A look flashes in her eyes, and it might be pity. “You are most woefully ignorant, you know, Leho.” It’s the first time she’s used my name, and I get a funny feeling behind my ribs. She passes the box over to me, as if it’s nothing special. “You can have the rest,” she says graciously. “Min-Min can’t eat that many, and I was going to throw them away.” She gets to her feet, dusting off her dress. “You should stay here while I leave the park, so people don’t see us together.”

I watch as she walks away, dog tucked under her arm, enjoying the sight of her ungainly strides as she goes along the gravel path, oblivious to everything around her. I watch until she’s out of sight. Then I stuff the rest of the giblets in my mouth.

* * *

With the wonderful taste of the giblets still on my tongue and a full feeling in my belly, I decide to visit Via Parada, the Director’s haunt. And who will notice me there? Slight and dark as a cricket, I make my way along the wide avenue, sticking to the shadows created by the trees, sticking close to the walls of buildings, until I find a useful spot. A narrow alleyway, no wider than a wheelbarrow. From this vantage point, I can watch the important, busy people in their daytime finery. It seems natural that not one of them should notice a skinny boy leaning against the wall of an alleyway.

Automobiles, too, chug past, heading to and from the House of Law. An airship momentarily blocks out the light as it passes silently overhead, heading for the docking bay. It is rumoured that the Director never travels by airship. Something to do with a fear of heights.

Following the ship’s stately progress, I think how much I’d like to go up in one. What I wouldn’t give to see the city from above, like a bird. Yes, one day … for you never know what might happen in the future. And I’m young, there’s plenty of time to wait. Maybe, when I’m an old bloke, older than Papa, the Director will be dead and the city will be free and even Cerels will be allowed to travel in airships. It’s a happy thought and I’m grinning as the airship goes out of view. After all, anything is possible.

My daydream is interrupted by a sound coming from the alleyway behind me. A man in a greasy apron is putting two metal rubbish bins outside a door. He disappears, leaving the door open.