The Map and The Stone

My first "Twitter Sample Sunday" – I'll be tracking the effect this idea has and I'm looking forward to your reactions. In the meantime, here's Chapter one of my last published book – The Map and The Stone, feel free to leave comments, pass the #samplesunday link along, or even go and buy yourself the full copy so you can find out what happens next….

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Image by Mairi Frost

Chapter One
Rhys
The boy's name was Rhys Newton and he was ten years old. He had dark curly hair and brown eyes and he lived with his mum, whose name was Lou, in a council house in a market town right in the middle of England.

Rhys found things.

He found things when no-one else could; it was as if they jumped out at him.

"Where have you put it?" Rhys''s mum asked him with that look that only mums can do. "I need my phone, what have you done with it? I know it's you. You're the only other person here and I know I left it by the kettle. Where is it?" She advanced on him across the kitchen, face turning deeper red as she got herself all worked up and he braced himself for the anger that was welling up in her. The worktop beside the kettle was conspicuously empty with no sign of the phone.

"I don't know where your phone is Mum. I didn't move it." Rhys backed away slowly, trying to think where the missing pink phone might be. He knew he would be the one to find it but he didn't know how. He also knew that would mean that she'd blame him for its disappearance in the first place.

In his last year of primary school, Rhys had already learned to be very careful. He was a bright boy with an overactive imagination, or so his class teacher said and she said he'd have to stop daydreaming when he went up to the big school, Claypits.

Rhys' dark curly hair refused to lay flat. His mum wouldn't let him have it cropped short because she said she loved his curls and liked to ruffle them when she was in a good mood, which wasn't very often these days. Rhys knew that his hair and eyes reminded her of his dad and that was also the reason she was always short tempered as well. He couldn't talk to her and he couldn't tell her that he missed his dad too, she just got angry. So Rhys kept it all inside and he could feel it building up in his head as if it'd explode out of him at some point if he let it.

"Oh go and look again." she told him as she stamped upstairs to look in her bedroom again.

Rhys breathed a sigh of relief. This usually meant that she'd given up being angry, would go and cry until her hazel eyes were red and then she'd tell him it was hay fever, even though it was November and there was no chance of pollen anywhere. Then she'd brush her short brown hair that lay flat and lifeless against her scalp and she'd pull herself together for a while.

He glanced round the kitchen and sure enough, the pink phone was laying exactly where she'd left it and exactly where it hadn't been only moments before, as if it had waited until he was alone to reappear. It lay accusingly beside the kettle and Rhys sighed. Now the phone had turned up they could go shopping and Rhys hated shopping. His mum would still glare at him as if to say he'd moved the phone and then put it back and he knew he hadn't.

So Rhys gathered up the collection of cloth shopping bags and stood at the back door gazing out into the garden which was wet and muddy after all the rain they'd had through the week. The flower beds that his mum used to slave over to keep looking nice were ragged and overgrown with more weeds than anything else now.

As the drizzle drifted down and hazed the garden into grey, Rhys thought he saw a movement under the hedge that ran along the far end and blocked the main road from sight. Not that it stopped the noise of the rumbling traffic that ran past all through the nights but at least it blocked most of the view. Rhys narrowed his eyes and peered down the garden but he couldn't see anything and he didn't feel like going out in the rain to look more closely. He often thought he saw things moving out of the corner of his eye but he didn't say anything because it felt weird and he didn't want anyone to think he was mad.

Her hand fell on his shoulder. "I'm sorry Rhys, the phone was there by the kettle with something half over it and I didn't see it. I just feel lost without it." It was an apology and she sounded tired. Rhys leaned into his mum's hand and she slid it further round him in a hug that was warm and cosy like a soft fleecy blanket and Rhys let the feeling spread through him, treasuring it until she pulled away. "Time to do the shopping," she said and she left him to lock the back door and bring the bags to the car.

He smiled as he turned the key in the stiff lock and slid the top bolt home as well. The paint was peeling on the outside of the plain white back door and Rhys's mum was always saying she'd get round to painting it a different colour one day, but one day never seemed to come. Dragging his feet Rhys wandered through the house, which was also looking grubby and shabby and in need of painting and a good clean, and he joined his mum in the car, which had another rust spot and today had decided to take three tries before it would start and stay running. He sat in the front passenger seat, mainly because he knew his mum hated that seat being empty and partly because it made him feel very grown up to sit in the front when he knew all his friends were made to sit in the back.

As they pulled into a space in the supermarket car park, Rhys thought he saw something climbing in the trees that were planted in an attempt to break up the monotonous concrete and tarmac. It was a thin trunked tree with pale patchy bark and small bright green leaves, but he had no idea what sort it might be, other than it wasn't the sort that dropped conkers. A finger poked him on the arm and he blinked.

"Sorry Mum, I'll bring the bags." He opened the car door and climbed out. The movement in the tree was catching the corner of his eye again but although he glanced at it he couldn't see anything there and he didn't look for long. His foot caught on something on the ground and he looked down. "Mum!" he called. "look, a pound, can I keep it?" He rubbed the mud from the coin and it caught the sun to shine golden in his hand as he held it out to show her.

