Authors: Rachel Ingalls
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He told himself that he never would have believed it could end like this. He wanted the choice, or if not that, at least the preparation. He'd certainly never dreamed of it this way, never. Yet it also seemed to him, now the time had come, that all his life he'd been there in that field, always, listening and watching.
At last, from only a few yards ahead of him, he heard a deep cough and knew it was the same one. He stood still. There was nothing to be afraid of any more. This was all there was ever going to be.
He waited. He saw Millie and his family, his past, the life he would never be able to get to because it lay outside the field. He looked down the rifle barrel and held his breath. The world in front of him was made of pale grasses, nothing else.
Rachel Ingalls grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She has had various jobs, from theatre dresser and librarian to publisher’s reader. She is a confirmed radio and film addict and has lived in London since 1965. She is the author of several novels and collections of short stories.
This ebook edition first published in 2013
by Faber and Faber Ltd
Bloomsbury House
74–77 Great Russell Street
London WC1B 3DA
All rights reserved
© Rachel Ingalls, 1983
The right of Rachel Ingalls to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly
ISBN 978–0–571–29985–0