"Is there anything hot to eat or drink?" asked Nathan, tugging his hat down over his ears. Those that didn't hear his words could have read the smoke signals issuing in puffs from his frozen lips.

The club's firework display was just about over for another year. Nathan joined the other juniors mesmerised by the bonfire. They couldn't get close enough to enjoy its warmth, because the wind blew the smoke in one direction and then another, apparently following them as they circled to avoid it.

"Come on everybody!" said Brian. "Bill's made the chicken soup."

"Thank God for that!" said Mike Reynolds. "I thought it was for us."

Brian coughed the way he always coughed when somebody said something funny. It kind of substituted for a laugh. Everyone dragged their frozen feet in the direction of the clubhouse.

The fireworks had been a bit of a shambles really. Nobody had brought any matches, the catherine wheels had refused to spin and the rockets had gone missing. It had been due to start at seven, but half the juniors had been told to come at eight. Some of them had even been told the wrong date!

"How come these things didn't get sorted out at the committee meeting?" asked Mike. "Who turned up for it?"

"The usual six," said Brian, gloomily.

"How come nothing got sorted out?"

"I don't know," said Brian with a sigh. "We'll get something right one day!"

"When five of you don't turn up!" said Jez. "You ought to have me on the committee."

Brian coughed. "I'm sorry, Jeremy, but we need people who are a little bit more, well, responsible," he said.

"Responsible?" said Jez. "That's me! Every time things go wrong, they say I'm responsible!"

Brian coughed, and shouts could be heard coming from the clubhouse.

"Well, if you ask me, there's too many fingers in the soup!" said Jez.

"I think you mean too many cooks spoil the broth," corrected Mike.

"No, I think he means someone's got a finger in too many pies," argued Brian.

"I really do mean there's too many fingers in the soup," repeated Jez, pointing to the kitchen area. "Bill's dropped a contact lens in it!"

At that moment, Jez thought he heard a crackling sound. Was it his cell phone? He caught a glimpse of something moving through the mist beyond the cherry tree at the side of the clubhouse and went to investigate. As he approached, the form of a small bald-headed man materialised.

"How are you getting on, Jeremy?" asked the little man, in a high-pitched voice.

"Are you a - ghost?" asked Jez, trying to make out the detail of the man's face.

"Name's Philip Ossifer. I don't have time to tell you about me. I'm here to, y'know, bring you a message."

"What message?" asked Jez, as the figure dissolved into the mist again. "Don't go!"

". . . can't stay!" the man apologised. "Gotta hurry, y'know. I . . . tell you . . . your destiny . . ."

Jez could only hear snatches of what the man was saying. "Destiny? Me? What destiny?"

"You . . . claim your destiny . . ." With that, the voice petered out, leaving Jez in earnest conversation with the cherry tree, much to the consternation of Mike Reynolds, who had ventured out of the clubhouse to find him.

"Jez? What are you doing?"

"I - well, I - actually, Mike, I think I just had a kind of close encounter," said Jez.

"Rubbish. You've never had a close encounter since I've known you," said Mike. "The closest you've ever got is one and love!"

"Nice one, Mike!" said Jez, as other members emerged from the clubhouse to find out what was going on.

To Jez's relief, Mike went on to distract the bemused gathering. "I had a close encounter in the college library once," he announced. "I was studying for an English exam and my friend said 'Chuck me that copy of The Canterbury Tales!'. Well, I did - and - there it was . . ."

Jez saw the pun coming and chimed in with Mike, ". . . a flying Chaucer!"

Brian coughed. "For heaven's sake, let's have some soup," he said.

While the conversation turned to roman candles and rockets and the jumping jack that had chased Brian's grandmother down the garden path and into the coal bunker, Jez reflected on the strange encounter with Phil, and wondered about the mysterious destiny that awaited him.