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and said, “OK.” And we kept on walking, stepping up the pace as Grandpa turned a corner ahead of us. He’d gone down a side street, not so many people there. We got within about thirty feet of him when he turned ’round and clocked us. He knewI’d seen him get that burger out of the trash. Looking startled and shifty, he turned ’round again and started half running, half walking.
    “We’ve been rumbled, man,” Spider said. “Whatcha wanna do now?”
    I wanted to see what would happen to him, but I didn’t want to frighten the old guy, not on his last day.
    “Let’s hang back a bit. He’s heading for the park, yeah? Let’s let him get in there and then go in. Wanna smoke?”
    We lit up and then started walking slowly toward the park. At the far end of the street, Grandpa was hurrying along. He got to the end, where the main road is, with the park on the other side. He checked under his arm — yeah, the burger was still there — then looked back over his shoulder. Although we were way back, I knew that he could see us, that he was getting agitated. I was about to say to Spider that we should call it quits when, still looking back, Grandpa stepped out into the road.
    The car hit him straight on with a sickening thud. He went halfway up onto the hood and then flew through the air. It was like one of those road safety commercials on TV, but they use dummies for that, don’t they? This was real — a real body, limbs waving crazily, head jerking forward and then back, finally lying on the ground.
    We stood still for a few seconds, taking it in. People were screaming, starting to gather ’round. Spider started to run toward them. “Come on, let’s see if he’s alright.” I hung back.I didn’t want to see any more. If he wasn’t dead now, he would be soon, before midnight, anyway. Today was his day. Nothing you could do about it.
    Spider was at the end of the street now, craning over the throng. I went up behind him. Someone near me was screaming, high-pitched, on and on. Her friend led her away. I could see through the gaps to the body. A heap of mismatched old clothes with something inside. Not someone, not anymore. Whoever he was had gone now. Gone to wherever people go, where my mum was. Heaven? More like hell for my mum, I should think. Or nowhere. Just gone.
    I touched Spider’s arm. “Let’s go.” He peeled himself away from the crowd and we headed off toward his house.
    Spider was subdued, shaking his head. “We freaked him out, man. He was scared.”
    “I know,” I said quietly. He had echoed the thought that was haunting me:
We’d caused it.
I’d chased him into that road. If it wasn’t for me, he’d have been sat in that park, eating his manky old burger. Perhaps that’s what would have taken him, choking on a gobful of meat and bun. Perhaps he was heading for a heart attack. And the thought that I tried to keep down, but which kept coming back up:
Perhaps it hadn’t been his last day today after all. Maybe meeting me had
made
it his last day.
    Before I knew it, we were at Spider’s. I stopped at the gate. “I think I’ll just head back to Karen’s,” I said. I needed some space to get my head around all this.
    “No, man, come inside for a bit. You don’t wanna be alone after something like that.”
    I had another reason to hesitate. Those hazel eyes that saw my secrets.
    Sure enough, Val was sitting on her perch in the kitchen. Spider bent to kiss her.
    “Got off early, did you?” she asked, glancing at the kitchen clock.
    “What?” Half-one. “You know I’ve been suspended, Nan. What’s wrong with you — losing your marbles? And Jem’s got…private tutoring.” He grinned, and Val smiled with him. She knew the score.
    “You two going to settle down and read some books now, then?” Her gaze switched to me — direct, seeing, nowhere to hide.
    “Actually we need to chill a bit. Just saw an old bloke get run over.”
    She put down her cigarette.
    “He alright, was