘I think it’s probably too chilly for that, sweet pea – but you’re right, we are going to need to keep our strength up. Let’s make a packed lunch to take with us.’
    Daisy’s eyes grew round. ‘Can I have a fizzy drink?’
    ‘No, but you can have chocolate spread. In fact, I can too,’ said Sophia, assembling a sliced loaf, Nutella and tinfoil on the kitchen table.
     
    Outside in the little park Daisy carried the sandwiches in her backpack, while Sophia took charge of the notebook and pen. They were counting how many dreys the squirrels were building for winter, and they began at the far end where there was a row of plane trees. Now that the leaves were coming down it was possible to see the dreys quite clearly, although left to her own devices Daisy would have recorded every magpie’s nest and trapped plastic bag too.
    They ate their sandwiches on the benches, Sophia letting Daisy drink apple juice out of Henry’s old hip flask and both of them pretending it was whisky.
    Sophia didn’t spot the boy straight away. He had slipped in near the children’s play area and was crouching beneath the holm oak when she saw him, looking at something on the ground. It was the lonely little lad who wagged school, she realised; and it occurred to her that, at one time, local children used to play with each other.
    ‘Right, miss,’ she said to Daisy, ‘now for the difficult part. We have to write up all our data – that’s everything we’ve