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bridge of his nose. He looked at Marie, who leant forward, listening keenly. ‘And it’s not just UFO sightings either. We’re getting a lot of reports of abductions. A man in Tunbridge Wells has contacted me. He says he was taken aboard a craft and he can remember them carrying out some medical procedure on him. He’s going to see a hypnotist to try to remember the rest. Plus there have been loads of reports of crop circles, especially over towards Ashford. Do you know a village called Wye? There’s a big agricultural college there. Anyway, there have been a load of crop circles appearing. Marie and I are going to go over there this weekend and check it out.’
    He paused to sip his Coke. Crop circles. I hadn’t heard anyone mention them for years.
    I said, ‘So this girl you’ve got coming here tonight, she’s had an abduction experience?’
    Andrew nodded.
    Marie looked over at me with her big eyes. ‘You don’t mind her coming here, do you?’
    ‘Of course not. I don’t mind who you have here. It’s your home too now, Marie.’
    ‘I do appreciate this,’ Andrew said.
    ‘Like I said, it doesn’t bother me.’
    Marie and I had been living together for a few weeks now. During the day, while I went to work, Marie sat at home and communicated with her fellow believers. When I got home from work she would usually be a little stir crazy, and we would take a bottle of wine into the garden. As it got dark, Marie would point out the constellations, teaching me their names. She had planted an assortment of flowers in the beds that I’d completely neglected since moving in. She talked and sang to them as she watered and tended to them.
    ‘You think I’m nuts, don’t you?’ she said one night as I stood watching her.
    ‘I prefer “kooky”,’ I replied.
    ‘Cuckoo?’ She did a cartwheel across the lawn, singing I’m a Cuckoo , a song by a band she listened to all the time.
    ‘A kooky cuckoo.’ I shook my head. I knew some people might find Marie’s behaviour irritating, but she was so guileless and unbothered by what people thought of her . . . I wished I could be more like her.
    Now, Andrew stood up and looked out of the front window. ‘She should be here any minute.’
    ‘Do you want me to make myself scarce when she arrives?’ I asked.
    I was sure Andrew was about to say yes but Marie shook her head. ‘Of course not. You might find it interesting.’ She came and sat beside me, kissing me quickly and winking.
    ‘I feel like an outsider when Andrew’s around,’ I had confessed a few days before.
    ‘Maybe you could become more involved,’ she had said. I thought about it. ‘Maybe.’ But how could I get involved if I didn’t believe?
    ‘She’s here,’ Andrew said now. He went to the front door and opened it. I took the opportunity to kiss Marie, and then Andrew led a dark-haired girl into the room.
    ‘This is Sally,’ he said.
    Sally was about twenty-five, skinny with short black hair that needed a wash. Her eyes were bloodshot and puffy. She looked scared. She made me think of one of those wild children that they sometimes find in the woods in films, raised by wolves, unused to human company; or a beaten dog. She trembled and almost spilled the glass of Coke I handed her.
    Marie sat beside her on the sofa. ‘Hi, I’m Marie.’
    Sally looked around her. She refused to make eye contact with any of us. She said, ‘Will you be able to help me? Will you?’
    ‘We’ll try,’ Marie said in a soothing tone.
    Andrew and Marie sat either side of the woman.
    Marie said, ‘We want to help you understand what happened to you. We should be able to answer some of your questions. We’ve spoken to a lot of people who’ve had similar experiences.’
    Sally nodded, her fringe falling into her eyes. ‘It’s such a relief to find somebody who believes me. Who doesn’t think I’m mad.’
    ‘Why don’t you talk us through it?’ Marie coaxed, her voice gentle. She seemed more mature; kind and