‘All right, Charlie?’ He sounds casual, like we’re just meeting up for a game of snooker and a couple of beers on a Friday night because we’re mates. I see the whites of his eyes but not much else. He has a harness on and there are coils of rope and clippy things hanging from his belt. ‘Pretty impressive that you got all the way up here. We’re going to climb down now, OK?’

My teeth are chattering. I shake my head.

‘C-c-c-an’t do that, Donato.’

‘Yeah, sure you can. I’m going to come out to you with a harness. You don’t have to do anything. Just stay where you are, hold tight, and I’ll get you clipped on.’

‘Tell Roman I’m sorry.’

‘Tell him yourself. He’s waiting for you down there. Here I come. You may feel a little wobble.’

The whole crane arm lurches when he climbs on.

‘Ooh, that’s a bit sketchy,’ Donato says, chuckling.

I’m going to die now. Love you, Mum. Sorry.

‘Stay with me, Horse!’ Shandy yells.

I guess it takes about thirty seconds for Donato to make his way out to me and put a harness around me. Feels like a year and a half. He tries cracking jokes and saying silly things to distract me, but I don’t speak. My teeth sound like those wind-up mechanical choppers for practical jokes.

When we finally reach the bottom and make our way back through the ‘maze’ of concrete barriers and temporary walls and finally over the fence surrounding the building site, I have lost both shoes and my tights are laddered beyond recognition. My legs are so wobbly that I fall into Shandy’s arms and cling to her like a baby monkey. She has to lead me over to a concrete barrier and sit me down while we wait for Donato to make some calls and put his equipment back in his car. I don’t let go of her even then.

Shandy and Roman look at each other. Shandy reaches up to my face, takes out my earring, and passes it to him. ‘We’re taking you home,’ Shandy says, untangling herself from me as Roman puts his arm around me. I stick to him like Velcro. I still feel like I’m going to fall fifty metres.

‘Come on,’ he says in my ear. ‘This is a building site. Donato’s going to talk to the construction company since they’ll have us on video, but the real police will be here soon if we don’t clear out.’

That gets me moving. I haven’t even thanked Donato properly. I lunge in his direction calling out Donato’s name, but Roman steers me towards the Green Bus stop.

‘You’ll only embarrass him,’ he says. ‘You can thank him next time you see him.