He laughs. ‘Fun fact: Santa’s reindeer should all be girls. Because the male’s antlers drop in the winter, after mating it would have been impossible for them to look like that at Christmas.’

‘Ha!’ I like that he’s quick to laugh. I wasn’t expecting such an apparently relaxed, chilled, happy guy.

‘Caribou and reindeer are actually the same species; the only thing that separates them is a fence.’

‘A fence?’

‘I mean, the difference is reindeer are domesticated, and caribou are wild. Caribou hooves are built for snow; they’re pliable and they spread out, allowing them to walk easily. Alaska’s also full of bears, brown and black, although they’re hibernating now. Moose, lynx, deer, Dall sheep, caribou, wolves … they’re all out and about. There are five hundred moose who live in Anchorage, actually. They like the city in winter because there’s less snow and—’

‘Why is there less snow?’ I look around. All I see is snow; it’s piled on cars, heaped onto sides of driveways, and sitting like hats on lampposts.

‘The snow gets ploughed, so it’s easier for them to walk around. Hope to show you a few. There are even polar bears in the far north, but that’s a million miles away.’

‘Really, can we? I’ve never seen any of those animals before. The last year has been full of firsts for me.’ Then I add, ‘Mostly terrible, though.’

‘Well, I want to hear all about it. I can’t wait for us to get to know each other.’ He smiles.

I smile back. This is going so well.

‘How about you, Melody?’ he asks.

She starts talking and doesn’t stop. Soon, the car’s overflowing with her words and there’s no room for me. Typical selfish Melody.

I know the story she’s telling, all about her mind-bending experience with a quartz crystal at a silent meditation retreat and her earth-shattering realisation that all life forms—animate and inanimate—are, in fact, one vibrational energy. She already told me the whole thing on the plane, so I know it’s going to be long. I suspect she’ll go into her theory on the chakras of the Earth next.

We merge onto the highway. My heart jumps and I brace myself before realising that we’re actually driving on the correct side of the road.

‘Nearly home,’ my father says.

Home. I repeat the word to myself, wondering, once again, what it means now Mum’s gone.

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The house is large and way fancier than any place I’ve lived.