Chapter 1

Grandad’s dog, Buster, was so embarrassing. He was a small, scruffy terrier, and he barked at everything. He also smelt of damp old socks, which made our house smell too.

Grandad and Buster came to live with us a few months ago. The doggy smell was always the first thing I noticed when I got home from school. Then one day I noticed something else as well. An ugly white rail had appeared on the wall beside our front door.

“Don’t forget Buster’s walk, Tabitha!” Grandad shouted as soon as I walked in. I huffed and dropped my school bag down by the bottom of the stairs.

“Yes, Grandad!” I yelled back. “And it’s Tabby, not Tabitha,” I said under my breath.

Mum appeared from Grandad’s room carrying a tray. “Hello, love,” she said to me. “Everything OK?”

“What’s that thing by the front door, Mum?” I asked. “It looks awful!”

“It’s to help your grandad get up and down the step,” Mum said. “We can’t risk him having another fall.”

“But Grandad doesn’t go anywhere!” I snapped. “He just sits in his room and looks at his maps all day.” And takes up space in our house, I thought. But I didn’t say that bit out loud.

Mum and Dad had converted our dining room into a bedroom for Grandad. They put his bed exactly where our dining table used to be. At dinner time we had to cram around a tiny table in the kitchen. Grandad ate his meal in an armchair, from a tray on his lap.

“For a start,” said Mum, “the rail will help me get him to the car when I take him to his appointments.”

A glossy leaflet for walk in baths lay on the hall table. On the front was an old lady wearing a pink dressing gown. My stomach sank.

“We’re not getting one of those baths, are we?!” I said.

Mum rubbed her forehead.

“I don’t know yet,” she said. “Try to be a bit more considerate, Tabby. Things are hard enough as it is.”

Everything changed when Grandad came to live with us. Mum had to give up her job at the doctor’s surgery so that she could look after him. Then weird things began appearing around the house. First it was a grey walking frame that stood beside the fridge and got in everybody’s way. Then a horrible padded seat was fixed onto our downstairs toilet. Dad said it was so that Grandad could be as independent as possible, but he still didn’t seem able to do anything on his own. Mum always had to help Grandad, and she didn’t have time for anyone else.

“Tabitha? Are you there?” Grandad called. “Buster is waiting for his walk.”

“Coming, Grandad,” I moaned back. Mum gave me a stern look as she went to the kitchen. It was my job to take Grandad’s stinky dog for a walk each day after school, and I hated it. I went into Grandad’s room.

“Ah! There you are!” said Grandad, smiling. He had one of his maps spread out over his lap. “I would love to see Japan one day, wouldn’t you?” Grandad tapped his finger on the map. “I hear they have the most wonderful cherry blossom in the spring. What a sight that would be.”

I shrugged. “I guess,” I said. Buster waddled over towards me, his tail wagging. He knew that when I got home it meant walkies time.

“I think I’ll put that on my list,” said Grandad, picking up a notebook that he kept beside him.

I watched as Grandad wrote Japan in shaky writing. There were ten places on the list, including Alaska and The Isle of Bute. These were all places Grandad wanted to visit one day. But I didn’t think it was likely, considering he found it difficult to get to the bathroom. Grandad hadn’t travelled at all, apart from a few holidays in Spain with my nana, who died long before I was born. He’d been on his own ever since.

I turned to go, but Grandad started talking again.

“Have I ever told you about my ship in a bottle?” he said.

Grandad always did this: he told me to take Buster for a walk, but he wanted to chat at the same time.

“Yes, Grandad,” I said. He’d told me about his ship in a bottle at least a hundred times.

“That ship was made by some very skilled craftsmen,” said Grandad, ignoring what I’d just said. His eyes twinkled as he got ready to explain the twist in the tale.

“Did you know that—” Grandad began.

“It was made by specially trained bumble bees?” I interrupted him, rolling my eyes. “Yes, Grandad. You’ve already told me. Many times.”

Grandad’s ridiculous stories got on my nerves, but he just grinned and clapped his hands together.

“That’s right!” he said. “The pieces of the ship were placed inside the glass bottle, and then the bees set to work with their tiny hammers and nails. They were so small they could fit inside, you see? It’s a marvellous thing, don’t you think?”

I glanced at the old ship in a bottle standing at the front of a shelf. The glass of the bottle was tinted green, and inside was a little wooden ship, complete with rigging and sails. It was very clever, and I had no idea how the ship had been pushed inside the narrow neck. But I knew it definitely hadn’t been made by bees.

“I’d better get going, Grandad,” I said.

I went to the hallway and took Buster’s lead off the hook by the front door. He quickly trotted after me. As I clipped the lead onto his collar, he brushed against my hand, and I wiped it on my school trousers. Buster’s fur was disgusting. It was really greasy, with scaly flakes stuck in it. Mum kept saying she’d take him to the vets, but she’d been so busy with Grandad she hadn’t had a chance.

“Come on then, Stink,” I said to the dog. “Let’s get this over with.” I opened the front door, and we headed down to the beach.