‘So tell me about firs,’ said Carmen.
He smiled.
‘The Romans put them up. For Saturnalia. In mid-December.’
‘Before Christmas.’
‘Before Christmas, yes. A lot of things change over the years.’
‘Cor,’ said Carmen. ‘Bronagh is right about a lot of stuff.’
‘They predate dinosaurs.’
‘Really? Wow. How long do they live?’
He shrugged. ‘Five hundred years, average. Up to a thousand.’
Carmen looked at him.
‘And we chop them down and put them in pots.’
She shook her head.
‘AUNTIE CARMEN! Phoebe took my card!’ Jack was thundering.
‘I didn’t! It got stuck!’ Phoebe’s voice could be heard, but she couldn’t be seen. ‘AND NOW I AM LOST!’
Carmen settled Jack down.
‘Could you go find her? And then stamp her card too?’
‘But why? She always fusses.’
‘Because she is very small and you are extremely smart,’ said Carmen.
Jack pondered this for a second.
‘Really?’ he said finally. Then he glanced up at Oke.
‘Hi there,’ he said, with no curiosity whatsoever.
‘Hey, man,’ said Oke. ‘I have sisters too.’
They passed a look of mutual understanding, and finally Jack nodded and dashed back into the maze ahead of them.
‘Phoebs! Keep yelling and I’ll find you.’
In response, Phoebe made a high-pitched yowling noise not unlike a cat’s, or a fire alarm.
‘Nice boy,’ said Oke.
‘He is!’ said Carmen. ‘They’re great.’
She looked at him as they walked on, the maze seemingly endless, their paths possibly in circles.
‘How did you get so into trees?’
He shrugged. ‘I always … I just always found it so amazing. That you would plant seeds and they would grow – where I live there are a lot of trees. They talk to each other.’
‘What?’ said Carmen suspiciously as they dodged a large party of drunk teenagers who were hollering at each other. ‘What do they say? “Nice leaves”？’
‘Sometimes, yes. They warn each other about diseases.’
‘That can’t be true.’
‘Sure is. They share water. They can even divert water to one another if they have too much in supply.’
‘Do they really?’
‘Yes,’ said Oke. ‘Trees are astonishing communicators.’
‘When they rustle?’
‘It’s more like a kind of bubbly noise. If they’re thirsty. Like trying to get the last bits out of a straw.’
‘Why isn’t everyone absolutely freaking out about this?’ said Carmen.
‘Well, dendrologists are. For years, it was considered absolutely ridiculous to think it. Then studies came along and proved it.’
‘Bloody hell.’
She looked at the trees looming above them in the maze.
‘Oh goodness,’ she said. ‘Does that mean we shouldn’t be cutting them down to make Christmas trees? Do they scream?’