The Book of Ebenezer le Page by G.B. Edwards Page B

matter where you walked they popped out from under your feet. Jim wanted to go on Lihoumel, the smaller island at the other end, but the sea was in between. He was going to try and jump it, but I told him not to be a fool. ‘The sea is coming up,’ I said, ‘we must get back quick.’
    He was in no hurry, as usual. He wanted to see all there was to see. There was a good view of the Hanois Rocks and the lighthouse. While we was looking at it, the light came on; but it wasn’t dark yet. By the time we got back to the L’Érée end again, the sea was over the causeway. He couldn’t swim and nor could I, and to get back up to our waists in the water it was hopeless to try because the current is very strong there, and we would have only been swept out to sea. Jim said, ‘Well, it looks as if this is going to be our home for the night.’ I said, ‘Yes, but what about our bikes?’ He said, ‘Aw, they’ll be all right, nobody will pinch those.’ I said, ‘If we was to light a fire, somebody might see it and fetch us off in a boat.’ He said, ‘If we had any matches, we could light a fire; but I haven’t got any. Have you?’ I hadn’t. It was before I smoked openly. I wasn’t worried, though. I’d never felt so happy.
    I wish I could remember what we said to each other that night. I know we sat down on the grass and talked more friendly than we ever had before. Jim was always open with me, and said anything that came into his head; but I wasn’t so open with him, as a rule. That night I was. I could say anything to Jim. If I had done a murder, as it happens I have in a way, I could have told him; and he would have liked me just the same. It was quite dark and we was still talking. There was a few lights twinkling on the land from the farmhouses and the cottages, and the Hanois light was going on and off. The sky was pitch black but full of stars. There was millions and millions of them. Jim said, ‘There are a lot of stars in the sky, eh?’ I said, ‘There are a lot of stars in the sky.’
    â€˜Now it’s time for by-bys,’ he said. He found a place out of the breeze behind a rock that had bracken growing against it, and we curled up together: him with his back to the rock, and me against him. ‘The babes in the wood,’ he said. ‘I don’t see no wood, me,’ I said. ‘Mustn’t be so particular,’ he said. I fell asleep with his arm around me. I woke up once in the night. He was awake as well. ‘Are you cold?’ he said. ‘I’m as warm as toast,’ I said. I was cold in front, but I didn’t want to change places. ‘Are you all right?’ I said. ‘Snug as a bug in a rug,’ he said. It was broad daylight when we woke up again. I said, ‘Goodness, I’m going to be late for work!’ I had only just started working for Mr Dorey, and I didn’t want to be late. I ran up to the top to see if our bikes were still there. They was where we’d left them; but the sea had gone down and was coming up again, and would soon be over the road back. Jim was stretching himself and yawning in his lazy way. ‘If you don’t buck up,’ I said, ‘we’ll have to live here for ever.’ ‘I wouldn’t mind,’ he said. I had to grab hold of his big hand and drag him across, or he would be there yet.
    When I got home and indoors, my father was gone to work, and my mother was cooking the breakfast for herself and the rest of us. ‘Oh, it’s you,’ she said, ‘I thought you’d run away to sea.’ ‘Jim and me got cut off on Lihou Island,’ I said. Tabitha wasn’t up yet, but she must have heard me. She came running out of the bedroom in her nightdress and threw her arms around my neck and kissed me. Ours wasn’t a kissing family, and I was quite surprised. ‘He’s come home, he’s