I had to get changed, my skin felt itchy. Upstairs in the bedroom Manus was going through my mum and dad’s things in their drawers and listening to the voices in the front room. Mr Lawal was being loud, telling my dad a long story that he wanted Tunde to come and stay with us again. ‘He can clean! You can clean, abi?’Manus was looking at my mum’s jewellery, holding it up to the light. One of us had to go and sit with Tunde while my dad and Mr Lawal were talking and I didn’t want it to be me, so I didn’t say anything. I got open our drawers and got out clean clothes. They smelled of mothballs as I put them on the bed. Connor was already there in the front room with them, I could tell from the way Manus was keeping quiet and ignoring me and not getting dressed properly. ‘What d’you think of these?’ I looked round at Manus standing up on my mum’s high-heel shoes, his face set like he was going down a steep slide and he didn’t care what happened when he hit the bottom. He looked tall and bossy, so I ignored him and got undressed and put on the new clothes thinking I could get out quickly to the backyard to see if Marie got let out. But Manus jumped out the shoes and up on the bed in his underpants and jabbed his finger at me, ‘You’re gonna have to squash up with him!’