‘Uh-huh. Trust me?’
‘I must be mad.’
‘In that case let’s go to Eastville Park. I can easily walk to work from there, it’s literally three minutes away, and I’ve been itching to do this but not on my own in the dark.’
‘Eastville Park, here we come.’
Before I know it, Belle and I are walking through the park, in the dark, with the snow still falling heavily. Like the morning we sledged down the hill, everything around us is white and untouched bar some paw-prints running across the wide-open space.
‘I haven’t been in here for years, and I don’t think I’ve ever explored it properly.’
‘Okay, well, it’s pretty ace. It’s got a disused lido that they sometimes use for theatre but I’m hoping they’ll turn it back into an open-air swimming pool, and you’re going to love this.’ She grabs my hand, her mitten in my glove, and starts to pull me along at speed.
‘Woah, it might be icy,’ I say
‘It’s not icy, come on.’ She pulls me down a wooded path, the trees snow-topped and Narnia-like, and then we are at a huge lake.
‘Look, isn’t that something? I love the reflection of the moon on water but a few years ago Luisa made me promise to not walk here alone at night. I’ve missed it. Isn’t it beautiful?’
‘It is.’ It’s eerie, quiet but quite special. Ethereal.
‘I love it here, I half expect fairies to tiptoe out for moonlit winter balls, but also, on a more practical level, it’s such a haven for wildlife.’ She encourages me down onto a bench. ‘Loads of people use this as a photography spot. You get herons, and kingfishers, and otters. I love otters. Not to mention the more obvious foxes and badgers, swans and ducks. It’s amazing. Teeming and bang in the middle of a city.’
‘I didn’t know you were into wildlife.’
‘Yep, for sure. Although I’m not very science-y about it. I tend to think about them all as having mummies and daddies and brothers and sisters.’
‘Anthropomorphise them?’
‘Yep, isn’t that the best word? Anyway, I know more than you’d think about wildlife.’ She looks at me quizzically as if she is deciding to say something or not. I hope she isn’t going to reference the conversation we had last night. I am pleased that I opened up a bit but it was definitely a one-time deal, I can’t do emotions again today, and certainly not before dawn has even broken. ‘Let me tell you about wood frogs,’ she says. I grin; that is not what I expected. ‘They’re so interesting, although we don’t find them here, but in cold, cold places like Alaska, where in winter they freeze almost completely solid. But they’ve evolved so they make glucose, which acts like an anti-freeze and keeps them alive. They live in this frozen state for weeks and weeks and then as the temperature rises their hearts start to beat again, they gulp for air, have a little wriggle and off they hop to look for a mate. Kinda cool, isn’t it?’
‘Yeah, that really is.’
‘I always thought so.’
‘But they don’t live in Eastville Park?’
‘Nah. But otters do and they’re awesome. Let me tell you some amazing facts about otters.’
‘Whilst I would like that very much, I’m bloody freezing. You must be too.’
‘Yeah,’ she admits, ‘I am a bit.’
‘Here.’ I grab her hands, even though they’re encased in wool, and blow onto them in an attempt to warm her. She looks at me funnily but doesn’t pull her hands away.
‘Come on then. I need to get back but I want to make sure we’ve got time to do one more thing first.’
‘One more thing?’
‘Yes!’
‘Go on then, Wilde, lead the way.’ We weave our way back through the Narnia trees and she runs off the path right into the middle of the large expanse of snow-covered park, stops and plonks herself down, waving me over with a huge grin on her face.
‘I’ll get wet!’
‘Damn straight. But you have a seat warmer in your car so you’ll be toasty before you’re even on the other side of the city. C’mon.’ It strikes me that I have been very easily bossed around this month but nonetheless I am trying to be more Belle so I sit down next to her. The damp snow is three inches thick, soft and not as cold as I anticipate.
Then she drops herself back so she is lying flat out.
