The Listener
A&C Black ISBN 0-7136-4709-4
The bus came. Gavin climbed on board and sat hunched at the back, hardly bothering to look out of the window. 'Johnny Mason's debut!' he kept saying to himself. 'His first match with Sunley United and I'm going to miss it!'
Gavin is not happy about spending the weekend at his gran's when he could be watching Johnny Mason. But soon he has more important things on his mind - Gran is missing, and there's a trail of footprints leading into the woods…
I was in a forest in Norway once in the middle of winter. Snow lay deep on the ground, it was getting dark, and I was far from home. Suddenly, I spotted drops of scarlet blood on the snow, and footprints beside them. I followed them for a while, in case someone was hurt and needed help, but it soon grew too dark to see, and worried that I might be lost all night in the forest, I turned for home. I never discovered who the footprints - and the blood - belonged to, but they gave me the idea for The Listener.
Shortlisted for the NASEN award