She made a ‘wanker’ gesture at me. I crossed the road and I find myself calling, ‘Yeah? Well you too,’ as she drove away.

A couple of parents clucked sympathetically at me, but I was too distracted to respond. I hurried into Caversham Road and cursed when I saw that I had missed them. Two cars were currently having a standoff, not wanting to give way, and there was a lot of angry honking and beeping. I swear half these families lived within a five-minute walking radius. We used to give out badges to reward children for walking to school but then we discovered that a small number were being encouraged to lie about it by their parents on the basis that they were otherwise ‘missing out’.

I quickened my pace just in case they were on the next road up. The pavement was thick with parents, buggies, and children of various ages and so I said, ‘’Scuse me, ’scuse me,’ as I made my way through them.

It suddenly felt imperative that I found them, and I began to run as the pavement became emptier. I turned the corner into the road at the top and almost collided with a man who was leaning against the wall there and making a phone call.

Of course, it was him.

Tyler was standing next to him, kicking at a stone with a scrunched brow of concentration.

Lee Bennett’s eyes widened, and he moved away from the wall with a fluid push from his foot.

‘Call you back,’ he said, then, more aggressively, ‘You looking for someone?’

‘No, I, er …’ My brain went blank. I couldn’t think of a thing to say and my cheeks flushed with embarrassment. ‘I’m just …’ I waved my hand ineffectually as I fought for sensible words. ‘I needed to give a message to a … another parent.’

Bennett swept his arm around in an exaggerated gesture. ‘No one else here, mate,’ he said.

I decided I had nothing to lose. ‘No car today?’

He frowned and pulled his head back a little. ‘What’s it to you?’

‘Nothing,’ I said. ‘Nothing at all.’

Face still burning, I turned away and could hear him say to Tyler, ‘You stay away from him. I don’t like him.’

ELLIOTT

Anya was late home that evening and I used the time to finish writing up a report for Jackie on what had happened with Bennett. I left out our uncomfortable exchange earlier that day because I had no idea how to explain what I had been doing.

I kept thinking about Tyler’s sad crumpled socks and pasty ankles. It made me wonder how I would have presented to the world at that age.