Only one of these things was true. But it never occurred to the man that he might be wrong, because when he was very young, he’d had a silver spoon glued to his mouth and a pair of rose-coloured spectacles welded into his face, and now he couldn’t see anything he didn’t want to see. (He was also a rotten kisser, but that’s a story for another time.)

And so the man began to give the sister compliments. He wrote them in violet ink on slips of creamy paper and tied them to the collars of small slim creatures with whiskery faces and slender bodies, and he posted them through the door of their tent at night. The notes were so lovely that the sister hardly noticed that, with every compliment he sent her, the small slim creatures would tear off a piece of her flesh and eat it, nibbling her into a different shape.

Chapter Ten: 1996

“Ava, can I come in? There’s some bloke here with a load of flowers.”

“What? Really? What kind of flowers?”

Finn stuck his head round the bedroom door of his tiny flat.

“Great big ones. Aren’t you supposed to be running round like a headless chicken and worrying about shoes?”

“I told Paul I didn’t want flowers.”

“Well, now’s your chance to lose your shit and tear them up and stamp on them. Or we could give them away in the street. Or leave them on a stranger’s grave.”

“Hang on.” Ava wrapped her dressing gown around her and padded down to the communal hallway.

“Hi.” The delivery boy was in his teens and, seemingly, deeply ashamed to be delivering a trailing cascade of ivy, white roses and calla lilies to a woman in a dressing gown. “Um, you just sign here, if that’s okay?”

“She won’t bite,” Finn said helpfully. “She sometimes does, but today’s her wedding day so she’s promised to lay off biting people until after the honeymoon.”

“It’s true,” said Ava. “No biting today.”

“I’ve got a pen.” The delivery boy’s neck was red. “Um, congratulations on your wedding.”

“Steady,” said Finn. “It hasn’t happened yet. She might still change her mind. Then I’d have to marry the groom instead, since there aren’t any bridesmaids.”

“Or the groom might run away,” the delivery boy suggested.

“There’s no chance of that. He told me once that I’m stuck with him as a brother-in-law because my sister’s got his heart locked away in a cabinet, and if he jilts her she’ll take it out and burn it, and then he’ll die.” The delivery boy laughed nervously. “I think that’s what he said, anyway. It was either that, or I’ve waited for your sister my whole life and I’m going to marry her if it’s the last thing I do. I was a bit drunk at the time.” Finn looked at the delivery boy severely. “Are these from her Portuguese lover? Because if they are, then we might as well call the whole thing off.”