Ben by Kerry Needham Page A

morning.
    Stephen disappeared behind the house where the vehicles were parked. He didn’t have to hunt for Ben because his nephew came trotting over, and not to say goodbye. The only thing Ben loved more than his toys was other people’s – and Stephen’s motorbike was top of that list.
    ‘Bike! Bike!’
    Usually Stephen was as weak as the rest of us when it came to turning down a request from his nephew – Ben pretty much had us all wrapped round his little finger half the time. But not today. Stephen had an errand to run and the sooner he got it over with, the quicker he could enjoy his rare few hours off.
    ‘Go back to Granddad, Ben,’ Stephen said. ‘No rides today.’
    He shooed Ben away and made his escape. From the other side of the farmhouse, everyone heard the little 50cc engine fire up and the fading volume as Stephen sped away down the lane.
    It was about two minutes after that Mum said, ‘Ben’s gone quiet.’
    Dad laughed. ‘He can’t be up to any good.’
    ‘I’d better go and check. He’s probably cuddling a stray cat to death.’
    Mum left the others and walked casually through the house. She didn’t call Ben, not at first. She expected to see him croucheddown with his bucket and spade and mound of ants or a pile of sand. Things like that could hold his attention for ages. It was perfectly normal that he’d go quiet.
    Ben wasn’t where Mum expected. Where is the little bugger? She could see where he’d been so she didn’t panic. He can’t have got far.
    Mum got her bearings and scanned the horizon. Everywhere she looked was mostly fields. She could see for miles in most directions and either it was so wide open that she would have been able to spot Ben in an instant or it was too overgrown for him to have dared to venture. That only left the lane. She walked to the top of the driveway, checking the hedges along the way. At the end she looked both ways, with no sign of him.
    Well, obviously he went round the house while I came through it.
    That was the only plausible explanation.
    She trudged back up the driveway and walked the opposite way around the dilapidated building. Dad, Michaelis and Danny were exactly where she’d left them.
    ‘Has Ben been back in?’ Mum asked.
    ‘No.’
    That was when she felt her stomach clench for the first time. This was the only place he could have been. If Ben wasn’t with Eddie and Danny …
    She forced out the words she didn’t want to have to say. ‘He’s not here.’
    ‘What do you mean he’s not here?’
    ‘He’s not outside.’
    ‘Have you checked the driveway?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Have you looked in the fields?’
    ‘Yes, yes!’ Mum was getting annoyed now. More out of worry than anger. ‘I’ve looked inside and out. If he’s not with you, then I don’t know where he is.’
    Her voice was shaking and Dad could tell from her face she was serious. He leapt up and sent Danny one way, asked Michaelis to help him check the outbuildings, and told Mum to look again at the road in case he’d made it that far.
    They all set off calling Ben’s name and shouting and hollering for him to come back. Their best bet was on the goat sheds and chicken coops. Ben loved animals so much it made sense he might have wandered off to feed them.
    In between the sound of them all calling out, there was the occasional putt-putt of a distant scooter or slow-moving truck crawling up the main road. There were no other human sounds. Just the wind and the animals puncturing the silence.
    Meanwhile, Mum put her rising sense of terror to one side and tried to visualise Ben reaching the lane. Uphill soon became inaccessible for a toddler, so that took seconds to check. In any case, she decided, if Ben had gone anywhere it would only have been in an attempt to catch Stephen. With the dusty, barren road stretching emptily out before her, Mum started jogging, scanning the ditches either side, even though she knew he wouldn’t be in them. Ben was too timid to have