‘I was out there, like, literally one minute ago, Leen. It’s not that bad.’ Now he was closer to the window he was able to get his shoulder right in under the sash, his hand flush on the lower glass. He took a deep breath, heaved. Nudged the window up a centimetre.

‘Fine. Go ahead and poison the air I have to sleep in. Why should you give a shit?’

Will paused in his shoving, rested his forehead against the cool, weirdly sticky glass, remembered the time when he was ten or so and Lena had thrown a massive tantrum about some trivial shit and was sobbing into her pillow while Mum comforted her. Will had turned to Dad, sitting next to him on the lounge watching cricket, and said, She’s such a whiny cunt. Like she’s permanently on her period.

Dad, his eyes still on the telly, said, You’re gonna need to repeat that, because I can’t possibly have heard what I think I heard, and Will could read the tone of his voice and knew he was in big trouble. He mumbled something about being sick of Lena carrying on all the time. Dad turned the TV off. Told Will to look at him, which Will tried to do but couldn’t.

Three things, Dad said. One. I don’t know who you heard that period thing from but you need to know that periods don’t start until girls are teenagers, or near enough. Your sister is six years old. Saying she’s on her period makes you sound really, really dumb.

Two. Only ignorant, backward idiots who hate women think talking about periods is funny or insulting.

By now Will had his defence, was busting to spit it out, but he knew it would work better if he waited until Dad was finished, so he held it in.

Three. If I ever, ever hear you use that word again—you know the one I’m talking about—I’ll knock your teeth out. If I hear you use it about your sister, I’ll cut out your tongue, too.

This last bit shook him. Dad never hit them, never even threatened it. The worst punishment they ever got was having to go to their room for an hour or miss out on dessert. But Dad was saying, Do you understand me, Will? Do you? And so Will took a deep breath and said, Yes, then, with the thrill of the righteous, added, How come you didn’t knock Muzza’s teeth out?

Dad blinked and Will went on. ’Cause he said it. That’s where I heard it from. The other week out the back when Linda yelled at him and stormed off home Muzza said, She’s such a—what I said. All of that. But you never told him off for it.