The knee was chubby; it was ineffectual. Shaun laughed again, full and throaty in my face. I would never forget his smell. He squeezed his hand around me, one more time, his fingers like pincers – I knew I would be bruised – then, with a smoker’s husk, and a quick final desultory ping of my knickers, he removed his grisly paw and unpinned me. I staggered away to the left, humiliated and silently weeping, leaving Shaun leaning insouciantly against the generator and my dad standing there, at the back of the Hearts and Diamonds, under a sign saying, ‘This ride may not be suitable for those with a medical condition.’ In a matter of moments, I would compose myself and come round the other way to get him, as though nothing had happened and the girl shouting ‘Stop!’ round the back wasn’t me. In a day or two, I’d pretend what happened that night hadn’t scarred me as much as my birthmark always had and always would. But then, to the mournful tap-tapping of my dad’s cane, mangled with Wham!’s ‘Freedom’ and the imagined laughter of my former best friend, I ran.

CHAPTER 35

‘It’s finished, Prue. Shall we go?’

I realize there has been some clapping, which is just dying down. I realize my eyes are still closed. I open them, jolt myself back to the present. The lights have come up. People have begun to gather their belongings. The man next to us re-wraps what’s left of his sandwiches in cratered tin foil. Places them in a canvas rucksack.

‘Yes, Dad.’

I don’t want to gather anything to me. I want to stand up and shake my body and mind until I am clear of my memories, like a dog whipping itself into a car-wash-brush of a tornado after an escapade in a muddy river. Dad’s cane has ended up under his chair so I retrieve it for him. I brush down my denim skirt although there is nothing to brush away. I put a hand to my face and wonder how badly my tears have eroded my make-up.

‘Were you bored senseless, love?’ Dad asks, as we stand.

‘No. No, not at all.’

We make our way out of the room, walk through the lobby and I guide Dad down the stone steps and back on to the street. It’s fiercely sunny already. It’s as hot as a furnace. I’m glad of the light.

‘So you enjoyed it?’ I ask Dad, as we head for the tube.

‘Yes, it was very interesting.’

‘Would you go to another?’

‘Yes, I think I might. If you’d come with me again.’

‘Of course I would.’