“She did it okay,” I said, raising my eyes to where Merjeme was now hanging over the balcony and waving to us.

So I followed her—but walking—and I heard Jed and Sam coming up after me.

When we got to the top, Merjeme took my hand again and pulled me along toward a wooden door that was ajar. She knocked, and then pushed it open.

Nobody else was inside; no Arta, their mother, or aunt either. Just two bunk beds that looked as small and comfortable as the ones at the PNP nurse’s office—single beds in metal frames with mismatched duvet covers and pillows pushed to either side of the small room.

Merjeme let go of my hand and scurried up the little ladder to throw herself onto the top bunk of the bed that she must have shared with her sister.

Jed and Sam came in behind me, and we three stepped into the room and did a slow spin, until we faced the wall that Merjeme and Arta’s bed was against. We could tell it was their bed because they’d tacked the wall with pictures torn from magazines: faces of pop bands and celebrities from the pages of TV Hits, Smash Hits, and Dolly magazine. There was a lot of Spice Girls and Joshua Jackson especially, plus a bunch of the Home and Away and Heartbreak High cast.

Merjeme flopped down on her bed while we looked at every inch of the room—from their few clothes folded neatly inside two worn suitcases that were open on the ground to the wall heater that was on but not really working considering how cold the room still was.

“Who is this boy?”

I spun around to look up at Merjeme, who was now lying on her side, her brown eyes peeking through the slats of her bunk—looking at Jed.

“Oh yeah, sorry,” I said, “um—Merjeme, this is Jed; Jed, this is Merjeme.”

“Mer-jeme,” Jed said slowly.

“Je-ed,” Merjeme copied in a deep voice, and then she giggled.

Sam went over to the ladder and climbed only to the third rung, so he was about level with Merjeme’s head at the other end. He hung on to the bars up top as he spoke to her. “Jed’s dad brought computers for you.” He thought for a second. “Well—not just for you—but all of you, to use.”

Merjeme sat up. It was lucky she was so short. If it had been me on the top bunk, I would have easily hit my head on the low ceiling.

She frowned. “Computers?”