Without Looking Back (23 page)
Read Without Looking Back Online
Authors: Tabitha Suzuma
‘I’m really going to miss you!’ Max said, his voice cracking.
‘Me too.’
‘Will you be OK?’ Max asked.
‘Yeah, I’ll be fine.’
The stewardess began to close the door. ‘I’ll come and find you as soon as I’m sixteen!’ Max said desperately, squeezing to the side.
‘Yeah! See you, Max. See you, Millie.’
‘Bye, Louis.’ Max was forced back as the stewardess reached over and closed the door of the plane.
Louis stood in the airport lounge, in front of the glass wall, watching the plane taxi out onto the runway. He didn’t move a muscle for the full ten minutes it took for the plane to get into position. The sound of the engines filled the air. He watched as the small aircraft accelerated down the runway, faster and faster, so that it was almost flying on the ground. The front wheels lifted off, and then it was airborne. Suddenly, the sky was empty, the air still resonating with sound. Louis stood frozen for several minutes longer, staring at the white morning sky. Slowly he raised his hands to his face and began to wipe away the tears.
Back in the main terminal, he dug some change out of his pocket and crossed to the row of empty phone booths that lined the wall. He picked up the brown plastic receiver and fed his change into the slot. Then he dialled a number – a number that he had thought about dialling so many times before.
There was a long pause before he was connected. Then a faint sound – the long ring from somewhere deep within the receiver. Then a click.
‘
Allo?
’
A voice he knew. A voice weakened, more subdued than he remembered. But familiar all the same.
‘Hello, Mum. It’s Louis.’
A huge thank you to Thalia Suzuma for believing in this book so strongly, Tiggy Suzuma and Tansy Roekaerts for their feedback and encouragement, Akiko Hart for her friendship and support, Dilly Suzuma for the read-through, Linda Davis for being such a great agent, Clare Argar and Sophie Nelson for their invaluable input, Lauren Bennett, Nina Douglas and Ruth Maurice for helping the book reach the readers, Tracey Paris for her talent, patience and hard work, and of course my amazing editor and good friend Charlie Sheppard for always believing in me.
I would also like to thank the real Billy Elliots: Liam Mower, James Lomas, George Maguire, Leon Cooke, Colin Bates and Matthew Koon, who were the inspiration behind
my
dancing boy, Louis.
A Note of Madness
From Where I Stand
A Voice in the Distance
WITHOUT LOOKING BACK
AN RHCP DIGITAL EBOOK 978 1 407 04866 6
Published in Great Britain by RHCP,
an imprint of Random House Children’s Publishing
A Random House Group Company
This ebook edition published 2014
Copyright © Tabitha Suzuma, 2009
First Published in Great Britain
Corgi Childrens 9780552560009 2009
The right of Tabitha Suzuma to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with 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 unauthorized 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.
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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
