In this world, you gotta just keep your head down and get on with life. Cos the Boss is the one who's allowed to smile and laugh and be what your could have been. If you do it instead, he'll find sooner or later, whatever you do to hide it, and you'll get Exterminated, just like the rest. So me, Winter Parish, likes to stay out of the fights and pubs and Macdonalds which hardly run anymore, and just sit in my street with my head in my lap, trying to shut myself out from the pain and loss and let-down of a stupid thing called life.

When Summer came, my first thoughts were: is this girl loony? She must have escaped from an asylum! Cos Summer walked down my street like she owned it; like the shards of glass and cigarette butts and broken bits of tire just didn't exist. Her glowing golden hair looked like ripe corn in a field, her shining green eyes like the leaves of a great, grand oak tree. Her face was as lightly brown as the midday sun, her body supple and emanating new life. The weirdest bit, though, was that she was walking straight towards me.