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Wandering the streets of the city It&039;s been a long time since I was in a place this crowded and noisy Iin Paskinston I re pools, parks, school I forgot about the traffic, the towering buildings that cut out the sunlight, the isolation

I was alith Mum or Dad when I lived in the city, or with a teacher or babysitter But one day, on a school trip to a ot lost It was an hour before I was found I remember nohat that felt like, how scary it was, how I believed I&039;d be lost forever I was sure I&039;d have to sleep on a park bench or underneath a bridge like a ho

This is scarier At least then I knehat city I was in, but this could be anywhere None of the street na an adult where I ao up to a stranger and they learn that I&039;m lost, that I don&039;t even knohat city I&039;m in, they&039;ll take me to the police And while part of e for o down that route If the police take me into custody, I won&039;t be free to search for Art

I haven&039;t given up on ht not work the same way as in that other universe, but I can still see the I just have to figure it out

While I&039; I listen carefully to people talking Most speak the sae as ain that I could ask where I arier with every step I&039;ve drunk plenty of water fro to eat I pass a stall selling hot dogs and pretzels I root through my pockets, but I don&039;t have anyto steal a pretzel, but if the owner catches , tears tickling the corners of ain I&039;ve been here at least two hours, wandering without direction The sun is starting to set It will be night soon Where will I sleep?

Tih I find a bench in a sh it&039;s not especially cold, I&039; a T-shirt, no jumper There aren&039;t many people in the park One wo to stop and ask if I&039;m OK I&039;ood liar But then she carries on, deciding I&039;m not her business

I try to lay all h one at a ti back to the Des I have to settle first - Where aht? Hoill I find food?

Take the passers-by but there must be alternatives A library, perhaps, except I don&039;t knohere to find one But now that I set my mind to it calmly, I see there are other ways I can look in a telephone book in a phone box Or go into a newsagent&039;s and read the titles of the local papers

I e a small chuckle when I realise how siives me confidence and I turn to the other probleh rubbish bins for food Not very nice, but I&039;

Finding somewhere to sleep is harder Hide in a library or museum? Or maybe in a shop that sells furniture? Keep lohile they&039;re closing, then come out when it&039;s deserted, sleep on a couch or bed

Not a bad plan, except all the shops have already closed I ht be able to do it tomorrow, but it won&039;t work now Maybe I&039;ll have to sleep in the open tonight, over a street grille or on a park bench Collect newspapers to wrap round myself Hope I&039;m not discovered by a police

As I&039;ht out of the corner of my left eye My head jerks towards it This isn&039;t the first ti to every flashing light in shops or on street corners, hopes rising, thinking for a second that they&039;re one of thestupid for falling for the sa myself to behave more sensibly next time, when it strikes me -

There&039;s no shop or street corner where the flash caet excited It&039;s probably somebody on a bicycle, or a bird with a strip of foil in its beak, or

But it isn&039;t It&039;s a yellow patch of triangular light, drifting through the park, attached to nothing

I&039;otten, hurrying after the light I catch up to it, reach for it like a baby reaching for its du with it, since there are no other pulsing patches for me to add it to Better to follow, see where it leads and hope that luck is with h the bars at the rear of the park I clathe back of my T-shirt I start to follow it across the road behind the park, but the driver of an approaching car blows his horn, warning me back I wait iht Luckily, it&039;s notbeside the patch until it passes through the wall of a building I stare at the wall for a ht It&039;s coled line from the park If it continues in that direction, it should coht on the other side of the building

I race round the building to the back Advance to the point where I think the light will e, counting the seconds off inside ht ten fifteen twenty-one

The light reappears on the count of twenty-three, further toover, catch up with it, ith it to the wall of another building, then quickly ain

I eventually lose the light at a collection of warehouses There&039;s no way for es But that&039;s not a worry Because I&039;ve spotted other lights, floating through the air fro towards the same spot several hundred yards ahead of s, but I have a good sense of where it is, so I weave through the streets There&039;s no need to bother with the lights anymore, just head for the point of intersection

Ten hts penetrating the walls and roof of a large building in the middle of a row of restaurants, pubs and shops There are people in front of the building, waiting to get in As I edge closer I see that they&039;re ers dressed in leather jackets, ripped jeans, fishnet stockings Many have spiky, coloured hair and chains dangling fro Not as frightening as de fro and realise this is a concert It&039;s harsh, ugly , even from this far outside

I stop close to the crowd There are a couple of men at the front door, dressed differently They&039;re the ones in charge, takingin a few at a tiirl and three boys A row develops I hear the girl shouting that they&039;re over eighteen One of the doorhs and tells the to be easy If they won&039;t let those four in, they certainly won&039;t let in someone like me I&039;ll have to try a bluff, say that my dad - maybe an older brother would be better - is in there It probably won&039;t work, but I&039;ve got to give it a go

I listen to the teenagers chatting about the concert, gathering as much info as I can They call it a punk concert There are several bands on the bill Names like the Clamps, Thunderballs, the Damnable When I&039;m ready, I walk boldly to the front of the line and smile at the doormen "Excuse ?"

The doorhteens"

"I know," I reply "But my brother&039;s in there I need to find hiht He was supposed to leave the key to the back door for et in without it Can I pop in and get the key off hiain immediately"

The doormen look at each other, then one of them says, "What&039;s his name?"