LITMIR.BIZ

      hat are we going to do?” I hear Annabel say quietly as I slip back downstairs with Hugo chasing after me. “Did you see the way Harriet reacted?”

      Dad sighs.

      “She responded calmly, with thought and consideration. I’ve never been so frightened in my entire life.”

      You have got to be kidding me.

      Just once in fifteen years I respond to unexpected news in a mature fashion, and all I’ve successfully achieved is terrifying my parents.

      “Ahem,” I say at the door. Maybe I should slam it a few times, just to reassure them.

      They both look up.

      “Wait,” Dad says, looking me up and down. “Why isn’t Harriet wearing an appropriately themed costume, Annabel? Where’s the top hat and walking stick and monocle?”

      “Go on then,” Annabel says, nodding to the seat next to her. “Hit us with the Anti-American Powerpoint Presentation, Harriet. I’ve cleared a space on the table especially.”

      She’s even got the extension lead out so I can plug in my laptop.

      A little part of me wishes I’d given it a shot. Apparently twenty-seven per cent of Americans believe we never landed on the moon. That would have been a really excellent way to start.

      I stand in the middle of the room with Hugo sitting quietly by my feet and clench and unclench my fists. I’m about to say goodbye to everything I know. Every person. Every brick.

      Every piece of my life.

      “Let’s do it,” I say. “Let’s move to America.”

      “Oh,” Annabel says, dropping her head into her hands. “Oh, thank God.”

      “It’s a trick,” Dad says, squinting at me. “I want to know where my daughter is, Mature Stranger. I bet she’s locked upstairs in a wardrobe. I demand you let her back out again in three or four hours’ time once we’ve had a nice quiet cup of tea and some lunch.”

      I stick my tongue out at him.

      “Oh, there she is,” Dad grins. “Phew.”

      “Seriously?” Annabel says. “You’re not just saying that, Harriet? You really want to come?”

      “Yes,” I say firmly. “I do.”

      My parents both assess me with blank, surprised expressions. Then – in one seamless movement – they jump simultaneously off the sofa and tackle me into a hug with Tabitha tucked carefully between us.

      “YESSSS!!” Dad shouts, grabbing my sister’s little hand and punching the air with it. “In your face, boring old England! The Manners are taking over Ameeerrricaa!”

      I smile into my parents’ shoulders.

      I can change my plans. But I can’t change my family.

      And this way, I’ll leave everything behind before it gets the chance to do the same to me.

      

      Instead, I opt for the truth.

      The truth, and closing my eyes tightly.

      When Nat is hurt, she gets angry, and when she gets angry she throws things. There’s a pair of high heels in close proximity, and there’s a good chance they are about to get wedged into me permanently.

      Finally, I open one eye and peer cautiously through my eyelashes.

      Nat’s still sitting on her bedroom floor, surrounded by a heap of clothes. Her first words when I entered the room were: “According to Elle I need a capsule wardrobe, Harriet. Twelve items that can be mixed and matched to create a seamless and coordinated outfit choice for any occasion so as to achieve maximum sartorial efficiency.”

      There’s an endangered language in Peru called Chamicuro, and I think I’d have had more chance of understanding this greeting if Nat had just opted for using that instead.

      “Are you OK?” I ask, after the silence that follows my bombshell.

      “What do you mean you’re emigrating?”

      Pink splodges are starting to climb up Nat’s throat and on to her cheeks. She’s gripping the sleeve of a jumper so tightly it looks like it’s about to get ripped off. “Like a … woodpecker?”

      I don’t think Nat’s been paying attention to any of the recent documentaries we’ve been watching.

      “Woodpeckers tend to stay very much in the same place, Nat.” I sit carefully on the floor

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