Story about the 13 years after a girl went missing in a small (Northern?) English village. Almost abstract writing, and though you never get really close to any of the characters, beautiful writing, with a very smooth transition of time from close-up to distant, small steps to large jumps, even within the same sentence. Great portrayal of emotions through simple actions.
Great examples of using recurring imagery to show the passing of times and paint the setting: foxes mating. fox cubs. fox cubs setting out on their own.
He'd been in the job three months ow, and his supervisor said there were no complaints as such but did he want to have a think about engaging with the customers a little more? Martin said he would certainly think about that, and went out to the loading bay for a smoke and a kick of the packing cases which were stacked there. The sun went down around half past four but it was already dark by then, the murky light blotted out by the high moors and the gathering clouds.
Les Thompson walked his fields in the evening while the sun was still warm on the grass. The heads were up and the cut would come tomorrow. In the beech wood the fox cubs were taken away from their dens and taught to find food for themselves. A white hooded top was found in a clough on the top of the moor, oiled a deep peatbrown and fraying at the seams. The make and design were confirmed as a match by the missing girl's mother. The forensic tests took weeks and were inconclusive. Extensive searched were conducted where the top had been found but nothing further was unearthed.
Sophie Hunter and James Broad were known to be courting. This was the word Stuart Hunter used, without irony. Everyone had long assumed they would get together, but it was only a few weeks before they realised that something was wrong. They were in the cinema room at Sophie's house one afternoon while her parents were away, and she told him not to take this the wrong way but sometimes it felt like kissing her brother. James told her she didn't have a brother and she said that wasn't the point. He wasn't annoyed. He was almost relieved. He said that when he kissed her it didn't feel like kissing his sister but more like kissing her mum. She asked when he'd kissed her mother and he said often. She's a very liberated woman, he said, and she told him he was disgusting. It takes one to know one, he said. They were still holding each other, and although they knew where the conversation was going they were in no hurry to let go. He kissed her one more time, very softly, and shook his head. We used to run around naked together at playgroup, he said. It doesn't feel right seeing you naked now. People will be disappointed, she told him. Captain of the rugby team and the head prefect? We're supposed to be the dream team. This is it then? he asked. I guess it is, she said. That's okay, isn't it? He nodded. Mind you, she said, my parents aren't due back for hours. She watched him as she unbuttoned her top. Well, this is confusing, he said. He shifted on the sofa. But if you're going to be like that about it. She reached for the button of his jeans and they kissed again, quickly, and pulled off just enough clothes to have sex. He came quickly with a shout and a sigh and afterwards she stayed astride him for a moment, stroking the side of his face and telling him they would always be friends. And once they'd wriggled back into their clothes she told him, as though it was nothing, as though she'd only just thought of it, that actually Lynsey really liked him and he should think about that at some point. He shook his head and told her she was a disgrace. She asked him what the problem was. She wasn't even at playgroup with us, she said. It would be different. He buttoned his jeans and reached for the remote control. You can choose, he said.
Kid stuff. Building dens. Swimming in the river. Going into the caves. She'd always wanted to do a bit more, push things further. She wasn't much older than they were but she'd seemed a lot more mature. She was so pretty, Sophie said, lighting the pipe again. Wasn't she pretty, James? James glanced at her in the rearview mirror. Her eyes were closed and she was smiling. He looked at Rohan, and nodded. They'd all fancied her, he said, even if they hadn't admitted it at the time. There was something exciting about her, he said. She talked us into climbing the fence round the quarry, and she was the first one to jump off the rope-swing. She was hardcore. And she was smart, Sophie added, from the back seat. Lynsey sat up straight again. We should all go to the same uni, she said. Shouldn't we? We could live in the same halls and everything. James passed her the pipe, and they listened to the click and draw as she smoked it, the long pause before she sighed out the smoke. James and Sophie were both picturing Becky launching out from the rope-swing, this girl who none of them really knew, the light catching on her long bare legs as she fell through the air and something new stirred in them all. I was the only one who kept in touch with her, James said, after she went back to London. Emails, postcards, nothing much. I didn't have a phone and there was no Facebook in those days. But we kept in touch. We - fuck it. We liked each other, okay? We liked each other. He turned round and took the pipe from Lynsey, who was falling asleep again. He thumbed it full of skunk from the bag on the dashboard. Becky was the one who talked her parents into coming here again for New Year, is what she reckoned. He toked hard on the pipe, and coughed as he let the smoke go. So there's that for a start. Rohan took the pipe. And then when she was here we all met up and hung out for a bit, except it was cold and there wasn't really anywhere to hang out. It was nice seeing her though. We head a little bit of a connection or something. And she'd grown up a lot since the summer. He's talking about her being physically mature, Sophie said, sleepily. Don't be coy, James. You mean she had tits, yeah? Me and Lynsey were well jealous, weren't we, Lyns? Lynsey opened her eyes and looked at Sophie, Edinburgh, she said. We'll all go to Edinburgh. I'll do English, you guys do whatever. It's cheap up there. Sophie stroked her arm and said yes, we'll definitely all go to Edinburgh, we'll all go together, if we get in, we'll be a gang up there. Lynsey closed her eyes. I didn't just mean that, James said. But it was part of it, Sophie murmured. The car was quiet for a moment. When they talked about Becky now it was hard to actually picture her face. The photo on the news had never looked right, but it had replaced the image of her they'd held. She was being lost all over again. Outside the car the evening was still and the light was softening over the reservoir.
