When Greg, a professional artist, visits American relatives, he triggers a crush in 12-year-old Ruth. An aspiring artist herself, she dreams he will be so impressed by her talent that he will fall in love with her, but happiness at being in his company is clouded by knowing he is about to return to England. She may never see him again. School friends both tease and encourage Ruth, but her family, except for a sympathetic aunt, are oblivious to the joy and anguish of young love. These few momentous days in Ruth's life rush to a denouement in the last hours of Greg's visit.

A touching account of one girl starting her journey into adolescence. The consequences on her later life of her crush will be recounted in two further novellas, 'These Years: 1986' and 'These Years: 1991'.