17 MARCH 1990, Page 36

Across the Water

In the end he did not leave us but we rowed away downstream. My little daughter crouched in the stern and kept on asking. All day was dark but that was when the clouds began to separate, and the late sunlight singled him out. Over the immense purple tide we saw him leaning back and staring up, his neck shining. He could not hear us calling out across the water, and my daughter stood up. Each time we waved he waved.

Kevin Crossley-Holland