‘We thought so too,’ said Dad. ‘But your doctor rang up before you got back from school. Some blood samples they took were ruined at the lab, so they have to do it all again. Just a day stay, that’s all.’

Mum was eating her curry very slowly and deliberately. She also was staying out of this conversation, maybe because she knew she and Aiden were likely to get into a fight if she said too much.

‘Will this be the last time?’ said Aiden. ‘I can’t tell you how tired I’m getting of being in that place.’

‘Hopefully.’ Dad took another forkful of curry. ‘But it’s the doctors who decide, not us.’

12

12

It wasn’t a day stay, at all. Aiden was in for three days. When I asked Mum and Dad why, they said that there had been some complications in his treatment. Nothing to worry about, but the surgeons had gone back into his head to stop a little bit of bleeding that the tests had detected. All very routine, and he’d be coming home tomorrow. I was glad. I missed him. Z missed him as well and, although he slept on my bed for those three nights, I knew he really wanted to be with Aiden.

I was shocked when he finally got home. The head bandage was back on, though thankfully not the frame, and my brother appeared exhausted and not really interested in anything. Zorro went completely nuts when he came through the door, and jumped up, barking and whimpering. Aiden smiled and put a hand down to be licked, but even the dog couldn’t seem to lift his spirits. He went to bed and didn’t come out until morning. I wanted to go and talk to him, try to cheer him up, but I worried that I’d be stopping him from resting, so I didn’t.

He was slightly better the next day, but some of that fight seemed to have gone out of him. He answered Mum and Dad politely when they talked to him and he was very concerned about me, asking how school had been and whether I’d been okay without him there looking after me. That was puzzling in itself. This docile brother was much more like the old Aiden, but still …

‘Mum?’ I said. She was reading a book in the library, while Dad was tending to the vegetable plot. It was early evening, so the temperature had dropped considerably and it was pretty comfortable being outdoors.

‘Hmmm?’

‘Has Aiden got brain damage?’

Mum put the book down then.

‘What makes you say that, Ashleigh?’

‘Because he’s having all these mood swings. Before the accident, he was pretty calm, then after he was … I dunno, a bit crazy there. I was just wondering.’

Mum patted the chair next to her and I sat down. She chewed on her bottom lip for a few seconds and sighed.