"Where did you find that?" his mum asked as she came round the car to his side.

"It was in the soil near this tree." He pointed and she looked.

"Well, there's no car here and no-one about so I guess you can keep it." She ruffled his dark curly hair and smiled. "Could have done with it being a tenner though. Put it in your pocket."

In the supermarket, Rhys could feel the coin hard in his jeans pocket and he made sure he was extra helpful and really well behaved so he could ask his mum if he could spend the money on some sweets. She left him at the shelves filled with sweets, chocolate and other delicious things while she went to find toilet rolls. Rhys pulled out the coin and stared at it, then looked at the end of the shelves where his mum had disappeared and he reached out and selected a bag of sweets for himself and then he looked over at a shelf further on where he grinned at his mum's favourite chocolate bar. He didn't quite have enough for both so he put his own bag of sweets back and chose a smaller one. They weren't his favourites but he felt this was important. He carefully hid the chocolate bar underneath his own choice and went round the corner to find his mum.

She was looking at the posh toilet rolls, the nice soft and thick ones with nice pictures on the packaging and there was a sad look on her face as she picked up the cheaper ones and put them in her trolley.

"Can I pay for this by myself?" Rhys asked as she noticed him.

"Of course you can," she said, looking at her shopping list and crossing off the things already in the trolley and adding the prices into the calculator on her phone. "I think we can just about afford chips for tea if you like."

"Why don't we get some frozen chips and fish in here instead?" Rhys suggested, knowing that money was tight and although popping to the chip shop was a treat it would be useful to have that little bit extra just in case they needed it.

"Rhys, you're a good boy. Why don't you go and see if they have tins of mushy peas too, or curry sauce. Which ever one you want, you can choose." His mum smiled at him and it was genuinely warm and Rhys felt it wash through him, knowing she'd love the chocolate if he could manage to buy it as a surprise. He walked through the aisles to find the right one with the tins of beans, peas and similar things and he turned the coin over in his pocket as he walked. Once in the right place he chose a tin of curry sauce.

When he caught up with his mum, Rhys found her pulling a bag of thick cut frozen chips from the freezer. He dropped the tin of sauce on top of them, beside the small orange pumpkin. Then they made their way to the checkout where there were, unusually, two with no queue, right beside each other.

"I'm going to do this on my own." Rhys announced as he stepped over to the other till, leaving his mum to sort out the main shopping. He managed to pay for his own sweets and her chocolate without her noticing.

The till operator smiled at him. "That chocolate is on a buy one get one free if you want to go and grab another one."

"Really?" He grinned. "I'll be as quick as I can!" and he ran off back to get a second bar as his mum scowled at him running in the shop.

"Come back here young man!" she called but Rhys didn't hear her and he ran on, fetched the chocolate and tucked it into his bag with the receipt. Then he helped to pack the shopping as it was scanned through the till. His mum scowled at him but Rhys didn't care, he was bubbling up inside with the idea that he'd been able to buy her a present that might make her happy.

As Rhys was unloading the car at home he kept glancing round, hoping to see that flicker of movement again. But he saw nothing as he carried bag after bag through the house and into the small kitchen. He made sure that he kept his own bag separate and tucked it behind one of the chairs in the living room.

"Shall I put the kettle on and make a cup of tea for you while you put things away?" He offered and his mum looked up at him from where she was putting packets into the freezer.

"That would be lovely, thank you." She smiled and it really lit up her tired eyes. "Do you want the chips for tea tonight? Or something else?"

"Chips are good Mum." Rhys pulled out mugs and tea bags. "Can I have a cup of tea with you?"

"Of course you can, but only one or you'll not sleep tonight." She went back to putting away the last of the shopping.

Rhys made the tea and carried it through to the living room where he put both mugs down on the low coffee table that sat between the two mismatched, but comfortable, armchairs. Then he glanced towards the kitchen door to check his mum was still putting the shopping away before he reached behind the chair for the sweets and chocolate. He placed both chocolate bars beside his mum's mug and sat back to wait for her.

"You're very thoughtful today, what's got into you?" she commented as she sat in the chair beside him and picked up her mug. "Are you going to eat your chocolate?"

"I have these." Rhys waved his bag of mixed sweets at her. "That's for you. They were on offer so I got you something too. I thought that pound was a special surprise and I should share it."

His mum's hand shook a little and she put her tea down again without tasting it. "Really?" she asked and he nodded. "That's my favourite." He nodded again. "I thought you were messing about in the shop. I'm sorry. That's a lovely thing to do." She picked up one of the bars and opened it slowly, peeling off the paper outer sleeve and setting it neatly on the table. Then she tore into the foil inner wrapper and broke a piece off and offered it to Rhys.

"No thanks Mum, I don't like that one, it's too dark, not sweet enough." He grinned as he bit into the first of the sweets from his own bag, which held an assortment of flavours and textures that he knew he'd enjoy and he might even make them last a few days.

"Sometimes you are so grown up." his mum said as she popped a piece of chocolate into her mouth with a smile. "I love you to bits my big boy."

