‘So use a match,’ he said, with a slight smile.
I don’t know why I had never thought about it before, but if the gas was still running, then the gas fireplace could be used. ‘You’re a genius,’ I said, as I ran to put my coats back on, eager to get back and try it.
From that point on, the house was warmer than outside. I daren’t go to sleep with the gas fire on, but it warmed up the house nicely during the day and I didn’t have to worry about bills. Everything all seemed to work automatically.
The anticipated blizzards arrived in January. The first proper cold snap came at the end of November and although I fleeced all the plants and gave them as much protection as I could, by December the courgettes, beans and tomatoes were all gone. I had brought the pots of potatoes back around the house for warmth, and when the hard frosts hit I brought the pots inside and stacked them in the spare room on sheets. I didn’t know how much photosynthesising they were doing in the dim light, but on clear days I could take them all out onto the front driveway to soak up what little sun there was. Then I would have to bring them all back in again when dusk fell.
The blizzard hit in the night and next morning the sight of the snow was glorious, blanketing everything in white and hiding the weeds and rubbish. I walked out as far as I could. Onto the main road, and up onto Merry Hill; the fields adjoining the east side of the estate. From the top of the hill I could look down and see the entire area. I hadn’t been outside Carpenders Park for a while, but now it seemed like I could see miles and miles.
It was silent. Pre-outbreak there had always been sounds of traffic up on the hill; now there was only the faintest of breezes. The clouds were high, and the air was clear. It smelt clean and fresh. I walked around the fields in the general direction of Bushey, tracing large arcs and shapes in the snow and drawing dragons with my boots, until I stopped with a jolt; there was a footprint in the snow, a trail of footprints. I quickly turned, had I circled round and crossed my own trail? But I knew I hadn’t.
I was about to, well, run away, wouldn’t be putting it too strongly, when I noticed that the tracks were very small. I placed my foot alongside, the print was at least two inches shorter than mine, and I was a size five shoe. It looked like the print was made from either a small woman, or more likely, a child.
I decided to follow the trail for a bit. I scanned the fields in the distance but couldn’t see anyone. The trail headed south, downhill towards the small wood that divided the fields from the golf course. The hill was churned up on this side with long wide bands running down the hill and lots of tracks all about. As the slope steepened the steps grew further apart, did that mean they were running? Suddenly, in the snow in front of me, there was an explosion of tracks, going in all directions. I paused to try and work it out. The snow was kicked up but I could distinctly see that there were another set of tracks; they were much smaller and much closer together. I moved on past the disturbance and the tracks resolved themselves into a trail of three people; the original set of tracks and two even smaller sets. All three continued down into the trees.
I had a small inkling even before I saw them, two boys and a girl, standing beside a bright red sled and making a snowman in a large clearing in the trees; Daisy, Toby and Lucas. I was unreasonable glad to see they were ok. I hadn’t understood how affected I had been by all the deaths and disappearances. To see that they had survived was brilliant. The two boys were adding snow to the body, patting it into shape whilst Daisy was rolling the head of the snowman. It was large and looked very heavy. As she strained to lift it, I stepped out from the tree line and asked ‘do you want a hand?’
All three of them looked up and shrieked, running over to the other side of the trees before checking whether I was following. When they saw I wasn’t, they paused and stared. I took the opportunity to walk over to the head of the snowman and bent down to try and lift it up. It was really big and weighed a ton. ‘Wow Daisy,’ I said, as I lifted it and staggered over to the body ‘it’s enormous.’
‘Hey,’ said Lucas, stepping towards me ‘that’s our snowman.’
‘Shhhhhh,’ said Daisy, pulling him back, then she did a bit of a double take ‘how do you know my name?’ she asked belligerently.
‘We met at the garden centre,’ I responded, as I set the head on the body and twisted it so it was centred in place. ‘I was getting a red robin shrub.’ I gave the snowman a pat. ‘There you go,’ I said, then stepped back away from the snowman.
The three of them stepped forward in response and then Toby surprised me by saying, ‘I remember, you’re Zoe.’ He came forward, quickly followed by Lucas and then Daisy.
‘How have you guys been?’ I asked, ‘Were you ok when the people camped in the cemetery?’
‘That was a bit scary,’ said Toby, ‘we had to hide for ages and our uncle wouldn’t let us cook anything.’
‘And it was Daisy’s birthday, but we couldn’t sing or have a cake or anything,’ added Lucas.
I looked at Daisy ‘Happy Birthday,’ I said, smiling.
‘It was ages ago,’ she said, shrugging, ‘what are you doing here?’
‘I had to come out for a walk, the snow is so pretty, then I saw your tracks in the snow and followed them.’ They looked at each other disconcerted.
‘I hadn’t thought of that,’ said Daisy.
‘Do you think Uncle Ben….’ said Lucas nervously.
I looked at them all in turn. ‘Did you guys sneak off without permission?’ I asked, then answered my own question ‘of course you did, well you better get home, your uncle’s probably going mental.’
Toby and Lucas turned to look at Daisy, who uncertainly shook her head ‘He thinks we’re playing in the yard.’
‘And if he comes looking for you? It’s about lunchtime now…’
‘I’m hungry,’ said Toby.
‘Me too,’ chipped in Lucas.
Daisy looked mulish for a second, and then gave in. ‘Ok but we need to give him a face and some arms.’
They quickly finished off the snowman with pebbles for his eyes, nose, and mouth, and twigs for arms. Then we headed back up the hill together, Daisy carrying the sled on her back like a backpack and Toby telling me all about their den and the go-kart they had made, and all sorts of things, until we were at the edge of the field in no time.
‘How did you get out of the garden centre?’ I asked.
‘Uncle Ben turned the hole in the fence that you showed us, into a hidden door,’ said Toby, ‘we borrowed the key.’
I walked them back through the cemetery. Not a great place for making snowmen anymore; the ground was humped with discarded sheets and the rubbish that was lying beneath the snow. I could see why the hill had been much more inviting; especially for sledding. ‘Should I come in with you?’ I asked, it was time I met my neighbours, there were only Frank and me and them left, it seemed mad that we weren’t helping each other.
‘Oh no,’ said Toby, ‘if you come in, our uncle will know we were outside.’
‘What will he do?’ I asked curiously.
‘Nothing really,’ said Daisy.
‘They just tell you off and make you feel bad,’ said Lucas.
‘And mum sometimes cries’ said Daisy.
‘Oh ok… try not to get caught then, and maybe next time, ask permission from your uncle… it might be wiser.
I left them at one of the paths, watching as they slipped over the bank towards the back of the garden centre.
When I got home, the tracks in the snow led straight to my door, so I set about creating a couple of false trails; walking up to the doors of several houses in the street and walking along surrounding streets and doing the same. It broke up the perfect white snow but at least I didn’t see any other trails as I did so. It looked like my little corner of Carpenders Park was still empty.