Tony offered a withered smile, tiring of the conversation and wanting to be home.

‘I’d want Brian to read something challenging,’ the woman decided. ‘He’s very bright.’

Tony remained sceptical, as he watched Brian receive another kick in the balls from his younger brother.

‘I’m sure he’ll fit right in,’ he said.

Once the woman left, they started packing up the books and Tony took the chance to get away early. He went down through the school and out the side door, to avoid meeting any of the senior teachers at the entrance who might comment on his leaving so quickly. It was there that he met Alice again, standing at the bus shelter.

‘Hey you,’ he said. ‘How did you get on today?’

‘It was great,’ she beamed. ‘We got to cut up a rat in Science. I got to take out the guts.’ She laughed with joy at the memory.

‘Are you getting the bus home? I can run you if you like.’

‘No thanks, sir,’ she said. ‘Dad’s coming to get me.’

‘How’s the year gone? Are people still giving you a hard time?’

She nodded. ‘It’s all right. Dad said I have to ignore them. They’ll get tired of it eventually.’

Tony nodded. How many times had he given the same advice, knowing it was rarely true? Bullies were born of weakness, turned to cruelty, just as Seneca had claimed.

Once more, Shauna Laird came to his mind, herself a victim of cruelty. Did she realise, he wondered, in her final moments, that she had been the cause of her own fate, as she had joked in class? Whether she did or not, the thought angered him. She wasn’t entirely to blame; Kelly had been responsible, too.

‘Might be better to lift your foot and hit one of them a boot some day,’ he said. ‘That’ll put an end to it for sure!’

‘I might,’ she laughed, conspiratorially.

They heard a short blast of a car horn and she turned to see from where it had come. ‘There’s Dad. Bye, sir,’ she said, offering him a brief wave, despite being only a foot or two away from him, then turned and ran across to where a red Cortina had pulled into the bus bay at the end of the car park.

Tony recognised the car the instant he saw it, even before Alice’s father stepped out to meet her. His movements were small and precise, his attitude like that of a sparrow.

Alice hugged into him and he returned the gesture, one arm around her shoulder, the other cupping her head momentarily as he kissed the top of her head then directed her round to the passenger side of the car.