Author hide-outs

Valerie Bloom

Valerie Bloom's favourite place is a huge greenhouse at Kew Gardens. The greenhouse is full of the kind of tropical plants she knows from Jamaica, which is where she was born. A grey flagged path leads towards you through a jungle of green: tall, feathery bamboo, smoky grey-green eucalyptus, broad, lush ferns. Valerie stands on the right, looking up to the right with a smile, her arm raised towards something just out of the picture. She looks quite tall in her black trousers and thick pale blue Aran sweater. The collar of a bright pink shirt peeks over the neck of the sweater. Valerie's skin is brown, her eyes are dark and her wide smile shows a gap between her front teeth. Her hair is black and wavy, and is cut short just below her ears.

You will have to move on a little to find the first Hotspot. Valerie stands beside a thick bush with long, dark green pointed leaves. She reaches up to hold one of the leaves between her fingers as if testing its slippery-looking texture. Another plant with finer leaves brushes her cheek.

Look here for the first Hotspot. In the first Hotspot, Valerie is in a school hall, a wooden climbing frame on the wall behind her. She has taken off her sweater and is wearing the bright pink shirt, which has short sleeves. The school children sit in rows on the floor at her feet as she talks to them. The children are black, white and Asian and they are wearing their own clothes, not school uniform.

Move on through the greenhouse, where the undergrowth is thicker than ever. Above, light filters in through the glass panes of the roof.

Look here for the next Hotspot. In this Hotspot, the branches of a huge old cedar tree sweep the ground, rustling in the wind. Valerie wanders through the branches, stepping over them, brushing twigs aside with one hand. She wears a light golden-coloured coat buttoned tightly around her. It has a lamb's wool lining showing at neck and hem, and a hood down her back.

Move on through the greenhouse to find Valerie half-hidden in the thick foliage. She looks out at you with a big, cheerful grin from behind the thick leaves of the bush, with a single white blossom reaching up to her chin. On the right is a grey flagged path and above is the slanting roof of the greenhouse.

The next Hotspot is somewhere here. The sun is shining through the window of another greenhouse in this Hotspot. Valerie is standing next to a shelf covered in grey pebbles, with small, open windows behind it. On the shelf is a miniature pine tree, its tiny branches pointing upwards as if reaching towards the light.

Move on through the tropical greenhouse. A metal tap pokes through the leaves of a climbing plant. A thick clump of bamboo holds a dark place like a cave between its stems.

Can you find a Hotspot near here? In this Hotspot, Valerie is outside, perched high up in the great branches of the cedar tree, wearing her coat. As she talks to you, she climbs about in the tree. Then she settles again high up, her head leaning against the rough bark. She looks down at you, her smile so big it crinkles up her face making her eyes almost disappear.

Move on through the greenhouse to where the bushes thin out a little and small bright red blossoms tip the branches of a small plant. Behind them a creeper climbs up to the glass roof with a few slender bamboo stalks in front of them, close to you.

There is a Hotspot not far away. In this Hotspot Valerie is back in the school hall with the children.

Move on through the greenhouse and there is Valerie sitting on a big stone at the edge of a path with the jungle plants round her. The big leaves of a banana plant push through the undergrowth. Valerie holds a book and smiles at you. She is wearing her blue Aran sweater and black trousers. She sits with her feet together and her black shoes just edge on to the flagstones.

Look here for the last Hotspot. Valerie stands in front of the children at the school once again wearing her pink shirt. The faces of the children are lit up with smiles.

Move across the flagged path and there is Valerie, still smiling and reaching up for the shiny leaf where you first found her.