Everything stayed the same for a long time. Could have been a lock of weeks or months, or maybe years, I don’t know. I mind I got some new clothes. One of the Daddies would go away for a day or two and come back with new clothes for us all. Well, I say new, but I suppose some of them was worn before. But I was always glad of them, whether they fit me or not. Dresses and knickers and socks and shoes. We all had a paper bag each full of things, and we tried them on downstairs.

I mind Daddy Tam standing on the stairs, watching us while we changed, with his hands in his pockets. He did that sometimes. Just stand and watch you with his hands in his pockets, moving about inside them. Sometimes he’d start breathing hard. I didn’t know then what he was at, but I know now. Dirty auld hoor. Anyway, Mummy Joy moved me so I was behind her, so he couldn’t see me when I got changed into the new clothes.

When we’d tried everything on, and we knew what fit and what didn’t, Daddy Tam spake up. He pointed over at the wall where the extra bed was leaned up agin it. Get that made up, says he. We’ll maybe have someone joining yous in a day or two.

Mummy Joy and Mummy Noreen looked at each other. Daddy Tam turned and went back up the stairs, said he’d be back in a while to lock up for the night, and we’d better have that bed sorted.

Mummy Joy pulled the bed away from the wall. It was one of those wee ones with the metal frame, like a soldier would sleep on, with a wee thin mattress. Like we all had. I unfolded the sheets and blankets and the Mummies spread them out on the bed, tucked the ends in. It was like a, what you call it, a ritual, yes, like a ritual. I’d never been in a church, but I thought that was what it must be like. People doing these rituals together, all quiet.

When they were done, the Mummies sat down on their own beds, and they whispered. Not so quiet I couldn’t hear them, but quiet enough they wouldn’t be heard upstairs.

Who do you think it’ll be?

What age will she be?

God, I hope she’s not too young.

I was fourteen when I came here. What age were you?

Fifteen.

How long have we been here?

Fifteen winters.

Thirteen winters.