For Posy Miller
‘In the garden the night dissolved in swirls of darkness. Jenny looked up and saw a sky studded with stars. Black shapes whirled, time wavered and the landscape was flooded with silver light.
She was standing in the centre of the stone circle. The power in the stones hummed like music. It filled the air and pulsed through the earth, in one deep vibrating note, rising through her feet and flooding her with incredible joy. All her fears vanished. She knew she could do anything she wanted and at the same time all she wanted to do was to merge with the power of the stones. She was growing lighter, her flesh was melting into moonlight; her body dissolving into a million atoms that would dance for ever in the brilliance of the moon.’
In my ‘Dragonfire Tilogy’ all the main characters are based on members of the family, with their permission, of course. Polly is my eldest daughter Posy, but so is Jenny Abramwitch and this passage was written with Posy specifically in mind. Wherever she is in the universe and sometimes she’s so close that I feel if I could turn round fast enough I would catch a glimpse of her in her red, orange and gold dress, or hear her laughing, or feel a quick reassuring hug, her influence is ever present in our lives. I talk to her, the grandchildren know all about her, her pictures are on Mike’s screen saver, in my office there are more photos and the drawing of her and Bod dancing on the clouds hangs in the upstairs hall.
And she’s in the stories I tell and the books I write.
Today on Christmas Eve, we’ll be toasting her and celebrating all the good times.
Misha Herwin 