Page 1 of Sun, Sea and Spotted Squid

ONE

France lay below like the skin of a huge beast with interlocking veins. If Sam Davis squinted, they became roads with little cars and lorries zooming along. From the first time he’d been on an aeroplane as a kid, Sam had loved to stare out of the window. All those lives being played out beneath set his imagination rolling.

“And what is it you’re doing in Spain?” Mrs Talkative, his seat neighbour, asked. Sadly, she didn’t take the hint at his turned shoulder.

“I’m going to be working at theOceanogràfic,” Sam replied. He relaxed in his seat, cursing himself that he’d left his earbuds in the bottom of his bag. It would be mean to dig them out and pointedly stick them in his ears as she spoke. Wouldn’t it?

“Oh yes, I know what that is,” she said, holding up a guidebook as evidence. “That’s the aquarium near the beach.”

He nodded and gave her a weak smile.

“I’m surprised your mother is letting you come out here for the summer,” she continued.

Sam had recently celebrated his twenty-fifth birthday, so his mother didn’t really have much of a choice. In typical fashion, she’d cried buckets at airport Departures.

“She wants me to be happy,” he told Mrs Talkative.

“What a wonderful mother.” She popped her mini bottle of prosecco with a shriek of glee and poured herself a glass. “Bottoms up. Here’s to happy holidays.”

Sam took a healthy swig of his beer and watched as Mrs Talkative sipped her fizz as though she’d never done anything so wild in her life.

Two hours later, Sam found himself in a taxi. He’d managed to lose Mrs Talkative at the baggage carousel. It was the only thing to do. She’d been ruminating on whether she should come and check out his room. It wouldn’t surprise him to discover her to be a sleeper agent dispatched by his mother to keep an eye on him.

The view from the taxi seemed like any other European city. Huge furniture shops gave way to bigger supermarkets, which in turn submitted to bigger warehouses. Even so, Sam had his nose glued to the window, taking in the city that would be his home for the next eight weeks.

As they came closer to the centre, the modern buildings slowly changed to older, dustier ones. People on the street replaced the hard shoulder. Young people crowded round a motorcycle. Three women gossiped on the corner. A group of men were making their way into a bar. And Sam couldn’t wait to dive into it all.

He’d been to Spain a few times before, but his family preferred all-inclusive hotels to a city break. When the opportunity to study abroad had presented itself, Sam seized upon a new experience….and it appeared that he’d got one.

“There is a kite festival soon as well,” the taxi driver said. He’d taken it upon himself to give a running commentary.

He would be here for the whole summer. He could go to that festival and he wasn’t even bothered about kites.

The car turned onto a busy road and to the left were treetops on a level with the car.

“What’s that?” Sam asked.

“Ah,” the driver replied, puffing up his chest. “That is the Turia Riverbed Park. The jewel in our crown. Down below the road, where the river once flowed, lies a beautiful park.”

Sam frowned. “What happened to the river?”

“Years ago, they were sick of the flooding, so they simply rerouted it and made the park from the land. My grandfather worked on it, you know.”

Sam hadn’t been too great at researching into the place he would be calling home. After studying for his Master’s, he’d struggled to find the motivation to pick up yet another book. He had, however, read online that the park led to theCiutat de les Arts i les Ciències.

“Is the aquarium down there?” Sam asked.

“Ah yes, so many buildings toward the sea.”

Sam craned his neck to see if he might be able to spot the huge structures he had actually studied online. But nothing.

“You won’t see it like that. You want me to detour?” the driver-cum-tour-guide offered.

A tempting offer, which Sam declined. He wanted to find his digs and fellow workmates first.

Sam had never been the type with wanderlust. He’d been happy to wave school friends off as they went to find themselves in far-flung places. Instead, Sam settled on finishing his studies. Of course, there had been plenty of fun on the way.

Today made up for all that lost excitement, especially now they were on the cobbled streets of the old town. Sam peered out of the windows, trying to get his bearings. People were on bothsides of the narrow street, jumping onto the pavement as they drove past.