Minnie’s cab pulled up to the blue house and she slithered out of the side door. Slithered because she was still wearing a constricting mermaid tail skirt that limited her leg movement to five inches in any direction. She rolled onto her front and flapped her legs backwards out of the taxi door, so she could push herself to standing, like a totem pole being winched upwards. Dashing through the park, she’d unzipped the side of the tail but the zip only stayed in two positions, all the way up or all the way down, so she’d been flashing bright pink pants to everyone in the park as she ran. In her haste to leave, she hadn’t picked up the bag with her change of clothes in, only her handbag and purse. She shuffled to the front window to pay the cab driver.

The driver was an elderly Liverpudlian with long greying sideburns and a beige flat cap.

‘Thought you’d be wanting Finsbury Park,’ he said, flashing her a mouth full of cigarette-stained teeth. Minnie shook her head, confused. ‘Fish,’ he said, nodding to her tail, ‘like Fins-bury Park.’ He gave her a slow wink, cocking his head at her.

‘Oh I see, ha-ha, very funny,’ she said.

Minnie hopped up the front steps and rang the doorbell. Her mother answered the door. She did a double take and then looked Minnie up and down. Her lips started to move, as though trying to find words that refused to form. Finally she said, ‘What you come as?’

‘Long story. Is Tara OK? What are you even doing here?’

Her mother beckoned her in with a brisk flap of the hand, her eyes darting from left to right as though she were worried about the neighbours seeing a mermaid on the porch.

‘We were just talking,’ said her mother in a whisper, leading Minnie through to the sitting room. ‘I don’t know what set her off but she had some kind of panic attack, clutching her chest. She was trembling all over, gasping like she couldn’t breathe.’

In the sitting room, Tara was lying on the sofa propped up against some cushions. She looked paper white. Her hands were pressed over her eyes and she was gently rocking her head back and forth.

‘I would have called an ambulance but she begged me not to. She shouted for her pills. I turned her bathroom upside down to find the ones she wanted. I figure they’ve kicked in because she’s been like this for the last ten minutes.’

Minnie pulled off the wig she was wearing so she wouldn’t scare Tara. She crouched down next to the sofa and placed a hand on her arm.

‘Tara, it’s Minnie. I don’t know if you remember me.’ Tara glanced at her sideways from beneath her hands. ‘What do you need, what can I do?’

‘Quinn,’ murmured Tara.