But Jane doesn’t listen. Instead, she stands on her tiptoes and reaches up. Prin goes still. Watching her cousin, she can’t help but feel a sickly fascination. Breaking the rules. She glances out of the picture-frame of the doorway. Mum still has her back to them. Prin brushes the clumpy soil from her hands and gets to her feet to stand beside Jane. A little sharp tug, and the hammer slides off its peg.

‘Oh,’ says Jane. ‘It’s very heavy.’ Her arm dips with the weight. Prin feels her skin tingle with the thrill. She was bored, but she isn’t now.

The hammer looks huge in Jane’s small hand. ‘Well, what now?’ says Prin.

Jane gives the hammer a tentative swing. She wraps both hands round the handle and swings it again, wider this time.

‘The game is … when I hit you, you fall down. But then the game is, you get back up.’

Prin wrinkles her nose. ‘What? What kind of a game is that?’

‘It’s my game,’ says Jane. ‘I want to play it.’

‘It sounds stupid.’

‘But I want to play it.’

Prin looks at her cousin standing there, clutching the big hammer, her shoulders hunched up, her face tight. Prin glances out through the doorway again. Mum has moved round the garden now, out of sight.

Prin gives another, huffy sigh. She’s pretending to think it’s silly, but somehow she can’t help feeling that tingle. They aren’t supposed to be playing with dangerous tools, but why not? After all, it’s only pretending. And Prin is so bored. ‘So I fall down, then jump back up again? Like I’m dead and then I’m alive?’

‘Yep. Just like that.’ Jane swings the hammer again, a wider, higher arc this time, her small body twisting in the wake.

‘Okay …’

‘Stand there then.’ Jane points to a clear space where there’s room for Prin to fall on the floor without hitting anything. Prin’s dress is already dusted with soil so she doesn’t much mind getting dirty. In fact, the more she thinks about it, the more she likes the sound of this game. She can think of lots of dramatic ways to fall over. She can think of lots of impressive ways to come back to life. She can be like a Disney princess. Yes, it can all be very dramatic.

‘Ready?’ says Jane. She plants her feet apart and lifts the hammer up to her shoulder.

Prin gives her skirt a flip. ‘Ready!’ She’s already worked out her first effort at collapsing. She’s picturing just what she’ll do with her arms. hold of the phone in surprise.

‘Three …’ says Jane.

Prin closes her eyes so she can imagine it clearly. She’s going to do a really big swoon. She can hear Jane shuffle her feet on the floor.

‘Two …’