He wanted to be a pilot in the Air Force when he grew up, unless I agreed to marry him, in which case he planned to work for Ansett Airlines so he could be home with me and the children most of the time. When he told me this, I reminded him of my Knights of the Round Table choice, but he just shrugged again and looked at me sideways and said he would wait. Sometimes when Mum says no one will have me when I grow up, I think of telling her about Teddy, but I have a feeling it won’t help my cause.

Teddy suggested that, given Mum and Dad weren’t going to church, I could go back to his place. He said his grandma had made lasagna, which is an Italian dish I had once in a restaurant and really loved. Teddy’s grandma is half Italian and half Polish, so the food he described always sounded rather delicious, although having walked past the kitchen I am not sure my mum would approve of how dirty it was. Still, lasagna was a temptation, and I was sick of toast. I wasn’t entirely sure that the lasagna thing was true. I knew Teddy remembered everything I said to him and stored it away to work out how to please me, but it was a beautiful day and I didn’t think Mum and Dad would be home for ages. For a minute I worried about Ruthy being alone in the house, but I knew she could always go to see Mr Driver if she was worried, so I dropped out of the tree and challenged him to a race to his place.

I won the race, although I had a feeling he let me, but still, it was a win and I made quite a point about it. When we got to his broken front gate, I hesitated for a minute. Was it really a good idea to be here when Caleb was sick in hospital? But whatever I was doing wasn’t going to make a difference to Caleb’s lungs, so I turned to Teddy and indicated I’d follow him in.

As soon as I walked into the house, I could smell delicious cooking. Teddy took me in to see his grandma in the kitchen.

‘Hello, Mrs Edwards,’ I said.

She turned and smiled at me, put her big stirring spoon down and gave me a huge hug.

‘Are you going to have lunch with us today, Dorcas?’ she asked. ‘Well that is wonderful. Teddy get another dish down for me, and both of you take a seat. It’s a little bit early but who cares about the rules, eh?’

Mrs Edwards gave me a large white bowl full of the hot, cheesy, meaty dish, and it was heavenly. At first I didn’t think I could eat it all, particularly as I had already eaten so much toast, but I just couldn’t stop shovelling it in. As we ate, Mrs Edwards chatted away about lots of things, and I realised she wasn’t as old as I’d thought. I guess I think most people called Grandma are ancient. In our church once you’re a grandma you get fat, wear flowery dresses, let your hair go all grey and wiry, and wear black orthopaedic shoes.