Mum was glowing, it was true. She’d been raving for weeks about the weekend lunch trips on the yacht owned by the husband of one of her colleagues at the pre-school. The days out on the harbour had worked on her skin ever since.

‘Sail boats and stuff?’ Tony asked.

‘Yep,’ Mum said, squeezing out the washer over the bathroom sink.

‘I’d love to do all that, you know, get out on the water. I reckon me and Leanne can have a go next week, up at the coast.’

‘Take her on a lunch cruise. You can have a bottle of wine and just relax.’

‘I reckon we will.’

‘Go and enjoy it. You boys never take enough time to get off the land,’ Mum said, guiding James out of the room just as his aunt came along the hall with a tray, trailed by Yvonne. They all arrived in the enclosed verandah at the same time to see the family tree stretched out in the afternoon light.

‘You’ve done a lovely job Jamie!’ his mother said. ‘Oh look, there’s Grandpa. Wasn’t he a handsome fellow in his day? All the Brandt boys are tall and good-looking, eh Doris?’

His aunt pretended not to hear, put the tray down and shouted from the hallway: ‘Have your scones. I haven’t finished getting your room ready yet.’

‘Leave it, come and have a drink with me,’ Mum called.

‘No, don’t fuss, I can do it,’ Aunty Doris said, as Mum and James mouthed the words in unison. They laughed, except for Yvonne, who’d seen and registered her disapproval by following her mother.

‘Where are we, on the tree?’ Mum said, hugging James from behind.

He led her hand along the extended branches until she ran a finger over their names, rising up to trace that of the dead child, and whispered: ‘Mummies never forget’.

‘Mum?’ James said, extending the word because he was asking something important. ‘Can I stay here tonight, please?’

His mother inhaled, distracted by the attentions of the lost child.

‘Of course you can,’ she said.

James felt it best to shower, then change into his pyjamas in the bathroom. His cousin had the bedside light trained on his magazine, leaving the rest of the room in semi-darkness, so James tried to find something of interest in the books Mum had brought.

Even though he was tired after his interrupted sleep the night before, the proximity to his semi-naked cousin kept James alert. He lay quietly, listening to Tony scratching himself and turning the pages with an impatient flick. Eventually, the sound of Mum’s voice chatting with Aunty Doris in the living room soothed James to sleep.

He woke suddenly when Tony went to the bathroom and pissed, long and loud. The door shut and the shower wrenched into life. James relaxed again.