"Mum!" He protested with a grin. "I love you too. Can I watch telly now?"

"Have you done all your homework?"

"Not quite."

"Then you can watch telly when it's finished and not before." She ate half the first bar of chocolate and carefully wrapped it back up to save for later and she drank her tea slowly. "That's a good cup of tea Rhys, I think I'll have to get you to make it more often." She got up to take her mug into the kitchen and rested a hand on his shoulder. "Come on you, homework. Get your things together and sit at the kitchen table."

"Can't I do it in here?" Rhys protested, glancing longingly at the TV in the corner.

"No. You sit properly at the table, you know what Mrs Hartshorn said. You need to sit at a table to do homework, not sprawl on the floor." His mum was firm, and although Rhys scowled and muttered, he still pulled out his pencil case and books and settled down to do his homework at the table. Reluctantly he began work on maths problems that he'd only half finished the evening before. He didn't find maths easy, he didn't find anything easy at school. He tried his best but he still struggled and he dreaded going to secondary school as he was convinced he wouldn't cope. But it was approaching fast enough and at the end of this school year he'd be going and there was no stopping it. Eventually the maths was finished and Rhys pulled out another worksheet that he had to complete and he started on that.

He fidgeted and rolled his shoulders. He dropped his pencil and broke the end so it needed sharpening. He wasted more time than it took to get the work done and by the end the worksheet was crumpled and grubby and Rhys sighed. As he put the homework back into his bag a movement caught his eye near the fridge.

It was a battered and dented thing that used to be polished steel but was more scratched and scuffed now but it still worked. The movement had been near where the door opened, at the bottom, on the floor. Rhys stared at the dark space under the fridge and thought he saw something there, which didn't surprise him as there was often stuff that got knocked under there and no-one could get it back out again.

Rhys stared as a piece of paper was pushed out, just a corner, but definitely being pushed.

"MUM!" he shouted, "I think we've got mice or something!"

She came running to find him with his legs pulled up onto his chair and his school bag clutched tightly in his lap.

"Where?" she asked, her voice shaking slightly.

"Under the fridge," Rhys told her, pointing at the corner of paper poking out. "That moved like it was being pushed out from underneath."

His mum took a wooden spoon and pressed it to the paper to pin it to the floor. Then she leaned on it and pulled it towards her to drag it out. It was dusty and dirty but the edges were neat and clean.

"That's odd," she murmured, "I'd expect mice to have chewed it. Maybe it was the air from the back of the fridge just blew it back out?" She wiped some of the muck off and looked at it. "It's an envelope but there's no name or address on it. Shall we open it?"

"Mum, we've lived here since I was two and that fridge was old then. Whatever is in that envelope is ours." Rhys was still curled on his chair, refusing to put his feet on the floor.

"Here, you open it." She dropped the filthy envelope on the table and reached for the long black torch she kept on the shelf above the fridge. Turning it on she lay on the floor to shine it into the dark space where the envelope had come from. "I can't see anything." She frowned, cleared the clutter from the top of the fridge and stretched over to shine the torch down the back. "Nothing there either and I've never seen any sign of mice in the house. I don't think it was anything to worry about Rhys but I'll keep an eye out anyway."

"OK Mum." Rhys climbed off the chair and took his school bag out to the living room where he leaned it on the windowsill, where it always lived and where it would be ready for school on Monday.

"Rhys?" She called him back into the kitchen. "Are you going to open it or shall I?"

"You can if you want." He shrugged. "It's probably empty anyway."

She wiped off the dust and Rhys stayed to watch, intrigued by what might be inside despite what he'd said. The envelope had been white once and was stuck down firmly but was flat and thin and couldn't contain much, perhaps a letter that had never been sent or maybe one of those thank you letters that Rhys had been made to write every birthday and every Christmas.

She turned it over and Rhys watched, his eyes not blinking, not wanting to miss a moment in case it was something exciting. The paper of the envelope was thin and cheap but it had clearly survived under the fridge with no harm. Rhys could smell the mustiness and slight damp coming from it and he pressed up against his mum as she began to ease her fingers into the small gap at the end of the glue that held the flap down.

"It might be empty," she said, echoing his shrug from before and the paper began to tear. There was something inside, a piece of paper and Rhys craned round to try and see what it was as his mum opened the envelope fully and widened it so she could see inside before she reached in to take hold of it. Frowning in concentration she eased a finger tip and thumb into the opening and took hold of the paper.

Rhys glanced away as he heard a skittering sound under the fridge but he saw nothing and the sound stopped as he moved.

She pulled out the paper and it was crumpled and torn at the edges. There were marks on both sides and his mum started to laugh as she unfolded it.

"It's one of your treasure maps from when you were six." She grinned and held it out to him. "I bet you hid it under there and then couldn't get it out again."

Rhys stared at it. The paper was certainly a map and badly drawn, but it wasn't one that he'd made. He still had his best map tucked into a book in his bedroom and this was nothing like it but he didn't tell his mum that, he just smiled and tucked it back into the envelope and then put that in his pocket.