The market was full of noise in a tunnel under the awnings, and I liked the way they were filling out and blowing in the wind. The light made it look like a long room everyone was in, with crowds going in between the shops and the stalls. The traders were calling out loud and fast in that way of talking that moved their jaws a lot and sounded like yawning. ‘Keep up,’ my mum said, and she let go my hand. I felt alive and started to enjoy it, watching all the people talking and shopping. I ran ahead to keep up and then wanted to know why we were rushing, so I stopped, ‘Is the market closing because it’s late?’ She stepped by me and said, ‘It’s closing because it’s closing.’ She had a tight way of walking which wasn’t like her, so I shut up and kept close. ‘Wait here,’ she said, going into a butcher’s she liked. She gave me a penny because there was the boy outside the shop who was blind and I could put the penny in his box. We used to be the same height but now I was taller than him and his paint was flaking – he had a white shirt, blue shorts, black shoes, yellow hair and orangey-pink skin. ‘You’ll always be the same and never grow up,’ I said. His eyes were shut and he didn’t know what to do with my pity. I shook my head, ‘There’s something wrong with you,’ and dropped the penny in the slot. As soon as I did, I wanted it back to put in a slot machine for bubblegum, but he wasn’t going to give it. I looked around to see if anyone was watching and gave his shoulders a shake. An old lady went past and said, ‘Stop that!’ I knew I was in the wrong, so I didn’t look up and said, ‘He’s my friend.’ As soon as I said it I could feel she thought there was something wrong with me. She walked off, and I didn’t know why I was acting like that, except I always did. I looked at the boy again, he was blind and I was stupid. He wasn’t real and I couldn’t go on pretending I was like him.