Polly has only passed out for a moment but when she wakes, she senses something very strange has happened. She has her cheek against Buster’s fur and he has his arms wrapped tightly around her. All around them is the night sky.

She feels like she is floating upwards, and when she opens her eyes she sees that, sure enough, the ground is far below them.

‘Buster,’ she croaks, but he is busy humming and doesn’t answer. When she looks up at him, he smiles, and she sees he is as big as a rowboat and as pink as a cherry. And as light as a blossom on the wind.

They are floating up, up, up into the starry sky.

Buster stops humming and begins to sing, ‘Me and you, you and me, that’s the way it will always be …’

It’s the song they invented when they were younger.

Polly understands. She has been forgiven, and that’s all that matters.