Mrs Edwards had piles of very messy hair stuck up with lots of kirby grips, with bits escaping all over the place, but which looked quite fetching when you thought about it. Her skin was an olive colour and she had dark bags under her eyes, but her teeth were good and she had a big mouth with a warm smile. Her nails had chipped red polish on them, and even though Mum always said this was a sign of no self-respect, it sort of looked right on her. She had a jumper over a skirt that didn’t match but made her look a bit like a cheerful gypsy. I finished all my lasagna and she asked if I would like more, but I said no thank you I was full to the bosoms, which made her laugh. She made us both a strong, strong cup of black coffee that was too bitter for me, but I did feel a bit grown-up trying it. Teddy was clearly delighted I had enjoyed lunch. I asked if I could help to do the dishes but Mrs Edwards just shooed us out of the kitchen and told us to have some fun.

I asked Teddy how old his grandma was and he said forty-something, which was old, but not actually that much older than my mum, which I thought deserved some thinking about later. For the first time ever, I asked why he lived with his grandma, and he told me that his mum had him when she was very young and wasn’t married and didn’t cope very well. She went to Torrens House with him when he was born and left him there with the nurses. She ran away with his father to Sydney, and they didn’t know where she was now. I put my hand on his forearm and said I was very sorry because this sounded like one of the saddest things ever, but he did a Teddy shrug and said it was okay because his grandma was the best really and loved him, and as long as you have someone to love you the world wasn’t too bad.

He said that’s why he would wait for me to marry him, because that way when his grandma died, he would have the next person to love. That made me feel a bit like a convenience, but given it wasn’t going to happen anyway, I didn’t worry. He would probably find a girl fighter pilot in the air force and that would make him happy. I hoped so anyway. I decided he really was quite a nice boy and I would consider him a friend.

We played in his room for a while, and he let me paint a tiny red tip on one of his planes, which was pretty special. I’m not sure I did it as well as he would, so it was also kind. After a while, his grandma knocked on his door and asked if we would like a piece of warm cake and cream, and we both yelled out yes and ran into the kitchen after her.