I shifted and put my arms round his neck and stared at the man. He had a big face and a broad smile, he turned his head to look across the room at me. I hadn’t seen anyone that colour before. His skin was smooth like a blackboard, the whites of his eyes shone out as though he was open and curious about everyone. A tooth rested against his lip like a piece of chalk and made him look like he was amused at me staring.

‘What do you think?’ said Mr Adebisi.

I kept looking as the man turned away and looked back again. He was listening and watching with a calmness that made everyone feel comfortable, so he could be the centre of everything going on, without saying anything. It was like when my dad was with people who liked and wanted to be with him, but really he was alone with himself and detached so he could listen to everyone and everything at the same time.

I blinked and still he was looking at me, people were talking and laughing all around but we were meeting in silence. I questioned him with my eyes and he let me, tilting his head slightly to be the face of all the people I’d been meeting since I was born. I liked him, and I let Mr Adebisi see it. I looked again to make sure – there was a slight scar on his forehead, his eyes were waiting for me to speak.

‘Are you the king?’ I said.

Everyone stopped talking and turned to look. They looked at me and they looked at him. He put his head on one side, like he hadn’t heard me, so I said it again, ‘Are you the king?’

He nodded, and everyone burst out laughing, slapping my dad on the back and cheering. My dad was grinning, so he couldn’t tell me off after that, and he gave a thumbs-up to Mr Adebisi who joggled me in his arms.

Connor came in first with a face like thunder, Manus was dragged in by my mum, he’d been crying. It wasn’t I hadn’t noticed they were gone, but I’d got caught up and forgotten about them. I felt something bad had happened while I’d been enjoying myself, so I kept quiet.