I went to the beach early, just as it was getting light.
The smudgy halo around the sun told me we were in for another scorcher. The CFA already had their board out announcing a total fire ban. A surfer was paddling, crouched over his board, and for an instant the rising sun outlined him in gold. Closer to the beach, the surf was dark and shadowy in that blue-grey shade it got before the full light. On the dunes, prickly whiskers of sea grass began to show.
I threw two lines out and secured them, then sat on my fold-up chair with my thermos of coffee. I wanted to think.
Alison had rung me last night. When I heard her voice after four years, my stomach turned over. She was a little girl when I last saw her, just about to leave primary school, and now she was sixteen. She sounded very gro
