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the first time, and I feared if I said something it’d be gone, snuffed out.
    ‘I’d been stationed here for twelve months, but it was long enough. We had an incredible time, me and the boys. The girls of your fair town certainly made us Yanks feel welcome. The
boys – less so. If we weren’t chasing the ladies, promising them chocolate and nylons, we were being chased by mobs of local guys, angry that we were stealing their gals. In between
that excitement, we trained hard at the base, preparing for war. Our lives consisted of drills, dances and dogfights. It was glorious.’
    He stopped and smiled.
    ‘There was one girl. Ruby. I didn’t have a string of girlfriends like some of the boys. I’d courted in my youth back home, but nothing serious. That’s why I tell you not
to dwell on what might’ve been. But Ruby? Beautiful creature, mysterious too. Can you believe she
never
told me her surname? The minx! I thought I’d come to England to get ready
for the fight, not fall in love. My best friend fell for her too, Josh Hershey, spelled like the chocolate bars. He asked her to marry him and she just laughed; thought the poor sap was joking! She
only had eyes for me, though – kinda made things awkward for me and Josh for a while there.’
    He nudged me in the ribs with his elbow.
    ‘I never got to tell her how much she meant to me. I was going to propose. I had that stolen from me. She never knew.’
    We sat in silence. It made all my dramas seem insignificant, certainly regarding Lucy, anyway. The Major – or Chip, to use his real name – had made me see things a little clearer.
The jealousy goggles were off, never to be replaced.
    ‘When I tell you to be straight with your mate, I mean it, Will,’ he said, his voice sincere. ‘Never have regrets about what could’ve been. Seize the day. Don’t
keep secrets from those you love.’
    ‘Thanks, Chip,’ I said, the man grinning as I used his name for the first time. ‘Chip. Kind of sounds weird after calling you Major for so long.’
    ‘It can be our little secret,’ he said with a wink, replacing his peaked dress cap and straightening it upon his head.
    ‘I thought you said no more secrets?’
    ‘Dang, I
did
, didn’t I? You’re good, Will Underwood. You’re very good.’ He stood and stretched as if stiff and sore, completely pointless for a ghost.
‘Lordy, but you get to my age and things start to ache. Come on, let’s go and break my name to Sparky.’
    ‘He’s with Lucy,’ I pointed out. ‘Might wig him out if we start talking to him mid-smooch.’
    ‘Fair point,’ he said. He clapped his hands, signalling that he’d arrived upon a remarkable idea.
    ‘What is it?’ I asked, keen to hear his plan.
    ‘Let’s go pull faces at him from over her shoulder.’
    And like that we were off, dashing through the rose garden to gurn at our buddy. It really was the least a friend could do.

SEVEN
Telltales and Truths
    The rest of that day flew by. My chat with the Major (we decided to stick with our favourite moniker) had given me a fresh perspective. I hoped they got their shot at happiness
that others, such as the Major and I, would never get. Especially the Major. His story was sad beyond words. He
had
found love, only for it to be snatched away. There was always somebody
worse off than you. I was able to tag along with Dougie and Lucy, no longer feeling like a gooseberry. And if they happened to kiss, so be it. There were worse things to witness in life,
apparently.
    That evening, Dougie was at home. He wasn’t seeing Lucy. I know; whodathunkit? Perhaps he was suffering from snog exhaustion, his lips chapped from so much action. Instead of reclining in
the divine Miss Carpenter’s embrace, he was lying prone on his bed, Xbox remote in hand as he battled his way through Skyrim. He made a surprisingly accomplished Battle-Mage. Better than a
halfling thief, anyway.
    We were a couple of days into the summer holidays and, bar our