‘What’s up?’ I say, poking at it with my finger. I still can’t believe it’s in there. She’d said no for so long that I thought I’d have to do it myself, and there’s no way I could do that. Fair enough, she’d said, after all that drama at the hospital. You did good, she’d said. You always do good. Too bloody right, I’d said. It’s because of me that everything is back to normal.154

‘Someone’s been at the slides,’ she says, tossing her hair off her face as she clumps over to me. ‘Dunno how many times I have to show them how easy it is to nick stuff in here. There’s no point making me assistant manager if I can’t move things around.’

‘Do you mean the hair bands?’

‘Yeah,’ she says, flicking more switches so only the lights at the back are left on. ‘You can lift and stash in half a second. Handfuls-worth, easily. We need to put the bigger stuff up front.’

‘Like what?’ I finger the bunny earrings. I think these are the ones.

‘All the bags, for starters. Those fancy rucksacks. And the thermoses too…’

‘But then no one would come in, would they?’

‘Eh? Why?’ She stares at me as I poke my nose.

‘Well who wants to buy those? I bet no one wants to nick them either…’

She shakes her head at me as I continue. ‘You need stuff in the window people want, don’t you? Else why would anyone bother coming inside?’

She turns to the carousels of earrings and necklaces, looping a thick, heavy chain around one of her fingers.

‘Like those,’ I say. ‘See? They look ace, but try stuffing them in your pocket quickly.’

I jump as she swipes at the carousel, necklaces jangling as she spins it round and round.

‘You finished?’

I nod, pulling my hair round my face to hide my blush. We head out, clicking off the rest of the lights on our way through the storeroom at the back. A can of Coke hisses as she hands it to me, leaning on the small desk just inside the back door.

‘Nice,’ I say, sipping at the froth collecting in the lid. ‘Do they bring these in specially?’

‘For you,’ she says, eyes narrowing as she looks at me – unless it’s her makeup. She’s been wearing a lot more lately. Black and thick around her eyes. Sometimes I can barely see them at all.155

‘Aren’t you having one?’

She shakes her head. I sip at more fizz, bubbles popping against my teeth.

‘Your Ma holding it together alright these days?’ she says, boots clunking as she weaves her legs together.

‘Depends what you call alright,’ I say, tapping at the can. It makes different sounds however full it is. ‘She’s managing not to land us in it, if that’s what you mean.’