Jasmine smiled to herself at the thought of all the fun she and Felicity could have over the break. She couldn’t help but feel guilty for being glad to be home this year. She had met so many people with much less than her who were more than content with their lives, happy even. Jasmine thought of the tobacco ladies in the tiny village in Peru. They would get paid to sit all day in the blistering heat, threading tobacco leaves onto a long string which would then be hung to dry in large rickety wooden sheds. Her family had visited the village when she was nine years old and she had made friends with the girls from the local area. They often went to sit with the tobacco ladies and help thread the leaves onto the string. A full day’s work there was brutal, the big flat needle often cutting or stabbing your fingers. The seasoned workers had yellow calloused hands and the smell of fresh tobacco permeated every item of clothing Jasmine wore on those days. There were very young girls working there too, younger than her, day in day out, in August heat. Jasmine wondered if some of those little girls she saw threading tobacco with their grandmothers were still working there today.

‘Did you see what Tim’s done in the lounge?’ Lisa said to Frank.

‘No, is it good?’

‘It’s not finished yet, but it’s going to be. He’s built low level cupboards in the alcove.’

‘I always wanted to be a carpenter. Maybe I should get Tim to teach me,’ Frank said.

‘We should see if we can interest him in coming away with us next year. A man with his skills could cut the building time of our projects in half.’

‘We hardly know him,’ Jasmine said, concerned with how quickly her parents were incorporating Tim into every aspect of their lives. Her parents’ mention of ‘next year’ made it sound like they were planning on making him a permanent fixture. Even though they had travelled all over the world they could be quite naive sometimes about people and their intentions. Jasmine had seen them get hurt before when they trusted the wrong people. She hoped they weren’t wrong about Tim. For all of their sakes.

‘Well, we don’t want to put that kind of pressure on him anyway. Especially when he is doing us such a huge favour.’

‘How is he doing us a favour?’ Jasmine asked, trying to keep the snark out of her voice.

‘He’s going to fit our new kitchen for us – it’s costing us about a quarter of what it would if we used a professional kitchen fitter. The things we want done in the house would take years and years to save for, so Tim really is a godsend.’

‘But you’re letting him live here,’ Jasmine pointed out.

‘And he’s paying us.’