the opening of william mayne's cuddy, which i've just finished and really liked.

in the train to durham, ange switched the day off, weather and all. "we'll go somewhere else," she told beowulf, down in the smelly cloth bag. that smell told her what island to switch to. beowulf might have been listening, you couldn't tell from the outside, or sometimes from the inside.

mum noticed that ange had stopped being there. "you'll have to be sensible," she said. "if it was the dentist i'd understand, but hte man will only look in your ears for that ringing noise. don't sulk. and you don't need that old teddy."

"beowulf doesn't mind a bit of noise," ange said. "i don't. we'll land at cyprus, for a holiday." they had done that once. but now county durham was going by outside, pouring wet. inside, stiff railway seats rattled. ahead, ange was to be cured of something that was no problem; but you never know what people would think.