Coming of Age Read Online Free Page A

clouds, the sky winks a newly washed blue. A breeze strokes Amy’s face, shifting the fur on Tyler’s back as he races ahead. Dew glitters on a thousand spiders’ webs that cling to the hawthorn and the gorse, lifting and glinting.
    Amy’s spirit lifts with them.
    When she hears the sound of horse’s hooves behind her, her heart begins to thud against her ribs. It has become an immediate response to the sound haunting her recurrent nightmare.
    She does not look round, but moves aside to allow the rider to pass. A brown stallion gallops by, a woman rider urging it on. Red curls dance beneath her cap.
    She’s got hair just like Mum’s. It was so thick and curly, always escaping from any knot she tied, any hat she crammed over it.
    A wave of longing to hear her mother’s voice shakes her body.
    Tyler races ahead. Amy turns the corner with the path and begins to jog. The words “Mum, Mum, I want you back. Mum, Mum, I want you back” thump in her throat.
    Tyler stops to sniff another dog, a ginger Labrador called Hovis.
    â€œMorning, Amy,” Jimmy calls cheerfully. “Lovely day at last!”
    Amy smiles and nods dumbly back at one of their neighbours. It is a lovely day. It’s spring and Easter tomorrow and Jules will be home this afternoon and I can’t wait to see him.
    Then she sees Tyler’s body stiffen as he spots a rabbit lolloping under an oak. He starts to bound after it. Without thinking, Amy opens her mouth.
    â€œTyler,” she shouts. “Here, Tyler, here!”
    Tyler stops dead in his tracks. He turns to look at her and then comes racing back as if blown by the wind.
    Amy collapses against the nearest tree, her hands at her mouth. She says slowly, as if testing the truth of the words, “I can talk again.”
    Her head fills with the sound of her own voice. Blood flows to her cheeks, her legs shake with relief and joy. Tyler hurtles towards her, pawing the ground at her feet. He seems to give her strength. She picks him up and swings him in the air.
    â€œTyler! I can talk again! Just wait until I tell Dad and Ruth and Aunt Charlotte and Julian. They’re in for such a surprise.”
    She puts Tyler down. He waits at her feet, looking up at her expectantly.
    â€œ Good dog, Tyler . . . If it wasn’t for you I’d still be silent as a stone.”
    The relief at being able to say anything I want. I’ll never take it for granted.
    â€œCome on, Tyler. Race you home . . .”
    Amy runs into the house. She rushes for the phone, grabs it with shaking hands. She’s almost forgotten Ruth’s number. Then it comes pattering back.
    â€œRuth! It’s me!”
    â€œAmy?” Ruth’s voice squeals with amazement.
    â€œYes! Isn’t it brilliant? I can talk again!”
    â€œI can’t believe it! When did you –”
    â€œI was out on the Common with Tyler. He was behaving like an idiot as usual, chasing a rabbit!”
    Tyler yaps excitedly. He pats a stray ping-pong ball across the hall.
    â€œAnd there I was, yelling at him to come back!”
    â€œGod, Amy, I’m over the moon . . . I’m coming round straight away!”
    â€œI’m going to talk for a week.”
    Amy puts down the phone, her hand shaking.
    She flings her arms in the air.
    She starts to sing, to dance along the hall.
    Then she freezes.
    Sure, she can talk.
    Her voice has come back.
    But not her memory.
    That morning remains a total blank . . .
    Six Years Later

Three
    â€œOur last GCSE!” Amy leans her bicycle against her neat, narrow hip, shades her eyes against the afternoon sun. “I can’t believe it. Do you realise we’ve worked years for this moment?”
    â€œNever worked so hard in my life!” Ruth runs a hand through her dark untidy curls. She props her bike against the gutter. “It feels weird and wonderful! Ice creams to celebrate? My treat.”
    Amy grins. “The largest