‘It’s fine, Mum.’ I meant it, too.
‘No it’s not,’ said Mum. ‘That’s why I don’t want anything to go back to the way it was.’
My face fell. ‘… You don’t?’
‘No,’ Mum smiled. ‘I want it to be much better. I want to rebuild Middle Island. Not just our house – lots of houses. Maybe even a school, seeing as the Monster squashed your last one.’
I gasped. ‘You mean we’ll have neighbours?’
Mum nodded. ‘Neighbours, pets … we’ll have them all!’
She held hands with me and Frank.
‘That’s why I wanted Frank here today – and every day after that. He’s going to help us do it. Because sometimes family isn’t enough. You need friends too. Good people. You need to have them around you all the time, even if you can’t see them …’
Suddenly the ceiling caved in and something landed in the middle of the table in a cloud of dust and foam insulation.
*
Fi apologised for sneaking into our air ducts at the station and for ruining our breakfast, but she explained that her cow-rustling had made her one of the most wanted criminals in the country and it was the only way she could get on board. She also said that a village on Middle Island sounded like a great idea, and that we could borrow her boat to transport stuff over from the mainland if we wanted, so long as we paid her an upfront deposit and a weekly rent thereafter, and so long as Mum adopted her.
Mum took a lot of convincing – partly because she didn’t like the terms of the deal, but mainly because she had no idea who Fi was – but in the end, me and Frank talked her round.
‘Fi’s the smartest person I know!’ I said. ‘She can trick a whole roomful of people. Plus, she could tell that Mother actually wanted to sacrifice me.’
Mum frowned. ‘Sacrifice? Caitlin, what on Earth are you …’
‘And she’s going to teach me to read, too!’ I said. ‘Please can you adopt her, Mum? Please please please?’
Mum didn’t look too convinced. Frank put a hand on her shoulder.
‘Emily – look, I know she seems like a sneaky little thief …’
‘Oi,’ said Fi.
‘But she’s a good person,’ said Frank. ‘She gave up everything she had to help Caitlin. She really does love her, you know.’
I beamed. ‘That’s right! We’re friends.’
‘Best friends,’ said Fi.
*
We decided to celebrate our last night on the train before we got back to Middle Island. Frank bought a bottle of champagne and we all had some (even me!) and then I got dizzy and had to lie down. Mum did a dance and we managed to convince Frank to take his eye out. Fi showed us all how to pickpocket someone properly, but then Frank realised the wallet she was using was the one she’d stolen off him at the meeting, and Fi apologised and promised that from now on she was never going to steal anything ever again, but to be honest it was his own fault for keeping it in his back pocket anyway, and they were still arguing about it when I went to bed.
Actually, I didn’t really go to bed. There was something that I wanted to do first. I made my way to the engineers’ carriage, opened the hatch on the ceiling and climbed out onto the train roof.
Mum would have killed me if she knew – but then she doesn’t need to know everything I do. I can do loads more than she thinks I can. That’s what’s different about me and Mum – she’s amazing at the thinking side of things, which I’m not so great at. But I’m really good at doing.
I lay down on the carriage roof and looked up at the stars as the night slipped past. I love looking at them more than anything. I reckon it’s where I do my best thinking – and I had lots to think about that night. I thought about how great it was that I suddenly had a whole family out of nowhere, and the best friends I could ever have asked for. I thought about how lucky I was.
And I thought about Perijee, of course. How could I not? I lay back and thought, He’s out there somewhere – under the ocean, where I can’t see him. Which sounds sad in some ways, but it’s not really. Just because I can’t see the bottom of the ocean, it doesn’t mean it’s not there. It’s just hills and valleys covered in water.
I wondered where Perijee had ended up, and what was waiting for him back at his home. Maybe there were hundreds of other creatures like him down there – a family of his own, worried sick about him and wondering where he’d gone. Of course, I didn’t know for sure – and I might never find out.
It’s like the stars. You look up on any night and there’s all of space, right ahead of you. Who knows what’s out there that you can’t see – there could be millions more Perijees, and billions of planets we’ve never seen, and trillions of people we haven’t met, all dotted throughout the universe and looking back at the stars and wondering.
Which is a nice way to think about something that’s normally a bit scary, isn’t it? Space is the biggest thing you can imagine. It’s so big and empty that it’s easy to feel lonely when you look at it.
But I don’t feel lonely when I look at it – not any more. Because no matter where I am, or where I go, or what I do, I know that there are people I love out there who are thinking of me.
And as for Perijee – well, I’m always thinking about him, too. There’s not a single day that goes past where I don’t miss him, and hope he’s happy.
Otherwise, what’s the point of being a friend?
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The drawings at the beginning of each chapter were designed by children at the primary school where I teach. I asked them to imagine the numbers, letters and punctuation of an alien language, and then turn them into constellations. Some of the children were as young as five when they drew these; some were just leaving for secondary school.
Here are their names in the order their work appears in the book. I'm afraid I have no idea if their symbols are supposed to mean anything – you'll just have to ask them.
Ella Cawley, Jake Purton, Kira Westbrook, Yasmin Stopa, Poppy Williams, Evie Dooley, Nova-Leigh Canning, Charlotte Hamilton, Hanna Brighi, Sari Robinson, Ella Munro-Peebles, Zara Sprange, Eabha Brady, Martha Beavan, Enid O’Rourke, James Crowther, Tilley Du Preez, Oluwaleke Ayoade, Chloe Phillips, Toby Hamilton, Jemimah Alloo, Lukas Persson, Eva Elias, Sunday Wood, Miran Allak, Emily Coles, Joseph Harvey, Iris Pendlebury.
Sorry it took so long, guys – I'm a really slow writer.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ross Montgomery started writing stories as a teenager, when he really should have been doing homework, and continued doing so at university. After graduating, he experimented with working as a pig farmer and a postman before deciding to channel these skills into teaching at a primary school. Author of Alex, the Dog and the Unopenable Door and The Tornado Chasers, Ross has been shortlisted for the Costa Book Award and nominated for the Branford Boase Award. He is also working on his first picture book, The Building Boy, which will be published in 2016. Perijee & Me is his third middle-grade novel. He lives in Brixton, London, with his girlfriend, a cat and many, many dead plants.
ALSO BY ROSS MONTGOMERY
Alex, the Dog and the Unopenable Door
The Tornado Chasers
Copyright
First published in 2016
by Faber & Faber Ltd
Bloomsbury House
74–77 Great Russell Street
London WC1B 3DA
This ebook edition first published in 2016
All rights reserved
© Ross Montgomery, 2016
Cover design by Faber
Cover illustration © David Litchfield
The right of Ross Montgomery to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms an
d conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly
ISBN 978–0–571–31796–7
Perijee and Me Page 14
