Her eyes narrowed and she tilted her head to one side, trailing her eyes up and down my body and face, her lips twisted.

‘Are you correcting me?’

I shook my head. ‘No – I – sorry.’

‘Sorry what?’

The words tasted sour on my tongue, ‘Sorry, Mother.’

She stared at me for a long time. Her jaw clenched. A large blue vein throbbed in her forehead.

I looked at the frilly pink curtains to avoid her glare, frightened she was considering locking me in the under-stair cupboard with Deadly.

Finally, she said, ‘Good. Now, the kitchen’s a mess and Clarabelle and I need lunch. Go and make us some sandwiches. Don’t throw the crusts in the bin. Leave them out on a plate.’

‘Yes, Mother.’ I fought the urge to ask why she didn’t want me to throw away the crusts.

She gave me a curt nod and left the room humming brightly.

As soon as she was out of earshot, I moved the contents of the laundry basket into the back of my wardrobe behind my nightgowns then placed the laundry basket outside her bedroom where I had found it. I hurried downstairs and made her, Emma and myself a spam sandwich, which I gobbled down quickly before taking theirs in to them. They both sat at the dining room table. Emma looked up at me when I placed her sandwich in front of her. I was pleased to see that she didn’t look as sleepy as before. Mother ignored me.

Knowing I didn’t have much time, I hurried back into the kitchen and grabbed the tin opener and a fork out of the drawer. There was nothing I could do about water because there were no empty bottles and if I emptied one out, she would notice straight away, so I took a mug from the cupboard then ran out into the hallway, past the dining room and past the living room. If I found a stream, I could fill the mug and drink that way. Or Emma and I could just cup our hands together and collect water in our palms. That would be easier. That was what Huckleberry Finn did. I wondered if the water round here would be thick and ‘yaller’ like Mississippi water or clear like in Ohio. The thought of drinking yellow water was gross but water was water and if Emma and I were dying of thirst, we would need to drink whatever we found.

Realizing that I didn’t really need the mug, I turned around and ran back into the kitchen, put the mug back in its normal place then hurried along the hallway and up the stairs.

I deposited my treasures inside my wardrobe along with the tinned goods then hurried back down to hear Mother calling my name.

‘Mirabelle! Come and clear away our plates, please.’