Moni held his hand. The little boy was balancing on the wooden climbing frame. ‘Look at you! You are my height now,’ she said. They were in the adventure playground and the rubber matting, covered in loose play bark, was soft underneath her feet. There was no fence encircling the playground and behind it was a pitch where a group of teenage boys were playing football. The empty, open-air tennis court could be seen further back, closer to the loch. The boy smiled but never spoke. He was not deaf. She was sure of that. His expressive eyes responded to her words, his mouth rounding in surprise, his forehead creasing into frowns. Then there were all the delightful faces he made to accompany her monologues. She figured it must be only a matter of time before he spoke. More than anything else, she wanted to know his name. She wanted to talk about him to the others. She wanted to assign to him an identity that was special. Frustrating too was the fact that she never came into contact with his parents. They certainly allowed him plenty of freedom and were unconcerned about his safety. If Adam had been like this boy, able to walk and run and climb, she would have been possessive of him. She would have made sure that she knew his whereabouts all the time. She would not have been careless. Never mind. Here was this little boy; it was such pleasure to be in his company. For him, she willingly left the cottage. She followed him wherever he wanted to go.

When he let go of her hand and strode with new confidence across the wooden walkway, she sat on one of the big tyre swings and watched him make his way down the slide. The anxiety that she might be too heavy for the seat made her stand up again. She strolled around, enjoying the proximity of the other parents, flattered by the gift they were giving her – the unspoken assumption that she was the boy’s mother. She wished that she knew his name so that she could say it out loud for all to hear. He was a good boy, respectful of the other children, giving them their space. The playground was all made of wood and the steps of the ladder, leading up to the walkway, looked like logs.