‘But they don’t give a shit about me, about how I might be feeling. I mean, don’t they realize how freaked out I am that someone came into my house, while I was here, and took my sister? How do they think that makes me feel? I could’ve been killed, but does that occur to them? No! The thought of some stranger in my house, taking Frankie out of her bed and out the house – it makes me want to puke. I don’t want to stay here anymore. I’m gonna run away somewhere, I mean it. They wouldn’t even notice for ages, probably. All they care about is Frankie.’

‘Don’t do that, Al,’ said Georgia, tears now in her own eyes. ‘Please don’t do that.’

Alice felt comforted by the solid presence of her friends, one on each side of her, and at all the attention. She sniffed and swiped her hand under her nostrils.

‘Who’s this?’ asked Larry, keen to change the subject. A new track had come on the iPod.

‘Biggie Smalls,’ said Georgia.

Larry laughed.

‘What?’ Alice felt pissed off that he was laughing while she was in such distress.

‘It’s funny. Biggie Smalls, Lil Wayne. Got any Tiny Tempeh?’

‘No, but she’s got some Little Richard,’ Georgia said.

‘Medium Sean.’

‘You’re making that up! There’s no Medium Sean!’

Even Alice giggled, which quickly turned into that hysterical sort of gasping, heaving involuntary laughter that was hard to stop, long after the joke had ceased to be funny. The three of them clutched at one another and laughed until Georgia said, ‘Stop! A little bit of wee just came out!’ and they all laughed even harder.

There was a sharp rap at the bedroom door, and the locked door handle jigged. ‘Hold on,’ Alice called out, hastily concealing the ashtray containing the roach under the bed, and sprayed a generous whoosh of body spray around to disguise the smoky smell, filling the room with a cheap cloying scent. Larry made a mock-vomiting face. That’s rich, thought Alice, coming from him.

Alice opened the door a crack. Eileen stood there frowning at her. ‘What’s all that racket?’

‘Just having a laugh with my mates, Nan.’

‘And don’t call me Nan. You know I hate it!’ snapped Eileen. Alice looked pained and blushed. All her friends called their grandmothers ‘Nan’, but Sean, Helen and Eileen insisted on ‘Granny’. Why did they have to be such snobs? Fake snobs at that. When Granny wasn’t concentrating she sounded like she was off The Only Way is Essex. Alice turned and glanced over her shoulder to see Georgia and Larry making faces at each other.

‘What is it you wanted, Nan?’ she said, through the gap in the door.