They turned to go, my dad lifting the wheelbarrow and my mum grabbing hold of the bags, when a chunk of stone fell down off the edge of the roof and broke into pieces on the ground, sending sparks up and exposing the roof on fire with flames reaching out to the sky. The crash of rubble sent the firemen running back while a roar went up from the crowd that was scared and excited. It felt like everyone was watching us being burned out and the building coming down, and they wanted more. Busola jumped up, I looked for my mum and my dad. They were walking away with their heads down, past the growing crowd, pushing the wheelbarrow and pulling the bags out on to the main road. ‘I’m not going,’ Busola said, and sat back on the telly. ‘Let them go first, we’ll go up this way after. I’m not running.’ She was making me stay and watch what happened. The hoses moved up to the top floor and it took the firemen leaning back to hold them. Water splashed off the walls making a spray that blew over towards us so I could feel it on my face, then the jets broke into the top windows and on to the roof. A cheer went up when two of the firemen slipped over, jerking the hose so a cloud of water fell over our way on to the crowd. People ducked and fell back, but the workmen out the pub stayed there with their chests out telling it come on and shouting when they got drenched. I turned my face away as the rain whipped across me, trying to sit my legs in front of the telly to keep it dry. It was like being slapped. I wiped my face off with my sleeve, feeling exposed and shaky, and saw a boy bouncing along behind his mum at the edge of the crowd on Tyers Street. He was holding her hand while she pushed a pram, and it looked like his feet were twisted out, or one leg was shorter than the other. He was hungry and happy all at once, with scraggy, orange hair on top of his head and red marks round his mouth with some teeth a bit crooked or missing. His mum was trudging along with her shoulders slumped like she was worn out. The boy was lurching after her, looking all around as if his head wasn’t connected to his body. He saw me looking and his head went on one side to see what I was doing. I was watching him, so I waved my wet arm. His face lit up, and his chin tipped up into a smile so his neck went back into his shoulders. Then he was off to the next thing he could see. I felt he was on my side, and I was on his.