‘Easy come, easy go,’ Freddie said, as we drove from the track to the Muthaiga. I sat in the back seat in between him and Sylvie. We’d got soaked in a downpour just before we left, and my skin felt damp and itchy. Outside the car, the sky was the colour of salt and the puddles on the road were deep and muddy.

‘It doesn’t come quite as easily for me,’ I said, looking at Martha, who was huddled in between Kiki and her husband, in the front seat, head resting on Kiki’s shoulder. She seemed much happier and more lucid than the last time I’d seen her, and I was glad the medicine had worked.

Freddie laughed. ‘You’ll learn.’

Sylvie leaned over from my other side to put a hand on Freddie’s leg. ‘Darling,’ she said, ‘there are some things you have to be born with.’

‘Is that so?’ Freddie said.

‘So,’ Sylvie said. She ran her hand up his leg, stopping at his crotch, and squeezed.

Freddie raised an eyebrow. I shifted backwards, looking away. The rain worsened, hammering against the car roof, and drowning out all other noise. I could smell damp clothes and body odour, and felt the two of them pressing in on me even more. When I looked down I saw Sylvie had slipped her hand inside Freddie’s trousers and was stroking him. I caught Freddie’s eye. He grinned at me and I felt myself growing, in spite of everything. Sylvie leaned closer, and her jacket fell open. Underneath her blouse, I could see the outline of her breasts, swinging away from her body.

‘Why don’t you touch her?’ a voice said quietly in my ear. I wondered if Martha had heard, but none of them were looking back. My stomach lurched with anticipation; I knew I was ready now, and I wanted Freddie and Sylvie to know it too.

I reached out and took a breast in my hand, squeezing it. Sylvie looked up and her expression changed. If was as if we were suddenly moving around in each other’s brain. I felt her talking to me – about her loneliness, guilt, fear, victory, boredom, lust. I felt savage with knowledge and desire. I wanted to throw her across the seat and tear her clothes off.

‘Freddie,’ Martha said. ‘We’re here. And the rain’s easing up. I think it’s a good omen.’

She turned her head in our direction as we broke away from each other. I adjusted my trousers.

Sylvie smiled brightly. ‘Martha, can I steal a cigarette, darling?’

‘Of course you can,’ Martha said, pulling out her case.