‘You look sort of white, Angie, like you’ve got the flu or something,’ Seymour said. ‘Maybe it’s not a bad idea if you got your act together and went out to that hospital and saw a doctor.’

‘Doctors,’ she scoffed. ‘The ones at that hospital aren’t any good. They’re jerks out there. I reckon they’ve all been deregistered for funny business, and they’ve snuck in again through the back door. It’s the pits, that clinic, stuck all the way out on North Road. They expect people to hold down jobs and still get out there every day somehow, and they don’t dare be ten minutes late. Doctors only tell you things you don’t want to know about. I’ll be okay, you don’t have to worry about me. I might get up later and do a few things, but right now I’ll just lie here and rest. I feel really tired…Oh God, I feel so damned tired…’

‘Do you want me to go, then?’ Seymour asked, thinking of Thelma’s house and the hours of arid boredom that waited for him across the alley.

‘No, you don’t have to scarper. Stay and talk to me, keep me company. Keep me comforty, that’s what my little sister used to say when she was learning to talk. Cute, eh? When she was sick in bed she’d say, “Don’t go to school, Angie, stay home and keep me comforty.” Lynne’s pretty, isn’t she? Talented, too. She’ll get a place in any ballet company she applies to when she’s older, no doubts about that. She’s got one of those ballet faces, you know the sort of faces those girls always have, neat and pure like flowers. Didn’t you reckon she was pretty?’

‘But Angie, I never met…’

‘It’s beaut having a little sister, though I guess fourteen isn’t little any more. And my brother David, he’s a real whizz with maths and computers and stuff like that. You should have seen the things he used to make when he was only in primary school. Good at sport, too. Takes after my dad, he’s pretty smart as well. High achievers, that’s what my family’s all about—did you just happen to notice all those trophies and certificates and stuff on the mantel, cups for this and that?’

‘Yes, I saw them.’