‘What?’ Connor wasn’t nice about it because she was just trying to put him off blaming someone else for having to spend all day in the car with our dad instead of being free to go off. It served him right for kicking bricks. He was the one who put us all in it. He was just trying to be a bully now Manus was gone.

‘That, there,’ she said.

There was scrabbling on the lino so it was mice. The light was off but there was still light coming in through the curtains.

‘Lots of them.’ She sounded like she wasn’t making it up. ‘They’re coming on to the bed!’

I looked down at the floor. There wasn’t a carpet but it looked like there was, a dark one coming from one corner of the room and spreading. I looked down at Busola, she was kicking her legs in the bottom bunk and the whole bed was shaking.

‘Jesus! Jesus! Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!’ Connor was trying to tuck the blankets into his mattress to stop them climbing up. He shook the covers and some went flying into the air.

‘Get them off! Get them off!’ Swarms of them were spreading across the floor and climbing up to Busola like a dusty grey blanket pulling itself over her head. She pulled the sheet over and started screaming from underneath, ‘Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!’

Connor was standing up in the bed with his back to the wall doing a dance with his feet moving. My dad burst in and put the light on. The mice were scattering everywhere and my dad froze. My mum came in behind him and screamed, ‘Oh my Jesus!’

My dad leapt over and pulled the sheet off Busola and started beating them away. Connor was clinging on to my mum with his arms and legs, sobbing with his face pressed up against hers and his eyes wide. I was holding on to the top bunk in case I fell off.

The room emptied and I watched everyone standing there, Busola in my dad’s arms with her bottom lip going and her chin wobbling and Connor with his face wide open against my mum’s. I saw stray mice scurry into a hole in the corner and I was worried everyone would go out the room and forget about me.

‘Daddy?’ I said.

He looked at me kneeling on the top bunk and started to laugh. He shook and Busola held his cheek to steady him. My mum bit her lip and frowned, ‘Oh, for God’s sake, Fela! What’s there to laugh at?’

‘At least one of you is safe up there,’ he said.

‘Thank you, Daddy.’