It’s a solid thud and there’s a crack as Jake’s jaw slides to the side. He’d like to say it doesn’t make him feel really good to see pain on his mate’s face but it does.

– I’ll take that yin. I deserve it, Jake says.

Snoopy falls over, lit by a toadstool night light. A Girl’s World mannequin head looks at them, with her pink hair and blue eyeshadow.

– Mind when I used to go around to Joanne’s when she was a wee lassie, Jake. All the council houses were the same but hers had twice as many kids in it. I could see her shadow stand up taller and darker every night when she had to go in. There’s just all those scars inside her which nobody else can see. Instead of healing, she just keeps inflicting pain again and again – on herself – on someone, anyone, else – whoever will take it. I feel like the BFG… want to get a net and catch her cruel acts and show her them – fizzing with fire! She just dismisses it as soon as she’s done something bad.

– It’s funny how many total cunts have the ability to do that.

Ivor pulls his cap down over his sunglasses.

– I need tae tell ye something, Jake… or maybe I’ll just show ye.

His heart races even thinking about it.

Heads over to the window. What if he faints?

Rhona made these curtains.

He has to face this. He has to be able to go to a playground and pick his niece up so she’s not the only kid left waiting for a mum who is always late. He needs to be able to earn money. This is ridiculous!

He pulls back the curtains.

The brass hoops sound like knives scraping a blackboard.

Heart pounding fucking hard, skin hot, can’t breathe, dizzy, ground feels like it is moving.

Reaches out.

His hand looks like it belongs to someone else.

Watch it like an alien limb just moving toward that shutter clip.

– I am phengophobic, Jake!

Pulls the shutter open. For a minute Ivor feels like he’s inside an old Polaroid camera with the flash – bleaching him down through his pores. It feels like the light flows into him – like a burn – rushing through his veins, up into his arteries – scorching his bones.

He is on his knees, crying.

Ivor puts his hand up to try and close the shutter.